Common Sentence Errors

5 Most Common Sentence Errors

A. Fragment
B. Comma Splice
C. Run-ons
D. Dangling or Misplaced Modifiers
E. Faulty Parallelism
F. Word Choice
 A. Fragment vs. Sentence
Students often think that
long strings of words would
automatically constitute a sentence. starts with a
However, it should be clear that a CAPITAL LETTER
sentence is a word or a group of
words that starts with a capital
letter, ends with a punctuation mark,
and conveys a complete thought. has group of words
that conveys a
complete thought
Example: Because the government
did not allow the former
congressman to travel abroad and
have himself checked by foreign ends with a
doctors due to corruption charges. punctuation

Is it a sentence or a fragment?
 5 different types of fragments
1.) Dependent Clause- cannot stand on its own.
It must be attached to an independent clause in
order to have a complete thought.
Example:
Fragment Possible Correction
Buying groceries for the Buying groceries for the
whole month saves time whole month saves time
and energy. Because you and energy because you
do not need to go to the do not need to go to the
market from time to time. market from time to time.
 5 different types of fragment
2.) Participial Phrases- start with verbs ending in
ing, -ed, or-en. These verbals function as
adjectives.
Example:
Fragment Possible Correction
Oliver jumps every New Oliver jumps every New
Year season. Believing that Year season because he
he will become taller. believes that he will
become taller.
 5 different types of fragment
3.) Infinitive Phrases- begin with the word to
followed by a verb.
Example:

Fragment Possible Correction

Jacob went to his Jacob went to his
grandmothers house last grandmothers house last
week. To check if she is week to check if she is
recovering from the recovering from the
accident. accident.
 5 different types of fragment
4.) Afterthoughts- are additional or extension
ideas that writers wish to express in order to
expand the previous idea that was discussed
Example:
Fragment Possible Correction
Freckles can do a lot of Freckles can do a lot of
tricks. Such as flushing the tricks such as flushing the
toilet, throwing the trash toilet, throwing the trash
in a garbage bin, and in a garbage bin, and
walking on two legs. walking on two legs.
 5 different types of fragment
5.) Appositives- are nouns or noun phrases that
rename another noun or noun phrase.
Example:

Fragment Possible Correction

Jeremy boasted his newest
cellphone last night. A very
thin silver-colored camera
phone with 20 GB
capacity and a
4-megapixel lens.
Jeremy boasted his newest
very thin silvered-colored
camera phone with 20 GB
capacity and a 4-
megapixel lens cellphone
last night.
 1. To whom is the author writing?
For the people who didnt know the idea
about efficient reading and to help us
understand deep in the ideas and the details
about it. Giving the determination that we
need to to enhance our reading skills.
For me it is for the readers who really like to
read. And really like critical thinker. It is for too
the persons who like reading or there hobbies
is reading.
 To everyone who are to read his article because
he did not address any specific person or name,
Therefore, it is open to all those who read.

To the critical readers. Because this is all about

the Critical Readers. Thats why its obvious that
the author wrote it for the critical readers.

Us because the author what to reader are open

minded they seek alternative views and are open
to new ideas that may not necessarily agree with
their previous thoughts on a topic, they are
willing to reassess their view when new or
discordant violence is introduced and evaluated.
 As Tiempo & Tiempo stated
B.Run-ons (1980), this error results
when one attempts to
correct a comma splice by
merely removing the
comma between the two
coordinate clauses.
A combination of two
sentences without a
punctuation to divide the
ideas presented in them
Students marched towards Malacaang Palace they are
demanding for the increase of budget for education.

In this sentence 2 independent clauses are not properly

connected. There are 4 ways on how this erroneous
sentence can be corrected.
Option A: (use of semicolon)
Students marched towards Malacaang Palace; they are
demanding for the increase of budget for education.
Option B: (use of subordinating conjunction)
Students marched towards Malacaang because they are
demanding for the increase of budget for education.
Option C: (separation of the 2 clauses into 2 sentences)
Option D: (use of comma + a coordinating conjunction)
*Concession Examples: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/improve-writing-
contrast-concession/3163659.html
C. Comma Splice
This error is committed when a writer uses a
comma without the proper connective. This,
according to Tiempo and Tiempo (1980),
destroys the unity of the sentence.
It is a common scene in compound and
compound-complex sentences since the writer
tends to extend his/her ideas.
This is often done by literally extending one
sentence without observing proper punctuation.
A sentence tends to be messy if commas and
connectives are not placed in their proper
positions.
 The crowd cheered loudly when the band emerged
from the backstage, Eric stood quietly.
There are 5 ways to correct a comma splice, and they are as
follows:
Option A: (use of coordinating conjunctions)
The crowd cheered loudly when the band emerged from
the backstage, but Eric stood quietly.
Option B: (use of a semi-colon)
Option C: (use of a semi-colon and a conjunctive verb)
The crowd cheered loudly when One Direction emerged
from the backstage; however, Eric stood quietly.
Option D: (use of an introductory clause and comma)
Option E: (separation of 2 independent clauses as 2
sentences)
Read more: http://slideplayer.com/slide/6052306/
D. Misplaced Modifier
usually a phrase or an elliptical
clause whose subject and verb
are implied rather than expressed
it is placed beside a word that it
does not intend to modify
it pose a problem to the meaning
that a sentence projects versus the
meaning that it intends to express
 At five years old, Marcus taught his son the basics of
playing the drums.

The main rule in correcting a dangling modifier is to

put the modifier near the word or words it modifies.
The sentence above may be corrected as:

When Marcus son was five years old, he taught him

the basics of playing the drums.
 Misplaced Participial Phrase

Having practiced their musical piece, the band

was told to take their dinner.

Having practiced their musical piece, Lina told

the band to take their dinner.
 Dangling Infinitive Phrase

To read with speed and comfort, the light must

be sufficient but not glaring.

To read with speed and comfort, the student

must be in place with sufficient but not glaring.
 Dangling Infinitive Phrase

To read with speed and comfort, the light must

be sufficient but not glaring.

To read with speed and comfort, the student

must be in place with sufficient but not glaring.
 Misplaced Gerund Phrase

Hanging on the wall, the Chief Engineer fixed his

cover-all.

Hanging on the wall, the cover-all was fixed by

the Chief Engineer.
 Misplaced Modifier
She served sandwiches to the guests wrapped in
colorful bags.
She served sandwiches wrapped in a colorful
bags to the guests.

He almost failed every test he took.

He failed almost every test he took.

E. Faulty Parallelism
is a stylistic arrangement in which similar
syntactic patterns repeat, thus allowing reader or
listener to rely on the grammatical repetition to
echo the logical similarity of the thought and thus
improving the clarity and efficiency of the
passage (Bartleby.com)
When extending sentences, one should
remember that there should be a parallel
structure in the sentence elements: nouns should
go with nouns, adjectives with adjectives, and so
on and so forth.
 Faulty Parallelism
Faulty Parallelism Correction
A poor mans dream is A poor mans dream is
to become rich, to buy to become rich, to buy
his own house, and his own house, and to
establishing a business establish a business of
of his own. his own.
E. Word Choice
 Source
Nepomuceno, M. (2014). Communication
Arts: Critical Thinking and Learning Skills.
Makati City: Katha Publishing Co., Inc.