Multilingual Writers and ESL Challenges

Avoiding repeated subjects

English does not allow a subject to be repeated in its own clause.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: The doctor she advised me to cut down on salt. Revised sentence: The doctor advised me to cut down on salt. Explanation: The pronoun “she,” which repeated the subject “doctor” has been deleted.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: Andrea she is late all the time. Revised sentence: Andrea is late all the time. Explanation: The pronoun “she,” which repeated the subject “Andrea,” has been deleted.

The pronoun she cannot repeat the subject, doctor, in the first sentence or the subject, Andrea, in the second.

Do not add a pronoun even when a word group comes between the subject and the verb.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: The watch that had been lost on vacation it was in my backpack. Revised sentence: The watch that had been lost on vacation was in my backpack. Explanation: The pronoun “it,” which repeated the subejct “watch,” has been deleted.

The pronoun it cannot repeat the subject, watch.

Topic fronting

Some languages allow “topic fronting”—placing a word or phrase (a “topic”) at the beginning of a sentence and following it with an independent clause that explains something about the topic. This form is not allowed in English.

Example sentence: Incorrect: The seeds I planted them last fall. Explanation: The topic is “The seeds.” The independent clause is “I planted them last fall.”

The pronoun them repeats the “topic,” the seeds. The sentence can be revised by replacing them with the seeds.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: The seeds I planted them last fall. Revised sentence: I planted the seeds last fall. Explanation: “The seeds” has been properly placed as the object of the verb “planted.”

Exercises:

Omissions and repetitions 1

Omissions and repetitions 2

Sentence structure 1

Sentence structure 2