COMMON SENTENCE ERRORS & HOW TO CORRECT THEM

1. Subject-Verb Disagreement
The subject of the sentence, and the verb that describes what the subject is doing, must match.
Incorrect Example: The boy mow the lawn.
The boy is the subject of the sentence, and mow is the verb that describes what hes doing.
Correct Example: The boy mows the lawn.

2. Parallelism Structure Errors
When two or more parts of a sentence are doing the same thing, they must have matching structures,
or parallel structures.
Incorrect Example: Jamie loves to ride her bike, swimming, and to dance.
This sentence is saying that Jamie loves three different activities, and all of those activities must have
the same parallel structure.
Correct Example: Jamie loves to ride her bike, to swim, and to dance.
Correct Example: Jamie loves riding her bike, swimming, and dancing.

3. Parallelism Incorrect Prepositions
Sometimes two or more parts of a sentence that are doing the same thing require different
prepositions. Leaving out or using incorrect prepositions leads to more errors in parallelism.
Incorrect Example: Jessica is interested and excited about the book.
In this example, Interested and excited are the two parts of the sentence that are doing the same
thing, but they require different prepositions. You can say she is excited about the book, but you
cannot say she is interested about the book.
Correct Example: Jessica is interested in and excited about the book.

4. Comma Splices & Run-on sentences
Two complete/independent sentences CANNOT be combined with ONLY a comma or with NO
punctuation.
Incorrect Example (comma splice mistake): The dog walked on the beach, he didnt go into the
ocean.
Incorrect Example (run-sentence mistake): The dog walked on the beach he didnt go into the
ocean
In this example, The dog walked on the beach is a complete sentence. He didnt go in the
ocean is also a complete sentence. In the first incorrect example, they are combined with
only a comma (comma splice). In the second incorrect example, they are combined with NO
punctuation (run-on).
Correct Example 1: The dog walked on the beach, but he didnt go into the ocean.
But is the conjunction used along with the comma to combine the two complete sentences.
(use comma followed by a co-ordinating conjunctionFANBOYS!)
Correct example 2: The dog walked on the beach; however, he didnt go into the ocean.
(use semi-colon followed by a transitions like however, moreover, nevertheless, etc.
Correct example 3: The dog walked on the beach; he did not go into the ocean.
(use semi-colon to separate independent clauses; semi-colon should be used only if there is a
close relationship between the 2 sentences)
Correct example 4: The dog walked on the beach. (However,) He did not go into the ocean.
(use period! Simplest way to combine sentences, but can be too simplistic sometimes!)
Correct example 5: Although the dog walked on the beach, he did not go into the ocean.

5. Sentence Fragments Mistakes.
fragment= a piece. Fragments are incomplete sentences and are considered wrong in
academic writing. However, well-established writers may use them for effect.
Incorrect Example: The kitchen messy.
In this sentence, the kitchen is the subject of the sentence, but there is no verb.
Correct Example: The kitchen is messy.
Correct Example: The kitchen was messy.
Incorrect example: Although he was tired.
In this example the fragment is a subordinate/dependent clause and needs to be completed
by adding an independent clause
Correct Example: Although he was tired, he completed all his work.

Bonus Remarks:
For Portuguese L1: Incorrect: the differentS types of movies. Correct: the different types of movies
For Arabic L1: Incorrect: A different types of movies. You cannot use a because types is plural.