Grammar
I won’t go too in-depth, but here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re writing.
I. Prepositions
Prepositions are words that connect other words -- they reveal space and time relationships to the reader. Taking a preposition out of a sentence changes its meaning. They’re often part of phrasal verbs, eg look at, look around, look after (Fogarty 53).
Can you end a sentence with a preposition?
Long story short: Yes. At the very least, it’s fine to end with a preposition if it is part of a sentence, like cheer up, look at, step on, etc (Fogarty 53).
II. Verb Splitting
It’s perfectly okay to split full verbs (verbs that include “to” like to eat, to fly, to play)! (Fogarty 56).
Sentences like these are perfectly acceptable:
1. He wanted to playfully tease his son over his crush.
2. Rita seemed to bravely face whatever came her way.
III. Modifiers
Modifiers modify! But you generally want to keep them as close as possible to what they’re modifying. Put one-word modifiers right before the affected word(s) (Fogarty 63).
When modifiers are placed too far from the affected words, they can cause issues. You can end up with a squinting modifier, or a dangling modifier.
The issue with squinting modifiers: it appears as if two different words are being modified, and gives the sentence two different meanings. You want to be clear about what you’re trying to communicate!
Here are some examples. Click the modifiers to see different ways you could alter the sentence for clarity.
1. Oliver’s mumbling mildly annoyed the teacher.
2. Studying in the library constantly improves grades.
More commonly, we run into dangling modifiers. I’d argue that at first glance, these type of sentences make sense; it’s when you sit and analyze them that you see they don’t say what you want them to say.
Essentially, they do not modify anything, or at least not the word that you want to alter.
Here are some examples. Click the modifiers to see different ways you could alter the sentence for clarity.
1. Knowing it would irritate her, pots and pans were banged together loudly.
2. Moving in a hurry, the train doors closed just after Amanda.