Ensure the subject and verb of any clause agree in both person and number. The person indicates whether the subject of the verb is first, second or third person. The number indicates whether the subject and verb are singular or plural. For example, "I think" is first person singular and "we think" is first person plural. "You think" is can be either second person singular or plural. "He/she/it thinks" is third person singular and "they think" is third person plural. A verb must agree in number (singular or plural) with its subject.
Determine if every pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person, gender and number. The antecedent is the word to which the pronoun refers. For example, "Walter brought his laptop computer and e-book to school." The pronoun "his" refers to the antecedent "Walter." Both the pronoun and its antecedent are singular, third person and masculine. Therefore, the pronoun agrees with its antecedent. Use a singular pronoun to refer to such antecedents as each, neither, one, anyone, for example. Use a plural pronoun to refer to everyone or people, for example.
Do not create shifts in sentence structure. A shift is an improper change in structure midway through a sentence. There are four basic types of shifts. A shift in person is mixing first, second or third person within a sentence. A shift in tense is using more than once tense in a sentence when it is unnecessary. A shift in voice is mixing active with passive voice. Unparallel construction occurs when the kind of words or phrases being used shifts or changes in the middle of the sentence. For example, "In my hometown, people pass the time shooting pool, pitching horseshoes, and at softball games" is unparallel construction. The corrected sentence should read, "In my hometown, people pass the time shooting pool, pitching horseshoes, and playing softball."
Avoid fragments, comma splices and run-on sentences. A fragment is a group of words used as a sentence. It is not a sentence because it lacks a subject, a verb or some other essential part, resulting in an incomplete sentence. For example, "Pete gunned the engine. Forgetting that the boat was hooked to the truck" is a fragment. The corrected sentence should read, "Pete gunned the engine, forgetting that the boat was hooked to the truck." When two independent clauses are connected with only a comma, it is called a comma splice. When the comma is not enough to connect these clauses, use a period, semicolon or conjunction instead. For example, "People say that being a stay-at-home mom is an important job, their actions tell a different story" is spliced. The corrected sentence should read, "People say that being a stay-at-home mom is an important job; their actions tell a different story." Two or more sentences joined without adequate punctuation or a connecting word is a run-on sentence. Separate into smaller sentences when possible.
Always avoid leaving misplaced or dangling modifiers in your finished work. Here is an example of a misplaced modifier. "The commercial advertised an assortment of combs for active people with unbreakable teeth." The corrected sentence should read, "The commercial advertised an assortment of combs with unbreakable teeth for active people." Dangling modifiers are descriptive words that modify a subject that is not stated in the sentence. They often appear as phrases containing "ing." Here is an example of a dangling modifier. "After living in the house for one month, the electrician recommended we update all the wiring." The corrected sentence should read," After living in the house for one month, we hired an electrician, who recommended we update all the wiring."
Stay away from sloppy sentences that confuse the reader. When you revise and edit, check for indefinite pronoun references, incomplete comparisons, unclear words and nonstandard language. The careless use of pronouns can cause an indefinite reference. For example in the following sentence, the pronoun "it" could refer to the dictionary or the shelf. "When Tonya attempted to put her dictionary on the shelf, it fell to the floor." Incomplete comparisons are leaving out words that show exactly what the word is being compared to. Do not use wording that has two or more possible meanings and is unclear to the reader. Avoid using nonstandard language that does not conform to the standards of the type of writing you are doing.