Sentence Boundaries
"The committee finalized the budget, however, the department chair refused to sign."
What is a comma splice? (Correction: Use a semicolon before "however").
"The collection of rare manuscript fragments and syntax textbooks are on the lower shelf."
False attraction to the plural object of preposition. The true singular subject is 'collection', requiring 'is'.
"Walking into the linguistic laboratory, the old textbook fell completely off the table."
Dangling modifier. The introductory participle phrase implies the textbook was walking. Must specify the human actor.
"Every attendee must bring their own copy of the comprehensive syntax handbook."
Singular/plural mismatch in formal style. 'Every' is singular, but 'their' is plural. Fix with 'his or her' or plurals.
"The syllabus includes studying phrase structures, parsing long clauses, and to write essays."
Faulty parallelism. Mixes gerund phrases ('studying', 'parsing') with an infinitive phrase ('to write'). Change to 'writing'.
"The workshop finished early, everyone decided to stay and practice anyway."
Comma splice error. Two independent clauses joined by only a comma. Fix with a semicolon or coordinating conjunction.
"Neither the principal grammarian nor his research assistants is attending the symposium."
Proximity rule violation. With 'neither/nor', the verb agrees with the closer subject ('assistants'), requiring 'are'.
"He nearly predicted all twenty structural patterns correctly during the speed test."
Misplaced modifier. 'Nearly' should modify 'all twenty' or 'correctly', not 'predicted' (he did predict them).
"The research institute published its annual study, but they forgot to include index data."
Pronoun shift. The collective entity 'institute' is referred to as 'its' first, then incorrectly shifted to 'they'.
"The researcher collected the samples, and then the final report was written by her."
Unnecessary voice shift. Switches mid-sentence from active voice ('collected') to clunky passive voice ('was written').
"Because the syntax rule was incredibly obscure and rarely taught in introductory composition courses."
Sentence fragment. A dependent clause standing alone with no main independent clause to anchor it.
"Every parsed sentence and clause structure need to be validated by the automated linter."
Compound subjects preceded by 'every' or 'each' always take a singular verb. Change 'need' to 'needs'.
"The professor explained the intricate rules of transformational grammar in the hallway clearly."
Squinting/Misplaced modifier. Placing 'clearly' at the end makes it ambiguous if the explanation or the hallway location was clear.
"The debate between the senior philologist and I lasted well over three hours."
Case error after preposition. Prepositions require objective case pronoun. Change 'I' to 'me'.
"The workbook is not only comprehensive in scope but also clarifies complex ideas."
Correlative conjunction parallelism. 'Not only' is followed by an adjective phrase, while 'but also' is followed by a verb phrase.
"She loves diagramming complex sentences he prefers analyzing historical semantic shifts."
Run-on sentence (fused sentence). Two independent clauses placed together with zero punctuation or conjunctions separating them.
"There is three distinct structural interpretations for this specific gerund phrase."
Expletive 'there' construction error. The real plural subject follows the verb, requiring 'There are'.
"To write effectively, structural conventions must be studied diligently by the students."
Dangling infinitive modifier. 'To write effectively' targets the human writer, not the inanimate 'conventions'.
"When the teacher met with the student, she mentioned that her grammar needed refinement."
Ambiguous pronoun reference. It is completely unclear whether 'she/her' refers to the teacher or the student.
"The linguistic scholars preferred physical books over reading digital documents online."
Faulty coordination/parallelism. Compares a direct noun object ('physical books') with an active gerund phrase ('reading digital documents').
"To master advanced syntax. One must study historical grammar and transformational generative rules."
Fragment followed by full sentence. An infinitive phrase isolated prematurely by a period.
"The committee who analyzes the curriculum disagree on the value of diagramming."
Collective noun mismatch. 'Committee' acts as a unified singular entity here, requiring 'disagrees'.
"The student edit of the manuscript only changed the passive verbs to active voice."
Misplaced limiter. 'Only' should come directly before the component it limits: 'changed only the passive verbs'.
"Whom do you think formulated the foundational principles of generative grammar?"
Case mismatch. The pronoun serves as the subject of the clause 'formulated principles', requiring nominative 'Who'.
"Errors were caught by the system, and corrections were applied immediately by users."
Excessive passive voice. Over-reliance on passive structures obscures agency and slows readability compared to active forms.