Replace “be” verbs with verbs that are more dynamic. Not so good: Angel Quinones is in jail for killing his fiancée’s parents. Better: Yesterday, police arrested Angel Quinones for killing his fiancée’s parents. Not so good: Last week, the bodies of Cecelia and Carlos Ruiz were in their apartment, and their daughter’s fiancé, Angel Quinones, [...]

Avoid repeating the same thought with different words. Bad: McDonald’s new spicy premium chicken has a rich satisfying flavor and it also tastes good. Better: McDonald’s new spicy premium chicken has a rich, satisfying flavor. Bad: Anthony Kiedis, lead singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, always poses for photos without his shirt and bare-chested. [...]

Dangling Modifiers. A modifier, whether word or phrase, is supposed to refer to something else in the sentence. A dangling modifier refers to nothing in the sentence; although, sometimes, the reference is implied. Wrong: Being arrested, hand-cuffed, mug-shotted, and thrown in a cell with mother-rapers, the cops also refused to give me my phone call. [...]

To create parallel structure, use the same grammatical pattern of words or phrases. Faulty parallel structure: I hated my girlfriend’s mother, and the requirement to eat three heaping platefuls of turkey made me sick. (shifts from noun object to noun phrase) Parallel: I hated my girlfriend’s mother and the requirement to eat three heaping platefuls [...]