Finding and correcting mistakes in sentences is part of the writing process that students often have trouble with. Using a sentence checker to assist with sentence revision can make it much easier.
Why Writing Complete Grammatically Correct Sentences is Important
You can’t write a good paper without grammatically correct sentences. The rules that govern grammar make your writing more readable and easier to understand. Poorly written sentences with grammar mistakes will quickly make the reader lose interest. Sentences written using proper grammar are better able to convey the message that you want and hold the reader’s interest.
So what makes a good sentence? Every sentence must contain a subject, a verb and express a complete thought. A sentence lacking one of these three things is incomplete. A well written sentence will also be easy to understand and will convey the specific point or idea you want delivered. Grammar doesn’t necessarily make the idea in the sentence good, but it at least makes it understandable.
Top 10 Tips on How to Check Your Sentences Better
Is this sentence grammatically correct? This is a question that students often ask as they labor over revising a paper. The following are ten tips on how to check whether the sentence is right or wrong and write better sentences.
- Check if the sentence is complete. A sentence must have a subject (the person or thing performing the action, a verb (the action being performed) and express a complete thought. If it lacks one or more of these things it is a fragment and grammatically incorrect.
- Eliminate unnecessary words. Every word should serve a specific purpose. If a word is only there as filler get rid of it as it detracts from your sentence.
- Be specific. When possible try to avoid generalizing. Use specifics in your sentences.
- Use the active voice. Active voice engages the reader and gives your writing more impact. The basic structure of active voice sentences is subject, verb, object. Passive voice sentences are the opposite and have an object, verb, subject structure.
- Read sentences out loud. When you read out loud mistakes stand out much more than when you just read to yourself.
- Take a break before revising. When you revise immediately after writing the first draft, your eye tends to see what your brain expects you wrote. Even a break of 20 or 30 minutes will make some mistakes that you previously overlooked stand out.
- Learn the rules for commas. The comma is the most misused punctuation mark in grammar. By learning how and when to use commas you will eliminate many errors.
- Don’t be afraid to rewrite. Sometimes a sentence just doesn’t work and can’t be fixed. Try rewriting it using different words and structures.
- Keep track of previous mistakes. Many people who write tend to make the same mistakes over and over. Take note of mistakes you have made in previous papers and look for those specific errors when revising
- Use a grammar checker. It’s hard to remember all the rules governing grammar. Run your text through a sentence quality checker to find mistakes.
Top 7 Sentence-Related Mistakes a Sentence Error Checker Can Detect
There are hundreds of different sentence related mistakes that might be made when writing a paper. However, some occur much more frequently than others. Here are the top 7 sentence related mistakes to watch out for:
- Comma splice. A comma splice sentence is when two independent clauses are combined into a single sentence using only a comma. When joining independent clauses the comma must be accompanied by a conjunction
- Sentence fragments. Sentence fragments are incomplete sentences. To be complete a sentence requires a subject, a verb and it must express a complete thought. If one of these things is lacking the sentence is incomplete
- Run-on sentences. Run-on sentence errors are similar to comma splices. In this case, two independent clauses are joined without using a conjunction or any punctuation.
- Subject-verb agreement. Subject and verb must agree with one another in number. They will be either singular or plural. If the subject is singular then the verb must also be singular and if the subject is plural, the verb should be also
- Apostrophe mistakes. Apostrophes are used to show possession. They are used with nouns but not with possessive pronouns. If the noun is singular the apostrophe is followed by an “s”. If the noun is plural and ends in an “s” then the apostrophe follows the “s”.
- Pronoun disagreement. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. The noun the pronoun refers to is the antecedent and they must be in agreement. For example, if the noun is plural and a singular pronoun is used to refer to it then there is a pronoun disagreement.
- Misplaced modifiers. Also known as dangling modifiers, these are words that refer to the wrong word in a sentence.
These are the top 7 sentence related mistakes but there are many others. An online check grammar and sentence structure tool like we offer can really benefit you during the revision process
About Our Sentence Correction App
Do you know how I can make my paragraph better? Our sentence paraphraser is just the tool you need to improve your writing by assisting with the revision process. The improve my writing generator scans your paper and provides you with a report that identifies every grammatical and punctuation error in your text. The report from our auto grammar and sentence correction tool also recommends corrections you can make to fix these mistakes. Our complete sentence generator isn’t limited to checking for grammar and punctuation mistakes. Other functions of the tool include:
- Spelling checker. Our writing tool finds and corrects every spelling mistake in your paper
- Tone detector. This tool determines the tone of your text and suggests adjustments you can make to strike just the right tone with your writing.
- Passive voice identifier. Determines if your text is written in passive voice and recommends adjustments to change to active voice
- Plagiarism detector. The plagiarism tool compares your text against billions of documents and web pages and points out any potential plagiarism issues
- Text rearranger. The writing tool can do a complete sentence restructure online as well as reword the text to produce original sentences.
What is the process to check the grammar of my sentence with the writing tool? Using our writing tool is easy. Just copy and paste your text into the provided field and press the button to begin the analyzing process. The complete text analysis usually takes around one minute or less. During the sentence formation check your paper is checked for all types of grammar and punctuation errors as well as examined for text that is too similar to other content. A comprehensive report is provided identifying all errors. For those who ask “How can I correct my sentence?”, suggested corrections are included in the report.
Revise Paragraph Online or Manual Revision
Revision is an essential part of the writing process and there is no getting around it if you want to submit a well polished paper that is free of mistakes. It is up to each individual how they approach the revision process.
- Manual revision. For many years revising a paper manually on your own was the only option available to students and others who write. The positives are that you are able to set your own schedule. Your writing will also improve through learning about sentence reconstruction and other revision skills. The negative aspects are that depending on the length of your paper, the revision process could take many hours and you still might overlook mistakes that detract from your paper.
- Use our sentence builder online. The positives of using our better sentence generator is that it will identify every mistake in your paper in a matter of seconds and provide suggested corrections. Using the tool can also help improve your writing skills as it points out your errors and how to fix them. Should rewording or restructuring text be called for our paraphrase generator can handle the task. Using our writing tool can reduce the revision time by hours.
Our writing tool is extremely accurate and is not subject to human error. It is also quite secure and your paper will never be made available online or provided to other databases. Another advantage is that it can correct any type of paper including essays, dissertations, research papers, articles or any other type of text that needs to be checked.