Mar 29 2008
Aligning Subjects And Verbs
Overview of the problem
Perhaps you’ve seen this mistake: “Walking down the street, the stroller lost a wheel.” This sentence implies that the stroller is walking down the street, which would be a very interesting sight, indeed. The problem is that the implied subject of the introductory phrase does not match the grammatical subject of the main sentence, the stroller. The writer knows what he/she means, but the reader may be confused. (Isn’t grammar fun?). Editing this sentence will help the reader understand what you are trying to say, which is the purpose of editing.