Sentence Structure and Written Expression: Building Clear Sentences
What is tested
Sentence Structure and Written Expression tests whether you can build grammatical, logical, and correctly punctuated sentences: clause combining, parallel structure, modifier placement, and sentence ordering. The exam often gives scrambled parts or an underlined error.
Core rules
- Every sentence needs a finite main clause; subordinate clauses need a connector such as 'because', 'although', or 'which'.
- Keep parallel items in the same grammatical form: 'reading, writing, and speaking', not 'reading, writing, and to speak'.
- Place modifiers next to what they modify. 'Only she called him' differs from 'She only called him'.
- Join two independent clauses with a conjunction or a semicolon, not a comma alone.
- In ordering tasks, find the topic first, then the connector that depends on it.
Worked example
Reorder: the proposal / because / was rejected / it / funding / lacked Answer: 'The proposal was rejected because it lacked funding.' Reasoning: 'The proposal' is the topic and subject of 'was rejected'. 'Because' introduces a subordinate clause; its subject 'it' refers to the proposal, and 'lacked' needs the object 'funding'. Placing 'because' first would create a fragment unless a main clause follows.
Traps
- Comma splices: 'The plan failed, it lacked support.'
- Dangling participles: 'Walking home, the rain started' implies the rain walked.
- Faulty parallelism after 'and', 'or', 'not only ... but also'.
- Misplaced 'only', 'almost', or 'even', which changes emphasis.