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Supporting Developing Country Researchers in Publishing Their Work
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Supporting Developing Country Researchers in Publishing Their Work
By Barbara Gastel, 21 May 2013
By Bernard Appiah, 13 May 2013
By Barbara Gastel, 13 May 2013
By Barbara Gastel, 12 May 2013
By Bernard Appiah, 07 May 2013
By Barbara Gastel | 07 March 2013
[From Michelle Yeoman and Barbara Gastel:]
Editing Solution: Last Week’s Sentence
Our compliments to the person who posted a response and to others who came up with the correct solution. As a reminder, below is Sentence of the Week #21:
Hiding in a corner, Marcus found the mouse.
The error in this sentence is the placement of the phrase hiding in a corner, which should be moved. Thus, a possible solution reads as follows:
Marcus found the mouse hiding in a corner.
The phrase hiding in a corner is a modifier. Modifiers are words, phrases, and clauses that describe another word in a sentence. A dangling modifier occurs when the object of the modifier is unclear.
Because Marcus appears immediately afterward, the phrase hiding in a corner seems to describe Marcus. It is unlikely that Marcus was hiding in a corner (unless he’s afraid of mice). To avoid confusion, the phrase should be moved closer to its object, the mouse.
Sometimes a dangling modifier occurs because the subject of the phrase is missing. (Example: “While away at a conference, the laboratory flooded.”) In this case, adding the correct subject removes ambiguity. (Example: “While the investigator was away at a conference, the laboratory flooded.”)
And now, onward to this week’s sentence.
Sentence of the Week #22
Welcome to the newest installment in this series.
The sentence below has 1 definite error:
After the workshop I will lay down.
Please correct the error, and submit the corrected sentence and any remarks as a comment on this post. We plan to provide and discuss the solution as a comment in about 2 days, as well as including it in the next Sentence of the Week post.
Do you have a sentence that you would like us to consider using as the Sentence of the Week? Please e-mail submissions to Michelle at msyeoman@gmail.com with the subject line “Sentence of the Week”. Submissions should be your own work—don’t nominate a colleague’s writing :).
Please also feel free to e-mail suggestions relating to this series.
This Week's Solution
Posted by Barbara Gastel at 09 March 2013 08:49 PM
Thus far, no one has posted a comment proposing a solution to the latest sentence. Maybe people were very busy. Or maybe the error in the sentence was rather subtle.
As a reminder, here is the sentence: After the workshop I will lay down.
The error in this sentence is the word lay, which should be lie. Thus, the corrected sentence reads as follows: After the workshop I will lie down.
Lie means to be in a horizontal position. Lay, on the other hand, means to put an object down. (Example: “After the workshop I will lay my head on the pillow.”)
An important distinction between lie and lay is that lay requires a direct object. A direct object is the object that receives the action of a verb. In the sentence above that properly uses the word lay, the word head is the direct object.
The situation might be especially confusing because lay is also the past tense of lie. (Examples: “I lay down yesterday afternoon.”) Another form of the verb lie is lying. (“I am lying down.”)
Other forms of lay are laid and laying. (Examples: “I laid the book on the desk.” “I am laying the book on the desk.”)
Special thanks to Michelle Yeoman for contributing to this solution.