Subject-Verb Agreement:
* Incorrect: The team of engineers is working on the project.
* Correct: The team of engineers are working on the project.
* The subject "team" is plural, so the verb needs to be plural as well.
Tense Consistency:
* Incorrect: We will visit the museum tomorrow, but yesterday we visited the zoo.
* Correct: We will visit the museum tomorrow, but yesterday we visited the zoo.
* The tenses should be consistent within the sentence.
Pronoun Agreement:
* Incorrect: The company announced its new product line, but they haven't released it yet.
* Correct: The company announced its new product line, but it hasn't released it yet.
* The pronoun "it" should agree in number and gender with the noun "company."
Dangling Modifiers:
* Incorrect: Running down the street, the dog chased the ball.
* Correct: Running down the street, the dog chased the ball.
* The modifier "running down the street" should modify the noun "dog" directly.
Comma Splices:
* Incorrect: We went to the park, we had a picnic.
* Correct: We went to the park, and we had a picnic.
* You need a coordinating conjunction (like "and") or a semicolon to join two independent clauses.
Run-on Sentences:
* Incorrect: The train was late, it was snowing heavily, we had to wait for a long time, finally, it arrived.
* Correct: The train was late. It was snowing heavily, so we had to wait for a long time. Finally, it arrived.
* Separate independent clauses with periods or other appropriate punctuation.
Misplaced Modifiers:
* Incorrect: I saw a dog with a long tail running down the street.
* Correct: I saw a dog running down the street with a long tail.
* Place the modifier so it clearly modifies the intended word.
Incomplete Sentences:
* Incorrect: The reason I went to the store.
* Correct: The reason I went to the store was to buy milk.
* Make sure your sentence contains both a subject and a verb, and expresses a complete thought.
Redundancy:
* Incorrect: The very best way to do this is to totally avoid making any big mistakes.
* Correct: The best way to do this is to avoid making any mistakes.
* Eliminate unnecessary words that add no meaning.
Formal vs. Informal Language:
* Incorrect: I wanna go to the beach.
* Correct: I want to go to the beach.
* Choose the appropriate level of formality based on the context.
Remember: While declarative sentences are typically straightforward, they still need to follow the basic rules of grammar and punctuation to be clear and effective.