Sentence Level Problems

Sentence fragment Examples from students’ writings

• After the separation of Pakistan from India, on 14th August 1947.

• Because at the time of Independence Pakistan was caught in several problems.

• On the occasion of the first meeting of the constituent assembly of Newly formed Pakistan.

.

• As it highlighted the policies of Quaid-e-Azam.• As it is essential for the state.

• After the separation of Pakistan from India, on 14th August 1947.

• As black-marketer should be punished

severely and heavily fined.

Sentence Fragments (Incomplete Sentences)

• A sentence fragment is a group of words written as a sentence, but it lacks some essential element to be a complete sentence. For example, it might lack

• a subject • a verb, or • a complete thought

1. A sentence must have a subject and a verb if it is to make sense. E.g.

Ali is busy tonight. Working on his English essay. Incorrect

Ali is busy tonight, working on his English essay. Correct

• 2.Dependent-word fragment: A subordinate clause is not a complete

sentence if it does not have a main clause even though it may have a subject and verb.

Incorrect: Because we are baseball fans.Correct: Because we are baseball fans, we

watched the All-Star game.

• 3.-ING Fragments: Incorrect: I spent all day in the employment

office.Trying to find a job that suited me.Correct: I spent all day in the employment office,

trying to find a job that suited me.Sometimes in conversation only sentence fragments

make sense.He asked, “why did you watch that football game?”“Because we are all football fans.”

Sentence fragments exercise

• I prefer living in smaller communities. While they may not offer all the services of larger cities.

• I am answering your advertisement for experienced draftsmen. Which appeared in a recent issue of The News.

• This has been one of those days we all have once in a while. When, no matter how careful we are, everything seems to go wrong.

• We need to work harder. To evaluate all of the issues.

• What he wants to know is. Will you accompany him to the town?

• The committee voted to reject the proposal. That was submitted by the governor.

• He is always complaining about his grades. Although he does nothing to improve them.

Comma splice

• It contains Quaid’s vision of Pakistan, in his address he called Pakistan a great state.

• The Quaid-e-Azam also advised the people to maintain law and order of the country, this virtue takes the nation forward.

• They have got all the powers and rights, it, therefore impose on them that how they would take their decisions.

Comma Splice

• Secondly the biggest vice of the country is bribery and corruption, it should be cut down with an iron hand.

• Quaid said in his address that every man is free, there is no restriction on his caste or religion.

Comma Splice

• The use of a comma, instead of a full stop or semicolon, between two main clauses not joined by a connective is called a comma splice.

• There are several acceptable ways to correct Comma Splice:

1.Change the comma to a semicolon: It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before dark.

• 2. Write the two clauses as two separate sentences: • It is nearly half past five. We cannot reach town before

dark.

• 3. Insert a coordinating conjunction following the comma:

• It is nearly half past five, and we cannot reach town before dark.

• It is nearly half past five, so we cannot reach town before dark.

• 4. Make one clause dependent on the other:

As it is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark.

Examples from students’ writing

• Parallelism• He mentioned that this assembly has got two

main functions to perform Frame out provisional constitution of Pakistan

Functioning as a full and complete sovereign legislative body.

• He expressed to make Pakistan a better place, where one’s life, his property, and interests are safeguarded.

Examples from students’ writing

• Quaid-e-Azam asked them to maintain law and order to save people from poverty, to provide protection to them, and in order to make a peaceful society in Pakistan.

• He was determined to work for the betterment of this juvenile country and make it stand among some of the most successful nations of the world.

Parallelism

• Parallelism means expression of similar ideas in similar grammatical structures. A writing which observes parallelism is easy to read and comprehend. All elements in a sentence must follow the same grammatical forms: nouns, adjectives and adverbs.

• Not Parallel The school board’s objectives are clear: to hire the best teachers, to create good environment, and preparing the students for twenty-first century.

• Parallel The school board’s objectives are clear: to hire the best teachers, to create good environment, and to prepare the students for twenty-first century.

• Lack of Parallelism in Listing the Similar Items

The dictionary can be used to find:

• to look up meanings• pronunciation• correct spellings• looking for irregular verbs

• The dictionary can be used to find:

• meanings• pronunciations• spellings• irregular verbs

PARALLELISM IN CORRELATIVES

• For this job you need both Urdu and French.

• Either he could not come or he did not want to.

• Their house is neither big nor small.

• Success demands not only hard work but also luck.

Exercise on Parallelism

• He continued his work, without hope, without pleasure, and having no assurance that people would understand the significance of what he was trying to do.

• He admires people with integrity and who have character.

• He is enthusiastic, skilled, and you can rely on him.

• For the sake of your friends, your parents, and in the interest of your future, I hope you will reject the offer.

• The city council is as likely to adopt the measure as vetoing it.

Fused or Run-on Sentences

• During the course of time there were great social-ills, from which one was “bribery and corruption” that appeared to be very common in those days but our Quaid adviced his people to be free from this ill saying that “ we should put that out with an iron hand and he believed that this ill would be removed completely from the society of his country.

• Quaid struggled a lot in the freedom of Pakistan and gave us a country where we can freely exercise every thing and visualized many things and wanted us to follow his leads and expected a lot form us_

• The article also consists of the various controversies

on machines many of the poets and writers oppose the idea of mechanization while some still support it.

Fused or Run-on Sentences

• A run-on sentence consists of two or more main clauses that run together without proper punctuation. In this type of sentence two thoughts are fused together with no adequate sign to mark the break between them. We often speak in run-on sentences, but we make pauses and change our tone so people can understand us.

Wordiness

• Wordiness means using more words than are needed to convey a message. It is considered as the biggest obstacle to clear writing. Conciseness is achieved when you say some thing in the fewest possible words. A wordy expression can be made concise by:

• Removing the Cluttering Phrases• These phrases can be replaced by short words without the loss of

meaning.

• ClutteringPhrases Shorter Substitute• • At the present time Now• For the purpose of For• For the reason that Because, Since• In the meantime Meanwhile• In the near future Soon•

• In very few cases Seldom• Inspite of the fact that Although• In accordance with According to• Course of action Plan, Strategy• Take in to consideration Consider • Current status Status• Consensus of opinion Consensus• Predict ahead of time Predict• For the purpose of To • Communicate in writing Write• As a matter of fact In fact• Basic necessity Necessity• Common similarities Similarities• Last but not least Finally

Removing the Surplus Words• To write economically, eliminate all the meaningless words• There are four rules that should be observed.• Four rules should be observed.• In the period between April and June, we detected the

problem.• Between April and June, we detected the problem. • Removing Unnecessary Repetition of Words• We must assemble together at 10:30 A.M in the morning • We must assemble at 10:30 A.M.

Examples from Students’ writing• During the course of time there were great social-ills, from

which one was “bribery and corruption” that appeared to be very common in those days but our Quaid adviced his people to be free from this ill saying that “ we should put that out with an iron hand and he believed that this ill would be removed completely from the society of his country.

• Secondly the biggest vice of the country is bribery and corruption, it should be cut down with an iron hand. (Comma splice)

Students’ mistakes

• Quaid said in his address that every man is free, there is no restriction on his caste or religion. (Comma splice)

• After the separation of Pakistan from India, on 14th August 1947. (Sentence fragment)• In his address to the constitution assembly… to do his job sincerely to make the

Pakistan strong. (pronoun reference + article)

• Because at the time of Independence Pakistan was caught in several problems. (Sentence fragment)

• Every institution or department which want to make progress has to follow its values. (Subject-verb Agreement)

• Quaid-e- Azam Said that Some people did not want to make Pakistan. Many people have said against

• me but now this done and it is the duty of every one to work for his development. (Tense+ Pronoun reference)

Students’ mistakes• Black marketing is a big issue and Quaid didn’t liked it at all and he said to

punish those who are involved in it. (Tenses + narration)

• He said we must get rid of that. (Narration) • Quaid struggled a lot in the freedom of Pakistan and gave us a country

where we can freely exercise every thing and visualized many things and wanted us to follow his leads and expected a lot form us.

• He said in his address that he visualized a country free of racism. A country where Hindu Muslim… live unitedly. (Wrong narration)

• He once said that “you are free, you are free to go….” (Incorrect Narration)