Mixed Constructions

"Mixed construction" is a fancy way to say that your sentence doesn’t make sense. A mixed construction happens when you start a sentence with one construction and finish it with another.

At their most basic level, sentences have a subject and a predicate. In a mixed construction sentence, the predicate doesn’t match the subject.

Examples of Mixed Constructions

Let’s take a look at an example:

• Incorrect: For many people who are writers work long, hard hours.

The construction of this sentence doesn't make sense. It starts off looking like it will follow one grammatical direction, but ends up in an entirely different (and incorrect) place.

Here's how you could fix it:

• Correct: Many people who are writers work long, hard hours.
• Correct: For many people who are writers, work means long, hard hours.