Sentences and Socks: Mixing and Matching
In the past few years, I have noticed a phenomenon sweeping
the pre-teen female population: mismatched socks. I must admit that I am a bit
disappointed to have missed out on this fad—I love fun socks! Yet there is
still something to be said for order in the chaos. While mismatched socks are
fun for a while, there is still something satisfying to me about matching up my
socks together when they come out of the laundry.
I feel the same way about parts of sentences. Allow me to
explain.
Whether we realize it or not, our speaking and our writing follow certain patterns. For example, in the English language, simple sentences usually have a subject (who or what the sentence is about), a verb (action word), and then an object (the word or phrase receiving the action). Thus we end up with a sentence like this: He threw the ball. Sentences such as Threw he the ball do not sound right, nor does The ball threw he. These sentence patterns may be used in other languages, but they do not exist in English.
There are some sequences of matching patterns that are tricky
to differentiate. While there are multiple ways that sentences can be
mismatched, this post will cover one of the most commonly mismatched combinations
of two different sentence patterns.
Mixed Construction
If someone sneezes, many people respond with “bless you” or
“gesundheit.” When someone sneezes,
people are expected to respond; it is, to some extent, the expected pattern of
behavior. Sentences work in a similar way. When you have certain beginning of a
sentence, a specific and aligning ending is expected.
Example of mixed sentence
construction: By providing students
with more engaging curriculum will motivate students to participate in
class.
The problem here is that the underlined phrase is being
pulled in two different directions because there are two parts of two patterns,
and they do not work together.
Pattern 1:
Usually, sentences that begin with the word by have a certain pattern, like this: By running fast, I won
the race.
Notice the pattern. First you have a descriptive phrase,
explaining how something happened (by
running fast), and next you have the complete sentence that this phrase is
modifying or describing. In the example above, the
complete sentence after the descriptive phase is a simple one, made up of a
subject (I), verb (won), and object (the race). Another
grammar term to note is predicate, which
means the words or phrases that come after the subject to convey information
about that subject.
So any time a sentence starts with by, this is the pattern to follow:
[Descriptive phrase +
Comma] + [Subject +
Predicate]
All these sentences are examples of a correct way to use
this by phrase:
By keeping low to the ground, he was able to escape the fire.
By slowing her pace, she was able to run farther.
By being a good student, he was accepted into the University of Minnesota.
Here is another way to look at this type of sentence:
Here is another way to look at this type of sentence:
[By] + [-ing word + phrase] + [comma] + [independent clause (complete sentence)]
Example: By completing the project, the researchers discovered how to best address the problem.
View the pattern and the sentence in this table to see how they align:
| [By] | [-ing word + the rest of the connected phrase] | [comma] | [independent clause (complete sentence)] |
| Completing the project | allowed the researchers to discover how to best address the problem. |
,
| the researchers discovered how to best address the problem. |
Let’s take another look at the
original mixed construction sentence:
By providing students with more engaging
curriculum will motivate students to participate in class.
Now, you can see that the
sentence does not follow this pattern. The –ing
word and the rest of the phrase should work with only by in this sentence. Instead, that phrase is trying to function in
another way, and the sentence starts to go into another pattern.
Pattern 2:
This next pattern begins with –ing words. Instead of using those –ing words to describe the subject, this pattern actually uses
those –ing words as the subject of the sentence. Here’s
an example: Knowing how to cook is
important for everyone.
What is important for everyone? Knowing how to cook. This is your subject. See how this phrase can
work as a subject, and the rest of the sentence works as the predicate? Notice how the verb (is) comes directly after the full subject, so this is the pattern
that this kind of sentence follows:
[-ing word
(This is the subject of the sentence)] + [no comma] + Verb + Predicate
Here are a few other
examples where the –ing word and
phrase work as the subject of the sentence:
Brushing your teeth is something you should do twice a day.
Running was his favorite hobby.
Playing the saxophone makes me happy.
Here is another way to break it down:
[-ing word + phrase] + [predicate (verb and object, etc.)]
Example: Completing the project allowed the researchers to discover how to best address the problem.
[-ing word + phrase] + [predicate (verb and object, etc.)]
Example: Completing the project allowed the researchers to discover how to best address the problem.
Here's another way to view this pattern and the sentence
in this table to see how they align:
| [-ing word + the rest of the connected phrase] | [predicate (verb and object, etc.)] |
| Completing the project | allowed the researchers to discover how to best address the problem. |
To allow your readers to best understand your ideas,
remember to consider and then follow these required sentence patterns as well
as others. As you proofread, look at your sentences carefully. Ask yourself, Does this part of the sentence have a pattern
that requires a corresponding part? Go ahead and mismatch your socks, but
if you want to communicate clearly, remember to avoid mismatching sentence
patterns.
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Rachel Grammer is a writing instructor and the coordinator of student messaging at the Writing Center. A self-professed grammar nerd, she loves discovering the social interests of Walden students and hearing the stories that shine through their writing.
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My professor, always comment on my paper that I must proofread, or that I need to improve my grammar. I try so hard to make it perfect, but never get it right. Your post has helped me see how to construct sentences that start with ing. I want to keep getting tips on how to improve my grammar
ReplyDeleteThank you: Rachel
We're so glad you found the post helpful, Zaida. You can find our other grammar posts by clicking the "Grammar and Mechanics" tag under the post's title. We're going to be devoting all of November's posts and WriteCast episode to grammar, too, so stay tuned! Thanks for your comment!
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