Two mistakes not Made

Lots of articles start sentences with adverbs when they should have adjectives, and too many people put “as” after adverbs such as “equally.” Here was a chance to make both errors, but the writers got it right!

Equally important, we must ensure that the knowledge we currently possess is not lost, or our discoveries will be of no use to our children and grandchildren.

This is from a recent email from ancient-origins.net, a site with a combination of good and flaky books and articles about ancient history.

Not-made mistake one: Starting the sentence with “Importantly.” No! No! Don’t start sentences with an adverb when you’re modifying (introducing) the whole sentence. This guy did it right. It’s important that we do this, but not in an important manner.

Not-made mistake two: Saying “equally as.”  The “as” isn’t necessary. Don’t use it!

Now, they did start this sentence with an adverb, but it modifies the adjective “important,” which you may do. Adverbs can modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs.