*92 Most commonly spelt words in writing/errors in syntax

Continued from last week:

Genius Grievance Guard Gauge

Height Hypocrisy Hurriedly Heroes

Irresistible Influential

Immigrate Intelligence

Liaison Livelihood

Lose  Loose

Maintenance Mediterranean  Mischievous  Miniature

Niece Negotiate Nestle  Noticeable

Occasional  Occasionally Occurred Occurrence

Parallel Pastime Permissible Pronunciation

Relieved Rhythm Referred  Repetition

Seize  Separate  Secretary  Supersede

Unnecessary  Usually

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Woollen

Some errors of syntax in writing

Syntax refers to the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. Every language has its own syntax, and in order to be considered a competent user of the language, one must progressively come to terms with and use the syntax of the language appropriately.

In this segment, two errors associated with syntax are highlighted. First is the misplacement of pairs of conjunctions; the second is with the placing of the word ‘only’.

Misplaced Pairs of Conjunctions

We see this error frequently in sentence constructions.  The most common pairs of conjunctions include ‘not only … but also’, ‘either … or’, ‘both … and’. The positioning of these conjunctions matter greatly so that an error does not occur. To illustrate, the sentence ‘She has not only shown herself to be capable but also efficient in her delivery of tasks’ has a problem with syntax. The conjunction ‘not only’ is not correctly placed and ought to have come immediately before ‘capable’. It should thus read: ‘She has shown herself to be not only capable but also efficient in her delivery of tasks.’

Another example to illustrate this is as follows: ‘My flight is either scheduled for 1 pm or 2 pm.’ Can you spot the conjunction that is wrongly placed here? Yes, you’re right – ‘either’.  This is because you ought to ensure that the second conjunction must be followed by the same part of speech as the first; hence, the sentence should read this way: ‘My flight is scheduled for either 1 pm or 2 pm.’ Now look at the expressions that come after the conjunction – they both can be said to have a parallel or similar structure.

The placing of ‘only’

The meaning that we seek to communicate is what should guide the use of this word. ‘Only’ can function as an adjective, an adverb, and a conjunction. If used wrongly, the right meaning would be obscured. It helps to remember that it is usually best to place a word closer to what it is describing.

To illustrate: ‘I only saw him last week’ suggests that you did not speak with or acknowledge the fellow. If the meaning is rather related to the expression ‘last week’, then the sentence should read: ‘I saw him only last week’. And this would mean that not this week but last week did you see the person.

To think about: do you find any difference in the use of ‘only’ in the following expressions?

1. I only ate my food.

2. I ate only my food.

Let me know if you found this helpful. Drop your comments; ask your questions; and share the article.

*Dr. Oji is a Senior Lecturer of English at the Institute of Humanities, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos