Part 3 — Structure, Logic & Common MPT Traps

1. Parallel structure

Linked words must perform the same grammatical job.

Wrong: The job requires accuracy, patience, and to work hard.

Correct: The job requires accuracy, patience, and hard work.

Wrong: She wants to study, working, and to travel.

Correct: She wants to study, to work, and to travel.

With correlative pairs, place the paired words before matching structures.

Wrong: He not only lost the documents but also his wallet was stolen.

Correct: He lost not only the documents but also his wallet.

2. Comparisons

Avoid double comparison

Wrong: more better

Correct: better

Wrong: most easiest

Correct: easiest

Compare similar things

Wrong: The climate of Murree is cooler than Lahore.

Correct: The climate of Murree is cooler than that of Lahore.

Any other

When one member is compared with the rest of its own group, use any other.

Example: Mount Everest is higher than any other mountain.

One of the

Use one of the + superlative + plural noun.

Wrong: She is one of the best student.

Correct: She is one of the best students.

Senior, junior, superior, inferior

These normally take to, not than.

Example: This method is superior to the old one.

3. Modifiers

Place a modifier near the word it describes.

Ambiguous: She served sandwiches to the children on paper plates.

Clear: She served the children sandwiches on paper plates.

Dangling modifier

The implied doer of an opening phrase must be the subject that follows.

Wrong: Walking through the park, the flowers looked beautiful.

Correct: Walking through the park, I thought the flowers looked beautiful.

Misplaced only

The position of only changes meaning.

• Only Ali solved the problem. = Nobody else solved it.
• Ali only solved the problem. = He did nothing beyond solving it.
• Ali solved only the problem. = He solved nothing else.

4. Sentence completeness

Fragment

A complete sentence needs an independent clause.

Fragment: Because the road was blocked.

Correct: We took another route because the road was blocked.

Run-on sentence

Do not join two complete sentences with only a comma.

Wrong: The test was difficult, I completed it.

Correct: The test was difficult, but I completed it.

Correct: The test was difficult; I completed it.

5. Conjunction traps

Although / though

Do not normally pair although with but.

Wrong: Although he was tired, but he continued.

Correct: Although he was tired, he continued.

Because / because of

• Because + clause
• Because of + noun phrase

Example: The match was cancelled because it rained.

Example: The match was cancelled because of the rain.

Unless

Unless already means if not.

Wrong: Unless you do not work, you will fail.

Correct: Unless you work, you will fail.

No sooner

Standard pattern: No sooner had + subject + past participle + than…

Example: No sooner had he arrived than the meeting began.

Hardly/scarcely

Use when, not than.

Example: Hardly had I sat down when the phone rang.

6. Redundancy

Do not remove a word automatically; check context. Advance payment and free speech, for example, are valid expressions.

7. Confused words

8. Word order and idiom traps

Wrong: He explained me the rule.

Correct: He explained the rule to me.

Wrong: She requested me to help.

Standard formal form: She asked me to help / She requested that I help.

Wrong: He ordered that the door was closed.

Correct: He ordered that the door be closed.

Wrong: I am accustomed to wake early.

Correct: I am accustomed to waking early.

MPT decision rule

Choose the option that fixes all errors while preserving the intended meaning. The shortest option is not automatically correct.