Modifiers & Parallelism

At a glance 8 rules

1. 1Opening phrase, then doerAn opening -ing, -ed or 'to' phrase describes the subject that comes right after the comma: 'Running late, Arjun took an auto', not 'Running late, an auto was taken'.
2. 2Fixing an opening phraseIf that subject cannot do the action, put the doer there or give the phrase its own subject ('As Kabir ran...'). In 'Kabir's bag', the subject is the bag.
3. 3Next to its nounA describing phrase sits right next to what it describes: 'a bag with a broken zip for my sister', not 'a bag for my sister with a broken zip'.
4. 4Almost, nearly, justLimiting words go right before the word they limit, and moving them changes the meaning: 'He almost scored a fifty in every match' vs 'He scored a fifty in almost every match'.
5. 5Lists matchEvery item joined by 'and' or 'or' takes one form: 'to read, to write and to speak' or 'reading, writing and speaking'. Check every item, not just the last.
6. 6Paired connectorsBoth...and, either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also: the same kind of word follows each half, and partners never mix ('both ... as well as' is wrong).
7. 7Compare like with likeCompare the same kind of thing: 'Delhi's summers are hotter than those of Pune', not 'than Pune'. Use 'that of' for one thing and 'those of' for many.
8. 8Finish both comparisonsTwo comparisons joined together each need their own words: 'as tall as, if not taller than', never 'as tall, if not taller than'.