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From Kelly:
I hate it when
people use dangling modifiers in a
way that makes a sentence sound flat
out unnatural or silly.
Here is a sentence that exemplifies
what I am talking about:
"Currently living in Palm Desert,
her hobbies include swimming,
golfing, hiking and spending time
with her family."
This just doesn't sound right. What
lives in Palm Desert? The person or
her interests?
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From Kelly: "Patterned after a cartoon
character designed by Walt Disney
himself, the university was granted
permission to use the Duck as their
mascot many years ago."
The modifier here (patterned after a
cartoon character designed by Walt
Disney himself) makes it sound like the
university was patterned after a cartoon
character. It sounds illogical and makes
the sentence hard to read.
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From Bryan S.:
i.e. for
e.g. It seems like the majority of
people do not understand the meanings of
"i.e." and "e.g." Incorrect: Use an
anti-spyware program (i.e., Ad-Aware).
Correct: Use an anti-spyware program
(e.g., Ad-Aware). Note: "I.e." stands simply
for "that is," which written out fully in
Latin is 'id est'. "I.e." is used in place
of "in other words," or "it/that is." It
specifies or makes more clear. "E.g." means
"for example" and comes from the Latin
expression exempli gratia, "for the sake of
an example." "E.g." is used in expressions
similar to "including," when you are not
intending to list everything that is being
discussed. And a comma follows both of them. |
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From Melanie: Then for
than- Incorrect: The accounting
department had more problems then we did.
Correct: The accounting department had
more problems than we did. Note:
Here's a sub-peeve. When a sentence construction begins with If, you don't need a then. Then is implicit, so it's superfluous and wordy: Incorrect: If you can't get Windows to boot, then you'll need to call Ted. Correct: If you can't get Windows to boot, you'll need to call Ted. |
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From Patricia: Using
"Due To"-I hear people use this term
incorrectly all the time. "Due to" means
"caused by." It should be used only if it
can be substituted with "caused by." It does
not mean the same as "because of."
Incorrect: The game was postponed due to
rain. It would not make sense to say, "The game was postponed caused by the rain." The correct way to say this sentence would be, "The game was postponed because of rain." Also Correct: The game's postponement was due to rain. Note: The wordy expression due to the fact that should be replaced by because or since. |
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