Sentence Snarls: Omissions and Restated Subjects

Sentence Snarls: Omissions and Restated Subjects

Always check your work for omissions of necessary words and for repetitions.

Include necessary words in compound structures.
If you omit a verb form from a compound verb, the remaining verb form must fit into each part of the compound. Otherwise, you must use the complete verb form.

	Faulty	He has always and will always try to preserve his father's good name in the community.
	Revised	He has always tried and will always try to preserve his father's good name in the community. [Try fits only with will, not with has.]

Include necessary words in comparisons.

	Faulty	The volleyball captain is as competitive or even more competitive than her teammates.
	Revised	The volleyball captain is as competitive as or even more competitive than her teammates. [The comparative structures are as competitive as and more competitive than. Do not merge them.]

Sometimes you create ambiguity for your readers if you omit the verb in the second part of a comparison.

	Faulty	He liked baseball more than his son.
	Revised	He liked baseball more than his son did. [Omitting did implies that he liked baseball more than he liked his son.]

State the grammatical subject only once.
Even when the sentence contains a phrase or clause between the subject and the verb, one stated subject is enough. Do not restate the subject in pronoun form.

	Faulty	The nurse who took care of my father for many years she gave him comfort and advice.
	Revised	The nurse who took care of my father for many years gave him comfort and advice.