By: Marcel Pop
Tiana Byrd
Anthony Salter
Definition:
•Faulty predication occurs when a sentence’ssubject and predicate doesn’t make sensetogether.
•Either the sentence’s subject can’t carry outthe activity that the sentence’s verb describes,or the subject can’t be described by the verb.
Example #1 of Faulty Predicate:
•Incorrect Version:
–A vacation is where people get away from school or workto relax.
•This example contains a faulty use of “is where.” Sincevacation is not technically a specific place, a personcannot go there.
•Correct Version:
–A vacation is a break people take to get away from schoolor work.
•This is correct because it defines a vacation as a“break.” Because a break is a subject which can beacted upon, saying that people “take” the break makesthe sentence grammatically correct.
Example #2 of Faulty Predicate
•Incorrect Version:
–The purpose of the book persuades readers to get involvedin sports.
•In the sentence above, the subject is “purpose.”However, the purpose itself can’t “persuade,” as theverb in this sentence states.
•Correct Version:
–The author of the book persuades readers to get involvedin sports.
•In the revised sentence, the subject is “author,” and theverb is “persuades.” Because an author can attempt topersuade his or her readers, this sentence isgrammatically correct.
Source:
•Roseman, Richard R. "Unit 8 Sentence Errors."tc.umn.edu. Henry Holt and Company,2001. Web. 7 Nov 2011.<http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hill0243/rhetoric/coursecontent/Unit08.htm>.