COMMON ERRORS 11, 12, 13 and 14

11. FAULTY PLACING OF ADVERBS e.g. ‘only’
Because you cannot rely on your voice to show stress in writing, place adverbs and adverbial phrases as close as possible to the words they belong with.

AMBIGUOUS The meeting was only held a week ago.
UNAMBIGUOUS The meeting was held only a week ago.

Though only causes most trouble, almost any verb or adverbial phrase can be badly placed.

CLUMSY We returned to Singapore after a week’s holiday on Friday.
UNAMBIGUOUS On Friday we returned to Singapore after a week’s holiday.


12: FAULTY CO-ORDINATION
The word and and phrases e.g. as well as or together with should only be used to link items which are of equal importance and belong together.

WRONG Thanks for supplying the information so promptly and I look forward to further bulletins from you on this project.
RIGHT Thanks for supplying the information so promptly. I look forward to further bulletins from you on this project.

Stringing together 2 independent clauses which are not closely connected in thought occurs frequently in the last sentence of business correspondence, like an awkward farewell from a host reluctant to shut the door. These sentences should always be broken.

WRONG Thanks for your enquiry and please ask if you have further questions.
RIGHT Thanks for your enquiry. Please ask if you have further questions.

Some writers string several loosely related clauses together, which makes their sentences boring to read. These sentences also lose impact because each part seems to be equally important. Reduce the number of coordinating conjunctions e.g. and, but, so and subordinating some clauses so the main ideas clearly stand out.

POOR At the end of next week I hope the thesis proposal will be finished and next steps recommended and I hope we can then have a meeting to discuss the recommended steps but it may be difficult for some of you so I hope you will make every effort and plan to attend the meeting. (55 words)

BETTER Although I know it will be difficult for some of you, I hope we can meet at the end of next week to discuss the next steps recommended in the thesis proposal. (32 words)


13: CONFUSION OF CONJUCTION AND PREPOSITION

Like is a preposition, which introduces a noun phrase.
As is a conjunction, which introduces a clause.

[Refer Thursday, December 29, 2005: Parts of speech: conjunction & preposition]

RIGHT She twitched her nose like a witch.
ALSO RIGHT She lent me money as a friend would.


14: CONFUSION OF ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB
Using the wrong adjective or adverb can make some writing sound careless.

[Refer Thursday, December 29, 2005: Parts of speech: Adjective / Adverb]

NOT She was real friendly. BUT She was really friendly.