3 Cases of Sentence-Composition Confusion

3 Cases of Sentence-Composition Confusion 3 Cases of Sentence-Composition Confusion 3 Cases of Sentence-Composition Confusion By Mark Nichol It’s not only quite possible but also quite common for what initially appears to be a well-written sentence to turn out to fail to express what the writer intended. Readers may be able to understand that intent, and may not even notice the error, but confusion is likely. Here are three sentences that don’t quite say what the writer thinks they say, followed by discussions and revisions. 1. Jones teamed up with another future Hall of Famer named John Smith. This sentence literally states that Jones’s name is actually John Smith; â€Å"another future Hall of Famer named John Smith† implies that the previously mentioned person shares that name. To eliminate this distraction, simply replace name with a comma: â€Å"Jones teamed up with another future Hall of Famer, John Smith. (Alternatively, change another to fellow and delete named: â€Å"Jones teamed up with fellow future Hall of Famer John Smith.†) 2. Gillian Anderson was offered half of David Duchovny’s salary for the return of The X-Files. Here, the take-away is that half of David Duchovny’s salary was taken away and offered to Gillian Anderson- obviously not the intended meaning, which is that Duchovny was paid twice as much as Anderson to return to the television series. The fact that Duchovny’s salary is mentioned only for comparative purposes should be emphasized: â€Å"Gillian Anderson was offered half of what David Duchovny was paid to return to The X-Files.† (Alternatively, write â€Å"Gillian Anderson was offered half as much as David Duchovny was paid to return to The X-Files.†) Note, too, the rewording in each case of the end of the sentence, which originally was written as if to suggest that she gave the series back in exchange for taking half of Duchovny’s salary, rather than that in exchange for reprising her role in a new edition of the series, she is earning half of what her male co-star is being paid. 3. I managed to pinpoint the location of his first housing development, but finding the first house he built was about as easy as locating men who worked on his construction crews. To compare one difficult task (finding the first house a housing developer built) with another (tracking down his contractors) by writing that one was as easy as the other could confuse readers. (As it is, only the counterpoint conjunction but provides a clue that the second and third objectives were a challenge to achieve.). For clarity, replace â€Å"as easy as† with â€Å"as difficult as†: â€Å"I managed to pinpoint the location of his first housing development, but finding the first house he built was about as difficult as locating men who worked on his construction crews.† 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 Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Wether, Weather, WhetherThe Writing ProcessDrama vs. Melodrama

Upside-Down Question and Exclamation Marks in Spanish

Upside-Down Question and Exclamation Marks in Spanish The upside-down or inverted question marks and exclamation points of Spanish are unique to the languages of Spain. But they make a lot of sense: When youre reading in Spanish, you can tell long before the end of a sentence whether youre dealing with a question, something that isnt always obvious when a sentence doesnt start with a question word such as quà © (what) or quià ©n (who).   Upside-Down Question Marks Not Always at Start of Sentence The important thing to remember  is that the inverted question mark (or exclamation) goes at the beginning part of the question (or exclamation), not at the beginning of the sentence if the two are different. See these examples: Pablo,  ¿adà ³nde vas? (Pablo, where are you going?)Quiero saber,  ¿cundo es tu cumpleaà ±os?  (I want to know, when is your birthday?)Estoy cansado,  ¿y tà º? (Im tired, are you?)Eso,  ¿es verdad? (That, is it true?)Sin embargo,  ¡tengo frà ­o! (Nevertheless, Im cold!)Pues,  ¡llegà ³ la hora! (Well, its about time!) Note that the question or exclamation part does not begin with a capitalized letter unless its a word that would normally be capitalized, such as a persons name. Note also that if words not part of the question come after the question, then the closing question mark still comes at the end:  ¿Adà ³nde vas, Pablo?  (Where are you going, Pablo?)Pablo,  ¿adà ³nde vas, mi amigo?  (Pablo, where are you going, my friend?) ¡Eres la mejor, Angelina! (Youre the best, Angelina!) If a sentence is a question and an exclamation at the same time, something for which the English language has no good written equivalent, it is possible to combine the question and exclamation marks in ways shown below. The Royal Spanish Academy prefers the usage in the third and fourth items:  ¿Cà ³mo lo hace! How does she do it? (To translate the Spanish well, this might be said in an incredulous tone. An alternate translation might be I dont see how she does it!) ¡Me quieres? You love me? (The punctuation may indicate a lack of belief in what is being responded to.) ¡Ã‚ ¿Quà © veste?! What are you seeing? (The tone of voice may suggest What in the world do you see?) ¿Ã‚ ¡Quà © ests diciendo!? What are you saying? (The tone of voice may indicate disbelief.) To indicate an extremely strong exclamation, it is acceptable to use two or three exclamation points but not more:  ¡Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ ¡Idiota!!! (Idiot!)Es imposible.  ¡Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ ¡No lo creo.!!! (Its impossible. I cant believe it! Word Order in Questions Most questions begin with an  interrogative pronoun  such as  quà ©Ã‚  or on interrogative adverb such as  cà ³mo. In nearly all such cases, the opening question word is followed by the verb and then the subject, which will be a noun or pronoun. Of course, it is common to omit the subject if it isnt needed for clarity.  ¿Dà ³nde jugarà ­an los nià ±os? (Where would the children play? Dà ³nde is the interrogative adverb, jugarà ­an is the verb, and the subject is nià ±os.) ¿Quà © significa tu nombre? (What does your name mean?) ¿Cà ³mo comen los insectos? (How do insects eat?) If the verb has an direct object and the subject is not stated, the object typically comes before the verb if it would in the equivalent English sentence:  ¿Cuntos insectos comià ³ la araà ±a? (How many insects did the spider eat? Insectos is the direct object of comià ³.) ¿Quà © tipo de celular prefieres? (Which type of cellphone do you prefer? Tipo de celular is the direct object of prefieres.) ¿Dà ³nde venden ropa guatemalteca? (Where do they sell Guatemalan clothing. Ropa guatemalteca is the direct object of venden.) If the question has a stated subject and an object, it is common to use a verb-object-subject word order if the object is shorter than the subject and a verb-subject-object order if the subject is shorter. If theyre of similar length, either order is acceptable.  ¿Dà ³nde venden ropa los mejores diseà ±adores de moda? (Do the best fashion designers sell clothing? The subject, los mejores disenà ±adores de moda, is much longer than the object, ropa.) ¿Dà ³nde compran los estudiantes los libros de quà ­mica farmacà ©utica? (Where do the students buy the pharmaceutical chemistry books? The subject, los estudiantes, is shorter than the object, los libros de quà ­mica farmacà ©utica.)