Awkward Phrasing

Awkward Phrasing The Virtual Writing Tutor has thousands of rules to catch grammar errors and word choice errors, but only just a few to catch awkward phrasings. The reason is that an awkward phrasing is not necessarily incorrect. It is, well, awkward. As such, unless the awkward phrase is really jarring or really common, I usually let it slide. Anyway, it is sometimes difficult to know what exactly is meant by phrases such as, according to my memory, he proposed to me, a car that is a gift, my big parents house, and it hurt my heart. The Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker is, after all, a machine. It doesnt understand you. It merely scans your sentences for patterns in its database of error definitions. It dont want it to misinterpret what you have written and give you bad feedback. However, here are a few awkward phrasings I couldnt let slide. You must admit, some readers would be left scratching their heads by these surprising sentences. According  to  me/my  memory AWKWARD:   According to me, the best way to get downtown is to take the train.BETTER:   In  my  opinion, the best way to get downtown is to take the train. AWKWARD:   According to my memory, my most spectacular success has to be back when I was 10 years old and I won a sword fighting championship.BETTER:   When I think back on my life, my most spectacular success has to be back when I was 10 years old and I won a sword fighting championship. EXPLANATION:    The phrase According  to  X means If what X says is true. It is strange to doubt the truth of ones own memories. You may often suspect that you have forgotten one or more details, but only mentally deranged people have memories of things that never happened. If you are concerned that you might have might have remembered a detail incorrectly, you can say, If memory serves  me  well or If I am not mistaken. When you say according to me, you sound crazy. Proposed  to  me AWKWARD:   While I was walking, I saw my friend and he proposed to me to embark in his car.BETTER:   While I was walking, I saw my friend and he proposed that I embark in his car. BETTER  STILL:   While I was walking, I saw my friend and he invited  me  to get in his car. EXPLANATION:    The most common context in which we use the phrase he  proposed  to  me is when we wish to say he proposed that we get married. It sounds very formal. Otherwise, companies might propose solutions, as in, my company had  proposed  to  me  that I could come back to work after having the baby which you can find in the BNC-COCA corpus here. In any case, the phrase he proposed to me sounds overly formal for most contexts. A new car that is gift AWKWARD:   She got a new car that is gift from her parents.BETTER:   She got a new car as a gift from her parents. AWKWARD:   Sarah got a job that is nurse.BETTER:   Sarah got a job as a nurse. EXPLANATION:    A relative clause following that helps us identify which one is being discussed. You might say, I bought the dress that was on sale. It tell us, not any dress but a specific dress. Since we already know in our example sentence that she got a car, we dont need to ask Which car? We already know. Rather, what we want to know is why she got the car or how she got it. In such a case, as a gift tells us more useful information. Similarly, we know in our second example that Sarah got a job. Which job is obvious. It is the job that Sarah got. What we want to know is what kind of job. A job as a nurse provides the information we dont already know. My big parents house AWKWARD:   I went to my big parents house early in the morning.BETTER:   I went to my eldest uncles house early in the morning. EXPLANATION:    Only a Korean or somebody who is familiar with Korean culture would understand what a big parent or a big father or a big house is. English does not have a word for the patriarchal head of the family in this way, so you must specify that you are referring to your fathers eldest brother when you write in English. Otherwise, it sounds awkward. It hurt my heart AWKWARD:   When I saw the dogs in their cages, it hurt my heart. BETTER:   When I saw the dogs in their cages, it made my heart ache. EXPLANATION:    While the meaning will be clear to most readers, it hurt my heart is not a common expression in English for the emotional pain we feel when we see something sad or pitiable. Instead, we say my heart aches for X, or it made my heart ache to see X. Please follow and like us: