The most common sentence errors students make

If you’re a student, chances are you’ve made one (or all) of these common sentence errors:Modifiers

Dangling modifiers

 

Misplaced modifiers

These are just a few of the most common sentence errors students make. And trust me, I know from experience! As a former English teacher, I’ve seen firsthand how these errors can trip up even the best students.

But don’t worry, mymediajourney.com is here to help. In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to avoid these common sentence errors. By the end, you’ll be a pro at identifying and correcting them.

Let’s start with modifiers. A modifier is a word or phrase that describes another word or phrase in a sentence. For example, in the sentence “I have a black cat,” the word “black” is a modifier.

Modifiers can be adjectives, adverbs, or phrases. Adjectives modify nouns, while adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Here are some examples:

Adjective: My cat is black.

Adverb: I run quickly.

 

Adjective phrase: The cat with the black fur is mine.

Adverb phrase: I ran quickly across the street.

 

Now that you know what a modifier is, let’s talk about the most common error students make with them: misplaced modifiers.

A misplaced modifier is a modifier that is incorrectly positioned in a sentence. This often happens when a student intends to modify one word or phrase but accidentally modifies another. For example:

Incorrect: I put on my coat and gloves, then turned off the lights and left the house.

What the sentence is trying to say is that I turned off the lights before I left the house. But because of the misplaced modifier, it sounds like I turned off the lights and left the house wearing my coat and gloves!

To avoid this error, make sure the modifier is placed as close as possible to the word or phrase it’s modifying. In the example above, the corrected sentence would be: “I turned off the lights, put on my coat and gloves, and then left the house.”

 

Now let’s talk about dangling modifiers. A dangling modifier is a modifier that has no word or phrase to modify. For example:

Incorrect: Hoping to garner favor, the cookies were made with love.

What the sentence is trying to say is that the cookies were made with love in hopes of garnering favor. But because of the dangling modifier, it sounds like the cookies themselves are hoping to garner favor!

 

To avoid this error, make sure the modifier is modifying a word or phrase in the sentence. In the example above, the corrected sentence would be: “Hoping to garner favor, I made the cookies with love.”

 

The last common sentence error I want to talk about is the use of modifiers. Modifiers are words or phrases that describe, identify, or quantify something. They can be adjectives, adverbs, or phrases. For example:

Adjective: That’s a big dog.

Adverb: She’s running quickly.

 

Adjective phrase: The dog with the big teeth is scary.

Adverb phrase: She’s running quickly across the street.

When used correctly, modifiers can add a lot of description and detail to a sentence. But when used incorrectly, they can change the meaning of a sentence entirely. For example:

Incorrect: We saw a dog with three legs on the side of the road.

What the sentence is trying to say is that we saw a dog with three legs. But because of the incorrect use of the modifier, it sounds like we saw a dog with three legs on the side of the road!

To avoid this error, make sure the modifier is placed as close as possible to the word or phrase it’s modifying. In the example above, the corrected sentence would be: “We saw a dog with three legs on the side of the road.”

I hope this blog post has helped you avoid some of the most common sentence errors students make. Remember, when in doubt, always check to make sure your modifiers are correctly positioned. And if you’re ever unsure, ask a teacher or tutor for help.

 

Happy writing!

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