Sentence Improvement

Many people have doubts related to sentence improvement. It is not always easy to remember the grammatical and punctuational rules.

In this article, we will guide you on how you can improve your sentence formation and take your writing skills to the next level.

What is an Incorrect Sentence Formation?

Before we tell you how you can incorporate sentence improvement in your writing it’s important to understand what exactly is incorrect sentence formation. Mainly there are two types of mistakes that you will make while writing a sentence:

Run-on sentences: When you use incorrect punctuations to join two sentences

Sentence fragments: When your sentence is missing necessary words to make complete sense

It’s extremely important to write grammatically correct sentences that have a clear message. If we write grammatically incorrect sentences then the meaning of the sentence completely changes. 

Many people are not able to express their ideas clearly in the form of words. The root problem is sentence formation.

Most people think that sentence formation is only restricted to grammar. This is not at all true! Your style and flow of writing along with the words you choose to write matters a lot. To be very Frank, if you have common sense and a bit of knowledge of grammar you can ace sentence formation. 

How to Avoid Run-on Sentence Error?

Independent clauses are a group of words that don’t need any other sentence to make full sense. These sentences can stand alone and still be clear in their messaging.  

Run-on sentence error occurs when you join two independent clauses with incorrect punctuation. 

Adding Unnecessary Comma:

You cannot join two independent clauses with a comma without placing conjunction. This type of error is known as a comma splice. You can fix this error in four ways:

• Replace the comma with a semicolon:

This is one of the easiest ways to fix the comma splice error. Simply replace the comma with a semicolon and link the two sentences.

• Add conjunction:

Conjunctions are the traditional way to join two Sentences. You can use both the coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. Some common examples of conjunctions are but, because, although, or, and, for, when and unless.

• Write another sentence:

If you think the sentence is expressing two different ideas then you can replace the comma with a punctuation mark and write two complete sentences.

Let’s see these techniques in action:

• Dancing is my passion, I love learning new dancing moves.

You can fix this sentence by using the first technique. Simply, replace the comma with a semicolon.

Corrected sentence:

Dancing is my passion; I love learning new dancing moves.

• Many people like playing games, I like reading books.

Just add a coordinating conjunction after the comma.

Corrected sentence:

Many people like playing games, but I like reading books.

• I am staying in the house, it’s raining.

Both of the sentences are dependent on each other. To fix this we need to add subordinating conjunction.

Corrected sentence:

I am staying in the house because it’s raining.

• VPN is not an all in one solution, we should always be alert and use different and strong passwords everywhere.

You can break up this sentence and create two sentences.

Corrected sentence:

VPN is not an all in one solution. We should always be alert and use different and strong passwords everywhere.

Missing Comma with a Coordinating Conjunction:

Adding coordinating conjunctions without a comma can create run-on errors in your sentences. If you don’t add commas it creates confusion in the minds of readers. The comma helps the reader navigate through your sentences smoothly. 

Incorrect sentence: Students should take internships seriously but should also make sure that they give enough time to studies as well.

Correct sentence: Students should take internships seriously, but should also make sure that they give enough time to studies as well.

If you use these techniques then you can learn sentence improvement with ease.

Sentence Fragments:

A sentence fragment is created when your sentence doesn’t have all the necessary words to make the sentence grammatically correct. All the sentences must have a subject and a predicate.

Most of the time the subject always comes before the predicate. You must always remember that every subject needs a predicate, and every predicate needs a subject.

Example: Writing is my passion

Subject: Writing

Predicate: is my passion

You can create sentence fragments in 2 ways:

The Sentence Doesn’t Have Predicate:

A sentence missing a main verb is the most common form of sentence fragment that blocks your path to sentence improvement. Every Sentence must have a predicate to make complete meaning. 

You can fix this error by adding appropriate punctuation to join the two sentences. The second way is to rewrite the entire sentence by adding a predicate in it.

Incorrect sentence: After doing dance practice for weeks, one of the dancers got injured before the competition. An unpredictable event for everyone.

Correct sentence: After doing dance practice for weeks, one of the dancers got injured before the competition: an unpredictable event for everyone.

(Here, we have added a semicolon to connect the two sentences)

After doing dance practice for weeks, one of the dancers got injured before the competition. It was an unpredictable event for everyone.

(Here, we have rewritten the whole sentence)

Just Writing a Dependent Clause:

A dependent clause needs an independent clause to form a full sentence. To fix this error you can add subordinating conjunctions: since, while, although, when, after, since, because, while, if, unless, and whereas.

Incorrect sentence: They would start attending colleges. When the cases of coronavirus start decreasing.

Correct sentence: They would start attending colleges when the cases of coronavirus start decreasing.

As you can see, using subordinating clauses correctly can bring sentence improvement in your writing.

Conclusion:

To write contextually correct and grammatically sound language, one should know the rules of correct use of language. One must follow the grammatical rules and punctuations efficiently. With hard work and practice, it is possible to write correct sentences.