Crooked sentences are incorrect and/or incorrect sentences caused by a grammatical error. Crooked sentences can be both laughable and disturbing and are more common than you might think. Every day there are a few crooked sentences in a newspaper and the internet is also full of them. But how do you actually prevent a sentence from becoming crooked?
One word too many
Mistakes are often made in repeating words, consciously or unconsciously, which can cause illogical situations in a sentence. A well-known example of this is contamination where words are multiplied. You can see this, for example, in the following sentence: The product is cheap, and it does not cost that much.
An incorrect repetition is another example of a doubling. Just look at this sentence, there is one too many, and it is also better to replace the 2nd with they: Most people feel that they spend very little time on their work.
A double negative
A double negative can lead to strange situations, for example someone unintentionally says the exact opposite. An example of this is: How can he forbid you if you don’t feel like going to a party?
If you want to make the sentence correct, then no omission will have to be left out, otherwise it will say that it actually requires it to make sense.
Pleonasm and Tautology
Using a pleonasm unnecessarily is common. You then repeat a property of a substance that it already has. You can take the white snow as an example. Also, 2 words are often used unnecessarily with the same meaning. The people looked at the corpse because he was dead. This is also called a Tautology.
Incorrect use of a reference word
Referring words always refer to a word, which can be before or after the word. However, before you know which referring word to use, you will first have to determine what kind of word the word to refer to is. If it is the personal form, you can always determine the gender. For example, for male it is he and of course not she. If it is a possessive pronoun, use his, her or his. With a demonstrative pronoun you use this or that for masculine/feminine and this, that for the plural. Finally, you always use them with relative pronouns.
- Good : I enjoyed reading this book.
- Error : I enjoyed reading this book.
Singular plural
Mixing up the singular and plural can sometimes have strange consequences. Examples of this are: The boatswain arrived on deck too late. A number of people were watching . In the first sentence it is incorrect as boatswain is singular, in the second it contains the word number. So always pay attention to these types of sentences!
Wrong word order
An incorrect word order can sometimes have hilarious consequences: He flew through the clouds with only a few occupants . This is of course not possible, the people are not on the cloud but in an airplane.
Incorrect short sentences
In a concise sentence, the main parts of a sentence, the verb and the subject, are omitted. This can have strange consequences: The house ended up with bad rooms . You can probably think of the verb and the subject, but it is not correct Dutch.
Double contractions
Double contractions may be understandable, but they certainly sound stupid. After all, you can omit a double verb provided it has the same meaning or purpose: He ate fries and ate mayonnaise on it .
That/as in succession
You should never put that and if together in a sentence, as this can lead to long-winded and boring sentences.
Preventing crooked sentences
Crooked sentences may bring a layer of hilarity, but if they occur often it will not give a good impression. That is why it is wise to first read your own text and identify any missteps. That way you get a smooth story.
Examples of crooked sentences
- One percent of school-age youth do not go to school. (Daily of the North)
- The storm that passed over our country last night caused a lot of damage. In Pulderbos, in the province of Antwerp, a house fell on a tree. (The last news)
- The gang is said to have been guilty of organized drug trafficking, robberies, theft from cars, pickpocketing and threatening police officers. The suspects are also said to have caused a nuisance. (de Volkskrant)
- Nothing is as relaxing as an evening on the couch with my girlfriend and my feet in a bowl of water. (de Volkskrant)
- He’s not as friendly as he used to be. He says another day, but not a good one. (Unknown)
- Suddenly the ground looked black with white ants. (Unknown)
- Paul McCartney is an artist born in 1942 and he has already won several awards. (InfoNow)