3 Examples of Problems with Parallel Structure

3 Examples of Problems with Parallel Structure 3 Examples of Problems with Parallel Structure 3 Examples of Problems with Parallel Structure By Mark Nichol In each of the following sentences, sentence construction obscures the complementary relationship between parallel phrases. Discussion following each example explains the problem, and revisions illustrate solutions. 1. Follow this step with user support and usage monitoring to ensure a smooth transition and optimal user experience during and post-implementation. The phrase â€Å"during and post-implementation† is treated as if it is an instance of suspensive hyphenation, but the sentence is incomplete with a noun after during: â€Å"Follow this step with user support and usage monitoring to ensure a smooth transition and an optimal user experience during implementation and postimplementation.† However, the prefixed word postimplementation is correct but unwieldy, so simply withhold the repetition and replace the prefix with a free-standing conjunction: â€Å"Follow this step with user support and usage monitoring to ensure a smooth transition and an optimal user experience during and after implementation.† 2. There seems to be an idea that blaming the other side for failure is as good, if not better, than getting something done in a bipartisan way. If a parenthetical phrase has been interjected into a sentence, in its absence, the base sentence must be syntactically valid. Here, the result of a test deletion of â€Å"if not better† is â€Å"There seems to be an idea that blaming the other side for failure is as good than getting something done in a bipartisan way.† Obviously, something is wrong- a repetition of as is necessary, and than belongs in the parenthesis: â€Å"There seems to be an idea that blaming the other side for failure is as good as, if not better than, getting something done in a bipartisan way.† 3. This regulation helps guarantee the financial services industry upholds its obligation to protect consumers and ensure that its systems are sufficiently constructed to prevent cyberattacks to the fullest extent possible. The conjunction that is sometimes unnecessary (â€Å"Do you think it’s required in this sentence?†), but if it employed in a given phrase, it should be included in a complementary phrase in the same sentence, as here: â€Å"This regulation helps guarantee that the financial services industry upholds its obligation to protect consumers and ensure that its systems are sufficiently constructed to prevent cyberattacks to the fullest extent possible.† (Without that in place after guarantee, the reader is initially misled into thinking that the regulation guarantees the industry itself rather than something about the industry.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How Many Tenses in English?Try to vs. Try and20 Movies Based on Shakespeare Plays

The 8 Most Common SAT Writing Mistakes Students Make

The 8 Most Common SAT Writing Mistakes Students Make SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips I’ve worked with dozens of students as they studied for the SAT, and the writing section is often the most confusing for them.It tests a lot of grammar concepts youmay not havelearned in school or else haven’t studied in many years- even if you're an A student in English class, there are probably some rules tested on the SAT that you aren't familiar with. Happily, the test asks about the same few concepts over and over again, so there aren't that many topics you really need to know. Avoiding just a few of the most common mistakes students often make can really help your score. Let’s go through these common mistakes one at a time: Trying to listen for errors Not looking at all of the choices Misusing gerunds Allowing unclear antecedents for pronouns Fixing the original error but creating another Mixing upidioms Missing dangling modifiers Comparing non-equivalent nouns Feature image: Terrance Heath/Flickr #1: Trying to "Listen" for the Error The single biggest mistake students make on SAT Writing is assuming they'll be able to catch errors by ear. However, SAT English is very different than day-to-day spoken English: SAT Writing questions routinely contain phrases that sound finebut are actually wrong or sound weird but are actually correct. Avoid falling into this trap by making sure you know the key grammar rules you'll be tested on and how to approach the questions systematically. Check out our post on the secret to SAT writing for more details. #2: Not Looking at All of the Answer Choices Many students forget tocheck every answer choice before picking one, and this oversight really hurts their scores. SAT Writing questions often include more than one answer that seem like they could be correct, but there will be something significantly off about all but one of them (or, in the case of Identifying Sentence Errors, only one will include a real error, even if some of the other choices seem weird). On SAT writing questions, make sure to always read the entire sentence, the question (for Improving Paragraphs), and all of the answer choices. Image: thisisbossi/Flickr #3: Misusing Gerunds Gerund (-ing verbs) errors are some of the most common on the SAT Writing, and most students don't understand how to use them correctly. Let's clear up some gerund-related misconceptions: Gerunds aren't actually verbs, they're nouns.Gerunds represent the action that the verb describes. Gerunds seem correct, but they often indicate an error. Watch out especially for "being," which is almost always wrong when it appears. Gerunds errors on SAT writing are much more common than you might think.A lot of SAT writingadvice treats gerund issues as relatively rare, but they are actually quite common, because gerundsare involved in so many different types of questions. Here are the three major types of SAT writing questionsthat involve gerunds: Wordiness. Gerund use in Improving Sentences questions often indicates overly wordy constructions. Consider whether there's a more straightforward way to phrase the sentence. Parallelism. A list of gerunds often indicates a parallelism error- check to make sure all the items in the list are the same form. Fragments. Sometimes you'll see a gerund used in place of a main verb, creating a fragment. You can findmore general info about gerunds in our guide to verb forms and tenses. #4: Allowing Unclear Antecedents for Pronouns Pronoun agreement issues are another extremely common error. The simpler ones are easy to spot: you'll probablynotice something's wrongif a sentence uses "him" to refer to "Mrs. Smith." Slightly more complicated, and much more common, are the questions thattest you on whether you can recognize if a pronoun should be plural or singular. For example, is "Every child must bring their own notebook" or "Every child must bring his or herown notebook" correct? It's the latter because "child" is singular and "their" is plural. The trickiest pronoun agreement questions, however, deal with absent or ambiguous antecedents. (Antecedentsare the nouns that pronouns take the place of.) These errors occur when it isn't clear what noun a pronoun is referring to. For example: Incorrect:Jose and his dadwere concerned about whether he could finish his project. Correct:Jose and his dadwere concerned about whether Josecould finish his project. The first sentence is incorrect because it's unclear who he is (it could be either Jose or his dad), and the second one fixes the errorby specifying that it's Jose'sproject. The key rule to remember for pronoun questions is that every pronoun- including words like which and that- must have a clear noun antecedent. If you're confused about these concepts,you shouldread this full breakdown of everything you need to know about pronouns for SAT writing. Image: Topher McCulloch/Flickr #5: Fixing the Original Error but Creating Another On Improving Sentences questions, you need to make sure that you don't inadvertently create a new issue when you solve the original error. Two key points: Make sure to read all of the choices and pick thebestanswer, not just whichever one seems acceptable. Avoid overly complicated or wordy answers- the rightanswer is generally the shortest grammatically correct option. For a more in depth discussion of how to systematically approach these questions, take a look at our guide toImproving Sentences questions. #6: Mixing UpIdioms Idiom questions are tricky because they're the one exception to rule number one: you usually have to judge them based on what sounds right. However, idiom questions only test specific types of constructions: matching verb and preposition pairs and choosing between gerunds and infinitives (to + verb). Let's look at an example of the first type: Incorrect:Isabella wants to go atDisneyland to ride the Space Mountain coaster. Correct:Isabella wants to go toDisneyland to ride the Space Mountain coaster. "Go to," not "go at," is the correct expression. Here's the sameexample sentence but witha gerund versus infinitive issue: Incorrect:Isabella wants goingtoDisneyland to ride the Space Mountain coaster. Correct:Isabella wants to go toDisneyland to ride the Space Mountain coaster. Keep in mind that questions about idiomatic expressions are limited to these two types of phrases. If you see a weird-seeming word or phrase that doesn't fall into either category, it's probably correct (unless, of course, you can find another specific problem with it). You can find more details on idioms, including a full list of common ones, here. Image: Andy/Flickr #7: Missing Faulty Modifiers Dangling modifiers are a relatively common topic on SAT Writing that can be very tricky to spot because they aren't obviously incorrect. This type of error occurs when a descriptive phrase at the beginning of a sentence isn't immediatelyfollowed by the noun it's modifying. For example: While tending to the garden, a snake appeared, startling Lola. This sentence mayseem fine, but it implies that the snake is tending the garden, which doesn't make much sense. Modifiers must always be next to the thing that they're modifying. Let's look at a corrected version of the sentence: While tending to the garden, Lola was startled by the appearance of a snake. Now the modifier "while tending to the garden" is appropriately placed next to Lola, the person it's describing. Most faulty modifier questions are structured like this example, but for further exploration of modifier errors, see our full poston the topic. #8: Comparing Non-Equivalent Nouns Illogical comparisons are challenging because like dangling modifiers they don't come up that much outside of SAT Writing. Luckily, these questions follow a single basic rule: you can only compare equivalent things. For example, you can compare a golden retriever and a pug, because they're both types of dogs, but not a golden retrieverand a pug's face, because one if a type of dog and the other is a dog's face. Let's look at a sentence: Boulder High's trackteam is much faster than Fairview High. What is the comparison between? "Boulder High's track team" and "Fairview High." That comparison doesn't actually make sense: the sentence is trying to say thatBoulder High's track team is faster thanFairviewHigh's track team, not faster thanFairview High. The correct version of the sentence specifies this fact: Boulder High's trackteam is much faster than Fairview High's. Now it's clear that we're comparing the two teams. Since you're likely to see at least one of these questions on the SAT, take a few minutes to read the complete explanation. What's Next? If you're worried about grammar rules, check out our guides to some of the other commonly tested topics like subject-verb agreement, pronoun case, and confusion of adjectives and adverbs. The Improving Paragraphs are a small but important part of SAT Writing. Make sure you know the best way to approach them. Do you often find yourself confused about the "No error" option? Learn how often it's correct and when you should pick it with our full analysis. Want to improve your SAT score by 160points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Writing and grammar lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Whistleblowers Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Whistleblowers - Case Study Example y’s global business environment, white-collar crimes are extremely difficult to prosecute due to the underlying mechanisms available to suppress evidence. In this respect, whistleblowers come in handy. Rather than taking part in the actual misconduct, some individuals in the corporate setting will be enticed to report misconduct subject to the rewards availed. However, caution should be prioritized to avoid faked whistleblowing intended to collect the offered benefits. In general, high rewards will create an incentive for whistleblowers to expose business and corporate misconduct in the economy. Encouraging whistleblowing will undoubtedly have its negative consequences, but the benefits stand a better a chance to outweigh the negatives. To start with, promoting whistleblowing will force business players to adhere and comply with the relevant laws, rules, and regulations (Vandekerckhove 156). In the process, employer-employee relations will move towards enhanced trust and loyalty. In essence, whistleblowing will encourage both employers and employees to follow ethical codes of conduct. Speculating a culture of suspicion and distrust is only probable if misconduct is an underlying practice. Straight and ethical practices should not warrant fear or worry as far as whistleblowing is concerned. In this respect, whistleblowing will encourage trust, loyalty, and straightforwardness in the society. Amid this, the emergence of negatives cannot be ruled out. Whistleblowing could result in tense relations between employers and employees. In any setting where whistleblowing might occur , employees and employers should unite to do what is right, legal, and ethical. Even though the number of pursued whistleblowing cases is significantly low, the need to make penalties stricter is critical. To start with, increasing the penalty will act as deterrence for corporate misconduct (Richter and Frances 147). Persons intending to engage in any form of misconduct will have to come to

Sars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sars - Essay Example Apart from the prevalent of mode of transmission through droplet suspension, fecal-oral mode of transmission has been shown to occur and thereby contribute to spread of the disease. Fecal-oral transmission is possible since it has been demonstrated that the virus can survive in the stool for 4 days. Due to the nature of profuse watery diarrhoea in SARS patients, SARS virus may be present in faeces thereby propagating fecal-oral transmission and fecal-respiratory transmission. This has been mentioned as one of the characteristics of SARS that enabled the virus spread in an apartment complex in Hong Kong (Peiris et al., 2003). SARS is commonly transmitted via droplets and close personal contact, factors which enhances its faster spread once an incidence has been established (Seto et al., 2003). The stability of the coronavirus for days in the environment such as in the stool also raises the incidences or possibilities of fomite transmission as a significant mode of transmission of SARS . The ability of this coronavirus to cause diarrhoea also aids in the transmission of the disease. It should be noted that normal stool has low pH as compared to stool from patients suffering from diarrhoea as a result of SARS. The high pH (low acidity) ensures the virus is able to survive and contaminate faeces for up to four days. Therefore the ability of the SARS virus to be spread from different routes namely in faeces, respiratory secretions and even in urine renders the coronavirus more advanced in its ability to spread very fast. Severity of the disease is as a result of being able to affect the whole respiratory system from the nose to the lungs. This is followed by high fever exceeding 38Â °C with acute breathlessness, coughing and sneezing. Acute breathlessness is as a result of the accumulation of fluids in the alveoli. The SARS virus rapidly replicates in the alveoli which is now filled with fluid and is further compressed by adjacent swollen tissues causing hypoxia. Th e patient succumbs to death due to lung failure (Puri, 2003). Therefore, the severity of SARS can be attributed to the events occurring in the lungs and specifically the alveoli causing an incomplete shut down of the breathing process. The virulence of the SARS virus ensures it spreads faster principally through deadly sputum droplets which occur through close personal contact. Severity of the disease is also attributed to its relatively short incubation period which can be as short as 2 days to a maximum of 2 weeks. In this review, important characteristics of the virus are highlighted such as the mode of transmission and pathogenesis which influences the severity of the disease. The principal mode of transmission which is airborne droplets consisting of the deadly viruses causes the SARS virus to be a potent killer coupled to its relatively short incubation period. This is further aided by the modern ease of travel ensuring the disease is able to spread from its epicenter for exam ple the case of infection at Hong Kong airport in 2003 to different destination. The stability of the virus outside the human body is another feature of the virus that ensures its successful transmission to susceptible human host. It has been documented in several literature works that it can survive on fomites such as door knobs, phones and other objects for several days therefore ensuring that it spreads very fast. In addition, having been documented that it can survi

Why People Should Read Books Essay Example for Free

Why People Should Read Books Essay It is a disappointment that people read books less often in these days of widespread technological reliance. Books were the primary source of intellectual entertainment just a hundred years ago, but with the invention of radio, television, cinematography, and the Internet and computer games, it seems that reading books is no longer a popular leisure activity. However, I believe that books are an irreplaceable part of our lives, and the role that masterfully-written books play on the personal growth and development of a particular person throughout one’s life is a remarkable one. Books directly expand our consciousness of how we live and where we live, enrich our power to express ourselves, supply us with inspiration in a way that other mediums cannot compete with. Books expand our knowledge and conception of the world around us. One may argue that films and TV documentaries do that too, but I believe that books are a much better alternative, since they allow each reader to experience the same story using one’s own imagination. When a hundred people watch a film or a TV show, they see the same content – whatever the director and the producer wish to show. Books are different. The experience achieved through reading is richer and more personal, since the same description and the same word choice will result in as many different interpretations as there are readers. We are all unique, and books allow us to experience whatever is narrated in the light of our own personal values, through our ideas and our imagination. In addition, books enrich our vocabulary, introduce us to new notions and offer a wider choice of words to us. With every book we read, we become more intelligent. Even reading one seemingly more primitive pulp fiction book per month can enrich one’s personal vocabulary with dozens of new words, help us build more concise sentences on our own and express oneself better, make one’s speech more intelligent. Watching certain TV programs and documentary films can also widen one’s vocabulary, but hardly as effectively as books do, since reading operates with both more sophisticated visual and audio (if reading aloud) receptors. Moreover, our imagination reproduces mental pictures of what we are reading about, so a new word automatically links to a certain image and a particular feeling that it relates to. Therefore, reading books is a wonderful tool when it comes to learning and developing one’s vocabulary at any age. Books are a fantastic source of inspiration. Unlike fine art, architecture or travelling, books help us create our own mental illustration for what we read on paper. In a way, books make us all artists and creators of our own mental cartoons, movies or illustration collections. Every image we create ourselves is automatically allotted a certain emotion, whether a simple or a more complicated one. Every mental image that a written word projects is vibrant with feelings and emotions. This is what makes books powerful and memorable. Books are an endless source of inspiration and motivation to become a better person. I am certain that creating a system of symbols and eventually an alphabet, words, and books was the greatest series of inventions of humankind. The books I am talking about are classics, those that do not have an expiration date and will be priceless for any generation. They will continue sparking new ideas, inspiring new deeds and enriching the lives of every generation to come. I am positive that books will eventually regain their popularity with today’s youth, since unlike the popular kinds of entertainment in fashion today, books are those roots to which people will go back, in search of the motivation, inspiration and aspiration, to find the true meaning and value of life.

The Good Earth: Wang Lung - A Man Of Determination And Loyalty :: essays research papers

The Good Earth: Wang Lung - A Man of Determination and Loyalty Pearl S. Buck shows her readers the many faces of Wang Lung in her book, The Good Earth. Wang Lung is a rice farmer who gains all his wealth through the land. He struggles to move from poverty to a well respected wealthy man. Wang Lungs character portrays a man's unselfishness, determination, and loyalty towards his family and friends.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wang Lung's caring and generous nature towards his family and friends make him a well-liked person. During the drought Wang Lung feeds the family members first and leaves what little is left for himself. Though it is hard, Wang Lung manages to survive the drought. He feeds the family small portions of rice which are left over from the season. When the food runs out and the furniture and equipment are sold, Wang Lung decides to make a harsh decision. He decides to lock up and move south. There he hopes to find food and money for his family. After a 100 mile train ride, they end up in the south. Wang Lung is delighted to find rice for only a penny. While Wang Lung uses the ricksha to make money for rice, the family eats and begins to regain strength. When all is well, Wang Lung returns home to start his life all over.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Also during the drought Wang Lung spares food and money for his uncle, uncles's wife and their son. The uncle is a poor old gambler who would rather gamble his money away than to spend it on his family. During the drought he shows up in Wang Lung's fields begging for money. At first Wang Lung refuses to dish out money to his uncle. After a time of arguementing Wang Lung finally gives in. He states It is cutting my flesh out to give to him and for nothing except that we are of a blood.(46) Wang Lung is upset that he had to give money to his uncle. Wang Lung didn't have to give to his uncle, but by doing so he kept peace with his him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wang Lung's persistence to succeed carries him to a higher level in life. With such an attitude he is determined to regain his wealth after the drought. On the way home from down south, Wang Lung used the gold he had taken from the man in the Great House to buy things for the land. He bought seeds to plant and a new beast to plow the fields. Wang Lung figures this will give him what he

Fahrenheit 451: the Future Isn’t Bright, It’s Burning

Fahrenheit 451: The Future Isn’t Bright, It’s Burning Censorship happens all around us, even if most don’t realize it. People always think of it as some far off concept, something that only happens in dictatorships or in Communism, such as in North Korea, but as Fahrenheit 451shows us, it is much closer to home than one might think. In it, people have become wonderfully ignorant to the world around them after the government bans books, and all other types of entertainment dissolve into flashes of sound and light, nothing more than a pit stop until the next bit of fun comes along.Guy Montag is a fireman whose job it is to burn books. He loves his job, the brightness and destruction and hunger of the fire that consumes the books. That is, until he meets a teenage girl named Clarisse who is strange to him, a girl who thinks for herself. She and Montag walk home and she talks of everything, her family, how she thinks, how the world is always going to fast, and then a t the end, she asks a question that makes Montag question his entire life: â€Å"She started up her walk. Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. Are you happy? † she said. † (Bradury, 10) After that, Montag’s eyes are suddenly opened far wider than ever before. He starts to see things in a different light, even his wife, Mildred. He starts to see how empty and ignorant she is, and wonders how she got that way and how he never noticed. He wonders how everyone got that way. He sees everyone is as empty as the woman he sleeps next to every night, how no one notices anything anymore except their ‘parlor walls’ and their Seashell radios. â€Å"How did we get so empty? .. Who takes it out of you? † (Bradbury, 44) he thinks after his wife cannot even remember how they met. That was when he realized he doesn’t really know his own wife. Montag thinks he loves his wife, he believes it with al l his heart, or at least he wants to. However, the more he watches her, the more he realizes she is a stranger to him, and he doesn’t know how you can love someone you’ve never truly met. He slowly figures out that his wife isn’t his at all, not really, not now that he can see.When he was blind and ignorant, he had indeed loved her, but now that he knew something of the world, she became a strange creature to him. Once Montag realizes this, he becomes slowly detached from Mildred, though he still cares for her in a strange way, and though he knows he doesn’t love her in the way he thought he did for so many years, he still wants to believe he does. He still wants to pretend. When he leaves her after burning Beatty and the city is bombed, he still cries for her. He loves her even as he feels nothing.In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury paints a picture of humanity and society that is far too painstakingly true. Most people are happier in their ignorance than they c ould ever be with knowledge, even as that ignorance slowly kills them. Slowly, people are caring less and less about books and and learning and more and more about the next big thing, zooming from one distraction to the next. Eventually, Bradbury’s book will become a reality for us all, and it too will burn in the piles. Works Cited Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Del Rey Books, 1991. Print.