What is a Syntax Error and How to Avoid Them in Essay Writing
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You don’t seem to understand the rules of academic writing. You have nothing but disgust to offer when essays require you to follow all the rules. How pedantic! You can think of a million interesting activities and not one involves following all the rules of academic writing. Maybe you need to think differently about academic writing!
Instead of academic writing, think of writing in general. Often, the most common mistakes related to syntax are problematic for all kinds of writing. Syntax errors refer to mistakes you make if you violate grammatical or conventional rules of a language. Syntax errors can make your writing appear illegible and unacceptable. No wonder your professor had been positively livid! They can’t comprehend a word you have written. The composition requires you to comply with all the rules of the English language.
What Are Syntax Errors?
There are some common syntax errors. These errors are often easy to avoid and demand little else than an understanding of language and some concentration for you to steer clear of them. You need to make sure you do steer clear if you want to get a passing grade on the essays forming an important part of your overall GPA. That is what I would do if I had to write my essay aptly, concisely, and logically. You must never underestimate the ability of syntax errors to alter the meaning of a sentence.
If you want to remain in the field of academics, you need to become the kind of essay writerwho rids their writing of all those syntax errors it could definitely do without! Begin by knowing more about the most common errors and how to avoid them.
Misplaced Modifiers:
A modifier is a word or phrase added to change another part (usually the subject) in a sentence. Correct use of modifiers can elevate your writing to another level. Incorrect use of modifiers can turn it into an inadvertent shot at humor!
For example, if you state, “Being in a state of ecstasy, the trip to the mountains was replete with joy”.
You probably mean to narrate a joyful experience enjoyed by the subject. However, in this sentence, you seem to have indicated that the trip to the mountains had been ecstatic. This is surely not what you wanted to imply. This sentence is the perfect example of the laughable meanings a statement can take if the correct modifier is not used. The right modifier can mean the difference between legibility and illegibility, coherence and incoherence, and logic and a lack thereof.
The sentence under discussion should have been something like this:
“Being in a state of ecstasy, Mariah’s trip to the mountains was replete with joy.”
The sentence has become much more understandable and effective. It also conveys its meaning explicitly. Now, the subject is easier to determine because of the apt use of the modifier.
When I need to write my essay I make sure that I follow these instructions very carefully.
Run-On Sentences
These become the most frequent sources of annoyance for a reader. When a narrative includes sentences such as “I had to take the bus my car broke down”. When you read through this, the sentence becomes unsettling as there is something that impedes its flow. The statement becomes unclear. There is no information about the connection between the two ideas. The reader doesn’t know how taking the bus and your car breaking down may be connected.
What you have done is taken two clauses and joined them without using the right punctuation or conjunction. Conjunctions are connecting words and there are punctuation marks like the semicolon that connect two ideas. The sentence should have been something like this:
“I had to take the bus because my car had broken down”.
Now, the sentence is complete and one clause only flows into another. The meaning becomes clearer as the reader can understand the sequence of events and their relationship with one another. This sentence conveys exactly what you wanted it to be, that is the reason for you taking a bus was your car breaking down.
Fragments
Fragments are incomplete clauses. These are the gravest of errors you can make while composing those academic essays. These make your ideas impossible to be understood in their entirety. Fragments stand out and make the entire piece unappealing. Most readers prefer not to read a narrative full of fragments. Even one fragment can cause the legibility of your piece to be questioned. Fragments are the cardinal sins of writing. You can also get some assistance from an essay writer in this regard.
You can’t say “I did not want to get into an argument. Or risk losing my temper”.
Getting into an argument and losing your temper are two different ideas. The second sentence makes the mistake of treating the second sentence as another clause of the first even though a full stop has been added between the two sentences. You need to fix the second sentence as it is incomplete. There can be two ways to fix this.
You can either add a semicolon or conjunction and join the two clauses to make a single sentence. The sentence would become:
“I did not want to get into an argument as I risked losing my temper”.
Or,
“I did not want to get into an argument; I could not risk losing my temper”
The two sentences can remain separated by a full stop if you complete the second one. The sentences would look something like this:
“I did not want to get into an argument. I felt I would risk losing my temper”.
As you can see, the sentences have become much clearer. They convey the meaning and flow as they should.
You can make sure you don’t violate these rules by practicing writing. You can also get assistance from an online essay writing service to ensure there are no syntax errors in the essays you submit. Make sure you choose the right service that works round the clock to provide the best services to you!
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