Which is the best way to correct the sentence? At the student council meeting, Reggie wanted to sincerely apologize for his disgraceful actions.

Answer 1

I would say either:

Reggie offered a sincere apology for his disgraceful actions (WHEN) at the student council meeting.

DEPENDENT CLAUSE: Subsequent to his disgraceful actions [ toward a group of students], INDEPENDENT CLAUSE: Reggie wanted to offer a sincere apology at the student council meeting

or: Reggie wanted to offer a sincere apology at the student council meeting after his disgraceful actions earlier that week.

Answer 2

First and foremost, a sentence is made up of independent clause and one or more independent clause(S) joined together. A dependent clause is not a complete thought therefore it needs an independent clause to make a complete sentence. Dependent clauses are marked by subordinating conjunction such as after, as  although, because, before, even if, if, once, since, that, till, unless, until, when, whenever, where, while. Subordinating conjunctions establishes relationship between the dependent clause and rest of the sentence.

Answer 3

Paige,

It really depends on what you are trying to say. Does Reggie want to apologize for what he did at a student council meeting or does he want to apologize at the meeting for other disgraceful actions. Without full context, one will not know which to choose. Here is an example of choosing one meaning to clearly fix it:

Reggie wanted to sincerely apologize for his disgraceful actions committed during the student council meeting.

Again, it really depends on what you want to say or the complete context surrounding it. Hope that helps!

Answer 4

It looks like this is a split infinitive.

At the student council meeting, Reggie wanted to sincerely apologize for his disgraceful actions.

To do away with the split infinitive one might go with:

At the student council meeting, Reggie wanted to apologize sincerely for his disgraceful actions.

Although I would say:

At the student council meeting, Reggie wanted to offer a sincere apology for his disgraceful actions.