攻克句子改错题(8)

高等英语考试中攻克句子改错题,最全的语法详解

the end of the sentence, or doesn’t appear at all, you’ve got a passive voice whispering bland nothings in your ear.

(A) the offensive garment was washed by his long-suffering father

(B) his long-suffering father washed the offensive garment

(C) the washing of the offensive garment took place by his

long-suffering father

(D) long-suffering, the offensive garment was washed by his father

(E) he left the offensive garment for his long-suffering father who

washed it

Here we see passive voice rearing its horrendous head. There’s a was, a by, andthe fact that you don’t know until the last word of this sentence who washed Timmy’s socks. The phrase was washed suggests that someone or something did the cleaning—a parent, a washing machine, a river in Egypt. The point is, you don’t know how the socks got washed.

In order to fix the passive voice, the performer of the action must get a place ofprominence in the sentence and clear up what they’re doing. In the example above, the correct answer must make clear that Timmy’s father did the load oflaundry. Both answers B and E fix the passive voice problem, but E is wordy andredundant, so B is the right answer.

2. Run-On Sentences

A run-on sentence results when two complete sentences get jammed together.Run-ons usually sound breathless, as if an excited child is telling a story. Here’san example of a run-on sentence:

I walked into the pet store and asked the clerk if she had any talking

parrots, this made her roll her eyes.

The best way to test if a sentence is a run-on is to split the sentence in two andsee if both halves of the sentence could function alone: