GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION - A SHORT GUIDE (Cont.)
Dangling Modifiers:
- Opening verbal or prepositional phrases will appear to modify the first noun or pronoun following them. Be sure it is the right word.
- Wrong : Having rear end trouble, I was driving slowly down the highway.
- Right : Because my 1978 Plymouth was having rear end trouble, I was driving slowly down the highway.
Fragments:
- Do not punctuate subordinate clauses or phrases as if they were sentences.
- Wrong : While the machine was out order.
- Right : While the machine was out order, production was down by six percent.
Paragraphs:
- Every paragraph should have a topic sentence, usually the first one. The other sentences should stick to the topic and develop the main idea by details, examples, logical argument, comparison and contrast. Paragraph unity means that all sentences help develop one idea.