Common Grammar Mistakes New Writers Make: Part 2 - False Simultaneity

What is False Simultaneity?

This is when a participle is used to imply two actions are happening at the same time when they logically can’t.

Example 1:

Pulling on her boots, she ran out the door. Unless she’s got impeccable balance, she can’t run out the door and pull on her boots at the same time. Correction: After pulling on her boots, she ran out the door.

Example 2:

Wiping tears from his eyes, he picked up his cutlery. It would be hard to wipe your tears and pick up cutlery at the same time - you’re likely to get a fork in the eye. Correction: He wiped his tears and picked up his cutlery.

Sense check:

Look at the actions in your sentence and check you aren’t implying they happen at the same time if it’s physically impossible to do so.

Time phrases and connectives can fix this. E.g. After wiping tears from his eyes, he picked up his cutlery.