Here is another example of a dangling phrase: While cleaning the bath, a spider scared me. What I meant was: While cleaning the bath, I was scared by a spider or While I was cleaning the bath, a spider scared me. One more example: Skiing down the hill, two wolves were seen. I didn’t know wolves could ski! To be clear, we need to say: When the boys were skiing down the hill, they saw two wolves. The rule tells us to make sure the participial phrase agrees with the subject of the sentence.

Awkward referents
Referents belong to the thing they refer to. Sounds simple, doesn’t it. But they can easily be unclear. Consider the following sentence: Lizzie wrote a book which surprised everyone. Does this mean that everyone was surprised because young Lizzie actually sat down and wrote a book, or was it the book itself which was surprising? The sentence would be clearer if written thus: Everyone was surprised at the book Lizzie wrote. Or thus: Everyone was surprised that Lizzie wrote a book.

These are easy mistakes to make and may cause embarrassment for you, as well as amusement for your readers. Careful proofreading is recommended! Here is another example, in this case without a verb: For Sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.

The apostrophe—where and when to use it
This poor wee mark has been sorely tried. It is the mark between the t and the s, as in it’s, which tells us that we are looking at a contraction made from two words—it is, as in It’s time to go.

The apostrophe can also mark ownership, as in Janet’s book or the dog’s tail.

Illogically, though, the apostrophe is not used for ownership when the owner is expressed by a pronoun, such as he (his), she (hers), we (ours), they (theirs) and it (its). The its without the apostrophe is correct when you say Its tail was green.

Many people over-correct and use the apostrophe too often. If in doubt, leave it out. If you are wrong, people may think you have just forgotten it. If you put it in and it’s wrong, people know for sure you’ve made a mistake. Thinking of mine may help you. If you can substitute mine for its or theirs, you do not need to use an apostrophe. So, when the sentence says The book is theirs, try putting in mine instead, so that it reads The book is mine. In that case, you can see it makes sense, so you know theirs does not need an apostrophe.

If you can substitute I’m for it’s or there’s, you have a contraction and need the apostrophe to show there is a letter missing. An example would be There’s going to be a party. But it can also make sense (at least as far as grammar goes) if you say I’m going to have a party. The different spellings of their and there should also give you a clue.