EDITING TIP FOR FEBRUARY
COMMON GRAMMAR PROBLEMS
There are certain problems that seem to turn up often in writing. Here
are a few common ones:
-
Misplaced modifiers: Yoko Ono will talk about her husband, John
Lennon, who was killed in an interview with Barbara Walters.
-
Ambiguous pronoun references: Guilt, vengeance, and bitterness can
be emotionally destructive to you and your children. You must get rid of
them.
-
Spelling errors: To celebrate at feasts, the inhabitants of old
England sometimes cut the head off the biggest bore and carried it around
on a platter.
-
Dangling participles: Washed from a layer of mudstone estimated
to be more than 3 million years old, a young American paleo-anthropologist
has found several leg bones and a skull fragment.
-
Missing commas in relative clauses: Before I make any plans, I have
to talk to my wife who is working evenings [as opposed to my other wife
who works during the daytime!].
For more examples like the above, check out Anguished English, by
Richard Lederer (New York: Laurel Books, 1987). For help with your writing
and editing, check out Oxus Communications.
Follow this link to January's editing tip.