21st Century Grammar Handbook (23 page)

Objects in sentences can be of any
gender, number,
or construction—that is, they can be
compound words, phrases, clauses,
or any combinations of them: “The artist painted vast swirls of color, leaping and falling, twisting vortices of emblems and their effigies.” Everything in the example after the word “painted” is its object.

Although there is no limit on the complexity or content of any sentence’s object, remember to make sure that all the pronouns in it are of the correct gender, number, and case to refer clearly and accurately to the subject or object they modify or relate to. See
antecedent
and
modifier.

Prepositions
also govern objects in the objective case: “The cow looked at her, and she glanced toward the farmer.” The prepositions “at” and “toward” are followed by the objects “her” and “the farmer.” Again, noun objects are not distinguishable by form but only by function, while most pronoun objects appear in a different form.

Remember also that
linking verbs
like
“is”
are not followed by objects but by predicate
nominatives
(also called
subject complements)
that are not in the objective case but in the nominative: “Who is he?” See also
predicate.

Objective case.
Words that function as
objects (direct object
or
indirect object
or objects of
prepositions)
in
sentences
are in the objective (also called accusative)
case.
This case is not distinguishable from the
nominative
or normal form of
nouns
but is marked (or inflected) in
pronouns:
“I, me” “we, us” “he, him” “she, her” and “they, them” (the nominative and objective cases, respectively, of the
personal pronouns).
See
inflection.

Of.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“That is not characteristic of him.” Do not add this
preposition
to other prepositions that don’t need it and can stand on their own
(outside, inside, off).
Do not use “of” to stand for
“have”
in compound
verbs
like “could have.”

Off.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“We helped take the heavy costume off her.”

On, upon.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“The blame fell on us.” Use “on” except in the few cases when fairy-tale language is the proper style: “Once upon a time.” Otherwise, “upon” is an old-fashioned word that has lost its usefulness.

Once.
See
adverb
and
conjunctive adverb.

One.
“One” is not only a
cardinal number
but an
indefinite
pronoun always used in the singular: “Shadow was one of my dogs, the one that remains my favorite.” See also
number
and
pronoun.

One another.
See
reciprocal pronoun.

Oneself.
Set reflexive pronoun
and-
self.

Onto.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“The burden of work shifted onto us.”

Op. cit.
This
abbreviation
of the
Latin
words “
opere citato”
(“in the work cited”) is used only in footnotes and endnotes to scholarly works, and even there it is losing favor and being replaced by shortened titles or authors’ names.

Or.
See
correlative conjunction.

Order of words.
The simplest, “normal” order of words in a sentence is
subject, verb,
and
object
(or
subject complement):
“Flemming hit the target; Hemming is an archer.” The example is a
compound sentence
made up of two independent
clauses
each of which displays the simple, normal word order on which all variants are made. And the variant word orders are endless, as shown in entries
emphasis, question, imperative, inversion,
and so on.

Subjects can come after verbs or stand in their “normal” place: “Hit the ball, Reid! The ball, Reid, is the thing to hit.” Similarly, verbs and objects can move around in the basic sentence structure or in any of the many altered structures that are possible for sentences: “The ball, hit by Reid, soared toward a fence being painted by Johnson and being watched through a telescope by Potter.”

One way to make your writing more lively or informative is to vary the order and structure of words in sentences
within
paragraphs
and from paragraph to paragraph. Not only can you play with the order of the basic pattern of words but you can vary the length of
sentences,
shifting between long, complex ones and simple, short ones. Long sentences need not be complex; they can be made up of simple
lists
of subjects and objects: “Books, pamphlets, bulletins, newsletters, and software are created, compiled, edited, produced, and published by organizations, associations, government offices, military establishments, businesses, and publishing houses.” The example simply combines compound subjects, verbs, and objects in the “normal” subject, verb, object pattern. In similar fashion, short sentences can be made complex by inversion or other devices: “To whom is it given?”

Voice, mood,
and
tense
can also vary to modify word order and invigorate writing. While it is a generally correct practice to avoid many
passive
constructions, the occasional passive voice sentence can create emphasis or shift
tone
in interesting ways. Imperatives can also provide variety and point, as can careful shifting of the time in which an action or condition is cast.

Sentences need not all begin with subjects.
Prepositional phrases,
dependent clauses, verbal
phrases, interjections,
and other elements are sometimes welcome changes from subject, verb, object consistency: “Speaking of word order, try moving things around, and you will see an immediate change in your statements. Maybe even an improvement!”

Nor do sentences have to end with objects. Again, all sorts of phrases and clauses can appear at the end (or in the middle) of any sentence and help it make its point:
“Jumbled together at the end of sentences, words influence sense in a manner that is hard to judge, difficult to evaluate, and sometimes painful to experience.”

In rearranging words from the simple sentence pattern into other forms, keep in mind the need to maintain
agreement
among all the sentence elements.

Ordinal number.
Numbers
that express sequence or order are called “ordinals”: “The Porsche was first, and the Mazda was twenty-third.” Simple numbers are called
“cardinal numbers.”
See also
number.

Otherwise.
See
conjunctive adverb.

Our.
See
are.

Ourselves.
See
reflexive pronoun.

Out.
Preposition
governing the
objective case.

Outside of.
In formal writing there is no reason to add “of” to
prepositions
like “outside” or
“inside.”

Over.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“The curse hung over us as we explored the tomb.”

Paid.
See
pay.

Paragraph.
A collection of
sentences
that is more or less fully focused on one subject, theme, or idea is called a “paragraph.”

Paragraphs are usually distinguished by some form of spacing: The first lines of paragraphs are often “indented” or moved in from the left margin a bit, as in this book. Typewritten or computer-written documents often show a space between paragraphs, particularly when their first lines are not indented.

Most
grammar
and
style
books call for cohesion or focus of paragraphs in a fairly strict way. Paragraphs should begin with “topic sentences” that state their subject or theme, followed by some prescribed number of sentences expanding on the theme. They should end with a summary or transitional sentence that somehow introduces the next paragraph or logical passage.

Such
rules
should be followed in general; they can prove useful. But paragraphs that observe such guidelines too closely become blandly alike and boring. Variants of paragraph structure and intent abound and can help you avoid too much or stultifying consistency of paragraph size or shape. When to follow the “rules” and when to deviate from them are matters of style and choice. There are, in fact, no rules for paragraphs, only suggestions. Just make
sure that the sentences you gather into paragraphs are there for a reason that will be clear to your reader.

Consult style books and guides to writing for more details on variant paragraph structures, ways to build cohesive and sensible paragraphs, and other aspects of style.

Parallelism.
Although there is no grammatical
rule
that demands balancing of elements in sentences—and, indeed, there are circumstances that call for imbalance (see
emphasis)
—writing is generally more intelligible and comfortable for readers when
sentence
and
paragraph
structures are parallel. This means you need to consider whether each element in your sentences roughly matches the others in weight, length,
tone,
and so on.

All these categories, as well as parallelism itself, are subjective and cannot be guided by definite rules. Rather, the use, abuse, and avoidance of parallelism are techniques that come with practice to those who write a great deal and that escape the sometimes writer too often. These factors of writing are parts of
style,
something we don’t all have or exercise in all circumstances.

But when style as well as substance comes into play, parallelism can be effective as a technique. Its basic requirement is that parts of sentences, paragraphs, or whole documents be more or less equivalent. So a sentence made up of three
clauses
will probably benefit by having all three clauses be of roughly the same length, in the same
voice, tense,
and
mood,
and made up of words that are similar in tone: “The soldiers marched into camp, the artillery set up their cannons, and the cavalry tethered their horses.”

The following version of this sentence is not wrong, but it shifts so much in the basic categories of parallelism that readers might lose track of what is happening or how they are supposed to perceive the action: “The soldiers march into camp, cannons were set up by the artillery, and the horses of the cavalry were rounded up and then hobbled and tied together in a loose group so that they wouldn’t run away or stampede.” Shifts in tone can have the same disorienting effect as changes in length, tense, or voice of clauses: “The soldiers toddled into camp, the artillery puzzled over their outdated and dilapidated cannons, and the cavalry looked to their horsies.”

Here are some general examples and points to watch for when you consider the level of parallelism in your writing:

1.
Don’t overdo it. Parallelism is not required and can get tiresome and artificial if imposed too stringently. If your writing seems bland, it might be overly parallel and lacking in emphasis. Try an abrupt shift of length or mood to liven things up.

2.
Effective parallelism does not mean that every sentence follows the subject, verb, object
(subject complement)
model. The most boring writing is often a string of such simple sentences in which the reader is left to guess how the unconnected thoughts might go together or which is more important than the others. Variety of structure within the general guidelines of parallelism can provide readers with important information about the relative weight of ideas, words, and so on. See
order of words
and related entries.

3.
The use of devices like
lists, numbers
introducing paragraphs and separate ideas, and similar methods of
drawing attention to a series inherently calls for some attention to parallelism. The things listed, numbered, or otherwise highlighted in this way should be more or less equal in importance. They might also be parallel in grammatical structure, word order, and so on to add force to your thoughts: “I saw dogs, cats, and rabbits.” It would not be wrong to write, “I saw dogs, felines, and little furry hopping animals with puffball tails and long ears,” but a reader might wonder whether you just don’t know the common names of the little furry animals or are being cute in naming or describing them. But do not perform contortions to make things too parallel: “I saw dogs, cats, and bandicoots.” This example of a series is not parallel, even though each animal has a one-word name given to it, because most readers won’t know what a bandicoot is. Better to say something like: “I saw dogs and cats. Another animal was the bandicoot, which is….”

4.
Agreement
of subject, verb,
adjective, adverb,
and so on is a stricter, more mandatory form of parallelism. Although sentences don’t have to agree across
phrases,
clauses, paragraphs, or beyond them in voice, mood, tense, and so on, you certainly should consider whether they would be more effective if such “agreement” were imposed.

5.
One of the commonest violations of parallelism comes with unequal lengths of elements. The problem is that readers are often surprised or disconcerted to find long things following short ones or vice versa. The first phrase, clause, or paragraph tends to set expectations about length in particular. The combination of a short lead phrase or
clause with longer following ones violates those expectations and can disrupt the comprehension and attentiveness of your reader.