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Keep Related Words Together

Example

What does that mean?

It is important to place your words in the correct order of a sentence in order to avoid confusion/ambiguity. Subjects should come near the verbs, and the modifiers near the words they modify.

Wrong: I called Brittney while I was riding my bike on my Apple Watch.

Here, the subject is “I” and the misplaced modifier is “while”. Logically speaking, you don’t ride a bike on an Apple Watch, yet that’s what the sentence appears to be saying.

To correct it, you would either say:

Right: I called Brittney on my Apple Watch while I was riding my bike.

OR

While I was riding my bike, I called Brittney on my Apple Watch.

3 Rules & An Exception:

How does it work?

Subject/Verb Rule

Sub./Verb In Action

Example:

Wrong: He went fishing, elated.

1. Sub./Verb Rule

In this example, the subject “fishing” was not feeling elated. The true subject, “He” felt elated, so he went fishing.

The subject of a sentence and the verb should not be separated by a phrase or clause that can be otherwise placed at the beginning.

In the correct way of writing, you’ll say:

Correct: Elated, he went fishing.

Relative Pronoun Rule

2. Relative Pronoun Rule

The relative pronoun should come immediately after its antecedent (i.e. he, him, she, her, etc.).

Relative Pronoun:

a pronoun that often introduces dependent (or relative) clauses in sentences. They can also stand alone as the subject or object of the sentence. (i.e. who, whoever, whom, whomever, that, what, etc.)

Example:

Wrong: Who, by her side, was none other than her best friend, Janet.

Right: It was none other than her best friend, Janet, who was by her side.

Relative Pronoun Exception

If the antecedent consists of a group of words, the relative comes at the end of the group, unless this would cause ambiguity, or uncertainty.

Relative Pronoun Exception

Example:

Ambiguous: Whomsoever other than her best friend, Janet…

Unambiguous: It was her best friend, Janet, who…

Noun in apposition Rule

3. Noun In Apposition

A noun in apposition, or relative parallel, may come between an antecedent and a relative pronoun, because in such a combination, no real ambiguity can arise.

Example:

It was the CEO of Nabisco, their cousin, who stole Keebler’s cookie idea.

Apposition:

a relationship between two or more words or phrases in which the two units are grammatically parallel and have the same referent (e.g. my friend Sue ; the first US president, George Washington).

4 Examples:

Can I see some examples?

Sub./Verb

Sub./Verb Example

Wrong: Wordsworth, in the fifth book of The Excursion, gives a minute description of this church.

Right: In the fifth book of The Excursion, Wordsworth gives a minute description of this church.

Relative Pronoun Examples

Relative Pronoun

This is a portrait of Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison, who became President in 1889.

This is a portrait of Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison. He became President in 1889.

Relative Pronoun Exception

Relative Pronoun Exception

Examples:

The grandson of William Henry Harrison, who…

William Henry Harrison’s grandson, Benjamin Harrison who…

Noun In Apposition

Example:

The Duke of York, his brother, who was regarded by the Whigs…

Noun In Apposition

Let's watch a video!

Works Cited

Griffin, Paul. “Ten Principles of Style: On Strunk & White.” YouTube, YouTube, 27 May 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfQB3y8ayRU.

Strunk, William, Jr. The Elements of Style. Dancing Unicorn Books, 2017. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1501497&site=ehost-live.

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