Sentence Correction
1. Subject-Verb pair must make sense:
In free beginners study plan, you have learned that a sentence must include both subject and verb. Also we have learned these two things (i.e subject and verb) must agree in numbers with each others. So in this lesson, you will learn subject and verb must also make sense together. For this purpose, first you need to understand what does it mean when I says subject and verb must make sense? and then I will apply this rule to some examples. Finally you will get a mini quiz to test this skill. So let’s get started!
In any sentence, subject and verb must make sense together. For instance, carefully read the sentence below:
After being shut down, the production plant in a small town of Memsburg resulted in a severe loss of jobs and hence severe economic degradation of the local community.
First you have to separate phrases and clauses as below:
After being shut down, the production plant [in a small town of Memsburg] resulted [in a severe loss of jobs and hence severe economic degradation] [of the local community.]
Now identify the verb (i.e the action):
After being shut down, the production plant(sb) [in a small town of Memsburg] resulted(v) [in a severe loss of jobs and hence severe economic degradation] [of the local community.]
This sentence has an error, because it does not make sense.
the production plant resulted in loss of jobs…???
NO! A plan cannot by itself result in loss of jobs. Therefore, subject and verb do not make sense.
The true sense must be like the shut down(sb) of the production plan resulted in loss of jobs… 🙂
So the complete sentence becomes:
Shut down of the production plant in a small town of Memsburg resulted in a severe loss of jobs and hence severe economic degradation of the local community.
That’s why I said you that sentence correction is not just about grammar. It’s more about reasoning and common sense. Therefore, while reading, you should analyze whether the sentence makes sense.
Similarly, let’s consider another example: