Writing Module
Sentence Clarity
Sentence clarity
enables the reader to
understand the
intended meaning of
the sentence without
having to guess.
A modifier is a word
or phrase that
describes, restricts, or
qualifies another word
or phrase.
Place the modifier as
close as possible to
the word(s) it modifies.
Sentence clarity is important in order to clearly convey your
meaning to your reader. Clarity enables the reader to understand
your intended meaning without having to guess what you meant to
say. A poorly structured sentence can be vague, ambiguous, and/or
nonsensical.
Nearly dead, the police finally found the victim.
The meaning of this sentence is unclear.
Who is nearly dead? The police? Or the victim?
Unfortunately, poorly structured sentences are challenging to
correct, because there are many ways to correct them.
Common Structural Problems
There are three categories of common structural problems that affect
sentence clarity:
1. Misplaced modifiers.
2. Dangling modifiers.
3. The improper splitting of a grammatical unit.
Before discussing these categories, let’s first review what a
modifier is.
A modifier is a word or phrase that describes, restricts, or qualifies
another word or phrase. Modifiers are typically set off with commas
and many begin with which, who, that, whose, and whom.
Modifiers should be placed as close as possible to the word(s) they
modify.
Improper Placement of Modifiers
In the example that was used previously:
Nearly dead, the police finally found the victim.
Nearly dead is the modifier that is improperly placed. The reader
could interpret that the police were nearly dead or that the victim
was nearly dead. The modifier should have been placed closer to
the word it was describing, victim.
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Always review your
sentence to confirm
that your meaning is
clear.
The proper placement of the modifier would be:
The police finally found the victim, who was nearly
dead.
Now the sentence clearly states the intended meaning.
As is the case with most rules, there are exceptions. In this example,
the general rule applies: place a modifier as close as possible to the
word it describes. This rule applies most of the time. However,
there are some cases where placing the modifier in the middle of
the sentence actually causes confusion.
Modifiers like only, frequently, and sometimes can be confusing if
they are placed in the middle of the sentence. When these modifiers
are placed in the middle of the sentence, it is often unclear if the
modifier is modifying the preceding words or the words that follow
it.
You should always review your sentence to confirm that your
meaning is clear.
The manager was only able to detect obvious errors in
the system.
Does only apply to the manager?
Only the manager was able to detect the obvious errors in
the system.
Or was only applying to errors?
The manager was able to detect only the obvious errors
in the system.
Either sentence is now correct grammatically, but the intended
meaning of the sentence remains unknown.
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A dangling modifier
does not refer to any
particular word in the
sentence.
Improper splitting of
a grammatical unit
occurs when a phrase
is added in the middle
of a grammatical unit.
Dangling Modifier Errors
A dangling modifier is a modifier that doesn’t refer to any
particular word(s) in the sentence. To correct this type of error, the
sentence must be restructured.
Seeing the report, the layout was extraordinary.
Seeing the report dangles; that is, it modifies nothing in the
sentence. The sentence can be restructured to read:
Seeing the report, David thought the layout was
extraordinary.
Now Seeing the report modifies David.
Improper Splitting of a Grammatical Unit
The improper splitting of a grammatical unit occurs when a phrase
is split by inserting another clause in the middle of it. This results in
an awkward and confusing sentence.
The government’s goal for the coming year is to provide
for its elderly residents support services that maintain
their independence.
The goal is to provide support services.
for its elderly residents has split the phrase that states the goal of
the government.
The sentence should be restructured to read:
The government’s goal for the coming year is to provide
support services that maintain the independence of the
elderly residents.
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Review
Let’s review the three common categories of errors that can affect
sentence clarity:
1. Misplaced modifiers.
2. Dangling modifiers.
3. The improper splitting of a grammatical unit.
Return to the Graduate Success Prep Program available through
the myFranklin Web site and do the exercises for this module.
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