Mixed agreements, also known as agreement errors or faulty agreement, is a common grammatical issue that copy editors often encounter. This occurs when the subject of a sentence and its verb do not agree in either number or tense. The result is an awkward, confusing, and incorrect statement that can negatively impact the overall effectiveness of any content.
Mixed agreements can manifest in various forms, including subject-verb disagreements, pronoun-antecedent disagreements, and verb tense disagreements. A subject-verb disagreement happens when the subject of a sentence and the verb do not agree in number. For instance, if you write, “The group of students was excited to show off their project,” that sentence is incorrect because the subject (group) is singular, while the verb (were) is plural.
A pronoun-antecedent disagreement occurs when a pronoun does not match the antecedent it refers to. For example, “Each of the girls put on their coats” is incorrect because the singular subject (each) does not agree with the plural object pronoun (their). Instead, it should be written as, “Each of the girls put on her coat.”
Lastly, verb tense disagreements refer to when a sentence has mixed tenses or shifts between past, present, and future without reason. This inconsistency can create confusion and make the text less coherent. For instance, “I am walking to the store, and I found a dollar on the ground yesterday,” is incorrect because the verb tense shifts from present to past.
It`s important to avoid mixed agreements in any type of content, but particularly in web content, where search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial factor. Search engines heavily rely on the correctness and clarity of content to determine how relevant it is to specific search queries. Poor grammar can negatively influence the site`s ranking, leading to less lead generation and reduced website traffic.
To prevent mixed agreements, copy editors should pay close attention to the subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, and verb tense agreement. They should also review written content for consistency and coherence, ensuring that the text flows smoothly and is grammatically correct.
In conclusion, mixed agreements are a common grammatical issue that can negatively impact the effectiveness of written content. It`s important to avoid them by paying close attention to subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, and verb tense agreement. As a copy editor, it`s essential to review written content thoroughly to ensure that it`s grammatically correct and coherent, especially when optimizing content for SEO.