Formatting Works Cited for MLA

by K. Macdissi

Your teacher has assigned a research paper. You’ve chosen a topic, refined the thesis statement that will guide your research, and now you are reading, taking notes, writing your first draft. Then your teacher reminds the class to make sure every source used has its entry on the Works Cited page, using the MLA format. You break out in a cold sweat, but remember the Writing Center Underground has some how-to help on this very topic! And here you are. Let’s break it down bird by bird, as Anne Lamott would say.

The Elements

A Works Cited entry in Modern Languages Association format consists of nine basic elements.  Not every element may be present for every entry, but every element should be considered and included, if present and relevant to your paper. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for your reader to find the sources you used. With that in mind, here are the basic elements:

1. Author.

2. Title.

3. Title of the Container, (The website where an article is housed, for example. More about containers below.)

 4. Contributor, (this could be an editor, or a director, if citing a movie—the idea is that they contributed significantly to the overall work that you are using)

5. Version,

6.  Number,

7.  Publisher,

8.  Publication date,

9.  Location.

Punctuation Between Elements

Notice that elements 1,2 and 9 will be followed by a period. The other elements will be followed by a comma.

A  Look at Each Element

Author:  Finding the author of a web article can be tricky. If the author’s name is not under the title of the article (as you would expect), scroll down to the very end of the article as well. Often you will find it there. Sometimes there truly is no author attributed, in which case skip this element and move on to the title. Occasionally,  the author may be an organization or corporation, but if the corporate “author” is the same as the publisher, skip the author and move on to title.

Format for single author:  Last name, First Name. Ex. Lamott, Anne.

Two authors:  Last name, First Name and First Name, Last Name. Ex. Campbell, Joseph and Edith Hamilton.

Three or more authors: Last Name, First Name, et. al. Ex. Frazier, James, et. al.

Corporate Author: Name of the corporation or government entity.

Ex. Modern Language Association of America.

Title of Source: Use the entire title, capitalizing the major words. A shorter work (those often “contained” in larger works) such as a short story, article, poem or song goes in quotation marks.

Title of an article on a website: “Finding Your Zen.”

Title of an entire website: Zen Institute.

Title of a book: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Title of an article in a journal: “What Exactly Does Our Robot Future Look Like?”

Title of a journal: Journal of the American Medical Association.

Title of Container: Most sources will be housed or contained within another, larger source, or “container.”  The website article is contained within the website. The journal article is contained within the journal. A short story or an essay might be contained within a book (often an anthology). A movie might be contained within a streaming service, like Netflix or Hulu. Starting to get the idea?  These larger containers will be italicized, and followed by a comma since there is usually descriptive information added such as an editor, volume number, or date.

First containers: Anthologies or collections, magazines and newspapers, scholarly journals, TV series, websites.

Second containers: Yes, there can be more than one container. An article might be contained in a journal, which in turn is contained in a database, for example.  These second containers will also be italicized.

Ex.  “Little Red Riding Hood.”  The Blue Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, Longmans, 1889. Project Gutenberg.

Contributors: These are people other than the author that have contributed to the work in some significant way. Editors, translators and directors are frequently mentioned in this category, but depending on your medium and/or your research topic, you might need to cite illustrators, narrators or performers as well. Precede the name (or names) of contributors with a description of the role.

Ex:  Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorcese

Version: If there is any indication that the source is available in different versions, identify the version you are using.

 Ex. The Bible. New International Version, Cambridge UP, 2003.

Number: If your source is one volume in a numbered series, indicate that fact. Journals are also typically numbered, with all the issues of one year comprising a volume. The volumes are sequential, while the issues start with “1” for each year.  

Ex.  Jones, Jane. “Why We Write: Engaging in Text Response as a Subversive Act.” College Writing, vol. 22, no. 3, Oct. 2017, pp 45-47.

Not every journal uses “volume” as an organizing principle. Some just list issues sequentially.

Ex. “Blogging Toward Bliss.” Namaste, no. 77, 2015, pp. 23-24.

Publisher: This is the entity responsible for getting your source out into the world. It might be a traditional publishing company like Simon and Schuster or St. Martin’s Press. It can also be an organization like The National Council of Teachers of English. If you are citing a film, the publisher could be Twentieth Century Fox.  The publisher’s name is written in normal text, neither italicized nor enclosed in quotations. A publisher is usually not given for journals and periodicals, nor for websites whose title is essentially the same as the publisher. Likewise, if something is self-published by the author, no publisher name is required.

Date of Publication: For a book or periodical, the date is pretty straightforward—usually found on the copyright page for books, or on the cover for periodicals. Many online articles are also clearly dated. However, online articles may also have been published previously in another medium. In this case, use the date most relevant to your research. If you used the web article, use the web date. Also use as much date information as you have. If the article has a month and day, use them in your citation, but don’t forget that in MLA, the day comes before the month.

Ex. 14 July 2013.

Location: For print sources, use page numbers to indicate the location of the material you used for your paper, preceded by p. for a single page, or pp. for multiple pages. Ex. p. 3 or pp. 25-28.

Use the URL for online articles, omitting the http:// tag at the beginning of the URL. Ex. u.osu.edu/pollinators101.

If your source has a DOI (digital object identifier) use that in place of the URL. DOIs are stable and will remain the same even if the URL changes.

And that’s it. You have all the pieces of information necessary to write an entry for  Works Cited in MLA style. Not every entry will use every element, but here is an example of an entry that uses most of the elements.

Evans, Christine. “Artemis vs. Athena: Feminine Role Models in Myth and Legend.” Salamander, vol. 10, no. 4, May 2005. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/866704.

Now you can give due credit to all the sources and writers who have informed your research paper and give your readers the information they would need to find those sources.  Happy writing!

Understanding Plagiarism

What is it and how to avoid it

^{Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com}

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means:

•to steal or pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own; use (another’s production) without crediting the source.

• to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

Most students know that to pass off another’s work as his or her own is considered intentional plagiarism. “Intentional” means that the writer has purposefully, with dishonest intent, taken the words of another and placed their name as the author of the sourced material. To those in academia, intentional plagiarism is the most flagrant abuse of plagiarism.

However, many instances of plagiarism in academic student writing would be considered unintentional, or not done with dishonest intent. Plagiarism that is unintentional (not done by intention or design) could fall under the umbrella of failing to cite properly, failing to use quotation marks, or paraphrasing incorrectly. It’s essential for students to understand exactly what constitutes both types of plagiarism, and how to avoid it.

Plagiarism Examples

Which scenarios below are considered plagiarism?

Scenario 1:

Your research essay assignment requires you to use five sources. You scan the internet and library databases and find a few articles that fit your needs. You cut and paste the quotes you want to use into your paper. Each source you’ve cut and pasted is listed in your Works Cited.  

Scenario 2:

You have found the perfect sources to use in support of your argument. After choosing the section you want to paraphrase, you carefully change a word or two in each sentence so it is not worded exactly the same as the source article. Since you’ve reworded the quotes, you don’t worry about listing in the Works Cited.

Scenario 3:

You have used several direct quotes in your research paper. While you have not included author or attributive tags, you have cited the sources in the text.

Each of the previous scenarios could be considered plagiarism, as each example lacks some key elements.

Unintentional Plagiarism

One type of unintentional plagiarism is when a student uses words or ideas of another and fails to give the original source credit. This lack of acknowledgment usually happens when students are learning how to integrate research into their papers. This can be remedied by simply learning how to cite properly. The following direct quote is from an essay by Roger Sipher. For our purposes, the examples are utilizing MLA citation style.

Incorrect Direct Quote:

“A decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator that American education is in trouble.”

As you can see in this example, there is no in-text citation or parenthetical reference at the end of the quote and before the final period to identify the writer or source. Who said it? Where did it come from?

When incorporating direct quotes, always include some kind of introductory or author tag along with direct quotes, as direct quotes should never stand alone as a sentence. This means that a direct quote should always have other words in the sentence, either before the quote begins, in the middle (if breaking up quote), or at the end of the sentence.

Correct Direct Quote:

According to Sipher, “A decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator that American education is in trouble” (25).

The second example has not only included the page reference (25) to the source, but also added a few words of introduction, called an author or attributive tag. Regardless of whether you directly quote, summarize, or paraphrase, the original source must always be cited in the text, as well as listed on the Works Cited or Reference page.

When you want to directly quote a source, take care to put quotation marks around all of the words that came from the source, whether it’s one word or fifty. Inserting exact wording from a source without using quotation marks is also a form of plagiarism, whether you cite the source or not.

Incorrect:

A decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator that American education is in trouble (Sipher 25).

In this example, the writer has used the exact quote, which should have quotation marks around it to the reader identifies it as an exact quote.

Correct:

Roger Sipher, author of, “So That Nobody Has To Go To School If They Don’t Want To,” states that “A decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator that American education is in trouble” (25).

Paraphrasing & Summarizing

Paraphrasing and summarizing are used in research papers when you don’t want to use a direct quote. When paraphrasing, you’ll take a passage from source material and put the language in your own words. A summary is much shorter, and usually takes a broad overview of the subject in your own words.

When you want to paraphrase or summarize, you must not only change the words of the original source, but the sentence structure as well. Simply replacing one word with a synonym is not enough to avoid plagiarism.

When paraphrasing or summarizing, always read over the source material several times. You should understand it so well you could potentially have a conversation about it with a peer and communicate all the major points. When you know it this well, you are ready to paraphrase or summarize.

Original Material:

Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. It occurs when a child is well above the normal weight for his or her age and height. Childhood obesity is particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start children on the path to health problems that were once confined to adults, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Poor Paraphrase:

Obesity in children is a serious condition that affects children and teens. It occurs when a child is above the normal weight for his or her age and height. Childhood obesity is particularly worrisome because the extra pounds often cause kids to have health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Poor Summary:

Obesity in children is a serious condition.

Notice that in the poorly paraphrased example, a few words were omitted and a few were changed to a word with the same meaning. The sentence structure – the order of the words in the sentences – however, has not been altered. Avoid cutting and pasting, then simply omitting one word for a synonym.

In the summary example, the writer has simply cut and pasted most of the first sentence word for word. Again, read over a passage and put into your own words.

Final Thoughts

Failing to use quotation marks, failing to cite properly, failing to add a Works Cited or Reference page, or failing to take care when paraphrasing and summarizing can all be troublesome and puts you at risk for plagiarism. Plagiarism comes in many forms, but once you understand how to correctly cite and quote research, as well as how to paraphrase and summarize, you can avoid most unintentional plagiarism errors.

5 Tips to Integrate Sources & Use Attributive Tags Effectively

 

Regardless whether you summarize, paraphrase, or directly quote, outside sources must be integrated smoothly into your essay. Research that is stuck in carelessly without careful integration runs the risk of sounding like it doesn’t belong, creating paragraphs that lack cohesiveness and focus. Instructors often refer to this as the “cut and paste” research paper that will often garner a failing grade. Follow the tips below to learn how to integrate source material effectively.

Tip # 1: Write the draft first

Before you begin to integrate your sources, you need something to integrate them into. Writers who try to compose a paper at the same time they are integrating sources find they lose their “voice,” and begin to sound like the voice of the research they are quoting. To avoid this, write a first draft of your paper, with only your words and your voice doing the talking. By taking this first step in getting your ideas on paper, you’ll avoid letting the research take over. Some instructors require a rough draft before even integrating source material to confirm you are not borrowing others’ ideas.

Tip # 2: Use Attributive Tags

 Attributive, or author tags, refers to a few words of introduction of your source. An attributive tag includes the author’s name, and varying information depending on the context, including the author’s professional title (is he or she a “Dr.”  Scientist,” “Researcher,” or “Professor”?), the article’s title, and any other relevant information, which could include the author’s position on the subject (“John Smith, ecologist and staunch opponent of keeping animals in captivity. . .”).

An author tag identifies the information presented as coming from an outside source and not you. You must make clear throughout your paper what information is coming from outside sources. Failing to use attributions is considered a type of unintentional plagiarism.

Tip # 3: Vary the way author tags are used

 Author tags can be incorporated in 3 ways:

1. The author tag can be introduced first before the quoted material.
2. The author tag can be placed in the middle of the quoted material.
3. The author tag can be placed at the end of the quoted material.

EX. 1
Vivian Cook, author of Second Language Learning and Language Teaching, says that “there is no such thing as the classroom, as classrooms vary in so many ways” (149).

EX. 2
“There is no such thing as the classroom,” says Vivian Cook, author of Second Language Learning and Language Teaching, “as classrooms vary in so many ways” (149).

EX. 3
“There is no such thing as the classroom, as classrooms vary in so many ways,” says Vivian Cook, author of Second Language Learning and Language Teaching (149).

Note that in the first example, there is no comma after that, as it reads as a continuous thought. If the attribution ended with the word says, it would have a comma immediately after “says” and the first word of the quoted sentence would be capitalized.

Vivian Cook, author of Second Language Learning and Language Teaching, says, “There is no such thing as the classroom, as classrooms vary in so many ways” (149)

Tip # 4: Use a colon when the author tag is a full sentence

The rule for using a colon following an attributive tag is if the tag is a complete sentence or independent clause, it must be followed by a colon. (Note that the author tags in the previous examples are all technically sentence fragments.)

Incorrect: 

Cameron believes artists should stop making excuses for not following their dreams. “Stop waiting until you make enough money to do what you really love” (57).

The quote above is an example of a dangling quote, or a quote that stands alone as a sentence. You can often (though not always) correct this mistake by taking the previous sentence and place a colon at the end instead of a period:

Correct:

Cameron believes artists should stop making excuses for not following their dreams: “Stop waiting until you make enough money to do what you really love” (57)

Tip #5: Use attributive tags with paraphrases and summary

When incorporating paraphrase and summary, it is impossible to tell if the information is the thoughts of the writer or from an outside source without attributive tags. In the examples below, the writer includes the name of the source, even though it is a paraphrase and not a direct quote. By doing this, the reader knows the information is coming from research and not the writer:

In Talking from 9 to 5, Deborah Tannen explains that for women in the workplace, the situation is changing, whether we talk about it or not (130).

Nickerson argues that clear communication hinges upon what an audience does and does not know. It is crucial to assume the audience has neither too much nor too little knowledge of the subject, or the communication may be inhibited by either confusion or offense (737).

As you work on integrating your source material –

• Avoid using two quotations in a row without intervening (explanatory) material of your own.

• Avoid referring to your sources as quotes. Instead of, “In this quote,” write “Here we see. . .” or “As Smith points out. . .”.  (http://library.rpcc.edu)
• Introduce the quote; quote; explain the quote. Always place outside research in context to the point you are attempting to make, and do it in your own words.

Taking care to integrate your outside source material will result in a top-notch research essay that will flow naturally and earn you respect as a thorough and fair researcher.

 

Plagiarism: What is it and How to Avoid it

Plagiarism is using the ideas and words of others and failing to acknowledge the original source. However, college students are constantly exposed to the ideas of others. Students read texts, attend class lectures, watch documentaries, and even surf the internet where we are routinely inundated with unlimited online content. Students are often confused by all the complexities involved in citing sources, so determining when and how to cite information in research papers is always a challenge.

To avoid plagiarism, you must credit any source when using

• another’s idea, opinion, or theory

• statistics, graphs, charts, or other images

• any direct quotations of written or spoken words

• paraphrase or summary of another’s written or spoken words

In short, any time you incorporate another’s ideas or words in any form, regardless of whether you use a direct quote, or whether you paraphrase or summarize another’s information, you must clearly acknowledge the source or you could be accused of plagiarism.

Quoting and Paraphrasing

It’s most common to incorporate direct quotes into our research papers, and most students know to acknowledge the original source of any direct quotes used. But paraphrasing is another skill that you might utilize even more often than directly quoting sources. Paraphrasing, even though it isn’t the exact words of the original source, must be cited, so it’s imperative to learn how to paraphrase correctly.

When you want to paraphrase, you must not only change the words of the original source, but the sentence structure as well. Simply replacing one word with a synonym is not enough to avoid plagiarism.

Original –

“Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. It occurs when a child is well above the normal weight for his or her age and height. Childhood obesity is particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start children on the path to health problems that were once confined to adults, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.”

Paraphrase Considered Plagiarism –

Obesity in children is a serious condition that affects children and teens. It occurs when a child is above the normal weight for his or her age and height. Childhood obesity is particularly worrisome because the extra pounds often cause kids to have health problems, such as high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

 

Notice that in the paraphrased example, a few words were omitted and a few were changed to a word with the same meaning. The sentence structure – the order of the words in the sentence – however, has not been altered, except for one or two words. Basically, the second example is the same as the original, minus a few synonym changes. The best way to avoid plagiarism when paraphrasing is to read the section a few times, and then put it in your own words. Avoid cutting and pasting, then simply tweaking the language.

 

Plagiarism and the Internet

The World Wide Web is a wonderful thing. Boundless information is available at our fingertips, some of which has an author attributed to the writing, but many that do not. Don’t be fooled into thinking that an online source does not need to be acknowledged if no author’s name is attached. The rules apply to online sources of information just as they do to print sources, even blogs and social media. Any content taken from another source must be acknowledged. This includes not only ideas or theories, but also images, graphics, tables, charts – any type of information that you have not originally conceived.

If you can find no attributable author, then you would cite either by the title of the article, the web page, or the website name.

 

Information Considered Common Knowledge

Common knowledge is information that is widely known and available in numerous sources. Note the following statements, which would be considered common knowledge

The first president of the United States was George Washington.
The Earth is one of nine planets that orbit around the Sun.
World War II ended when the Allied troops defeated Nazi Germany and Japan.

These statements are widely known and widely read in texts. Each of these statements can be used in a research paper without acknowledging the original source, as the statements are general knowledge.

Experts sometimes disagree on how to judge what is considered common knowledge and what is not. Some facts that are common knowledge in one discipline may not be common knowledge in another. For instance, if a definition or fact is found in a highly specialized reference book, such as a medical reference book, but not readily known to a general audience, than it should probably be cited.

Understanding exactly what constitutes plagiarism is the first step to avoiding it. Take care to acknowledge any information you get from any type of source, be it print or online, with a given author, or no author. If you have any doubt about how or when to cite a source, always ask your professor.

 

 

 

Secrets to Effective Dialogue

Last week here at Writing Center Underground, we discussed how to format written dialogue for your narrative essay. This week, we’ll look at the qualities of effective dialogue.

When composing a narrative essay, dialogue is an essential component for creating an engaging story. Without the spoken words, the reader can’t “hear” the characters (the real people who you are introducing to your audience) and get to know them. Simply summarizing what a character said isn’t as engaging or interesting as direct dialogue between characters.

When composing a narrative, you’ll most likely be re-creating conversations from the past. Don’t get too caught up in whether or not you recall exactly what was said. That is less important as how you portray the people in your narrative with their language, mannerisms, and other characteristics of their speech. When trying to decide exactly where and how to incorporate written dialogue, there are 3 essential questions to ask yourself before you begin:

• Is it AUTHENTIC?

• Is it ESSENTIAL?

• Is it DOING MORE THAN ONE THING?

 Is it Authentic?

Authentic dialogue realistically portrays the person speaking. If it’s authentic, the spoken words will sound exactly like the person would sound in real life. This doesn’t mean you have to incorporate slang in every sentence, but it does mean that the diction, word choice, phrasing, and other stylistic choices can easily be attributed to the person who is speaking in the narrative. It shouldn’t be too formal or precise. Below is an exchange of dialogue between a son and his mother:

“Jason,” my mother asked, “what were your activities and pursuits at your elementary school today?”

“I had a full day of activities, Mother.  My teacher was quite stimulating, and recess was especially delightful,” I said.

Doesn’t quite sound right, does it? Most likely, an exchange between a mother and young son might sound something like this:

“How was school today?” mom asked.

“It was okay I guess.”

The first example obviously sounds stilted and formal, unlike how most families speak. The second example is more realistic. Some writers might choose to even use slang in their speech, such as “I dunno,” or “Kinda good,” but be very careful of overusing phonetic substitutes, as it becomes a bit tedious to read and runs the risk of characters sounding illiterate.

Is it ESSENTIAL?

“Hi Jim. How are you?” I asked.

“I’m fine. How are you?” Jim said.

“I’m fine,” I said.

BORING! An exchange like the example above is not essential to the narrative. It’s not really doing anything toward moving the narrative forward or showing any kind of characterization of the speakers. Compare this with the following exchange:

“Hi Jim,” I said.

“What wrong?” Jim asked, concerned.

“It’s my dad,” I said, breaking down.

In this exchange, the everyday-ness of the previous example is avoided. There may have very well been niceties exchanged, but in written dialogue, the writer must compress time and get to what’s essential. Here we get tension, we get emotion, and the narrative is propelled forward. Which leads us to essential element #3.

Is It Doing More Than One Thing?

Dialogue, whether in fiction or nonfiction, isn’t meant to simply allow characters to “speak.” If this is all it’s doing, then it isn’t doing enough.

Dialogue should draw a characterization. This means that the dialogue works to show traits of the person speaking, or the relationship between the speakers.  What they say, how they say it, and the tone they use provides the reader with lots of information they wouldn’t get otherwise.

The following excerpt is from Beloved by Toni Morrison, an expert at characterization through dialogue. Notice in this example that Morrison mostly avoids using phonetic spellings, but simply drops words to characterize the speakers:

“Something funny ‘bout that gal,” Paul D said, mostly to himself.

“Funny how?”

“Acts sick, sounds sick, but she don’t look sick. Good skin, bright eyes and strong as a bull.”

“She’s not strong. She can hardly walk without holding on to something.”

“That’s what I mean. Can’t walk, but I seen her pick up the rocker with one hand.”

“You didn’t.”

“Don’t tell me. Ask Denver. She was right there with her.”

In this exchange, Morrison avoids speaker tags, except in the first line to set up the exchange. This “he said, she said” can take away from an otherwise engaging exchange, and here, it isn’t necessary. Also notice that the two people speaking have distinctly different styles, so it’s easy to differentiate each speaker from the other.

Consider everything the following bit of dialogue is doing:

“What’s the capital of Spain?” Jerry asked, pausing over his crossword puzzle.

Susan looked up from her book and rolled her eyes. “Madrid, duh.”

“Why are you so sarcastic all the time?” Jerry slammed his pencil on table. He

looked like he was going to cry. “I don’t think I can take much more of this.”

Poor Jerry! You can cut the tension with a knife! What’s going to happen? Several things are happening with this dialogue-

1. Characterizes speakers
2. Shows relationship between characters
3. Creates tension
4. Moves narrative forward

When you’re writing dialogue for your narrative, consider why you are incorporating each exchange and know what your purpose is for including it. If it isn’t essential, leave it out.

There really are no secrets to writing effective dialogue, but knowing who your characters are and why you are incorporating every exchange will help you in determining what to leave in and what to take out. Avoid phony or forced speech, and use speaker tags thoughtfully. When you’re finished, read your essay aloud to “hear” what you’ve written. Try reading some essays or short stories to see how other writers do it. Follow these steps, and you’ll be writing dialogue like a pro!

Below is a brief reading list of some of the greatest writers of dialogue you might study.

“Hills Like White Elephants” – Ernest Hemingway.

“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” – Raymond Carver.

Anything by Elmore Leonard or John Steinbeck.

 

 

 

 

Write-Speak: Correcting Faulty Sentence Constructions

 

When I was an undergrad writing major, I was told “Write like you talk.” If I were writing a work of fiction that needed realistic dialogue, writing like I talked worked great. But in all other forms of writing, if I were to write like I talked, it would look something like this:

“It’s like where you go. . . I mean. . . it’s when you turn left. . . like. . . up in the house when the corner turns . . .”

Or

“I can’t believe my Royals. . . Like. . .Oh my gosh! They were all going crazy. . . like, when they won. . . I was where I couldn’t talk, I was so excited!”

If you listened to just about any casual conversation, you would hear patterns of inconsistency (and really bad grammar!). Many, if not most, of our spoken sentences would be fragments or incomplete sentence structures. We talk it bits and pieces, and mix sentence constructions without even knowing it. Many of us intersperse our spoken sentences with numerous “filler” words, such as “like” in the examples above. So you can see how difficult it becomes to maintain consistency in our writing. Recognizing these patterns of inconsistencies is the first step to editing these incomplete structures.

Inconsistent Subjects & Predicates

Identifying the subject and predicate can be the first step toward identifying sentence inconsistencies. In the examples below, the subject and predicate don’t fit together grammatically or just don’t make sense:

EX.
From all his hard work helped Karl graduate.

When you read the sentence, you might “hear” something is wrong, but might not be able to identify the problem. The sentence begins with the prepositional phrase, From all his hard work, which acts as the subject of the verb. This is not a grammatically correct construction.

Revised:

All his hard work helped Karl graduate.

That sounds better.
______________________________________________

Look at the following problem example, where you’ll see an issue with inconsistent subject/predicate:

EX.

A characteristic that I admire is a person who is generous.

The subject of the sentence is “characteristic.” The verb is “admire.” But “a person” is not a characteristic, so this statement isn’t logical.

Revised:

A characteristic that I admire is generosity a person who is generous.

“Generosity” is a characteristic that can be admired in a person.

 

See if you can catch the faulty predication in the following example:

EX.

A compromise between the mountains and the beach would be an ideal place to vacation.

If you said that the subject of the sentence – “compromise” – cannot be an “ideal place,” you would be correct. It isn’t logical.

Revised:

A place combining features of the mountains and the beach would be an ideal place to vacation.

OR

The ideal place to vacation would be a location combining features of the mountains and the beach.

___________________________________________________

Keep Consistent Grammatical Patterns

Mixed Structures

One of the most common inconsistencies is what is referred to as a mixed construction. In mixed constructions, the grammatical pattern used in the first part of a sentence is not carried through in other parts of the sentence, creating an illogical sentence. The speaker of the sentence sets out to say one thing and switches to something else, resulting in confusion:

EX.

The fact that I get up at 5:00 a.m., a wake-up time that explains why I’m always tired in the evening.

The subject of the sentence, The fact, is followed by a dependent clause, that I get up at 5:00 a.m.; a predicate (verb or verb phrase) is needed to complete the independent clause. However, the sentence is mixed with another dependent clause, a wake-up time that explains why I’m always tired in the evening, which creates a fragment.

Revised:

The fact that I get up at 5:00 a.m., explains a wake-up time that why I’m always tired in the evening.

OR

The fact that I get up at 5:00 a.m., a wake-up time that explains why I’m always tired in the evening.

Another mixed sentence can occur with is when and is where, as in the following examples:

An examination is when you are tested.

An examination is where you are tested.

Think about what the subject actually is in this sentence. Examination is a test. Examination is not a time or place. When should only be used when referring to time. Use where only when referring to a place.

Revised:

An examination is a test of what you know.
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The ability to identify subjects and predicates is helpful in avoiding faulty sentence constructions, but sometimes we just know something doesn’t sound right when we read it. Carefully reading through your sentences to see if they are logical is the first step to editing out sentence-level inconsistencies.

Examples from http://wps.ablongman.com and The Everyday Writer: A Brief Reference.