Writing Clearly is a skill we all need to learn...
Everyone should always read what they have written.
And when you read what you've written:
<ol><li> Put yourself in the position of the reader, and</li><li> Ask yourself if the reader will understand what you've written</li></ol>
You know what you meant to say (what you wanted to say), but will the reader understand what you've said?
Here are some reasonable looking sentences, but they all would be misunderstood by the readers:
1. After years of being lost under a pile of dust, Chester found all the old records.
<em> NOTE: Chester had not been lost under a pile of dust</em>
Rewrite: [Chester found all the old records which had been lost under a pile of dust for years.] or
[After years of being lost under a pile of dust, all the old records were found by Chester.]
2. Two cars were reported stolen by the Groveton police yesterday.
<em> NOTE: The Groveton police had not stolen the two cars —</em>
Rewrite: [Two cars were stolen yesterday according to the Groveton police report.] or
[The Groveton police reported that two cars had been stolen yesterday] or
[Two stolen cars were reported by the Groveton police yesterday.] or
[Yesterday, the Groveton police reported two stolen cars/reported two cars stolen.]
3. As a baboon who grew up wild in the jungle, I realized that Wiki had special nutritional needs.
NOTE: <em>I was not the baboon who grew up in the jungle</em>
Rewrite:
[Wiki, the baboon, grew up wild in the jungle, so I realized that Wiki had special nutritional needs.] or
[I realized that Wiki the baboon, who had grown up wild in the jungle, had special nutritional needs.] or
[I realized that Wiki the baboon had special nutritional needs as he had grown up wild in the jungle.]