Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #424:  Mixed constructions:

These FREE weekly business writing tips
will help you improve your business writing.

Tip #424:  Mixed constructions:  A mixed construction occurs when a sentence contains grammatical forms that are inconsistent with one another.  The most common types of mixed constructions result from the following causes:

Tense:

Change: The pilot lowered the landing gear and is approaching the runway.  (shift from past to present tense)

Change to:  The pilot lowered the landing gear and approached the runway.  OR  The pilot has lowered the landing gear and is approaching the runway.

Person:

Change:  The technician should take care in choosing your equipment. (shift from third to second person)

Change to:  The technician should take care in choosing his or her equipment.  OR  You should take care in choosing your equipment.

The other mixed constructions appear in number and voice.  Please see the exercise below.

Weekly Exercise:

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This week’s quiz:

Rewrite the mixed constructions:

  1. My car, though not as fast as the others, operate on regular gasoline.  (singular subject with plural verb form)
  2. I will check your report, and then it will be returned to you. (shift from active to passive voice)

Quote of the week:

“I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.” (Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642)

My answer to this week's exercise:

Suggested answers:

  1. My car, though not as fast as the others, operates on regular gasoline.
  2. I will check your report and then return it to you.

To send the above exercise answers to Gloria for her comments and review,  copy the questions,  paste  them into an email, answer them,  and send to Marsha@basic-learning.com.

 

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10 Easy Guides for Getting to Your Writing Target
By Gloria Pincu, M.A. , President of Basic Learning Systems, Inc.
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Here are some books on business writing that I recommend.

Bull's Eye Business Writing is also available from Amazon.com.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, author, Lynne Truss The Everything Resume Book by Steven Graber
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction , by William Knowlton Zinsser  The Gregg Reference Manual, by William A. Sabin 
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, White, E. B. White  How to Take the Fog Out of Business Writing, by Robert Gunning, Richard A. Kallan (Contributor) 

More books on business writing and other business subjects  (available from Amazon.com). 

Contact Gloria Pincu at Basic Learning Systems, Inc.

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