English 11 Unit 9: Advanced Grammar and Style | Notes and practice

Notes

Sentence structure and variety

Types: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex. Vary length and openers; use short sentences for emphasis.
Parallelism: match grammatical forms in a series and after correlative pairs (both...and, not only...but also).

Modifiers and punctuation

Place modifiers next to what they modify. A dangling modifier has no subject to modify.
Semicolons join independent clauses; colons follow a complete clause; commas set off nonrestrictive information and appositives.

Concision and clarity

Cut wordiness and redundancy, prefer active voice, and use strong verbs.
Check agreement (the subject, not the nearby noun), who/whom, and clear pronoun reference.

Topics in this unit

Each topic has its own short notes and practice.

Practice

Which sentence is not parallel?

Which sentence correctly uses a semicolon?

Which revision corrects the dangling modifier in "After finishing the exam, the bell rang"?

Which is the most concise version of "In my personal opinion, I think that the reason is because it was too late"?

Which sentence has the correct pronoun?

Which sentence is written in active voice?

Free response

Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.

Free-response question

Here is a draft sentence: "Running to catch the train, the ticket was lost, and I was feeling very sad due to the fact that my plans were ruined by the delay and also to miss my meeting."

(a) Identify two errors in the sentence.

Show the answer and scoring guide

There is a dangling modifier ("Running to catch the train, the ticket was lost") and a faulty parallel structure ("my plans were ruined... and also to miss my meeting"). It is also wordy ("due to the fact that").

Check off the points you earned:

1 point: identifies the dangling modifier or the parallelism error
1 point: identifies a second valid error (wordiness, passive voice, or parallelism)

(b) Rewrite the sentence so that it is correct, concise and parallel.

Show the answer and scoring guide

Example: "Running to catch the train, I lost my ticket, and I felt sad because the delay ruined my plans and made me miss my meeting."

Check off the points you earned:

1 point: the modifier now correctly attaches to "I"
1 point: concise wording with parallel verbs ("ruined... and made")

(c) Combine these two short sentences into one sentence with a semicolon and a transition word: "The train was delayed. We missed the meeting."

Show the answer and scoring guide

Example: "The train was delayed; as a result, we missed the meeting."

Check off the points you earned:

1 point: uses a semicolon between independent clauses
1 point: uses a transition word followed by a comma