A mixed construction is an element of a sentence that doesn’t make sense, creating an illogical statement with incompatible elements (for example, when there’s a sudden shift in grammatical structure).
You’ll probably catch most of these errors as you read through and revise your work, but sometimes they’re not so noticeable.
3 Common Mixed Construction Errors
Most mixed constructions are found in drafts. You’ll likely catch most of them during your editing phase, but there’s always a chance a few will escape your notice.
The best way to minimize these grammatical error is to get better at identifying them. Here are three common versions of mixed constructions that you need to look out for:
1. The predicate doesn’t match the subject.
Sentences always have a subject and a predicate, the part of the sentence that contains the verb and states something about the subject. In mixed constructions, these two elements don’t match. Take a look at the sentence below:
The police decided that the victim’s location was not safe from the criminal.
It’s the victim who’s not safe from the criminal, not their location. A better way of writing this is:
The police determined that the victim wasn’t safe from the still at-large criminal.
Simply removing the word “location” gives the sentence more clarity, leading the reader to draw a better conclusion of what is meant.
2. There’s a sudden shift in grammatical structure.
You start a sentence using a particular grammatical structure. This lays out a direction of where the sentence should go. For example, a sentence that starts with a subject and then a verb should naturally be followed by a receiver of the verb.
But sometimes you may forget about this and suddenly shift into a different direction, creating two ill-fitting halves of a sentence, like the example below:
For people addicted to video games are risks of bad eyesight.
There’s an obvious change of pattern beginning with the word “are.” The sentence sounds wrong and awkward. A better way of constructing this sentence would be:
Bad eyesight is a big risk for people addicted to video games.
3. The noun and appositive don’t agree.
An appositive is a noun or a noun phrase that sits beside another noun to explain or identify it. It’s a more subtle error than the first two, because it often looks and sounds right at first glance. For example:
Athletes, a competitive profession, requires tons of effort and determination.
Athletes aren’t a profession; they’re the ones who practice the profession of sports. To correct the error, you can either change the noun like this:
Sports, a competitive profession, requires tons of effort and determination.
Or the appositive:
Athletes, a competitive group of people, put lots of effort and determination into their chosen sports.
Signs You’ve Written Mixed Constructions
They happen to the best of us. I write more than a few everyday and it’s totally fine! What’s important is you purge them during the editing process.
But they can be tricky errors. Sometimes it’ll take you more than one revision to correct them all. So here are a few signs to pay attention to when hunting them down.
1. Confusing Sentences
Look out for confusing sentences in your writing. If you can’t immediately grasp their meaning, chances are it’s because they suddenly change patterns.
2. Clunky Sentences
Read each sentence aloud or run it through a text-to-speech program. Pay attention to any sentence that sounds awkward or difficult. These are the sentences that sound correct, but there’s something about them that bugs you.
3. Long Sentences
Mixed constructions often take the form of long sentences because they’re inefficient. When you accidentally shift in structure or make grammatical errors, you’re often forced to use more words than necessary.
Now, not every confusing, clunky, or long sentence is a mixed construction, but there’s a good chance they are, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for them. Plus, it’s always good to revise these kinds of sentences anyway.
Correcting Mixed Constructions
Identifying what mixed constructions are is only the first step. Now you’ve got to edit them out and make sure that your corrections are actually correct.
It’s fine to write whatever during the first few drafts. You don’t need to pay super close attention to grammar or tone during this stage; you’re basically laying down the pieces of a puzzle.
It’s during the editing stage that you need to pay attention. This is the time to remember all those grammar lessons you learned in school.
A sentence is only as effective as its parts, so make sure that all components work well with each other. Pay attention to how they interact. Subjects in plural form should have verbs in plural form too, right? Be logical in your sentence constructions.
Rewrite any sentence that’s awkward and confusing. Your readers shouldn’t have to read a sentence twice to understand its meaning. You can do this by omitting unnecessary words or breaking the sentence down into two instead.
Lastly, read and re-read your work. The more you go over it, the better your chance of finding any errors. Spend as much time editing as you do writing.
Final Words
I think the reason why most people have trouble with mixed constructions is that we often write how we speak, but spoken English is different from written English.
Spoken English is far more informal. It’s more vague and has more freedom in construction. You can splice together words and phrases that will still convey what you mean. That’s because we have elements like stress, pitch, intonation, and timing to depend on.
In contrast, written English is more precise and formal. There’s a lot more technicality involved because it can’t rely on human speech to translate what it means. It needs to be more explicit and organized to be more understandable.
The differences between the two can make writing more confusing. But if you take time to analyze and evaluate your writing, you shouldn’t have much trouble.
What aspect of grammar do you often struggle with? Share it in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- The Most Important Basic Grammar Rules to Know
- 10 Grammar Software Tools and Punctuation Checkers
- The 10 Most Common Grammar Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
- 4 Types of Business Writing and Tips for Improving
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
