In conversation, you will hear inconsistent and incomplete structures all the time. For instance, during an interview with journalist Bill Moyers, Jon Stewart discussed the supposed objectivity of news reporting.

But news has never been objective. It’s always…what does every newscast start with? “Our top stories tonight.” That’s a list. That’s a subjective…some editor made a decision: “Here’s our top stories. Number one: There’s a fire in the Bronx.”

Because Stewart is talking casually, some of his sentences begin one way but then move in another direction. The mixed structures pose no problem for the viewer—they sound like conversations we hear every day—but sentences such as these can be confusing in writing.