sentence structure

Quick Links: 5 Types of Parallel-Structure Problems

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

I didn’t realize how complicated parallel sentences were until I read the excellent post by Mark Nichol over at Daily Writing Tips.

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5 Types of Parallel-Structure Problems

It is all about having the sentence balance. To bad they don't have one of these for writing.
It is all about having the sentence balance. To bad they don’t have one of these for writing.

By Mark Nichol

There are many ways to botch the logical organization of a sentence. Here are examples of five variations, along with discussion and revision of each.

1. You can help not only position your organization for success when audited, but you can focus on protecting the sensitive information of your patients.

Probably the the most common of problems with parallel structure is the mangling of “not only . . . but also” comparisons. When a verb sets up both the “not only” point and the “but also” counterpoint, it must precede “not only” so that it is not bound up with the first point and the “but also” phrase can therefore share it. Conversely, when each phrase contains its own verb, as here, one verb must follow “not only” and the other verb must follow “but also”: “You can not only help position your organization for success when audited, but you can also focus on protecting the sensitive information of your patients.”

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Quick Link: 5 Faulty “Not Only . . . But Also” Sentences

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Grammar time! Mark Nichol from Daily Writing Tips helping us again, this time with sentence structure and the pesky “not only – but also” sentences.

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5 Faulty “Not Only . . . But Also” Sentences

"Stop! It's Grammar Time!" duh, duh duh, da duh duh duh
“Stop! It’s Grammar Time!” duh, duh duh, da duh duh duh

By Mark Nichol

 Often, when a sentence expresses a point and a counterpoint with the phrases “not only” and “but also,” writers have difficulty constructing the sentence in the correct syntactical order. Each of the following sentences demonstrates various erroneous ways the “not only . . . but also” construction can be misused; discussions, followed by revisions, explain how to repair the damage.

1. Moving to the cloud had not only improved security but had also reduced the risks they faced prior to implementation.

Had can be shared by both the “not only” phrase and the “but also” phrase: “Moving to the cloud had not only improved security but also reduced the risks they faced prior to implementation.” (If had is to be used twice, it should follow “not only” and, when repeated, should follow “but also”: “Moving to the cloud not only had improved security but also had reduced the risks they faced prior to implementation.”)

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: 5 Ways to Combine Sentences

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

One of my better English teacher taught me that varying sentence size and structure made for better reading. You shouldn’t have to many long sentences, nor to many short ones. Mark Nichol at Daily Writing Tips shows us how to fold sentences into a more concise form.

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5 Ways to Combine Sentences

How sentences join together....
How sentences join together….

By Mark Nichol

Writers and editors should be alert to opportunities to improve the flow of content by combining consecutive truncated sentences that refer to a single topic. Here are five approaches to folding one one sentence into a preceding related statement.

1. A gray Cadillac hearse pulled into the ranch Saturday afternoon and left about 5 p.m. The hearse came from the Alpine Memorial Funeral Home.

Often, as here, additional information about something introduced in one sentence is relegated to a subsequent sentence when it could easily be integrated as a modifying phrase into the first sentence: “A gray Cadillac hearse from the Alpine Memorial Funeral Home pulled into the ranch Saturday afternoon and left about 5 p.m.”

Read the full post on Daily Writing Tips

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

You’ve Been Writing Sentences Wrong All Your Life! Find Out Why

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This post by K.M. Weiland originally appeared on her Helping Writers Become Authors site on 9/21/14.

The sentence. It’s the building block of all books. Without it, we may have a poem, a song, a movie, a painting, an interpretative dance. But we sure as scuttlebutt don’t have a book. Most of us learn how to write (and diagram!) sentences in grade school. Out of the many potential pitfalls of writing a story, surely the simple sentence isn’t likely to be one of them. But what if I said you’ve been writing sentences wrong all your life?

And I’m not talking grammar here, folks. You can have a perfectly parsed, perfectly punctuated sentence that would have that grade school teacher of yours blushing for pride—and it can still be wrong as wrong for your novel. (I’m also not talking motivation-reaction units, or MRUs, which I’ve addressed elsewhere.)

Why We’re All Writing Sentences Wrong
So what’s with this pandemic of poor sentences? Why are even the best diagrammers amongst us at risk?

Basically, it all comes down to this: we totally take the sentence for granted. The very fact that we’ve all been writing more-or-less grammatically correct sentences for most of our lives means we don’t even think about what we’re doing. Subject? Check. Predicate? Check. Period at the end? Check. Done.

That may be good enough for your latest email to the bank. But it’s not good enough for an author.

 

Click here to read the full post on Helping Writers Become Authors.