Back
Next
You have learned from the previous lesson that for you to maintain clarity, coherence, and fluency of ideas in speaking and writing, you should convey your thoughts and views in similar grammatical constructions. This means that all elements—nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and others, should have a consistent and balanced construction. This is because a construction that is faulty prevents the readers or listeners to fully understand the intended meaning of your ideas.
To keep a consistent and balanced construction, you should avoid shifts in your constructions. Faulty shifts in tense, number, voice, mood, and discourse lead to disjointed and fragmented ideas. Remember the following rules when you express your thoughts in speaking and writing:
Avoid shifting verb tenses from the past to the present tense or from the present to the past.
Examples:
| Faulty : | Four times Wagadu stood there in all her splendour, and four times she disappears and is lost to human sight. |
| Parallel : | Four times Wagadu stood there in all her splendour, and four times she disappeared and was lost to human sight. |
Avoid shifting from active to passive voice.
Examples:
| Faulty : | After the battle, Gassire left and the spears were gathered by the knights. |
| Parallel : | After the battle, Gassire left and the knights gathered the spears. |
Avoid shifting the mood or the manner in which a thought of a sentence is expressed.
Examples:
| Faulty : | Gassire said, “Gather the spears and you can now go.” |
| Parallel : | Gassire said, “Gather the spears and go!” |
Avoid shifting from a statement to a question or from a question to a statement.
Examples:
| Faulty : | Gassire asked the old wise man whether his father will die or will he live forever. |
| Parallel : | Gassire asked the old wise man whether his father will die or whether he will live forever. |