You've probably been there before. You’re reading a paragraph—maybe a news report or a frantic email from a colleague—and suddenly your brain just... hitches. It’s like walking down a flight of stairs and expecting one more step that isn't actually there. The words are English. The grammar looks fine on the surface. But the meaning is a total train wreck. This is the phenomenon of illogic in a sentence, and honestly, it’s one of the most frustrating things to encounter in professional writing.
It’s not just a typo. A typo is "teh" instead of "the." Illogic is deeper. It’s a structural failure where the relationship between the subject and the predicate doesn't actually make sense in the real world. We call these "faulty predication" or "mixed constructions" in the nerdy world of linguistics, but for most of us, it’s just a sentence that’s trying to be two things at once and failing at both.
What People Get Wrong About Faulty Predication
Most people assume that if a sentence passes a spellchecker, it's logical. That’s a huge mistake. Language is a tool for conveying thought, and if the thought is scrambled, the sentence is a dud.
Think about this: "The purpose of the meeting decided to postpone the project."
Wait. Read that again.
The purpose didn't decide anything. People decided things. The purpose is a concept; it doesn't have an office, it doesn't drink coffee, and it certainly doesn't make executive decisions. This is a classic example of illogic in a sentence where the subject (the purpose) cannot physically or logically perform the action of the verb (decided).
We see this everywhere. It happens because our brains work faster than our fingers. You start with one idea ("The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the project") and halfway through, your brain jumps to the outcome ("We decided to postpone"). You mash them together, and you end up with a nonsensical hybrid.
The "Is When" Trap
This is the one that drives editors up the wall. It’s perhaps the most common form of illogic in a sentence you'll see in casual blogs or student essays.
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"A total eclipse is when the moon moves between the sun and Earth."
Technically, this is illogical. An eclipse is a phenomenon or an event, not a "when." You’re trying to define a noun using an adverbial clause. While we all know what the speaker means, it’s a sloppy habit that weakens your authority. If you want to sound like you actually know what you're talking about, you’d say, "A total eclipse occurs when..." or "A total eclipse is the event in which..."
Small change? Sure. But it fixes the fundamental logic of the statement.
Why Your Brain Ignores These Errors
There's a reason these slip past us. It’s called "semantic priming." When you write something, your brain already knows what you meant to say. Because you have the internal context, your eyes glide right over the logical gap. You see the bridge that isn't there.
This is why self-editing is so incredibly hard. You aren't reading the words on the page; you’re reading the thoughts in your head.
Research from the University of Glasgow suggests that when we process language, we often use a "good-enough" approach. We don't analyze every single syntactic relationship. We grab the keywords—"meeting," "decided," "postpone"—and our brain fills in the blanks to make it make sense. We're essentially autocorrecting the world in real-time. But your reader? They don't have your internal map. They just see a sentence that doesn't work.
Examples of Illogic That Make You Look Unprofessional
Let’s look at some real-world-style examples of how illogic in a sentence creeps into business writing:
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- The "Selection" Error: "The selection of the new CEO was chosen by the board."
- The fix: You don't choose a selection. You choose a person. "The board chose the new CEO" or "The selection of the CEO was a long process."
- The "Reason is Because" Loop: "The reason I’m late is because my car broke down."
- The fix: "The reason" and "because" do the same job. Use one. "The reason I'm late is that my car broke down" or "I'm late because my car broke down."
- Faulty Comparison: "The salary of a doctor is higher than a teacher."
- The fix: Is the salary higher than the actual human being who teaches? No. It’s higher than the salary of a teacher. "The salary of a doctor is higher than that of a teacher."
How to Spot Illogic Before You Hit Publish
Checking for illogic in a sentence requires a different mindset than checking for grammar. You have to be literal. Almost annoyingly literal.
One trick is to isolate the subject and the verb. Pull them out of the sentence and see if they can stand alone.
Take the sentence: "The popularity of the app increased the user base."
Subject: Popularity. Verb: Increased.
Can "popularity" increase a "user base"? Not really. Popularity might lead to an increase, but the actions of users or the marketing efforts increase the base. It’s a subtle distinction, but it’s the difference between a crisp, professional thought and a "sorta-kinda" explanation.
Use the "Who is Doing What?" Test
If you're stuck, ask yourself: Who is the actor? What is the action?
Often, we hide the real actor behind abstract nouns. We say "the implementation of the policy improved morale." It’s better to say "implementing the policy improved morale" or "morale improved after we implemented the policy."
By centering the sentence on a real action or a clear relationship, you eliminate the risk of logical gaps.
The Impact on SEO and User Experience
You might wonder why this matters for Google or Discover. Honestly, it matters a lot. Google’s algorithms, especially with updates like Helpful Content, are getting better at identifying "low-quality" prose.
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If a reader hits a sentence that doesn't make sense, they bounce. They stop reading. They lose trust.
High bounce rates and low "dwell time" signal to search engines that your content isn't actually helpful. Illogic in a sentence creates friction. And in 2026, friction is the enemy of ranking. You want your content to be a smooth ride from the headline to the final period.
Practical Steps to Clean Up Your Writing
Don't just rely on software. Grammarly and ProWritingAid are great, but they often miss these logical nuances because they focus on rules, not meaning.
- Read it backward. Start from the last sentence and move to the first. This breaks the "flow" and forces your brain to look at each sentence as an isolated unit of logic.
- Strip the adjectives. If the core subject and verb don't make sense, no amount of flowery language will save it.
- Check your "is" statements. Whenever you see "is," "was," or "were," check if the things on both sides of that verb are actually equal.
- Wait 24 hours. If you have the time, let the draft sit. When you come back with fresh eyes, the logical gaps will pop out like sore thumbs.
Writing isn't just about dumping information; it's about building a coherent argument. When you allow illogic in a sentence to persist, you're essentially asking your reader to do the heavy lifting for you. They shouldn't have to translate your writing into logic. It should arrive that way.
Focus on the relationship between your subjects and your verbs. Ensure your comparisons are apples-to-apples. Stop using "is when" to define things. If you do these things, your writing will immediately feel more authoritative, more professional, and frankly, a lot more human.
The next time you finish a draft, go through and hunt for those "good-enough" sentences. Turn them into "exactly-right" sentences. It’s the fastest way to level up your communication.