WRITING CLEARLY AND WELLMUSE E599 Capstone Fall 2014

TOPIC SENTENCES

• Make sense. Each and every sentence needs to make sense on its own merit. Don't write a sentence that merely continues a thought from a previous sentence, but by itself doesn't make sense.

• You may need to read your text out loud to catch instances where the sentence doesn't make sense. Sometimes incoherent sentences happen because we think faster than we can type.

HOW TO BEGIN A SENTENCE OR NOT

• Try not to start sentences with It, This, They, etc. Be specific and state who or what It, This or They are. 

• Do not begin a sentence with “And”.

FORMATTING

• Formatting. Make sure margins are correct and spacing between chapter titles and text, text and off-set text, and sub-headings are correct.

• Sub-headings. Review the Thesis Guide for correct formatting of sub-heads. This seems to trip up a lot of folks.

• Proper formatting of sources. Review the special formatting for titles of books, journals or other periodicals, articles, etc. For example, names of exhibitions should be in italics.

PUNCTUATION

• Review proper punctuation at the close of a quote. The period at the end of the sentence doesn't go before the quotation mark; it should appear after the end parentheses of the reference.

DASH, HYPHEN, AND EMDASH

• Know the difference between a hyphen and a dash, when to use them (or NOT to use them) and the fact that there are no spaces before or after either.

THAT AND WHICHTHAT AND WHO

• That vs. which. Students tend to use the word "which" when "that" is the correct word; which usually only appears when followed immediately by a comma.

• Overuse of the word "that." When you have a sentence that uses "that," re-read it and see if you can do without it.

•                    For example: When you have a sentencing using "that," re-read it and see if you can do without.

• Use which for things and who for people. Use that for things and, informally, for people.

Sometimes, you need a comma before which and who. The rule is this: If the information added by the who or which clause is just additional information (i.e., it's not essential to identify another word in the sentence), then you should offset the clause with commas. [http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/which_that_who.htm]

PRONOUNS, POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Personal Pronouns Possessive Adjectives and PronounsReflexive Pronouns

subject form object formpossessive adjective

possessive pronoun

I me my mine myselfyou you your yours yourselfhe him his his himselfshe her her hers herselfit it its its itselfwe us our ours ourselvesyou you your yours yourselvesthey them their theirs themselves

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/pronouns

BUT REMEMBER THIS

SHALL AND WILL

• ...shall is used for the future tense with the first-person pronouns I and We: I shall, we shall. Will is used with the first-person (again, I refer to traditional usage) only when we wish to express determination. The opposite is true for the second-person (you) and third-person (he, she, it, they) pronouns: Will is used in the future tense, and shall is used only when we wish to express determination or to emphasize certainty. [http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3/when-should-i-use-shall-versus-will]

CITATIONS

• See the Purdue OWL site: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/11/

• Also, in your packet• In-text citations are just as important as the bibliographic citations.• Citations are not to be in footnotes and footnotes are to be used sparingly.

• Please put information in the text whenever possible and not in the footnote.

VERB/SUBJECT AGREEMENT

What Are the Rules? [http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/sentences/20-Rules-of-subject-verb-agreement.html]

1. Subjects and verbs must agree in number. This is the cornerstone rule that forms the background of the concept.

The dog growls when he is angry. The dogs growl when they are angry.

2. Don’t get confused by the words that come between the subject and verb; they do not affect agreement.

The dog, who is chewing on my jeans, is usually very good.

3. Prepositional phrases between the subject and verb usually do not affect agreement.The colors of the rainbow are beautiful.

4. When sentences start with “there” or “here,” the subject will always be placed after the verb, so care needs to be taken to identify it correctly.

There is a problem with the balance sheet. Here are the papers you requested.

VERB/SUBJECT AGREEMENT

5. Subjects don't always come before verbs in questions. Make sure you accurately identify the subject before deciding on the proper verb form to use.

Does Lefty usually eat grass? Where are the pieces of this puzzle.

6. If two subjects are joined by and, they typically require a plural verb form.The cow and the pig are jumping over the moon.

7. The verb is singular if the two subjects separated by and refer to the same person or thing.

Red beans and rice is my mom's favorite dish.

8. If one of the words each, every, or no comes before the subject, the verb is singular.No smoking or drinking is allowed. Every man and woman is required to check in.

9. If the subjects are both singular and are connected by the words or, nor, neither/nor, either/or, and not only/but also the verb is singular.

Jessica or Christian is to blame for the accident.

VERB/SUBJECT AGREEMENT

10. The only time when the object of the preposition factors into the decision of plural or singular verb forms is when noun and pronoun subjects like some, half, none, more, all, etc. are followed by a prepositional phrase. In these sentences, the object of the preposition determines the form of the verb.

All of the chicken is gone. All of the chickens are gone.

11. The singular verb form is usually used for units of measurement or time.

Four quarts of oil was required to get the car running.

12. If the subjects are both plural and are connected by the words or, nor, neither/nor, either/or, and not only/but also, the verb is plural.

Dogs and cats are both available at the pound.

13. If one subject is singular and one plural and the words are connected by the words or, nor, neither/nor, either/or, and not only/but also, you use the verb form of the subject that is nearest the verb.

Either the bears or the lion has escaped from the zoo. Neither the lion nor the bears have escaped from the zoo.

14. Indefinite pronouns typically take singular verbs.  *

Everybody wants to be loved.

VERB/SUBJECT AGREEMENT

15. * Except for the pronouns (few, many, several, both, all, some) that always take the plural form.

Few were left alive after the flood.

16. If two infinitives are separated by and they take the plural form of the verb.

To walk and to chew gum require great skill.

17. When gerunds are used as the subject of a sentence, they take the singular verb form of the verb; but, when they are linked by and, they take the plural form.

Standing in the water was a bad idea. Swimming in the ocean and playing drums are my hobbies.

18. Collective nouns like herd, senate, class, crowd, etc. usually take a singular verb form.

The herd is stampeding.

19. Titles of books, movies, novels, etc. are treated as singular and take a singular verb.

The Burbs is a movie starring Tom Hanks.

20. Final Rule – Remember, only the subject affects the verb!

WHAT ARE GERUNDS

Noun: The definition of a gerund is a grammar term used to describe a verb that acts like a noun.

An example of a gerund is the word "skiing" in the sentence "Skiing is something I like to do," since "skiing" is the thing you like doing and not the action of the sentence.

[http://www.yourdictionary.com/gerund]

CAPITALIZATION

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Additional Resources• Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of

Research. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003. • Rozakis, Laurie. Schuam's Quick Guide to Writing Great Research Papers. New

York: McGraw-Hill, 1999. • Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves. New York: Gotham Books, 2003. • Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and

Dissertations. Ed. Wayne C. Booth, et al. 7th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. (Please note that this is Chicago Style which we do not use but it may be helpful.)

• Zerubavel, Eviatar. The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books. Cambridge, MM: Harvard University Press, 1999.