- its or it's. "It's" ALWAYS means "it is;" it's an
abbreviation,
not a possessive. When in doubt, read the sentence out loud, substituting
"it is" for "it's," and see if it sounds OK. "Its" is the possessive; all
other possessives have an apostrophe.
- The invisible apostrophe. Don't forget an apostrophe in
possessives:
Boston's history.
The critic's point of view (for one critic)
The critics' points of view (for more than one critic)
The possessive for a word that ends in "s" is just the apostrophe (not
's):
Mary Klages' class
- The loose "this." Sometimes "this" (or "that" or "these" or "those")
is a clearly understood pronoun. For example:
I have $300. This will get me to London and
back.
Other times, "this" needs to be an adjective for a noun that will refer to
a previous idea.
The economic depression that preceded widespread policy changes
had been caused, in part, by anti-trust laws. This would be
repeated in later years.
This what? Depression? Depression leading to a policy change? Economic
pattern? Here, the reader needs a specific noun or phrase that will refer
to an idea in the previous sentence.
The economic depression that preceded widespread policy changes
had been caused, in part, by anti-trust laws. This economic
pattern would be repeated in later years.
- Punctuation with quotation marks. The rule is: comma and period go
inside quotation marks. Semi-colon and colon go outside. You drop the end
punctuation of the quoted material in favor of your own punctuation.
The short story is an exposition; the novel is often and
perhaps at its best an inquisition into the unknown depths
of the novelist's mind.
Malcolm Cowley
If you wanted to quote this passage, you might begin:
"The short story is an exposition," wrote Malcolm Cowley;
"the novel is often and perhaps at its best an inquisition into
the unkown depths of the novelist's mind."
Remember, colons introduce a list. Semicolons separate two
sentences.
- VERY. Using "very" should indicate to you that you are looking
for a stronger adjective, adverb, or verb. If an argument is very weak, do
you mean feeble? Unsupported? Unsubstantiated? If someone is running very
fast, do you mean that s/he sped? Fled? Scooted? Dashed? High-tailed it
out of there?
- Spelling. The easiest way to catch spelling mistakes is to
PROOFREAD! If something looks funny, look it up in a dictionary.
Spellcheck will catch some spelling errors, but not mistakes that create
correctly spelled other words. For instance, "red" will not be corrected
as an incorrect spelling of "read" because it's a word in its own
right.
- Pronoun agreement. Pronouns are easily misused code words. They need
to agree with the noun to which they refer. Too often they don't.
Everyone learns to tie his shoelaces when he is young.
"Everyone" is singular. So is "his." So this example is
grammatically correct. But it implies that "everyone" is male. Students
who don't want to specify a particular sex will sometimes
write:
Everyone learns to tie their shoelaces when they are
young.
But this wording is grammatically wrong. There are other ways to avoid
using "he" when you mean "he or she" or all people. Usually you need to
revise the sentence.
We all learn to tie our shoelaces when we are young.
Children learn to tie their shoelaces when they are
young.
- Decide whether a clause is necessary for the sense of a sentence, or
whether it merely gives additional information to the sentence. Note the
difference between using "that," a nonrestrictive element, and "which," a
restrictive element. A restrictive element (usually a phrase) restricts
the meaning of the word it modifies and is therefore essentail to the
meaning of the sentence, and is not set off with commas. A nonrestrictive
element (usually a phrase) describes a word whose meaning is already
clear, and is set off with commas.
Restrictive: For camp the children needed clothes that were
washable.
"that were washable" modifies "clothes," and is necessary to the complete
meaning of the sentence. (The sentence "For camp the children needed
clothes" does not supply the same information).
Nonrestrictive: For camp the children needed sturdy shoes, which
were expensive.
"which were expensive" modifies "sturdy shoes," but it is not necessary to
the core meaning of the sentence. ("For camp the children needed sturdy
shoes" supplies the same basic information as "For camp the children
needed sturdy shoes, which were expensive." The phrase "which were
expensive" tells you something about the shoes, not something about what
was needed.)
- Make sure to use complete sentences; avoid fragments. A complete
sentence has a subject and a verb, which need to agree in person and
number.
Fragment: The theory explained completely. (what's the subject of
this sentence? Who or what explained it?)
Complete: The scholar explained the theory completely.