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The UVic Writer's Guide

1. Planning, Organizing, and Presenting Essays
1.1 Writing As A Process
In Greek legend, the goddess of wisdom, Athena, was born fully armed from the head of Zeus. Unfortunately, this is the only recorded instance of instant wisdom. Especially in the medium of the written word, the communication of complex ideas is a process--a process that requires thinking and rethinking, working and reworking. The student who claims to have dashed off an 'A' essay at one in the morning the night before it was due is either a liar or a genius. Writing is a complex process; it is a learned craft which requires a lot of practice, and no formula can guarantee a good essay. What we suggest in the following section is a workable linear model for preparing and writing an essay--it could be summed up in a chart, thus:

But the actual process you will probably go through will be far more complicated, more like this:

The important thing is to keep the simple model in mind. As you become more proficient, you will become more confident in developing your own study practices and writing techniques.

1.2 Types of Essays 1.2.1 The Expository Essay

Sample topic: "How to Tame a Dragon." The function of the expository essay is to explain, or to acquaint your reader with a body of knowledge. By explaining a topic to the reader, you are demonstrating your own knowledge. For example, if you are asked to write an essay about taming dragons, you decide what you plan to concentrate on, create a paragraph structure, and describe the process step by step. An essay becomes more complicated when a position has to be defended, as in a persuasive essay.

1.2.2 The Persuasive Essay

Sample topic: "Dragons Should Not Be Tamed" In the persuasive essay, you must defend your side of an argument. You are no longer merely showing, you are convincing. The persuasive essay must choose a side, make a case for it, consider and refute alternative arguments, and prove to the undecided reader that the opinion it presents is the best one. You must be aware of other sides and be fair to them; dismissing them completely will weaken your own argument. It is always best to take a side that you believe in, preferably with the most supporting evidence. It can often be educational to adopt a different position from what you might normally choose (debating requires this kind of flexibility).

1.2.3 The Informal Essay

Sample topic: "Me and My Dragon." The informal essay is written mainly for enjoyment. This is not to say that it cannot be informative or persuasive; however, it is less a formal statement than a relaxed expression of opinion, observation, humour or pleasure. A good informal essay has a relaxed style but retains a strong structure, though that structure may be less rigid than in a formal paper. The informal essay tends to be more personal than the formal, even though both may express subjective opinions. In a formal essay the writer is a silent presence behind the words, while in an informal essay the writer is speaking directly to the reader in a conversational style. If you are writing informally, try to maintain a sense of your own personality. Do not worry about sounding academic, but avoid sloppiness. An Informal Essay--On Punctuation The essay which follows is an opinion piece that was written forThe Globe and Mail. The style is therefore journalistic but aimed at a fairly sophisticated readership. Paragraphs are short, as is normal in a newspaper with its narrow columns, and the tone is more conversational than would be appropriate for a formal essay. Notice the clear statement of the thesis, the concrete illustrations in the body of the essay, and the way the conclusion leads to a more general statement of what is perhaps to come in the future. It is included here both because it is a good example of the essay form and because it explores the kind of problem you will come up against as you try to punctuate your essays correctly. Minding Your P'S And Q'S by John Allemang I hereby call this meeting of Nit-pickers Anonymous to order. Today we will deal with the apostrophe, which you might say at first glance is as small a nit as can be picked. But let me suggest to you that even though the apostrophe is a tiny little mark on the page, it's use and misuse??make that its use and misuse-can lead to much head-scratching and irritation. You say this problem doesn't concern you. You say you know the in's and out's, the why's and wherefore's, of apostrophic etiquette. Or should that be ins, outs, whys, wherefores? Yes I think it should, although ins looks pretty strange on the page. And if ins looks strange, what about yeses and noes or hes and shes or ps and qs? Or should that be p's and q's? Yes, it should, according to the style I'm forced to follow at The Globe and Mail. Caught your attention? I didn't think so. It's right one, this time??hard to interest anyone in apostrophes. They're easy, people say, or they don't matter. You'd've thought folks're smarter than that. It's thinking like this that has given us ads proclaiming "Potatoe's??49\O(,/) a kilo" or signs warning "Auto's
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parked illegally may be tagged and towed" or rock critics plugging Guns 'n Roses. Nits these may be, but the world is lousy with them. The problem with explaining apostrophes--apart from the fact that nobody takes them too seriously--is that they cannot be made systematic. We say Tom's and his the same way, and by that final s we mean the same thing, possession or belonging. But one carries an apostrophe and the other doesn't. The word his is the older form, and shows us the possessive as our ancestors used to deal with it. His is the genitive, or possessive, form of the pronoun he, and nouns in English that indicated this grammatical relationship took this form. The apostrophe was originally added to show that letter e had been left out of the genitive, but by the 18th century the apostrophe was being used in almost all possessives, even those without an e. That may sound reasonably systematic, but the system is once again collapsing. That wouldn't be a bad thing if we could collapse in unison, and get rid of the apostrophe altogether and write dont instead of don't. But instead all is flux and we seem to be at sixes and sevens (six's and seven's? 6's and 7's? 6s and 7s?). Look at how we deal with periods of time. At The Globe, the decade of rampant materialism and Gorbymania was called the 1980s, but at The New York Times they say the 1980's. Since there is nothing omitted here and no suggestion of possession, I can't see why The Times carries on in this way. The reasoning of The Times' word columnist, William Safire, is that the apostrophe is used to form the plurals of numbers and letters, and so there. Mr. Safire compares p's and q's, and the phrase dressed to the nine's, but to my mind the truth is not quite so self-evident. If one rule of writing is to keep punctuation to a minimum, then I think that 1980s, a natural looking plural, is much nicer than 1980's. Accept 1980's and you start referring to The Smith's or the delegation of MP's. But what about p's and q's? The reason we don't mind them at The Globe is that individual letters are easier to see as individual letters, uncluttered by a neighbouring s. And here's where we get unsystematic. Turn those letters into capitals and suddenly they're As and Bs and MPs and VIPs, comprehensible and a little more elegant without the apostrophe. This kind of plural is made easier when you have left out the periods between letters, as is more and more the case with modern style. But still there is confusion. For every St. Andrew's, there is a St. Andrews, where long use has banished the apostrophe and made the s part of the name. St. Catharines, St. Marys, St. Davids, Canada is full of slights to punctuation. The Canadian Teachers' Federation is doing its best to keep the apostrophe alive, but what can they do against the massed forces of the Canadian Swine Breeders Association and the Teamsters union? We are turning away from the apostrophe. ( The Globe and Mail, March 23, 1991. Reprinted by permission.)

1.2.4 The Review

Sample title: "The Fire Inside: A Review of John Scale's Dragons." A review may be either formal or informal, depending on the context. Its goal is to evaluate a work, which implies that the reviewer's personal opinion plays a significant role in the process. However, a certain objective standard needs to be maintained and, as in a persuasive essay, your assertions need to be proved. The formality of the review will be determined by how much of the essay is analysis, how much is summary, and how much is your reaction to the work you are reviewing. A more formal review will not only discuss the work on its own merits but also place it in context. Newspapers and popular magazines tend to review in terms of finance: is this record or film worth spending money on? Critical journals will attempt to determine whether a new novel or play has achieved something new and significant. A good review will discuss both the qualities and the importance of a given work.

1.2.5 The Research Essay

Sample topic: "Dragons and Demons in Norse Mythology." The research essay leads you into the works of others and asks you to compare their thoughts with your own. Writing a research paper involves going to source material and synthesizing what you learn from it with your own ideas. You must find texts on the subject and use them to support the topic you have been
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given to explore. Because it is easy to become lost in a wilderness of outside material, you must take particular care to narrow your topic. The greatest danger inherent in the research essay is plagiarism. If your paper consists of a string of quotations or paraphrases with little input of your own, you are not synthesizing but copying, and you should expect a low grade. If any of the borrowings are unacknowledged, you are plagiarizing, and the penalties are severe. The pages on Quotations give information on how to use secondary sources properly, and the one on Works Cited and Bibliography has instructions for documenting your sources. A research paper should demonstrate what you have learned, but it should also show that you have a perspective of your own on the subject.

1.2.6 The Literary Essay

Sample topic: "The Characterization of Dragons in the Works of Tolkien" In the literary essay, you are exploring the meaning and construction of a piece of literature. This task is more complicated than reviewing, though the two are similarly evaluative. In a review you are discussing the overall effect and validity of written work, while in a literary essay you are paying more attention to specifics. A literary essay focusses on such elements as structure, character, theme, style, tone, and subtext. You are taking a piece of writing and trying to discover how and why it is put together the way it is. You must adopt a viewpoint on the work in question and show how the details of the work support your viewpoint. A literary essay may be your own interpretation, based only on your reading of the piece, or it may be a mixture of your opinions and references to the criticism of others, much like a research paper. Again, be wary of plagiarism plagiarism and of letting the opinions of more experienced writers swamp your own response to the work. If you are going to consult the critics, you should reread the literary work you are discussing and make some notes on it before looking at any criticism. 1.3 Writing Your Essay: Getting Started

1.3.1 Narrowing Your Essay Topic

The first step in writing an essay is finding something to write about. Whether you are working from a list of assigned topics or selecting your own, try to find something which sparks your interest: not only will working on the assignment be more stimulating, but your commitment will also help you write a more convincing essay. Some preliminary reading may help determine how deep your interest goes, as well as letting you know what kind of material will be available as you write your essay. A common problem of beginning writers is wallowing around in a topic too wide for their purposes. General words such as "media,""war," "life,"or "nature"are often incorrectly used as if they were topics (even "dragons"is too broad). However, students often begin to write essays with nothing more in mind than a general concept, and the result is a vague and generalized essay, of little interest to the student and less to the instructor. If you start with a broad area, concentrate on narrowing your subjectit will also help you deal with your topic within the length of the paper assigned and the time you have been given to complete it. You can narrow your topic by considering a particular approach to the subject, or a sub-topic within it. You might ask yourself key questions, such as the following: Dragons Am I writing of one specific species of dragon, or of dragons in general? What kind of dragon do I wish to write about? Chinese? Fire-breathers? Kites? What activities, qualities, or myths of that particular dragon do I wish to explore? War Am I writing of one war or of war in general? Which war do I wish to write about? WWI? WWII? The Gulf War? "War"taken more metaphoricallybetween the sexes, siblings, or members of different races? Am I concentrating on the history of the war itself, or its causes or outcome? What specific events or examples will illustrate my points? In deriving a workable topic from your subject, be careful not to narrow it too far; your topic must provide scope to develop a sustained presentation and argument.
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General subject: Media Narrowed topic: Commercials Specific topic: How commercials manipulate their audience General subject: Dragons Narrowed topic: Fire-breathing dragons Specific topic: Problems in fighting the medieval fire-breathing dragon.

1.3.2 Brainstorming
If you are having trouble developing a thesis, try brainstorming. You can brainstorm verbally with other people, or work alone, writing all your ideas on paper. The important thing about brainstorming is not to edit your thoughts. Write down everything which occurs to you about the topic, no matter how irrelevant or bizarre. The next stage is to make connections between your ideas, and to group them into sub-topics, expanding those that you can explore in more detail. Then see if you can put the groups into some kind of logical order, discarding those that do turn out to be irrelevant or bizarre. In most cases you will find that you have the beginning of an essay--something that implies a basic point of view you can explore further and refine into a fully developed argument. There are several good books on using the brainstorming process to generate ideas for writing, including Tony Buzan's Use Both Sides of Your Brain and Gabrielle Lusser Rico's Writing the Natural Way. If you are still unsure about the topic, you should consult your instructor after you have done some thinking about the topic on your own.

1.3.3 The Thesis

All essays that involve the development of an argument require a thesis: the point you are arguing. While the topic is your subject, the thesis defines your position on that subject. Your essay will take a position and will provide convincing evidence to support that view. It is important to develop a working thesis early because it will help direct your thoughts and research; of course your thesis may change as your reading and writing progresses and you begin to incorporate new information. Once you have chosen your topic, you can begin to formulate your thesis by thinking closely about it, doing some exploratory reading, or drawing from lectures or conversations with classmates and friends. One way to develop a thesis is to ask yourself questions about the topic and to focus on a central issue or problem which the topic raises. Your answer to this question will be your thesis.

1.3.4 The Statement Of Your Thesis

Once you have discovered a thesis, sharpen it into a concise statement. The thesis statement usually appears in the introduction of your essay, and is best expressed in one sentence as a definition of your position, or the point you intend to prove in your essay. A good thesis statement will help organize your essay and give it direction; it is the central idea around which the rest of the essay is built. The ideal thesis (like the topic itself) will be neither too broad nor too narrow for the compass of your essay. Clearly a 3000-word essay will have a more complex argument, and correspondingly a more complex thesis, than an essay of 600 words. One of the most common problems with essays is that they are based on a thesis that is too obvious to be worth arguing--a truism. Here are some examples of possible theses: Specific topic: How commercials manipulate their audience A thesis that is a truism: "Television Commercials attempt to sell their products to the largest possible audience." A thesis that is too broad: "Several tactics are used to entice consumers to buy the advertised product."(This thesis is likely to produce an essay that is simply a shopping list of examples, dull both for the writer and reader.) A sharper thesis: "Commercials sell their products by suggesting that those who buy them will instantly enter an ideal world where they are irresistably attractive."
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Too limited: "Molson Canadian commercials are offensive." Specific topic: Problems in fighting the medieval fire-breathing dragon. A thesis that is a truism: "Fighting fire-breathing dragons was hell." A thesis that is too broad: "The flames of passion in courtly love claimed more knights' lives than all the fire-breathing dragons in medieval Europe." (The topic is unwieldy because it involves two areas of research, courtly love and fire-breathing dragons.) A sharper thesis: "Fewer knights would have been broiled in their armour if the medieval world had known of fireextinguishers." Too limited: " 'Puff the Magic Dragon' is a sweet song."

1.3.5 When You Don't Know Enough About A Subject To Form A Thesis
It is possible, particularly when you are tackling an expository essay on a subject you know little about, that you will not be able to formulate a thesis, no matter how hard you storm your brains. In this case, the best strategy is to narrow the topic as best you can and to move straight to the process of writing an outline. Then you should begin your research and gather evidence As you learn more about the subject and begin to form clearer opinions, you can pause to restructure the outline, and then to draft a thesis.

1.4 Writing Your Essay: Organizing It 1.4.1 Methods Of Organizing Your Essay
Now that you have narrowed your topic and formulated a thesis, you know what you are going to write about; organizing your essay will help you determine how to write it. While a well-formulated, sharpened thesis will give your essay purpose and direction, careful structuring and organization will ensure that every part of your essay works to support and develop that thesis. Ideas as we first conceive them may tumble in an improvised dance, but an essay needs the formality of a beginning, a middle and an end. Organizing before you write gives your ideas a structure to cling to; it allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts. If you devise some structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence, you will be able to conduct a more effective and directed search. Organization (or reorganization) is a continuous processit goes on simultaneously with other activities, such as narrowing your topic, forming your thesis statement, and conducting your research. However, formal organization generally involves two components: determining a method of organization for the essay, and drawing up an outline which applies your ideas to that method. As you begin to plan your essay, give some thought to the methods you will use to organize the evidence that will support your thesis. You will want to choose methods which are most suitable to your subject and the type of essay you have been assigned. Here are some principles of organization: Chronological order: Paragraphs separate the process or series of events into major stages. ( See also chronology within paragraphs.) Classification: Paragraphs divide the material into major categories and distinguish between them. Increasing importance: Paragraphs are arranged so that the most important point comes last, thus building the essay's strength. Cause and effect

Indicates causal relationships between things and events. Be careful, however, not to mistake coincidence with causality, nor to disregard other possible causes. See the various pages that deal with logic. Comparison and contrast Involves lining up related ideas for a detailed account of similarities and differences. In this kind of essay it is important to decide whether you will be concentrating on similarities or differences. In general, the more similar things are, the more you concentrate on the differences, and vice versa. If you are comparing two works by the same author, or two love poems, for example, what will most interest you will be the differences between them; if you are comparing an Anglo-Saxon riddle with a science fiction novel the differences will be obvious enough that you will want to focus on the similarities. Although one pattern should serve as the overall organizing framework, your argument can benefit from a combination of these strategies. For example, while the paragraphs may be arranged in ascending order of importance, within the paragraphs it is likely that you will incorporate comparisons, causes, classification or chronology. These principles apply to both the greater structure of the essay and each individual idea.

1.4.2 The Essay Outline

Once you have determined your method or methods of development, put together a working outline. This plan can range from a brief sketch of main points to a detailed point-by-point outline complete with paragraphs and topic sentences. The idea is to provide yourself with a rough map of where the essay will go, making a diagram of your thoughts to sharpen and define your purpose. At this point you can also give your essay a working title. The outline shows where to begin and breaks the assignment into manageable parts.

1.4.3 The Structure Of The Essay Outline

The beginning is the, introduction containing your thesis statement; the end is the conclusion; and the middle or body of the essay contains the argument, supported by evidence or example and designed to prove your thesis. The essay should progress towards the conclusion. At this stage, all you are preparing is the outline, which will take you from one end of the essay to the other, like a road map. It should be constructed to keep you from losing your sense of direction as you research and write the essay. A good outline will ensure that everything you write in the essay supports your thesis, preventing you from wandering off into the tempting byways of irrelevance. Construct your outline by listing all the important points you want to cover in your essay. You should provide one main point for each paragraph. Start with the introduction, under which you will write out your thesis statement and work through logically, point by point, until you reach the conclusion. Categorize your points according to their importance, keeping in mind the method of organization you intend to use. Group related ideas together under general headings and arrange them so they flow logically. It may be useful to number each point, giving more weight to major points and less to minor ones (e.g. A 1 2 3 B 1 2 3); alternatively, you can simply set the points off further from the margin of the paper as they decrease in importance:

Some essays read as if each point had been written on an index card, then the pile thrown down a flight of stairs to determine the order. Make clear why one point follows another: each point in your outline should connect with the next; each main category should be linked to your thesis; and each sub-category should be
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linked to the main category. Focus your outline by discarding anything not useful or pertinent to your thesis. One of the most helpful things about a full outline is that it will quickly make clear to you where the gaps lie. If you don't yet have enough support in one area, you will know that you have more reading or thinking to do. Remember that sometimes your reading will unearth new facts or idea--and you will modify your essay to reflect them.

1.5 Writing Your Essay: Getting It Down 1.5.1 Audience And Tone
Your research is complete; you have a thesis, a complete outline, a bibliography, and a pile of notes. All you have to do is to write the essay. And instead you call a friend or watch television. The trick is simply to get started. Choose a part of the essay towards the beginning of the outline where you know the material well, and write that paragraph. Then continue. You can backtrack later to fill in the gaps. There is one important part of the process of writing, however, that you must complete before you set the first word of your first draft on paper: you must decide what audience you are writing for. If you were writing an oral presentation, you would consider your audience and adjust your style accordingly. The same procedure applies to writing. Your audience will influence your choice of vocabulary, sentence structure, and even the kind of evidence you use to support your thesis. Writing a paper for a university professor obviously requires a greater level of stylistic polish than writing a letter to your six-year-old sister might. However, writing for one professor as opposed to another may require nearly as much variation in method. You would be well advised to keep in mind the preferences of the instructor, as well as the requirements of the essay. Even within the relatively narrow limits of the English essay, there are still a variety of approaches that may be taken and the appropriate path to follow depends to a great extent upon the person who gave the initial directions. The tone of your essay is dictated in part by the subject matter. If you are writing an article for The National Enquirer you will probably take a more casual approach than if you are contributing to Existentialist Quarterly. An essay need not always be grim and impersonalit may suit your thesis to be more subjective or ironic. However, while this approach may be appropriate to an essay on double entendre in Shakespeare, it may not serve you well in an essay on the nature of tragedy in King Lear. In a university environment, it is safe to assume that a certain seriousness of tone is necessary, but there are exceptions to every rule. Addressing students in this style manual, we feel freer to be moderately light-hearted than we might if we were speaking to a convention of Scandinavian drama scholars. What determines tone more than anything else is the kind of language you choose. An honours thesis is a highly formal work; therefore, one would not expect to find it strewn with slang and colloquialisms. The page of this guide which deals with usage explains the difference between formal, informal and popular language. Another consideration is the attitude you communicate as you express yourself. Be wary of being either too timid or too aggressive. A timid essay hedges on every point, incorporating words and phrases like probably, it seems that, to some extent and perhaps. These phrases have their place, but overusing them suggests that you are not confident in what you are saying. Conversely, an essay featuring numerous examples of obviously, definitely, of course and the like is being overly confident. Often students fill essays with superlatives and flamboyant emotional outbursts in an effort to please their professors, finishing papers with sentences like "His masterful use of puns proves that Joyce is unquestionably the greatest writer in the English language." Dramatic declarations are not welcome in serious critical essays; what is welcome is carefully considered and well-supported argument. Do not shout at the reader with overstated convictions or pretentious moralizing. While many essay topics encourage an objective and dispassionate discussion, there are other occasions when it is appropriate to be critical or adversarial toward your subject. Your instructor is unlikely to be satisfied with an essay which merely regurgitates class lectures, or timidly praises to avoid controversy. If you have an opinion, declare it. Students are often afraid to write anything negative, especially if the subject is Shakespeare or another such major figure. Be honest but methodical; support your opinions and never lose sight of the opposing viewpoint.

1.5.2 The First Draft

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The first draft of your paper is the arena into which your ideas, observations, criticisms and hypotheses are thrown to battle one another and prove themselves. In other words, the first draft is the place where you can write anything and everything down and determine whether or not it works. Although you have prepared an outline of your basic points, it is likely that the process of composing an initial draft will alter your original plans somewhat. The composition of any essay is a journey through the tangled underbrush of your unformed ideas, and hacking from one end to the other will clear a path to a more definite perspective on your material, eliminating the weak points that you cannot prove and the flaws that undermine your argument. Your messy first draft will help you clarify the issues. As you begin the first draft, do not worry about crafting a captivating introduction. Many find writing the introduction the most challenging part of the essay process, and allow it to prevent them from starting. It is better to plunge directly into the body of your argument, with perhaps a two-sentence opening, simply summarizing your thesis. Once you know what you have said in the essay, it becomes easier to find an effective way of introducing it. It is important to realize that writing is a way of thinking. Do not feel that you have to have all of your thoughts fully organized in your head before putting fingers to keyboard. A written work is not an Athena and will not leap fully formed from your brain to the page. It is a carefully prepared and heavily revised simulation of rational thought that usually begins as a series of poorly expressed and disconnected ideas. Once you have done your research and planned your outline, the best way to think about your essay is to write it. Seeing your thoughts written down allows you to regard them critically and objectively, and putting one sentence down will inspire another one. There is no need to feel disappointed with a messy, even incoherent first draft. The purpose of the initial draft is to produce raw material, not to dazzle the critics with your finely-shaped prose. Having something on paper gives you something to work with.

1.5.3 Revising
According to the Roman writer Pliny, a bear's whelp was born a shapeless mass, and the mother had literally to lick it into shape. Now that you have a mass of print before you, your task is to lick it into something resembling an essay. Your principal concerns are these: clarity, coherence and unity. Clarity As you create sentences in your first draft, you will use the first grammatical constructions that come to mind. Once you are revising, it will become necessary to rewrite much of your original work for the sake of clarity. Essays tend to be written one painful sentence at a time, and it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Repetitive or unwieldy sentences are irritating and distract the reader's attention from content. Make sure that you vary your sentence structure; for example, do not begin three sentences in a row with The. Trim redundant phrases (many of these, such as off of, are covered in the Dictionary of Usage (15K) ). Watch for passive sentences ("A decision was made by the Premier to resign") and, unless the passive voice is crucial, change them to active ones ("The Premier decided to resign"). Do not try to be wordy in the mistaken belief that it will make your essay sound more "serious." See the section on writing sentences, especially the discussion of wordiness and (again) the passive voice. Coherence. Students often have trouble putting a collection of perfectly good sentences into an order that makes sense. The page on organization talks about the logical processes used to structure an essay; apply the same guidelines to every sentence. Ask yourself why one thought follows another, or if it might be more effective somewhere else in the paragraph. Every sentence in your essay must follow from the previous one, and the paragraphs must work toward the goal of developing and exploring your thesis. Examine the material you have put together in your rough draft and experiment with different sequences (if you are working on a word processor this kind of experimentation will be much simpler). No matter how strong your ideas, if they are disconnected they will have no impact. You are trying to convince, and convincing requires logical, systematic presentation. There are more suggestions on the organization of ideas in the pages on paragraphs. Unity Check everything you have written to make sure that it contributes to the essay. The strength of your argument will be diluted by irrelevant digressions or redundancies. In the course of writing the first draft,
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you will probably compose a number of sentences whose only function is to help you think and lead you toward something else. Determine whether or not you need a given sentence to advance your argument. If you are only spinning your wheels, then that sentence must go. Everything in your essay must be there for a reason.

1.5.4 Introductions
It is often a wise decision to begin work on the introduction after you have completed a rough draft of the body of your paper. Many find the task of writing an introduction perplexing, wondering why they should write something once if they are planning to say it again in the next paragraph. After all, novels do not have ponderous opening paragraphs which explain what is going to happen in advance. But the introduction is not a disposable redundancy; it is a crucial component of the essay. An essay is an exploration of an idea which needs to be defined before it is developed. Because the material in an essay always relates to this central thesis, it is necessary for the writer to introduce that thesis and make the reader aware of its importance and relevance. The introduction is the place where the essay has to make a good impression, informing the reader what is to come and encouraging him or her to read further (but without rendering the succeeding paragraphs repetitious). If the introduction is tedious or fails to make the rest of the essay sound interesting, the reader will not wish to continue. Of course, when you are writing a class assignment, you can assume it will be read no matter how bad the introduction. But your introduction serves the same purpose as it would if the reader were coming to it voluntarily. You must give the impression that your essay is worth reading.

1.5.5 The Structure Of An Introduction

A simple model for the relationship between the introduction, the body, and the conclusion is the old newspaper maxim: "You tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em you tell 'em, and then you tell 'em what you told 'em." In an introduction, you lay out a plan for what will follow. However, there is more to writing an introduction than merely summarizing the points of your essay; you must find a way to open discussion of the topic. There are several ways to do this, but a simple and effective method uses the analogy of a triangle. Imagine an inverted triangle, thus:

In this model, your introduction begins with the general and moves toward the specific, as the sides of the triangle narrow toward a point. Ask yourself how the specific question you are addressing in the essay relates to a greater issue or field. For example, if you are writing about how Waiting For Godot subverts traditional notions of plot, you might want to begin by explaining what a traditional notion of plot is, or by discussing the characteristics of Beckett's work in general. The question you take up in your essay does not exist in a vacuum; it arises out of a greater set of concerns. Your introduction can provide this background so that the reader is not coming to the discussion cold: ask yourself what your audience knows already, and what it needs to know in order to understand the context for your thesis. By the time you reach the end of your introductory paragraph, you should be ready to state the thesis of your essay. The introduction need not give away all your opinions and conclusions, but you should give your reader a clear idea of what you will be discussing. For an example of the inverted triangle structure, read a sample expository essay written by a UVic student.

1.5.6 The Length Of The Introduction

The introduction should be brief relative to the rest of the essay. If the opening is inappropriately lengthy, the reader will lose interest, annoyed that you have failed to get started. Do not include unnecessary
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background information, especially if the professor is already conversant with the material on which you are writing. For example, this introduction is clearly too long: In the play The Glass Menagerie,Tennessee Williams uses a number of realistic and non-realistic techniques. The characters and the language are predominantly realistic. The narrator, Tom, is excluded as a realistic character when narrating. The characters and their actions are unrealistic because they are seen through Tom's mind. Tom's memories of the events are revised and his acting in the play is formed around his guilt and his selective recollections. Various other unrealistic techniques include the music, lighting, and screen devices. Williams uses symbolism in this play. The places, characters, actions and objects centre around the idea that the Wingfield family is trapped in an unrealistic world and is unable to face reality. The use of the setting emphasizes the hopelessness of the Wingfields' lives. Amanda, the mother, holds on to the past, which is indicated by her clothes and her language. Tom, the son, desperately seeks to escape from home to follow his father's adventurous lifestyle. This is suggested by his continuous attendance to the movies. Laura, the daughter, lacks self-confidence due to a crippling illness, and thus feels she is unable to survive in the working world. Laura's glass collection symbolizes Laura herself. Lastly, Jim represents the only realistic character. The use of symbolism helps to describe the roles of the characters in the play. You may wish to spend some time analysing what is wrong with this introduction. Can you tell whether the essay is to be about realism realism or symbolism? The final sentence, which is presumably the thesis, makes a statement about symbolism, but the paragraph begins with a discussion of realism. Is there too much detail about the play for an introduction? Should some of the material be left for later paragraphs? Are there other problems of usage, repetition, truism and so on? This introduction, on the other hand, is inadequate because it is too brief: In Jane Eyre, the heroine comes into contact with two men who share some qualities but differ greatly. Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers are emotionally and socially strong, which helps to mold Jane's character. The reader learns virtually nothing because the paragraph does not suggest how the argument will develop. Try not to be too self-referential in your introduction, or elsewhere for that matter. When you talk to someone you do not continually remind that person that you are having a conversation. Avoid sentences like "It is this problem that my essay will focus upon." Though you have been advised to begin with the general, do not start your essay with a bland statement like "Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller, is an extremely interesting novel." The first sentence is important; do not waste it on a meaningless generality.

1.5.7 The Body Of The Essay

Usually the easiest part of the essay to write is the part where you turn your notes into paragraphs to support your central thesis, according to the particular method of organization that you decided on when you were sketching it out. If the introduction is an inverted triangle, the middle section is a sequence of paragraphs that support your thesis, or (in an expository essay) provide the information you promised in your introduction.

The important thing at this stage is to ensure that you construct paragraphs that are unified --one topic per paragraph, each topic suitably and sufficiently supported. If your outline has been carefully thought out, the sequence of paragraphs will make logical sense.
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For more, the UVic Writer's Guide has a number of pages on the subject of writing paragraphs paragraphs that you should find helpful.

1.5.8 Essay Conclusions

"Telling 'em what you told 'em" can often be the hardest part of the essay, especially if you are not exactly sure what you have said. If you have had your thesis in view throughout the essay, you should be able to announce a specific conclusion confidently and definitely. If you cannot find a way to sum up what you have said, then you have not said anything. What you say in your conclusion should match what you said when you introduced the essay: it should be a restatement (but not a mere repetition) of your thesis, ideally in a way that shows more fully and clearly what you have been arguing. If the process of writing the essay has changed what you are arguing--and this is surprisingly often the case--you may have to reword your thesis in the. introduction Otherwise, the essay will suffer from schizophrenia. As the diagram above suggests, the triangle of the introduction is inverted in the conclusion. Instead of narrowing, you expand. Begin by restating your thesis, retracing the steps of your argument. By doing so you remind the reader of how the components of the essay fit together and strengthen their cumulative effect. Because this paragraph is a conclusion, you must be conclusive; that is, you must present your thesis in its final, most persuasive form. In the introduction you were giving the reader an idea of what was to follow, trying to attract interest. In the conclusion, you have the weight of the essay behind you, and you can state your case succinctly, knowing that the reader has all the information you have provided. The introduction is a forecast, while the conclusion is a final analysis. Avoid repeating the introduction too closely; the tone of your conclusion is different because the reader has finished your paper. Once you have tied up your argument, a good way to conclude is to use the final lines of your essay to suggest a way in which the material you have covered applies to a larger concern. As in the introduction you explained the thesis in terms of a bigger picture, so in the conclusion you can demonstrate the effects or the problems inherent in what you have discussed. For example, a paper on clear-cutting might end with a warning about the consequences of irresponsible logging practises. Remember, however, that an overly sentimental or obvious statement will weaken rather than strengthen your essay ("If we do not save the forests the entire world is at risk"). These concluding lines from Carl Jung's "Approaching the Unconscious" are an example of how a thesis can be broadened at the end of an essay: Our actual knowledge of the unconscious shows that it is a natural phenomenon and that, like Nature itself, it is at least neutral. It contains all aspects of human nature--light and dark, beautiful and ugly, good and evil, profound and silly. The study of individual, as well as of collective, symbolism is an enormous task, and one that has not yet been mastered. But a beginning has been made at last. The early results are encouraging, and they seem to indicate an answer to many so far unanswered questions of present-day mankind. (94) The paragraph moves from a conclusion about the subject of the essay to a consideration of the impact of the subject matter (in this case, the study of the symbolic nature of the unconscious mind) upon society. Never make a claim in your conclusion that is unsubstantiated or even unmentioned anywhere else. New material may enter a conclusion occasionally, but it must be closely related to everything else you have said. Writing "Another character that Helen is similar to is Simon from Lord of the Flies" as the second to last sentence of an essay on Jane Eyre is a poor way to finish a focussed discussion. Remember the obvious but important fact that the conclusion is the last thing the reader looks at. Do not allow a strong essay to fizzle with a weak conclusion. Always end with a definite statementas this concluding paragraph does.

1.6 Proofreading and Presenting Your Essay 1.6.1 Proofreading

Here are a list--whoops, make that "Here is a list"--of tips for proofreading: Once you are satisfied with the content of your essay, be sure that it is visually satisfactory: look for careless mistakes. Proofreading is an essential task that many writers do not take seriously.
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Reread the essay, out loud if possible, to make sure that it flows well and that it makes sense as a whole. Since you have worked on the essay one section at a time, you may have forgotten to connect those sections properly. Reading your essay aloud from beginning to end may make you realize that it is less coherent or not as thorough as you had thought, and you may even have to do some last minute research to bolster a weak point. Hearing a sentence may make its faults clearer than they appear on the page. You may discover that you have left a sentence incomplete, omitted a citation, or (if you are using a computer) forgotten to erase unwanted text. If you have typed your paper or used a word processor, you must beware of the illusion of perfection that the printed page presents. Your essay looks so official and sophisticated that mistakes seem inconceivable. However, they are probably there. A typo is no less an error than a spelling mistake. While the professor may know that the error comes from your fingers rather than your brain, the experience of reading your paper will still have been interrupted, and there will be an ugly gash of red ink on the page. One of the most efficient ways of picking up spelling errors (if you have the time) is to read your work backwards, word for word. That way you are looking at each individual word, not reading for the overall sense of the passage. Alternatively, get a friend to read your paper, or (best of all, both for spelling and for style) leave the paper for several days, then come back and read it carefully. The only problem with this last solution is that it is seldom practical in the real world of university assignments. The presentation of your essay is not a trivial matter; you wish to show the reader that you are thorough and organized. A series of typos suggests that you are careless, and does not reflect well upon your work. Check very carefully for errors in spelling, typing, and, especially in the Bibliography, punctuation. Many professors deduct marks for these mistakes.

1.6.2 Essay Presentation

Reading a messy essay is not a pleasant task. A professor wading through a massive pile of papers may grow impatient with illegible work. Make sure of the following: Your essay is visually appealing The type is large enough and dark enough There are sufficient spaces between the lines If you are handing in a written assignment, do not fill it with scribbled out words or indecipherable squiggles. Handwriting looks deceptively readable to its writer. Make it easy for your instructor to enjoy reading your work, and you will likely get a better mark. Directions for presentation of a standard expository essay: Use white, 8 1/2 X 11 paper. Typing is always preferable and usually required. If you have to write, use lined paper. Use only one side of the paper. Double-space, so your instructor can both read and criticize your work effectively. Leave margins of at least one inch on the top, bottom and sides of the page. Page numbers should be placed in the upper right hand corner. Make sure that all pages are numbered. Title pages are not numbered. Page 1 is the first page of the essay proper, and must be numbered. Do not hand in loose pages; always bind them together, either with a staple or a folder. If you use a folder, be sure that the whole of the written text is clearly visible. Do not use folders that will substantially increase the bulk of the pile your professor has to carry home. A title page is not necessary for research papers but may be used if desired. Alternatively, you may enter your name, instructor and course number, and the date at the tope left margin of the first page (double-spacing after your name and the course number). Enter the title two spaces below the date and double-space it if it extends more than one line. (See the student essay for an example of how this looks. .)

1.6.3 A Sample Title Page

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1.7 Common Problems Writing Essays The most common problems that students encounter with essays are: Thesis Statement There is no thesis at all. The thesis is too general, or a truism. The thesis is too narrow. Organization There is no sense of direction, no reason why one paragraph follows another. There are few, or inadequate transitions. There are too many generalizations, and too little support for them. The introduction or conclusion is weak, or one simply repeats the other. Presentation The essay is poorly set out, with inadequate space for the instructor's comments. There are frequent typos or misspelled words.

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2. Developing and Ordering Paragraphs

2.1 Developing the paragraph 2.1.1 Paragraph Unity
A paragraph deals with one main idea. If you are moving away from that idea, conclude the paragraph and start a new one. Here is an example of how not to organize your paragraphs: As an adult living at Thornfield, Jane learns the secret of a hidden room containing the insane Bertha Rochester. There are no windows, rendering it dark and loathsome. The figure of Bertha stands out in the gloom as an unrecognizable beast that "grovel[s] and growl[s] like some strange wild animal" (220). This image compares to that of the unrecognizable mirror image in the red room. Jane takes in the episode of the hidden room and waits until she returns to her own room to think about it. Even though Jane is in love with Rochester, she refuses to compromise her morals and become his mistress. However, just as she is leaving she stops at his door, but moves on. Thus she encounters the greatest challenge to her selfcontrol, but overcomes it in the end. Part of the problem with this paragraph is that it is too dependent upon plot summary. Because these incidents occur next to one another in the novel, the writer has put them into the same paragraph; there is, however, no connection made between them. The paragraph begins by talking about the hidden room, and ends with Jane's decision to stay away from Rochester. There is no unity because the writer is merely wandering between events. The reader has a similar problem when confronted with short, inconclusive paragraphs. As an example, these two paragraphs would read better had they been combined into one: The ball takes place in a secluded abbey, and the Prince has locked himself and his guests inside the grounds. This setting suggests that everyone in the story is hiding from reality. The locking of the masqueraders behind cold iron gates creates a harrowing sense of doom. The abbey's structure and its adornments also have an eerie effect on the mood of the story. The fact that the Red Death kills all the people from all seven chambers suggests that it is killing all of the seven seas and the seven continents; it is wiping out the planet. Both paragraphs discuss what the abbey represents in Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," but the two observations are too sketchy to stand on their own as paragraphs; they should be part of a single paragraph about the abbey. The problem is probably caused by the lack of a tight topic sentence: the paragraphs are about Poe's use of suggestive symbolism, but instead of a sentence that focuses the discussion, the first begins with an undirected narrative sentence. The effect on the reader is of reading notes rather than an essay. As this example shows, the first thing you must determine about each paragraph is its focus. Once you have done so, you should never allow yourself to veer away from that governing idea.

2.1.2 The Topic Sentence

To make the significance of each paragraph clear, you must include a topic sentence. The topic sentence of this paragraph is the previous one because it includes the crucial words "You must include a topic sentence." Most often the topic sentence comes first, and the point made in the topic sentence is developed and supported by the rest of the paragraph. Without some kind of topic sentence, the paragraph is rudderless and the reader is lost. Undeveloped essays may contain entire paragraphs of topic sentences, combining several expandable ideas into one block of unsupported assertions. If an idea is important enough to mention it is important enough to develop; if a general statement is worth making, it is worth supporting in detail.

2.1.3 Developing Your Topic Sentence

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After the topic sentence, the rest of the paragraph supports the point you wish to make. Inexperienced writers often fail to construct effective paragraphs because they make an assertion without backing it up. The following paragraph provides a topic but no development: Jane is relieved to find that Mrs. Fairfax is in fact a nice lady, and that she does not own Fairfield. Perhaps she wants to live as an equal, or maybe she is tired of having authority figures looking over her, as they have done for her entire life. The writer does not develop the statement in the first sentence; rather the discussion fizzles out into speculation with no specific reference to the text. In an expository essay especially, you may be able to refer to objective support for your position; if you are writing a paper about birth control, you might find it useful to include statistical information to strengthen your argument. Never state without supporting evidence; aside from the problem of proof, you will end up with a short essay.

2.2 The Functions of Paragraphs 2.2.1 Paragraphs That Analyze

This paragraph subdivides the subject and analyzes each sub-topic: Every student who attends university needs three types of education: general education, liberal education, and specialized education. By general education I mean that education which is required to become an effective member of the human race; it provides us with the means of communication with one another, with an understanding of the relationships between human beings and the institutions which they establish, with an analytical approach toward the physical universe of which we are all a part, and with a concept of the position which we hold in the stream of time and history. By liberal education I mean the education that frees us from the confines of the group, the patterns, the conventions, and enables us to become truly an individual; it is therefore the education which discovers our greatest abilities and interests and then develops them to the highest capacities which we can achieve. By specialized education I mean the education which will enable us to make a living in a competitive economic world; especially in America there is very little leisure class, and every educated person is expected to have some place in which to render a valuable service .

2.2.2 Paragraphs That Contrast And Compare

This pattern may be the basis of an entire essay, but it can also occur within one paragraph. In the first paragraph below, the construction of the Cheops and the Grand Coulee dam is compared and contrasted, aspect by aspect. The pattern here could be diagrammed thus: A1/B1, A2/B2, A3/B3 and so forth. The use of balanced sentences intensifies the effect of the comparison. In the second paragraph, primitive medicine is first described and then modern medicine is described by contrast. The pattern here could be diagrammed thus: A1 A2 A3/B1 B2 B3. The use of a transitional device ("On the other hand") is very important to signal the shift in this pattern of comparison. [1.] One of the masses is built of cut stone, the other of poured concrete. One took 50,000 men twenty years to build, the other will take 5,000 men six years, in a task not only three times greater but vastly more complex and dangerous. Both structures relied on the labor of those who would otherwise have been unemployed. Egyptian peasants in the off season built Cheops; American workingmen and engineers shelved by a great depression are building Grand Coulee. Pyramids were houses for the dead. Dams are centers of energy for the living. It is better, I think, to live in the age of the Great Dams than in the age of the Great Pyramids. [2.] There are two philosophies of medicine: the primitive or superstitious, and the modern or rational. They are in complete opposition to one another. The former involves the belief that disease is caused by supernatural forces. Such a doctrine associates disease with sin; it is an aspect of religion which
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conceives diseases as due to certain forms of evil and attempts to control them by ceremonial and superstitious measures or to drive them away by wishful thinking. On the other hand, rational medicine is based on the conception that disease arises from natural causes; it associates sickness with ignorance. Civilized man tries to control the forces causing disease by material, not spiritualistic, means; he does not view disease as supernatural or the outcome of sin against moral laws, but rather as resulting from the violation of sanitary laws. He recognizes that knowledge is the sole means of preventing it. The measures he relies upon both to prevent and cure disease are those which have resulted from scientific investigation and which have been proved to be effective by experience.

2.2.3 Paragraphs That Define

In most essays there are terms to be defined. An expository paragraph may be the beginning of a more complex argument, like this: Sukiyaki (pronounced by the Japanese in three sylllables with no accent--shee-yah-kee) is the dish that has proved most popular among American visitors to Japan. It is not, as it is sometimes described, a Japanese imitation of chop suey, but is a native concoction with a long and honorable history. Its ingredients may vary, but they consist usually of raw beef sliced paper-thin, onions, spinach, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, bean curd, and a kind of gelatinous noodle, with sugar and rice wine and soy sauce as seasonings. It is the cooking and eating of sukiyaki, however, rather than the food itself, that makes it an experience to remember. The guests gather round a thick skillet set on a charcoal burner, and the raw ingredients (brought in beautifully arranged on a huge plate, for the Japanese believe in eating first with their eyes) are cooked in their presence. After part of the food has been allowed to simmer with its seasonings for a tantalizing while, the guests reach into the common skillet with their chopsticks, taking out whatever pieces please them and dipping them into a beaten raw egg. Sukiyaki is not just a food, it is a social experience; for all evening long the guests sit around the pan "cooking and eating," as the Japanese say, "and eating and cooking."

2.2.4 Paragraphs That Make Claims

This paragraph makes a claim and then provides a historical explanation for it: The development of advertising styles was the convergence of several very respectable American traditions. One of these was the tradition of the "plain style," which the Puritans made so much of and which accounts for so much of the strength of the Puritan literature. The plain style was of course much influenced by the Bible and found its way into the rhetoric of American writers and speakers of great power like Abraham Lincoln. When advertising began to be self-conscious in the early years of this century, the pioneers urged copywriters not to be too clever, and especially not to be fancy. One of the pioneers of the advertising copywriters, John Powers, said, for example, The commonplace is the proper level for writing in business; where the first virtue is plainness, fine writing is not only intellectual, it is offensive. George P. Rowell, another advertising pioneer, said, You must write your advertisement to catch damned fools not college professors. He was a very tactful person. And he added, and youll catch just as many college professors as you will of any other sort. In the 1920s, when advertising was beginning to come into its own, Claude Hopkins, whose name is known to all in the trade, said, Brilliant writing has no place in advertising. A unique style takes attention from the subject. Any apparent effort to sell creates corresponding resistance... One should be natural and simple. His language should not be conspicuous. In fishing for buyers, as in fishing for bass, one should not reveal the hook. So there developed a characterisitic advertising style in which plainness, the phrase that anyone could understand, was a distinguishing mark.

2.2.5 Paragraphs That Show Results

This paragraph shows the opposite side of the coin from "causes." The topic sentence of this paragraph will provide a starting point for a series of results which comprise the rest of the paragraph: The cold, the dark, and the intense radioactivity, together lasting for months, represent a severe assault on our civilization and our species. Civil and sanitary services would be wiped out. Medical facilities, drugs, the most rudimentary means for relieving the vast human suffering, would be unavailable. Any but the most elaborate shelters would be useless, quite apart from the question of what good it would be to emerge a few months later. Synthetics burned in the destruction of the cities would produce a wide
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variety of toxic gases, including carbon monoxide, cyanides, dioxins and furans. After the dust and soot settled out, the solar ultraviolet flux would be much larger than its present value. Immunity to disease would decline. Epidemics and pandemics would be rampant, especially after the billion or so unburied bodies began to thaw. Moreover, the combined influence of these severe and simultaneous stresses on life are likely to produce even more adverse consequences--biologists call them synergismsthat we are not yet wise enough to foresee.

2.2.6 Paragraphs That Use Analogy

This paragraph develops an idea by means of a comparison with a similar idea. (Note that analogy is a useful tool, but using it can also lead to problems.) Light and all other forms of radiation are analogous to water-ripples or waves, in that they distribute energy from a central source. The suns radiation distributes through space the vast amount of energy which is generated inside the sun. We hardly know whether there is any actual wave-motion in light or not, but we know that both light and all other types of radiation are propagated in such a form that they have some of the properties of a succession of waves.

2.3 Paragraph Order 2.3.1 Paragraph Order--An Introduction

As you develop paragraphs, you are collecting sentences that build upon your initial statement. The arrangement of these sentences is as important as the sentences themselves. A paragraph requires a certain level of drama. Use structure to your advantage; a paragraph which moves in a specific direction is more powerful than one which wanders about aimlessly. Here are some examples of strategies that can give your paragraphs greater coherence and greater effect:

2.3.2 Paragraphs That Build To A Climax

Build from matter-of-fact observation to a grand statement. The effect is a dramatic build toward a climactic moment: The cultural laggards are noisy; but tangible events since the impasse was reached show net gains for dynamo behaviour and losses for stagecoach behavior; not only in the United States, but all over the world. Vendibility is definitely in retreat. Nation after nation has left the gold standard, to embark on managed currency policies in which the bankers correctly find no hope for maintaining a private monopoly of credit. The state has been forced to support millions of citizens without requiring the traditional quid pro quo of work, because there was no work for them to do. Autarchy has all but destroyed the world free market. Dictatorships, one after another, supersede voting, parliaments, checks, and balances. Centralization and government control of industry proceed at a violent pace. The end no man can foresee, but the general direction is clear enough. All industrial nations are in the turmoil of a transition period, seeking more or less blindly for stabilities which accord with technological imperatives. History is at one of its most momentous passages.

2.3.3 Paragraphs Order--Familiar To The Unfamiliar

Begin with an example of personal experience with which the reader can identify, and move from that example into a more technical discussion: Certain moments of the mind have a special quality of well-being. A mathematician friend of mine remarked that his daughter, aged eight, had just stumbled without his teaching onto the fact that some numbers are prime numbers--those, like 11 or 19 or 83 or 1,023, that cannot be divided by any other integer (except, trivially, by 1). "She called them 'unfair numbers'," he said. "And when I asked her why they were unfair, she told me, "Because there's no way to share them out evenly."" What delighted him most was not her charming turn of phrase nor her equitable turn of mind (17 peppermints to give to her friends?) but--as a mathematician--the knowledge that the child had experienced a moment of pure scientific perception. She had discovered for herself something of the way things are. The satisfaction of such a moment at its most intense--and this is what ought to be meant, after all, by the tarnished phrase "the moment of truth"--is not easy to describe. It partakes at once of exhilaration and tranquillity. It is luminously clear. It is beautiful.
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The clarity of the moment of discovery, the beauty of what in that moment is seen to be true about the world, is the most fundamental attraction that draws scientists on.

2.3.4 Paragraph Order--General To Particular

This pattern is particularly effective in an introduction, but is applicable elsewhere. In Shakespeare's England a standing army was unknown. There was no general military organization. The military defence of the realm rested upon two Statues passed in 1557, the one for Arms and Armour, the other for Taking of Musters. The first required "every nobleman, gentleman, or other temporal person" to keep, according to his means, a fixed number of weapons, horses, and suits or articles of defensive armour. The most interesting point in this Act is the fact that. though the existence of fire-arms is recognized by the obligation of the wealthiest classes to furnish "haquebuts," the longbow is none the less exalted as the first of missile weapons, and practice at the archery-butts is still strictly enjoined upon the people at large. This was an absurdity, for fire-arms in the hands of skillful Spaniards and Italians had already been brought to considerable perfection, and the famous longbow was practically obsolete.

2.3.5 Paragraph Order--Particular To General

Going from the particular to the general can be just as effective as its opposite; it is often used in the conclusion to an essay. Nineteen forty-eight saw the beginning of the systematic suppression of the Greek guerillas--a rather baffling police operation executed by indigenous forces, with the United States supplying only material aid and technical advice. Nineteen forty-nine was the year that turned the tide in Berlinthrough a massive logistic effort carried out primarily by the Americans themselves. The current year has seen United Nations intervention in Korea, again an operation in which American forces have played the leading role. These examples suggest that the number of active danger spots at any one time is limited, and that it is possible to shift the emphasis and to divert resources from one place to another nearly as rapidly as the Soviet Union can itself shift its point of attack. The resources, the technique, perhaps some of the same planes that won the struggle from Berlin went into the air movements of troops and supplies that contributed so decisively to the American advance in Korea. In sum, the containment policy rests on the idea of a strategic reserve--a flexible concept as opposed to the static and impossible notion of simply manning a wall.

2.3.6 Paragraph Order--Narration

The best way to structure a historical or biographical paragraph may simply be to tell a story. In literary essays, however, be careful not to spend unnecessary time recounting the plot for the benefit of an instructor who knows it well. Here is a paragraph of narrative: In the 1950s french fries were an unimportant side dish that brought in little profit at most restaurants. The McDonald brothers, however, lavished considerable attention on their fries. Many customers were fiercely devoted to the product. Kroc believed the McDonalds fries were the best he had ever tasted. Convinced that they would be crucial for his chain he set out to master french fry production. "The french fry would become almost sacrosanct for me, its preparation a ritual to be followed religiously," he wrote in his autobiography,

2.3.7 Paragraph Order--Grinding It Out

Here's an example: Kroc cooked his first batch, carefully duplicating the brothers' method. He peeled the potatoes, leaving a bit of skin for flavour, then cut Idaho shoestring strips and soaked them in cold water. After the water was white with starch he rinsed off the potatoes and then fried them in fresh oil. Out of the grease the batch looked just right, golden brown. But something was amiss. The McDonald's fries were always crispy, but this batch was mushy. Kroc struggled to reproduce the perfect fries. After several phone calls to California he learned that the McDonald brothers stored their potatoes in bins where they naturally cured in the dry desert air. Kroc put an electric fan in the basement of his Illinois store, blowing on the potatoes to produce the desert drying effect. After three months of trying he achieved the correct formula.
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2.3.8 Paragraph Order--Chronology

A a chronology explains by listing events in order; it is a particular kind of narrative, where the sequence of events is important, and is carefully signalled: The new earth, freshly torn from its parent sun, was a ball of whirling gases, intensely hot, rushing through the black spaces of the universe on a path at a speed controlled by immense forces. Gradually the ball of flaming gases cooled. The gases began to liquefy, and Earth became a molten mass. The materials of this mass eventually became sorted out in a definite pattern: the heaviest in the center, the less heavy surrounding them, and the least heavy forming the outer rim. This is the pattern which persists todaya central sphere of molten iron, very nearly as hot as it was 2 billion years ago, an intermediate sphere of semi-plastic basalt, and a hard outer shell, relatively quite thin and composed of solid basalt and granite.

2.4 Paragraph Transitions

Although your paragraphs will be self-contained, they must interlock effectively to produce a strong overall argument. Transitions both between and within paragraphs are essential because they signal changes in direction and help the reader follow those changes. Simple words like however, in addition, for example, although, whereas and finally tie sentences together effectively. The most important transitions come between paragraphs. Try to establish a connection between the first sentence of a new paragraph and the last sentence of the preceding one. Again a linking word may be the easiest way: . . . Thus the pattern established by Dickens in the first chapter is consistent throughout the rest of the first volume. However, Volume Two offers a new approach to the narrative. . . The echo of a key phrase or word can also be effective: . . . Whatever Lear's faults, it cannot be denied that he loves his daughters. Unfortunately, love counts for little in the realm of Regan and Goneril. . . . However, echoing the preceding sentence too closely will result in repetition rather than transition. This example was an attempt to link the introduction to the body of the essay: . . . The other important function Bottom has is his major contribution to the humorous aspect of the play. One of the major functions of Bottom is his contribution to the play's humour. . . . The transition may require more than just a word; a transitional sentence may be called for: The evidence thus suggests that there is no other option. And yet there may still be a solution. If you disregard . . . The transitional sentence does not indicate what will come next in the paragraph, but it establishes that this paragraph is a negation of the last. Note that this kind of sentence displaces the topic sentence you would expect to find at the beginning of the paragraph; the topic sentence should follow it. Sentences must follow one another in a logical pattern. If thoughts follow one another without sufficient connection, the essay will make no sense. Within each paragraph you will be using transitions almost continuously.

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3. Writing Clear Sentences

3.1 Some Things To Do 3.1.1 The Need for Sentence Variation
It is difficult to read an essay made up entirely of simple subject-verb sentences: "The dog is barking. Jim kicks the dog. The dog bites Jim." While short sentences can be effective for emphasis ("The Eagle has landed"), they need to be surrounded by different kinds of sentences for contrast. Simple sentences are the main stylistic feature of children's readers like Fun With Dick and Jane, so a paper full of them will sound as if it was written for youngsters. If your essay has any claim to sophistication whatsoever, it will feature sentences of varied length and complexity. If you find that your essay is composed of choppy little sentences, try to connect some of them into compound or complex sentences.

3.1.2 Compound and Complex Sentences

A compound sentence consists of two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction: "I washed the car and Bill took out the garbage." Coordinating conjunctions include and, but, or, so, yet and for. The two clauses have equal status in the sentence. If one short sentence is dependent upon another, then they can be combined into a complex sentence, using a subordinating conjunction: "Because you have foiled my plans once too often, I shall be forced to eliminate you, Mr. Bond." Subordinating conjunctions include because, although, after, if, since, though and before.

3.1.3 Compound-Complex Sentences

A compound-complex sentence combines the two structures: "Because I forgot to pay my bills, the bank repossessed my car, and the phone company cut off my service." Combining clauses in these forms makes the rhythm of your writing more varied. On the other hand, a simple sentence is often more useful for emphasis or clarity than a sentence with a multitude of clauses. Maintain a balance between complexity and simplicity.

3.1.4 Absolute Phrase

An absolute phrase is another useful linking device; for example, "His nose was running and his hands were shaking" and "He left the theatre" can be combined as "His nose running and his hands shaking, he left the theatre." The absolute uses a participle to create a phrase which modifies the entire sentence rather than a specific word.

3.1.5 Parallelism
The ability to write a good parallel sentence is invaluable in essay work. Faulty parallelism, on the other hand, produces an effect in your reader similar to changing gears without using the clutch. A successful parallel sentence reads smoothly, while a faulty parallel sentence lurches awkwardly. The previous sentence is an example of good parallelism because it obeys the technique's central rule: The grammatical elements of parallel clauses must match. The following sentence is an example of poor parallelism because the verb form changes: This is a debate begun in Greece and which continues into modern times. Begun is a participial adjective while continues is an active verb. The sentence should read: This debate began in Greece and continues into modern times.
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The rule applies not only to verbs but also to nouns, adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech. In the following sentence, for example, a noun has been mixed with a pair of verbal nouns (gerunds): I acquired my considerable fortune by investing carefully, hard work and marrying a rich woman. The sentence should read: I acquired my considerable fortune by investing carefully, working hard and marrying a rich woman. Watch for grammatical signposts that point to the need for careful parallel constructions. Linking words (such as and, or, yet and but) Often indicators of the need for parallel structure: "I lost my heart in San Francisco, but I left my shoes in Santa Fe." Parallel constructions also follow as is better to give than to appear cheap." Here, the to must be repeated to preserve the infinitive structure. Correlative conjunctions (pairs such as either . . . or and both . . . and) introduce clauses that must be parallel. The following sentence is incorrect because the verb forms are mixed: "We can either drive to the Grand Canyon or we're flying to Japan." The indecisive vacationer should say "We can either drive to the Grand Canyon or fly to Japan." Not only . . . but also can be tricky because of the placement of only and also, but the same rules apply; "He is not only the nicest person I have ever met, but also the most fragrant man I have ever sniffed." In a not... neither construction, the first negation can affect the meaning of the second. For example, if you write "Justin is not an ordinary person, and neither are his stories," you are implying that the stories are not ordinary people. A more accurate assessment of Justin would be, "Justin is not ordinary, and neither are his stories." Lists also need to be parallel: "I like a good lunch, singing and to read" should read "I like eating a good lunch, singing and reading." Parallelism is especially effective for thesis sentences, because you can incorporate all the sections of your argument in a unified manner: "Because they are dangerous for children, they stick to carpets, and they are expensive to produce, Slime Balls should be banned from toy stores." The parallel structure provides a clarity and balance which sharpens your thesis; in this instance the parallels also point the way to the three paragraphs you will be writing to support the thesis.

3.1.6 Subject/Verb Agreement

Be sure that your subject agrees with the verb, even when there are intervening components of the sentence. In the sentence, The group of bizarrely dressed youths are taking over the cafeteria, The writer has used a plural verb because of the proximity of youths, but the subject of the sentence is group. The sentence should read: The group of bizarrely dressed youths is taking over the cafeteria. If there are two subjects joined by and, use a plural verb: My mother and father are coming to visit. If the subjects are joined by or, the verb must agree with the nearest subject: Either Danny or Sandy is handling it. Either Sherlock Holmes or the Hardy Boys are capable of solving this crime. Collective nouns such as family take singular verbs when the sentence deals with the group as a whole: The Griswold family is going on vacation this year.
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If the sentence deals with the family as individuals, then a plural form is used: The Griswold family are going to fight all the way through their vacation. Linking verbs in subjective completions agree with the subject, not the completion: My favourite thing to buy is compact discs. But compare: Compact discs are my favourite thing to buy.

3.1.7 Pronoun Agreement

Pronouns agree in gender and number. This rule is not difficult to remember if you are writing about individual people or inanimate objects (where it suffices for everything). However, collective pronouns present more of a problem. Indefinite words such as anyone, anything, someone, everybody and no one take singular pronouns. Pronouns are also an issue when using gender-specific language. The antecedent is the noun to which the pronoun refers. Make sure that it is clear what the antecedent of a pronoun is; otherwise, confusion and ambiguity will prevail. Also, make sure that you are referring to the correct noun. For example, in the following sentence the pronoun their refers to the noun people and not to one: You are one of those people who like to keep their skeletons in the closet. In this next sentence, however, the pronoun his refers to one and not to members: I am the only one of the Lodge members who never wears his fez. Be aware of the case of the pronoun. (For a discussion of case, see the section on grammar, 1.5.) If it is acting as the subject of a verb, use the subjective form: It was she. She is the subjective completion of "it was." Many people would automatically write "It was her," but the verb to be takes the same case after as before. If the pronoun is acting as an object, use the objective form, even if the first person is involved: Josh was angry withhim and me. Many writers believe it is improper to write "him and me," but this is only true in the subjective case. It is not correct to write this: Ken and me went to the ballgame, But it is also incorrect to write The rain soaked Ken and I, or They sent the invitation to Ken and I. Use Iin the subjective case and me in the objective case, no matter what other pronouns are found in the sentence. More information is available in the discussion of agreement as a grammatical issue.

3.2 Using Capitals

Capitalize: The first word of every sentence. People's names (unless you are writing about e.e. cummings, k.d. lang or monica schraefel). Names of races, countries, languages and religions (Jewish, Canada, Serbo-Croatian, Islam). The names of businesses, organizations, buildings and places ( Big Ed's Gas Farm, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Calhoun Memorial Hospital, Spirit Lake ). Articles and prepositions need not be capitalized. All important words in titles, and minor words if they come at the beginning or the end (The Silence of the Lambs, War and Peace, Of Mice and Men ) . Words like government, university, prime minister, but only if you are referring to a specific case: "The University has raised tuition fees again; it seems that universities are increasingly relying on students to finance their own education." Do not capitalize: Directions, unless you are referring to a specific area (the East Side, but east of here). The seasons.
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After a colon, unless a quotation, title or other regularly capitalized word follows. A common noun that derives from a proper noun (china).

3.3 Using Hyphens 3.3.1 Hyphens For Splitting Words At The End Of A Line
In formal essays, it is usually best to avoid splitting words at the end of a line. If you must, be sure to put the hyphen after a complete syllable: splut-ter; sesqui-pedalian. Some word processors and desktop publishing programs (like the one that is used for this manual) include automatic hyphenation; if you use it, check where the words are split, since the program's "algorithm," however sophisticated, will not always put the hyphen where a human would. Also, do not hyphenate an already hyphenated word (e.g. anti-es-tablishment).

3.3.2 Words That Are Always Spelled With A Hyphen

Words with prefixes or suffixes that need to be emphasized: ex-husband, re-emphasize, President-elect. Proper nouns with prefixes attached: ex-Catholic, neo-Nazi. Groups of words which serve an adjectival or adverbial function: twentieth-century philosophy, never-ending story. Note the difference between a high school (noun) and a high-school (adjective) teacher. Two-word numbers (between 21 and 99) and two-word fractions: forty-one, thirty-fifth, fourfifths. A larger number is written thus: three hundred and sixty-five. Compound adjectives containing numbers: four-year-old sandwich. Words in which a suffix is appended to a single letter: T-shirt, f-stop. To avoid double vowels and triple consonants:anti-intelligence, ball-like. In a series of "suspensive," hyphenated words: three-, five-, and fifty-year-olds.

3.4 Using Apostrophes 3.4.1 Using An Apostrophe To Show Possession

An apostrophe plus "s" is used to form the possessive case of these nouns: All singular nouns, including those ending in "s": Rachel's car, the cat's pyjamas, Alice's restaurant, Chris's plants, the fox's tail. Plural nouns which do not end in "s": The People's Court. An apostrophe alone is used to form the possessive case of these nouns: Plural nouns ending in "s": the Smiths' house, the foxes' tails. Singular nouns that would sound awkward with another "s" added: Ulysses' adventures, Borges' novels. If two or more nouns possess something, only the last noun in the list gets the apostrophe: Homer and Marge's party. If the two nouns possess separate things, however, they each take an apostrophe: We'll go in Robert's and Neil's cars. In hyphenated words, only the last word takes an apostrophe: my brother-in-law's boat. Possessive personal and interrogative pronouns such as yours and whose do not include apostrophes, but possessive indefinite pronouns such as anyone's and each other's do.

3.4.2 Don't Use An Apostrophe With Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns such as hers, ours, and yours do not include apostrophes. Do not confuse its, the apostrophe-less possessive form of it, with it's, the contraction of it is.

3.4.3 Possessives of Inanimate Objects

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When discussing inanimate objects, it is best to use the "of" form for possessives rather than the apostrophe form; "the back of the house" sounds better than "the house's back," which gives the house human qualities.

3.5 Some Things to Avoid 3.5.1 Run-on Sentences

A run-on sentence fuses two sentences together without any punctuation: They believe in Oedipus he is their king. This problem can be fixed in the same three ways as the comma splice.

3.5.2 Fragments
A sentence fragment is a piece of a sentence which has been punctuated as if it were a complete sentence. Usually it is a phrase or subordinate clause which has been improperly separated from a main clause: Matt has been improving at school. Since he stopped skipping class. It was the time of year when the neighbours would suddenly become uncharacteristically generous, pressing quantities of enormous zucchini on us. It being the most prolific of vegetables. The sentences must be reconnected: Matt has been improving at school since he stopped skipping class. It was the time of year when the neighbours would suddenly become uncharacteristically generous, pressing quantities of enormous zuccini on us, it being the most prolific of vegetables. Every sentence must have a main clause, and thus a complete verb. Particularly in works of fiction, a sentence fragment can be a rhetorically effective device, but in formal writing it is more likely to be simply inept. A tip: if you are unsure of the distinction between a complete verb and an incomplete one, or a main clause and a participle phrase, there is a simple test you can apply to find out if you have a sentence fragment, or a comma splice: Each complete sentence will make a complete statement, and each complete statement must be either true or false. Thus if you ask of the fragment above--"Since he stopped skipping class": true or false--there can be no answer (what happened since he stopped?), and thus it is not a complete sentence. Similarly, both parts of the comma splice can be tested ("They believed in Oedipus" and "He is their king"--both can be answered, in this case as "true"), so there are two complete statements.

3.5.3 Mistakes With Modifiers 3.5.3.1 Misplaced Modifiers

A modifying word or phrase should be placed next to the word it describes. In the following sentence, the modifying phrase has been misplaced: Growing at the bottom of the glass, Alison found some mold. Since it is the mold that is growing at the bottom of the glass, rather than Alison, the sentence should read: Alison found some mold growing at the bottom of the glass.

3.5.3.2 Dangling Modifier

A dangling modifier modifies a word which has been left out of the sentence: "After writing all that material, the computer didn't save it." The computer did not do the writing; what is actually meant is "After writing that material, I discovered that the computer didn't save it," (or, more honestly, "After writing all that material, I forgot to save it"). The subject I was omitted from the original sentence. The positioning of limiting modifiers such as only, nearly and almost is especially important. "Only Frank dropped the bomb," "Frank only dropped the bomb" and "Frank dropped the only bomb" all have different meanings.
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3.5.3.3 Squinting Modifier

A squinting modifier appears in the middle of the sentence, where its object is not clear: "I said eventually I would do it." The writer could mean "Eventually, I said I would do it" or "I said I would do it eventually."

3.5.4 Wordiness
As wordiness is the writer's bane, we have covered it from various angles throughout this manual. Always dump the excess baggage from your essay; it will fly higher as a result. Avoid overusing relative pronouns such as which and that. Often they can be eliminated. For example, "The dog that you found yesterday" can be shortened to "The dog you found yesterday." The link is obvious. Avoid overusing meaningless qualifiers such as quite, extremely and very. Words such as these have lost their potency through overuse, and have become filler. Use a stronger word instead (exhausted rather than very tired). Many of these qualifiers appear in the Usage dictionary. Also stay away from phrases like "A great many of . . ." and "A great deal of . . ." Avoid ponderous or vague constructions such as despite the fact that, due to the fact that, an aspect of, and the use of. Avoid excessively tentative language such as it seems that and appears to suggest. Not only is it wordy, it also makes your argument appear weak. Only use these constructions if there is genuine uncertainty. If you are at all confident, write as if you are. Avoid redundancies . Do not write that someone is naive and innocent or dull and boring. These words are virtual synonyms. You do not have to provide a list where a single word will do. Be aware of a word's implications; for example, if you tell the reader that a woman is wearing a hat, you do not need to add "on her head." The reader will assume the hat is on her head because it is the nature of hats to be found on heads (if she is wearing it elsewhere, then it is worth mentioning). Avoid the passive voice which is possibly the greatest cause of wordiness.

3.5.5 The Passive Voice

In most cases, avoid the passive voice ("Jim is being driven to distraction by his hamster") in favor of the more concise active voice ("Jim's hamster is driving him to distraction"). A sentence is more effective when it centers on a subject that is doing something, rather than a subject that is being acted upon. The passive voice is useful under certain circumstances; for example, if the precise subject of the action is not known ("My car was spray-painted last night") or if the receiver of the action is more important ("The Emperor was assassinated last night"). However, more often than not passive sentences can be improved by reworking the sentence so that the verb is active. The main problem with passive sentences is that they are wordy: "The theme that was most dealt with by the 16th Century poets was . . ." can easily be condensed into "The 16th Century poets most often dealt with the theme of . . ." This next sentence is virtually incomprehensible because it uses too many passives: "Another illustration of the word 'master' being used to define material things as being the controlling element is . . ." When you are providing examples, avoid passive constructions such as: "This is also seen when . . ." "It can be seen that . . ." "It is shown that . . ." and so on. If you find it necessary to introduce material in this way, use active verbs: "One [we, I] can see that . . ." Writers often use the passive voice to avoid "I," because they have been told from an early age that "I" is unacceptable. Different academic disciplines, and different instructors within those disciplines,
26

have varying attitudes to the use of the personal pronoun: you would be wise to check. However, the sparing use of "I" can be an alternative to unwieldy passives like some of those cited above: "I think . . ." is both more effective stylistically and more honest than "It is thought that . . ." The passive is often used to avoid responsibility: "The economy of this Province has been mismanaged" is less incriminating than "We have mismanaged the economy of this Province." Do not shift from active to passive in the same sentence: As I entered the mansion, footsteps could be heard from behind me. Both the verb and the subject have shifted. The sentence should read: As I entered the mansion, I heard footsteps behind me.

3.5.6 Other Common Errors 3.5.6.1 Mixed Metaphors

A mixed metaphor attempts to create an extended comparison but fails because it is not consistent with itself. For example, in an essay on the language used in describing pain relief medicine, a student wrote: "The topic of pain relievers seems clouded in a sea of medical terminology." The metaphor is mixed because the images of cloud and sea do not match. The student should have said either "drowned in a sea of medical terminology" or "clouded in a fog of medical terminology." Metaphor can be effective, but do not put too much weight on your own ingenuity; it might collapse under the strain.

3.5.6.2 Sentences That Are Too Long or Too Loose

Here is a sentence that is too long: This trend has greatly affected the way we produce and advertise our products, but I feel we can successfully sell our product, No-Sweat deodorant, through advertising that concentrates on safety for the environment and convenience for the consumer, and suggests that a certain amount of freedom from bodily odour and excessive perspiration can be gained with a minimum of damage to the ozone layer and a maximum of consumer satisfaction, notwithstanding the inevitable concerns about manufacturing costs and packaging problems, and the general tendency to avoid spray-on deodorants. Break it up into two or more units. Loose sentences should be combined because they have similar constructions and they discuss the same thing: Both "pagan" and "heathen" have been used to denigrate people with cultures different from ours. These words have been used to excuse the cultural havoc we have wrought on these people. Compare: Both "pagan" and "heathen" have been used to denigrate people with cultures different from ours, and therefore to excuse the cultural havoc we have wrought on these people.

3.5.6.3 Repetition Within The Sentence

This sentence needlessly repeats words: It is interesting to note that within society there is a voice which makes note that there is something wrong. The same is true of a paragraph which begins "Charlotte Bronte is very good at establishing a mood by describing the surrounding nature" and ends with "Bronte is consistent throughout the novel as she uses nature to emphasize a mood."

3.6 A Summary of Common Errors 3.6.1 The Comma Splice

The comma splice is the incorrect joining of two independent clauses with a comma is an extremely common error. Most frequently students connect two short sentences: They believe in Oedipus, he is their king.
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There are three ways to solve this problem: 1. 2. Use a period to separate the clauses into two sentences: They believe in Oedipus. He is their king. Join the clauses with a coordinating or subordinating conjunction, depending on their relation to one another: They believe in Oedipus, for he is their king. Join the clauses with a semicolon: They believe in Oedipus; he is their king.

3.

In this particular example, using the first option would result in sentences that are too short, too choppy. There is an obvious connection between the clauses which is best expressed through a conjunction; therefore, the second option is the best to use here. In the following example, however, the writer has used a comma where a semi-colon is appropriate: Sgnarelle is not the primary character, still he acts as a foil. The clauses could form separate sentences, but the use of "still" implies a stronger link which is best served by a semi-colon: Sgnarelle is not the primary character; still, he acts as a foil. In this example, the clauses being connected are too complex to be part of the same sentence: Lear was a majestic ruler when he was young, however, as he became older, his temptations clouded his thought. Lear was a majestic ruler when he was young. However, as he became older, his temptations clouded his thought. The writer could use a conjunction: Lear was a majestic ruler when he was young, but as he became older his temptations clouded his thought. A comma cannot, by itself, connect two main clauses; the clauses must either form separate sentences or be joined by a coordinating conjunction. For main clauses, see the Short Treatise on Grammar and the "tip" after "sentence fragments" in this section. Note that conjunctive adverbs have the logical effect of linking ideas, but do not link sentences grammatically. In the last example the word however is one of these. Others to watch for are therefore, thus, and this.

3.6.2 Run-on Sentences

A run-on sentence fuses two sentences together without any punctuation: They believe in Oedipus he is their king. This problem can be fixed in the same three ways as the comma splice.

3.6.3 Fragments
A sentence fragment is a piece of a sentence which has been punctuated as if it were a complete sentence. Usually it is a phrase or subordinate clause which has been improperly separated from a main clause: Matt has been improving at school. Since he stopped skipping class. It was the time of year when the neighbours would suddenly become uncharacteristically generous, pressing quantities of enormous zucchini on us. It being the most prolific of vegetables. The sentences must be reconnected: Matt has been improving at school since he stopped skipping class. It was the time of year when the neighbours would suddenly become uncharacteristically generous, pressing quantities of enormous zuccini on us, it being the most prolific of vegetables. Every sentence must have a main clause, and thus a complete verb. Particularly in works of fiction, a sentence fragment can be a rhetorically effective device, but in formal writing it is more likely to be simply inept. A tip: if you are unsure of the distinction between a complete verb and an incomplete one, or a main clause and a participle phrase, there is a simple test you can apply to find out if you have a sentence fragment, or a comma splice:
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Each complete sentence will make a complete statement, and each complete statement must be either true or false. Thus if you ask of the fragment above--"Since he stopped skipping class": true or false--there can be no answer (what happened since he stopped?), and thus it is not a complete sentence. Similarly, both parts of the comma splice can be tested ("They believed in Oedipus" and "He is their king"--both can be answered, in this case as "true"), so there are two complete statements.

3.6.4 Wordiness
As wordiness is the writer's bane, we have covered it from various angles throughout this manual. Always dump the excess baggage from your essay; it will fly higher as a result. Avoid overusing relative pronouns such as which and that. Often they can be eliminated. For example, "The dog that you found yesterday" can be shortened to "The dog you found yesterday." The link is obvious. Avoid overusing meaningless qualifiers such as quite, extremely and very. Words such as these have lost their potency through overuse, and have become filler. Use a stronger word instead (exhausted rather than very tired). Many of these qualifiers appear in the Usage dictionary. Also stay away from phrases like "A great many of . . ." and "A great deal of . . ." Avoid ponderous or vague constructions such as despite the fact that, due to the fact that, an aspect of, and the use of. Avoid excessively tentative language such as it seems that and appears to suggest. Not only is it wordy, it also makes your argument appear weak. Only use these constructions if there is genuine uncertainty. If you are at all confident, write as if you are. Avoid redundancies . Do not write that someone is naive and innocent or dull and boring. These words are virtual synonyms. You do not have to provide a list where a single word will do. Be aware of a word's implications; for example, if you tell the reader that a woman is wearing a hat, you do not need to add "on her head." The reader will assume the hat is on her head because it is the nature of hats to be found on heads (if she is wearing it elsewhere, then it is worth mentioning). Avoid the passive voice which is possibly the greatest cause of wordiness.

3.6.5 The Passive Voice

In most cases, avoid the passive voice ("Jim is being driven to distraction by his hamster") in favor of the more concise active voice ("Jim's hamster is driving him to distraction"). A sentence is more effective when it centers on a subject that is doing something, rather than a subject that is being acted upon. The passive voice is useful under certain circumstances; for example, if the precise subject of the action is not known ("My car was spray-painted last night") or if the receiver of the action is more important ("The Emperor was assassinated last night"). However, more often than not passive sentences can be improved by reworking the sentence so that the verb is active. The main problem with passive sentences is that they are wordy: "The theme that was most dealt with by the 16th Century poets was . . ." can easily be condensed into "The 16th Century poets most often dealt with the theme of . . ." This next sentence is virtually incomprehensible because it uses too many passives: "Another illustration of the word 'master' being used to define material things as being the controlling element is . . ." When you are providing examples, avoid passive constructions such as: "This is also seen when . . ." "It can be seen that . . ." "It is shown that . . ." and so on. If you find it necessary to introduce material in this way, use active verbs: "One [we, I] can see that . . ." Writers often use the passive voice to avoid "I," because they have been told from an early age that "I" is unacceptable. Different academic disciplines, and different instructors within those disciplines, have varying attitudes to the use of the personal pronoun: you would be wise to check. However, the sparing use of "I" can be an alternative to unwieldy passives like some of those cited above: "I think . . ." is both more effective stylistically and more honest than "It is thought that . . ." The passive is often used to
29

avoid responsibility: "The economy of this Province has been mismanaged" is less incriminating than "We have mismanaged the economy of this Province." Do not shift from active to passive in the same sentence: As I entered the mansion, footsteps could be heard from behind me. Both the verb and the subject have shifted. The sentence should read: As I entered the mansion, I heard footsteps behind me.

3.6.6 Parallelism
The ability to write a good parallel sentence is invaluable in essay work. Faulty parallelism, on the other hand, produces an effect in your reader similar to changing gears without using the clutch. A successful parallel sentence reads smoothly, while a faulty parallel sentence lurches awkwardly. The previous sentence is an example of good parallelism because it obeys the technique's central rule: The grammatical elements of parallel clauses must match. The following sentence is an example of poor parallelism because the verb form changes: This is a debate begun in Greece and which continues into modern times. Begun is a participial adjective while continues is an active verb. The sentence should read: This debate began in Greece and continues into modern times. The rule applies not only to verbs but also to nouns, adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech. In the following sentence, for example, a noun has been mixed with a pair of verbal nouns (gerunds): I acquired my considerable fortune by investing carefully, hard work and marrying a rich woman. The sentence should read: I acquired my considerable fortune by investing carefully, working hard and marrying a rich woman. Watch for grammatical signposts that point to the need for careful parallel constructions. Linking words (such as and, or, yet and but) Often indicators of the need for parallel structure: "I lost my heart in San Francisco, but I left my shoes in Santa Fe." Parallel constructions also follow as is better to give than to appear cheap." Here, the to must be repeated to preserve the infinitive structure. Correlative conjunctions (pairs such as either . . . or and both . . . and) introduce clauses that must be parallel. The following sentence is incorrect because the verb forms are mixed: "We can either drive to the Grand Canyon or we're flying to Japan." The indecisive vacationer should say "We can either drive to the Grand Canyon or fly to Japan." Not only . . . but also can be tricky because of the placement of only and also, but the same rules apply; "He is not only the nicest person I have ever met, but also the most fragrant man I have ever sniffed." In a not... neither construction, the first negation can affect the meaning of the second. For example, if you write "Justin is not an ordinary person, and neither are his stories," you are implying that the stories are not ordinary people. A more accurate assessment of Justin would be, "Justin is not ordinary, and neither are his stories." Lists also need to be parallel: "I like a good lunch, singing and to read" should read "I like eating a good lunch, singing and reading." Parallelism is especially effective for thesis sentences, because you can incorporate all the sections of your argument in a unified manner: "Because they are dangerous for children, they stick to carpets, and they are expensive to produce, Slime Balls should be banned from toy stores." The parallel structure provides a clarity and balance which sharpens your thesis; in this instance the parallels also point the way to the three paragraphs you will be writing to support the thesis.
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3.6.7 Subject/Verb Agreement

Be sure that your subject agrees with the verb, even when there are intervening components of the sentence. In the sentence, The group of bizarrely dressed youths are taking over the cafeteria, The writer has used a plural verb because of the proximity of youths, but the subject of the sentence is group. The sentence should read: The group of bizarrely dressed youths is taking over the cafeteria. If there are two subjects joined by and, use a plural verb: My mother and father are coming to visit. If the subjects are joined by or, the verb must agree with the nearest subject: Either Danny or Sandy is handling it. Either Sherlock Holmes or the Hardy Boys are capable of solving this crime. Collective nouns such as family take singular verbs when the sentence deals with the group as a whole: The Griswold family is going on vacation this year. If the sentence deals with the family as individuals, then a plural form is used: The Griswold family are going to fight all the way through their vacation. Linking verbs in subjective completions agree with the subject, not the completion: My favourite thing to buy is compact discs. But compare: Compact discs are my favourite thing to buy.

3.6.8 Pronoun Agreement

Pronouns agree in gender and number. This rule is not difficult to remember if you are writing about individual people or inanimate objects (where it suffices for everything). However, collective pronouns present more of a problem. Indefinite words such as anyone, anything, someone, everybody and no one take singular pronouns. Pronouns are also an issue when using gender-specific language. The antecedent is the noun to which the pronoun refers. Make sure that it is clear what the antecedent of a pronoun is; otherwise, confusion and ambiguity will prevail. Also, make sure that you are referring to the correct noun. For example, in the following sentence the pronoun their refers to the noun people and not to one: You are one of those people who like to keep their skeletons in the closet. In this next sentence, however, the pronoun his refers to one and not to members: I am the only one of the Lodge members who never wears his fez. Be aware of the case of the pronoun. (For a discussion of case, see the section on grammar, 1.5.) If it is acting as the subject of a verb, use the subjective form: It was she. She is the subjective completion of "it was." Many people would automatically write "It was her," but the verb to be takes the same case after as before. If the pronoun is acting as an object, use the objective form, even if the first person is involved: Josh was angry withhim and me. Many writers believe it is improper to write "him and me," but this is only true in the subjective case. It is not correct to write this: Ken and me went to the ballgame, But it is also incorrect to write The rain soaked Ken and I, or They sent the invitation to Ken and I. Use Iin the subjective case and me in the objective case, no matter what other pronouns are found in the sentence. More information is available in the discussion of agreement as a grammatical issue.

3.6.9 The Need for Sentence Variation

It is difficult to read an essay made up entirely of simple subject-verb sentences: "The dog is barking. Jim kicks the dog. The dog bites Jim." While short sentences can be effective for emphasis ("The Eagle has landed"), they need to be surrounded by different kinds of sentences for contrast.
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Simple sentences are the main stylistic feature of children's readers like Fun With Dick and Jane, so a paper full of them will sound as if it was written for youngsters. If your essay has any claim to sophistication whatsoever, it will feature sentences of varied length and complexity. If you find that your essay is composed of choppy little sentences, try to connect some of them into compound or complex sentences.

3.6.10 Misplaced Modifiers

A modifying word or phrase should be placed next to the word it describes. In the following sentence, the modifying phrase has been misplaced: Growing at the bottom of the glass, Alison found some mold. Since it is the mold that is growing at the bottom of the glass, rather than Alison, the sentence should read: Alison found some mold growing at the bottom of the glass.

3.6.11 Dangling Modifier

A dangling modifier modifies a word which has been left out of the sentence: "After writing all that material, the computer didn't save it." The computer did not do the writing; what is actually meant is "After writing that material, I discovered that the computer didn't save it," (or, more honestly, "After writing all that material, I forgot to save it"). The subject I was omitted from the original sentence. The positioning of limiting modifiers such as only, nearly and almost is especially important. "Only Frank dropped the bomb," "Frank only dropped the bomb" and "Frank dropped the only bomb" all have different meanings.

3.6.12 Squinting Modifier

A squinting modifier appears in the middle of the sentence, where its object is not clear: "I said eventually I would do it." The writer could mean "Eventually, I said I would do it" or "I said I would do it eventually."

3.6.13 Mixed Metaphors

A mixed metaphor attempts to create an extended comparison but fails because it is not consistent with itself. For example, in an essay on the language used in describing pain relief medicine, a student wrote: "The topic of pain relievers seems clouded in a sea of medical terminology." The metaphor is mixed because the images of cloud and sea do not match. The student should have said either "drowned in a sea of medical terminology" or "clouded in a fog of medical terminology." Metaphor can be effective, but do not put too much weight on your own ingenuity; it might collapse under the strain.

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4. Choosing and Using Words

4.1 Usage 4.1.1 Levels of Usage
It is crucial to learn to differentiate between levels of usage; essays and reports require a more formally constructed language than everyday speech. It is all too easy to pepper written work with colloquial phrases or weak constructions that come naturally to mind but are incorrect or inadequate in the context of formal writing. Language is sometimes rather arbitrarily divided into three major styles: formal, informal, and popular (vulgar). While there is some overlap between them, they operate under different conditions and achieve different ends. Formal English is, for the most part, a written language. In general, it is confined to the realm of the serious: textbooks, academic or technical works, and most essays you will write at university. You would write formally in a letter of application for a job. Formal language tends to be impersonal and precise, and often uses long, carefully constructed sentences; the formal writer will avoid contractions and abbreviations, and will use a more specialized and complex vocabulary than that employed in everyday speech. One must, however, beware of excess. Formal writing can easily become incomprehensible because it is too convoluted or wordy. In recent years the proliferation of jargon has become altogether too general. Despite its sophistication, formal language must remain clear. Informal English is the language spoken by most people every day. While educated speakers retain their knowledge of formal rules, they're more relaxed about grammar and less concerned with vocabulary when they're engaged in ordinary conversation. Informal writing reflects this relaxation. Sentences are shorter, and tend to avoid the more formal punctuation of the semi-colon and colon. Contractions and the first person are acceptable. Newspaper articles and columns are usually written informally, and you use informal language when you write to your friends. While the dictionary of word usage (16Kb) is designed to help students avoid mistakes in formal writing, it has been prepared in a relatively informal style to make it more enjoyable to read (try taking it on your next holiday). Informal language is not necessarily inferior to formal; it simply serves a different purpose and is directed to a different audience. The essays of Mark Twain,the novels of Margaret Atwood and the film reviews of Pauline Kael are acclaimed works whose style is largely informal. Popular English can be colourful and highly expressive, but it is out of place in any writing unless you are reporting speech. In everyday speech, imprecision of meaning or poverty of vocabulary can be compensated for by enthusiastic verbal expression, but you can't wave your hands around, or vary your voice for emphasis when you are writing. Many of the errors in usage covered in the dictionary which follows are a result of a lack of awareness of the difference between written and spoken English. Here are some examples of how vocabulary changes in each level of usage: Formal Informal Popular

comprehend understand get it intoxicated exhausted dejected drunk tired sad wasted bagged bummed

A major problem with popular English is that its vocabulary is either too limited or too specialised (not all professors are up to date with the latest slang, and the slang used by one group may be scorned by another). Slang also changes rapidly. The third column in this list will look rather dated in a few years (if it isn't already), while the words in the first two columns have been around since Shakespeare.

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The student must always be aware of what kind of work she or he is doing. The style must be appropriate to the subject, the situation and the intended audience. These issues are also important when you decide on your audience or when your professor lowers your grade for using colloquial language.

4.1.2 Clichs
All clichs were once pithy, clever sayings in which someone encapsulated an idea or feeling. Unfortunately, thousands of other people used and reused those sayings, until they became trite and tiresome. Because they are catchy and concise, clichs stick in the brain and immediately occur to the stymied writer. However, using a worn-out phrase is tantamount to admitting that you have not been able to think of anything more interesting to say. Don't be deceived into thinking that if you put quotation marks around a clich it suddely becomes respectable. On the contrary, you will simply ensure that your reader notices that you ran out of ideas. Some clichs to avoid like the plague: avoid like the plague better late than never bleeding like a stuck pig bright and early butterflies in my stomach cool as a cucumber death warmed over easier said than done few and far between green with envy hotter than hell in this day and age last but not least laughing like a hyena like water off a duck's back long-lost love at first sight proud as a peacock selling like hotcakes sleep like a log slowly but surely sweating like a pig white as a sheet/ghost work like a dog

4.1.3 Jargon
Jargon is unnecessarily technical language which provides polysyllabic replacements for perfectly adequate simple words. Organizations such as the military and the government are renowned for their ability to bury simple statements under a ton of verbiage. The process seems to arise from a fear that official proclamations do not sound official enough. Jargon is also used to make something unpalatable sound more acceptable. In the 1991 Gulf War, the phrase "collateral damage" was coined by the military to avoid having to admit that even the smartest bomb caused civilian damage; similarly, while the transformation of "garbageman" into "sanitation engineer" removes the sexist connotation of the original, it is also an attempt to cover up the verbal smell of garbage. In both these examples, the initial urge to create the jargon came from the desire to make something unpleasant seem acceptable; many euphemisms of this kind give an impression of insincerity at the same time as generating wordiness: "passed away" for "died," "comfort station" for "toilet," and so on. Increasing specialization in our society contributes to the spread of jargon, a substantial portion of which is derived from technical vocabulary. Many of these new words are necessary in their original contexts, but they have also begun to creep into areas where they are unappreciated. Computer terms such as "interface" and "output" can be confusing when applied to real life. Literary criticism is a rich source of jargon, and businesses are particularly guilty of creating terms that are meaningless in their generality (e.g. "functional management options"). The one grammatical characteristic of jargon that is readily identifiable is the suffix "-ize." Words such as "systematized" and "priorized" permeate official writing, resulting in the creation of such unnecessary synonyms as "finalize" (for "finish") and the popular "utilize," which appears to be trying to erase "use" from the face of the earth. Avoid the frequent use (not "utilization") of "ize" words; they are pretentious, and there are probably simpler words that accomplish the same task. Jargon is intended to impress, but it also seems intended to intimidate and confuse. It can also be unintentionally comic, if it is used in a context where it is clearly inappropriate. But just for fun, consider this wittyand quite deliberately"jargonizated" version of the Lord's Prayer that pokes fun at the"jargonscenti":
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Our father-figure who resides in the upper-echelon domain, May thy title always be structured to elicit a favourable response. Reward us today, bread-wise, And minimize our unfavourable self-concept, resulting from credit over-extension, As we will strive to practice reciprocal procedures. And channel us, not into temptation-inducing areas, But provide us with security from situations not conducive to moral enrichment. For thine is the position of maximum achievement in the power structure, Not to mention the prestige-attainment factor that never terminates. (Tom Dodge, "What If an Educator Had Written 'The Lord's Prayer'", English Journal, January 1971, p.101.) You might try your own pages of well-known passages. Here is another: Considering [the] degradation of the verb [in sociological English], I have wondered how one of Julius Caesar's boasts could be translated into Socspeak. What Caesar wrote was " Veni, vidi, vici" -- only three words, all of them verbs. The English translation is in six words: "I came, I saw, I conquered," and three of the words are first-personal pronouns, which the sociologist is taught to avoid. I suspect that he would have to write: "Upon the advent of the investigator, his hegemony became minimally coextensive with the areal unit rendered visible by his successive displacements in space." (Malcolm Cowley, "Sociological Habit Patterns In Linguistic Transmogrification," qtd. in Effective Writing 238) The effect of jargon, in its own terms, is to "depersonalize" and "desensitize" language. If you intend your writing to express human qualities and to evoke some kind of an emotional response, then you must not allow jargon to overwhelm the reader.

4.1.4 Noun Strings

A useful feature of the English language is that a noun can be used as an adjective, providing information about another noun. Thus the noun "house" can be used to describe a kind of boat--houseboat--and the noun "boat" can be used to describe a kind of house--boathouse. These examples have become so familiar that they have been made into compound words. But the ability of English to link nouns in this way can lead to ambiguous and turgid writing. For example, a headline that reads "Woman Killer At Large" could refer to either a killer of women or a woman who kills. English even allows a whole group of nouns to be strung together, but the longer the string, the longer it takes a reader unfamiliar with the term to figure it out. Noun strings are often found in newspaper headlines where space is at a premium ("Car Insurance Firm Secret Sale Shock Probe") and technical manuals ("put the wing sprocket flange grommet over the side frame angle bracket lever"). Noun strings are a major component of jargon: "computer systems analyst," "human resource development project newsletter deadline," "health information science" (until you know what it is about, it is unclear whether it deals with "the health of information-science" or "the science of health-information"). The simple way to avoid noun strings is to separate the nouns by appropriate prepositions.

4.2 A Dictionary of Usage

A B Anxious / Eager Any one / Anyone Anyway/Anyways Area Around / About As Aspect At Awhile / A while Bad / Badly Basically Can / May

Accept / Except Adaptation / Adoption Affect / Effect Aggravate / Irritate All right / Alright Allusion / Illusion A lot / Alot / Allot All together / Altogether Among / Between Amoral / Immoral Amount / Number "And/or"
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Can't help but Censor / Censure Centre around Clearly Complement / Compliment Comprise / Compose / Include Concept Connotation / Denotation Contact Continual / Continuous Convince / Persuade Could of, would of, should of, etc. Council / Counsel Definitely Differ from / Differ with Different from / Different than Discreet / Discrete Disinterested / Uninterested (Dis)oriented / (Dis)orientated Due to Element Elicit / Illicit Eminent / Imminent / Immanent Enormity Ensure / Insure Enthused Envelop / Envelope Etc. Every one / Everyone Facet In fact The fact that Famous / Notable / Notorious Farther / Further Fewer / Less Good / Well Had of Hanged / Hung Historic / Historical Hopefully If / Whether Imply / Infer Individual Ingenious / Ingenuous In regards to Interesting Irregardless Is when / Is where Its /It's
36

G H

J No Entries for "J" K Kind of, sort of L Lie / Lay Like / As Loan / Lend Loose / Lose Lots of M Maybe / May be Media/Medium Moral / Morale Myself N Nice No one O Obviously Of Only (As) opposed to Oral / Verbal P Passed / Past Perfect Plan on / Plan to Point in time Practical / Practicable Practice / Practise Precede / Proceed Precisely because. Presently Principal / Principle Prophecy / Prophesy Q Quite Quote / Quotation R Raise / Rise Reason is because Rebut / Refute Replace / Substitute Revolve / Rotate S Sensual / Sensuous Sight / site / cite So Some time / Sometime / Sometimes Stationary / Stationery T Than / Then Their / They're / There This

Till / Until Thing To / Two / Too Toward / Towards Try and Unique Usage / Use Very

Wait on / Wait for Way / Ways Who / Which / That Who's / Whose -Wise You're /Your

4.3 Gender Inclusive Language 4.3.1 The Generic Pronouns: He, His, And Him
Because English lacks a singular pronoun that signifies the non-specific "he or she," the tradition has been to use the masculine pronoun. The following guidelines show how to avoid this usage. Recast into the plural. If a writer wishes to avoid stating his opinion directly, often he will use the device of the persona. If writers wish to avoid stating their opinions directly, often they will use the device of the persona. In the case of indefinite pronouns (anybody, somebody, nobody, no one, etc) substitute her or his (her/his), he or she (he/she) for the masculine pronoun. Anyone who reads Ford Madox Ford's novel. . . must make up his or her mind. . . Alternatively, reword the sentence to avoid the problem altogether: Anyone who reads Ford Maddox Ford's novel. . . must decide whether. . . Although many people still find it objectionable, there is increasing evidence that the construction "Anyone. . . their" (as in "Anyone can have their cake and eat it too") is becoming acceptable. There is something to recommend this solution--it is simple and it does not create ambiguity--but those who use it should be aware that some readers will consider the sentence grammatically incorrect.

4.3.2 A Note On Word Order and Gender

Excluding the expression "ladies and gentlemen," women are traditionally given second place in a verbal phenomenon linguists call marked pairs. Men usually precede women in expressions such as "men and women," "his and hers," "him and her," etc. In your writing, try alternating "women and men," "hers and his," "her and him."

4.3.3 Generic Man

The word man is ambiguous; it can mean either human being or male human being. As a generic term, it has led to the misrepresentation and exclusion of women; it is also likely to lead to such odd remarks as this one from a student essay: "It is later in the story that Jane Eyre faces the final type of conflict: man against himself." Examples and Some Alternatives: Man humanity, humankind, men and women, individuals, people. (The use of the terms "individual" or "person" leads to problems involving the use of the generic masculine pronoun. ) Mankind humanity, humankind Primitive man primitive peoples, primitive men and women, primitive humans Man-made synthetic, hand-made
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Chairman chair, chairperson, co-ordinator, moderator. (Don't use non-parallel terms such as chairman for men and chairperson for women.) Note that the policy of the University of Victoria is to use chair. Workman worker Businessman/woman business executive

4.3.4 Titles
The conventional titles for women--Miss and Mrs.--are linked solely to marital status. That is, women are identified in terms of their relationship to men. The title Ms. is the only one that is not linked to marital status. Ms. is recommended for all women when the parallel Mr. is applicable. In discussions of literary figures, it is best to omit the title altogether, even when you are dealing with contemporary authors. Example In this paper, I discuss the insights of Miss Atwood, regarding the effects of the Canadian landscape upon the psyche of the individual, and compare them to those of W.O. Mitchell. Alternative In this paper, I discuss the insights of Margaret Atwood [or use the person's last name, Atwood]. . . .

4.3.5 Direct Quotations and Gender

In writing quotations, you may find yourself using a direct quotation which employs the so-called generic man: "Man is by nature a political animal" (Aristotle). If you are troubled by the use of the generic term, recast the statement in an indirect quotation or paraphrase.

4.4 Spelling 4.4.1 Why Spelling Counts

How important is correct spelling? After all, it's the ideas that count, isn't it? Consider for a moment the effect that a misspelled sign in your local supermarket has on those who notice. You might still buy "pickels," but you will smile. If, however, you see spelling errors on a letter offering you a deal on shares in a gold mine, you are not especially likely to invest. A well laid-out paper, correctly spelled, is a positive advertisement for yourself. Spelling is not easy for everyone. If you have difficulty spelling accurately, you may have to spend more time consulting dictionaries and less time actually writing, but the result will be worth working for. The best way to overcome spelling problems is to note the words you have trouble with and study them. Writing them out several times is one exercise that may be helpful or making up sentences that call attention to difficulties ("Business is no sin").

4.4.2 A Historical Note About Spelling

English spelling is made difficult because it reflects the pronunciation of the early sixteenth century rather than today. Medieval spelling was largely phonetic, and therefore changeable, since those speaking with different accents would pronounce a word differently. The arrival of the printing press, initially in London, meant that the accent of southern England became the basic standard. Then, in the mid-sixteenth century there was noticeable change in pronunciation. The guttural sound, still preserved in some Scottish accents, disappeared, for example--but the many words that retain the awkward gh spelling expect us to expectorate as we speak night, cough, plough, and so on.
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The only substantial attempt to reform English spelling was Noah Webster's; the result is, however, that American and English spelling differ.

4.4.3 What Does The Word Sound Like?

This method of determining spelling may not be very effective if one is dealing with a word like Wednesday, but it can assist in the spelling of a word like nonetheless, which is a synthesis of three other words whose spelling ought to be familiar to most. Long scientific or technical words like antidisestablishmentarianism are usually easy to spell syllable by syllable. Breaking words down into separate parts makes them less intimidating. Also note: if you make a mistake in the pronunciation of a word (saying "pronounciation," for example), you will probably spell it incorrectly, so be sure to learn the correct way to say the word.

4.4.4 Unstressed Vowels

In speech, vowels in unstressed positions are often levelled to the sound uh, represented Iy the schwa symbol in phonetic spelling. (It looks like a lower-case letter efacing backwards.) In regular spelling, however, the vowel sounds these words used to have are still represented, which leads to confusion. The endings -ance and -ence, -ant and -ent are commonly confused for this reason. The only real solution is to carefully memorize the spelling of each word that takes one of these endings.

4.4.5 Homonyms
One of the easiest spelling errors to make is confusing one word with another that sounds just like it. Be wary of such homonym groups as to/too/two, whose/who's, and their/they're/there. Be especially careful about its/it's. Though you have undoubtedly learned the difference between them in elementary school, it is easy absent-mindedly to write one instead of the other.

4.4.6 IE/EI
The most famous spelling rule, I before E except after C, is generally true but is more specific than is actually stated. The rule applies only if the letters produce the long "ee" sound, e.g.. piece and receive. Words such as eight and height therefore do not conform to the rule, and neither do words like science in which the "i" and "e" are part of different syllables. Naturally, there are exceptions to the rule as well, such as "ie" words financier, species, and friendly, and "ei" words neither, weird, protein, seize, and leisure.

4.4.7 Final E
When combining words with suffixes, drop the final "e" only if the suffix begins with a vowel, e.g.. bike/biking or fame/famous. If the suffix starts with a consonant the "e" remains, e.g.. love/loveless. The rule does not apply if the "e" is preceded by a "c" or a "g" (courage/courageous) or if the change will cause confusion (an "e" is needed to differentiate between singing and singeing).

4.4.8 Final Y
A final "y" becomes "i" before all suffixes except -ing. Happy becomes Happiness while cry becomes crying. If a vowel precedes the "y" (donkey) then the rule does not apply, and the plural will be donkeys. Exceptions include lay, pay, and say, which become laid, paid, and said.

4.4.9 Doubling Of Consonants

Before a suffix which begins with a vowel (e.g.. -ing), the final consonant is doubled:
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If a single short vowel precedes the final consonant (pop/popping) If the syllable preceding the suffix is stressed (admit/admitted). Otherwise, the suffix is added without any change (edit/edited, benefit/benefited).

4.4.10. -Able & -Ible

Use -able: If the root exists independently of the compound ( fix/fixable). If the root ends in "y" (deny/deniable). If the root's derivatives use "a" (separate/separable) If the root ends in a hard "c" or "g" (despicable, huggable). Use -ible: If the root is not an independent word (visible) If there is a related -ion form (permission/permissible) If the root ends in -ns or -miss (reprehensible, dismissible)

4.4.11 Plurals
Most plurals are formed simply by adding "s" to the root word (bat/bats). But there are innumerable alternatives and variations. Certain word endings such as "ch," "sh," "s," "z" and "x" require an "e" before the final "s" to facilitate pronunciation. If you hear this sound (as in lunches, bushes and boxes) use the "-es" ending. Words ending in "y" form their plurals with -ies if the letter before the "y" is a consonant (party/parties); if the penultimate letter is a vowel simply add an "s" (key/keys). An "f" usually becomes a "v" in the plural (calf/calves). However,certain variant forms change neither spelling nor sound (graph/graphs, giraffe/giraffes roof/roofs). Some words ending in "o" (tomato, potato) add an "e" in the plural (tomatoes), but this pattern is by no means consistent, especially with words, often in the context of music, that are derived from Italian (piano /pianos, trio/trios). Some Latinate words such as alumnus use Latin endings to form plurals (alumni) Note that media and phenomena are already plural; use the singular when appropriate: One phenomenon of the last half of the twentieth century was the dominance of television as a medium. Solid compound words add plural endings to the very end of the word (spoonfuls) while hyphenated compounds add them to the noun (mothers-in-law.) Many plurals are utterly unpredictable (child/children) and simply have to be memorized.

4.4.12 Canadian/English/American Spelling

The slightly simplified spelling introduced by Noah Webster in 1828 replaces the original English spelling of honour with honor, and theatre with theater; Americans will be technical with words that end with -ize, while English jargon thrives on -ise. Canadians tend to accept free trade so far as color and -ize are concerned, but stick to metre, perhaps because of the influence of French. Canadians seldom use plow, and thru appears only on street signs where space is limited, There is, however, no absolute rule about Canadian spelling. The main thing is to be consistent with whatever you choose.

4.4.13 Word Processors And Spelling Checkers

Most major word processors include a spelling checker (also known as "spell checkers," though they are not actually very good at checking the efficacy of spells). If you use one, be sure to take the time to note the words you have misspelled, especially those that are not simply typos. Remember that you may not always have the computer handy when you have to write an important letter--or exam.
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You will still have to proofread carefully: there are particular kinds of typos that spelling checkers will miss (the for then, for example); and they will not be able to pick up words correctly spelled but misused (there for their).

4.4.14 A List Of Words Commonly Misspelled

Spelling errors resulting from a confusion in meaning (e.g. to/two/too) are covered in the Dictionary of Usage (45Kb). Acceptable alternatives are indicated in brackets. desperate disappear disastrous discipline dilemma dissatisfied doesn't ecstasy eighth embarrass environment erroneous exaggerate excellent exhilaration exist existence fallacy familiar fascinating feudal fictitious finally forcibly foreign forfeit forty fulfill (fulfil) government governor grammar guarantee guidance height humorous humour hypocrisy immediately incidentally independent indispensable intelligence irrelevant irresistible kindergarten knowledge
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misspelled absence accidentally accommodate achievement acknowledge acquire adolescence aggressive amateur analysis analyze anxious apparent appearance approximately athlete attendant auxiliary believe benefited business caricature cemetery changeable character committee comparatively conceivable condemn conscience conscientious conscious consistent constant continuous counsellor (counselor) courteous criticism curiosity curriculum deceive definite desirable

laboratory lieutenant maneuver (manoeuvre) marriage meant medieval millionaire minuscule mischievous monastery mysticism necessary niece ninety ninth noticeable nucleus occasion(ally) occur occurred occurrence omission omitted opinion opportunity outrageous parallel perceive perform permanent permissible perseverance peruse pilgrimage playwright possession preceding prejudice prevalent primitive privilege proceed professor pronounce pronunciation

psychiatry psychology pursue queue questionnaire realize receive recommend referring relevant religious reminisce repetition resistance restaurant rhythm

ridiculous sacrilegious schedule schism secretary seize sensible separate sergeant shepherd shining siege similar souvenir strength success

supercede suppress synonym temperament thorough tragedy truly twelfth tyranny unnecessary vacuum vengeance villain weird writing

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5. Acknowledging Your Sources

Plagiarism
Here are the texts of the University of Victoria's statements on "Cheating" and "Duplicate Essays" from the Calendar: The standards and reputation of any university are the shared responsibility of its faculty and students. Within the obvious limits implicit in the difference between undergraduate work and specialized research, students at the University of Victoria are therefore expected to observe the same standards of scholarly integrity as their academic and professional counterparts. Clearly, a large part of the work done at the undergraduate level must involve the handling at second hand of ideas and material originally conceived or made accessible by others. Equally clearly, however, there is a difference between the use of an acknowledged restatement of such ideas and material after intelligent and critical assimilation and their unacknowledged, literal reproduction in the guise of new and original work. The latter amounts to cheating; and cheating, whether it takes the specific form of verbatim and unacknowledged copying from the writing of others, or whether it appears in other forms, such as the fraudulent manipulation of laboratory processes in order to achieve desired results, the use of commercially prepared essays in place of a student's own work or reference to unauthorized materials in examination circumstances, vitiates the purposes of a university education. While such practices may well stop short of "crime" in the sense that they may escape from the formal rigours of the law, they nevertheless constitute in all cases an offence against intellectual honesty. . . . Sanctions will therefore be enforced against cheating, ranging in severity as befits the individual case from simple reimposition of work, through forfeiture of credit for the particular assignment or the particular course involved, to possible expulsion from the University in the most extreme, deliberate or persistent cases. . . . (Calendar 16) It is difficult to improve upon these statements in any general way, but here are some specific suggestions concerning the use of source material. Always double-check the accuracy of any quotation you use and any citation (author, title, volume and page number) you make. Words added or changed within a quotation should be enclosed within square brackets [ ]. See the pages on incomplete quotations and fitting quotations into your work. Be aware, however, that making too many changes can be awkward. If you have to make more than a couple of adjustments, think about paraphrasing or at least reducing the length of the direct quotation. It is unethical and improper to quote in such a way that the contextual sense of the passage quoted is violated. Example: The original: "I found the play so bad that my urge to leave after the first act was compelling." An Example of Improper Use: One critic said that he "found the play. . . compelling." Citation is needed for use of another's ideas no less than his or her words (see 3.4 below) Whenever possible, refer to the originals of any primary sources you find in secondary sources . If you must err in the use of citations, overdocument.

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6. Preparing Summaries
6.1 How Writing Summaries Can Help You
Practice in writing summaries will benefit you in important ways as a student and as a writer: It will give you practice in close, attentive reading, and train you to do justice to what you read (rather than reading into a work only what is familiar to you). It will strengthen your sense of structure in writing: how a writer organizes material, developshis or her points, and moves from one point to another. It will develop your sense of what is important in a written work, enabling you to distinguish between key points, the material backing them up, specific examples and illustrations, and mere asides.

6.2 Grasp The Main Trend Of Thought

In writing a summary, make sure that you grasp the main trend of thought in the work being summarized. Above all, you need to understand the work's organization clearly. To help you, concentrate on these three closely related tasks: 1. Identify key sentences (underline them as you read): thesis statements (which sum up the major point of the whole work or its particular sections); and topic sentences (which are developed in the rest of the paragraphs they begin). 2. Look for the author's own compact summaries, either at the beginning or end of a passage, or at points of transition. 3. Finally, formulate in your own words major points that seem to be implied by the author but not spelled out in any sentence (remembering that your purpose is to report what is said, not to interpret it).

6.3 Reduce Explanation

To reduce explanation and illustration to the essential minimum: Omit passages that restate a point for clarity or emphasis. Drastically condense lengthy details, examples, statistics--but do not omit information or examples that are necessary to a clear understanding of the summarized work. Be specific whenever possible.

6.4 Use The Most Economical Wording Possible

Where the original uses a whole clause, try to sum up the same idea in a phrase; where it uses a phrase, try to use a single word; where several near synonyms restate the same idea, choose the one that gives the central common meaning Use a simple or complex sentence rather than a compound sentence to summarize a paragraph (unless the original paragraph itself is poorly organized). A compound sentence implies that there are two or more equally important ideas in the paragraph. If you find that you have written a compound summarizing sentence, recheck the paragraph to make sure that the author did not imply some subordinating relationship that you missed. In determining the author's intent, be alert to such writing techniques as parallel clauses and phrases (which indicate ideas of equal weight), and transitional words and phrases (which show relationships between ideas). Unless the original page is already severely condensed, a summary of about one-third or one-fourth the length of the original can usually preserve the essential points. The shorter the summary, however, the greater the danger of oversimplification or outright misrepresentation. Be careful to preserve the essential conditions or distinctions: if- and unless- clauses; differences between is, will, and might; words like only, almost, or the phrase on the whole.
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Moreover, preserve the relative emphasis of the original, giving more prominence to a point treated at length than to one mentioned in passing.

6.5 A Sample Passage To Summarize

Read the following passage--how would you summarize it? The invention of the process of printing from movable type, which occurred in Germany about the middle of the fifteenth century, was destined to exercise a far-reaching influence on all the vernacular languages of Europe. Introduced into England about 1476 by William Caxton, who had learned the art on the continent, printing made such rapid progress that a scant century later it was observed that manuscript books were seldom to be met with and almost never used. Some idea of the rapidity with which the new process swept forward may be had from the fact that in Europe the number of books printed before the year 1500 reached the surprising figure of 35,000. The majority of these, it is true, were in Latin, whereas it is in the modern languages that the effect of the printing press is chiefly felt. But in England over 20,000 titles in English had appeared by 1640, ranging all the way from mere pamphlets to massive folios. The result was to bring books, which had formerly been the expensive luxury of the few, within the reach of all. More important, however, was the fact, so obvious today, that it was possible to reproduce a book in a thousand copies or a hundred thousand, every one exactly like the other. A powerful force thus existed for promoting a standard uniform language, and the means were now available for spreading that language throughout the territory in which it was understood. (Baugh, A History of the English Language) Now look at two summaries of it, one from a textbook and a second from a student. The two may be compared with each other, and with your own, checking for conciseness, clarity, and accuracy in the sentences, and the selection of information (major points and qualifications).

6.6 The Textbook's Version

Printing from movable type, invented in Germany about 1450 and brought to England about 1476, had a far-reaching influence on all European languages. Within a hundred years, manuscript books had become rare. Though at first most printed books were in Latin, over 20,000 titles in English had appeared by 1640. Books were now within the reach of everyone and could exert a powerful standardizing influence upon the language. (67 words) Look at the original version or look at the student's version.

6.7 The Student's Version

Printing, invented in Germany in the mid-fifteenth century, was introduced into England in 1476 by William Caxton. A century later manuscript books had almost disappeared. Before 1500, 35,000 books, most in Latin, were printed in Europe, but in England over 20,000 books in English had appeared by 1640. Books, within reach of poor and rich alike, promoted the spread of standardized English throughout the English linguistic territory. (68 words)

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7. Presenting Arguments Logically

7.1 Undefined Terms
The first step toward logical writing is to define your terms. If you are uncertain of the meaning of the language you are using, you are likely to make false or illogical claims.

7.2 Generalization
The basis of virtually all logical errors is the assumption that "some" equals "all." Do not assume that because you hold an opinion, the same is true of the rest of the world. If you write, "Nobody thinks smoking is acceptable any more," you will undoubtedly be assaulted by a mob of irate tobacconists. You must be aware of the circumstance and be more precise: "Nobody in my class thinks smoking is acceptable." Politicians are especially adept at assuming that their position is that of the majority. If there is inconvenient evidence, in the form of election results or polls that contradict them, they may choose to invent a "silent majority" that actually supports them without ever saying so. Deductive reasoning is a way of thinking that draws inferences from general statements or uses generalizations to apply what is true in one instance to what is true in another related instance. You must be careful not to assume that what applies to one situation always applies to another. A hasty generalization will draw a conclusion from an insufficiently representative source; for example, a survey of an English class might produce the information that 90had read Beowulf. One could not assume, however, that ninety percent of all university students had read it. It was deductive reasoning that led to the ancient practice of letting blood as a "cure" for various diseases. If the patient is flushed, and her heart is beating fast, it can be deduced that she has too much blood in her body: pass the leech. If a generalization does not stand up to the question, "Can you prove it?" think twice about using it.

7.3 Black or White

A black or white, or either/or argument assumes that only two alternatives exist: "Was Shakespeare sexist, or was he an early feminist?" There are many other possibilities. A more expansive example would be a paper that claimed that the First World War was caused either by the Alliance System or by German aggression. Given the extraordinary and wonderful complexity of the world we live in, the answer is bound to be more complex than these simple alternatives. The black and white argument is also used to hold up a shaky thesis. The writer presents the argument as if it is the only solution to a grave problem: "If teleregistration is abandoned, chaos will result." The writer is asking the reader to choose between teleregistration and chaos, rather than to examine the entire situation.

7.4 Abstractions
An abstraction is a word which stands for a quality found in a number of different contexts from which it has been taken away or abstracted. In conversations on "ethics" or "morality," the process of abstraction is often carried so far that we make the fundamental error of assuming these abstractions are tangible, definable objects. Such concepts as "nature," "beauty," or "truth" are not so much indefinable as receptive to an infinite number of definitions. Never assume that the reader's notions are the same as yours. A discussion of abstract ideals must maintain its connection to the topic at hand, and you must be especially careful to define the abstract terms you use.

7.5 Analogies
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While an analogy is a useful means of explanation, it does not constitute proof. Argument by analogy tends to evoke a predictable emotional response because it is usually based on accepted symbolism; for example, during the Gulf War Saddam Hussein was routinely compared to Hitler, as if doing so automatically provided a justification for war. Remember, what is true of one thing in one set of circumstances is not necessarily true of another thing in another set of circumstances. By drawing analogies, you are manipulating the reader into thinking about the comparison rather than the original subject. Use analogy to clarify or enhance your argument but do not deceive yourself into thinking that you are proving it. A false analogy makes an inadequate comparison: "Deciphering a poem is like doing a crossword puzzle." This analogy demeans the process of reading by comparing it to something mechanical; the comparison may be partially appropriate, but it does not suggest the complexity of the response one has to a poem.

7.6 Syllogisms
A syllogism is a means of breaking down an argument into three simple, related terms: 1. All UVic students receive grades; 2. I am a UVic student; therefore 3. I receive grades. There are three parts to a syllogistic argument. The major premise is the first, general statement: "All UVic students receive grades." The minor premise is the second, specific statement: "I am a UVic student." The conclusion is the logical resolution of the two premises: "I receive grades." To be an effective argument, both premises of the syllogism must be true, and they must also relate logically one to the other. Arguments of this kind tend to fail because the general premise is not valid: 1. All students like pizza. 2. Hassan is a student, therefore 3. Hassan likes pizza. The assumption that all students like pizza is invalid (if nearly true). Improperly used, the syllogism is a handy device for producing charmingly erroneous conclusions like this one: 1. Slugs crawl on the ground; 2. I can crawl on the ground; therefore 3. I am a slug. While this conclusion may be true in a metaphorical sense, it does not follow logically from the first two statements because the two premises are not logically connected.

7.7 Circular Argument

A circular argument makes a conclusion based on material that has already been assumed in the argument: "The study of literature is worthwhile because great literature repays close reading." The argument sounds convincing until you realise that it could be phrased thus: "The study of literature is worthwhile because literature is a worthwhile subject." The statement does not raise an issue or allow for argument. A better argument would be this: "The study of literature is worthwhile because it develops analytical and critical faculties."

7.8 Begging The Question

A begged question presents a proposition that needs to be proved as if it needs no proof: " `Binsey Poplars' is a bad poem because it is most irritating poem Hopkins ever wrote." The writer of this sentence is begging the question of the irritating nature of the poem. A better argument would be:
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" `Binsey Poplars' suffers from a surfeit of literary devices." The statement still expresses an opinion, but the more precise and objective language suggests a way in which the writer can support the claim.

7.9 Argument Of The Beard

This is a paradoxical argument which derives from the impossibility of answering the question "How many hairs does a man have to grow before he has a beard?" Since there is no specific number at which an unsightly clump of hairs becomes a beard, the argument is that no useful distinction can be made between a clean-shaven man and Santa Claus. Another way of expressing the fallacy is in the argument that there is no harm in removing one hair from a beard since it will not stop it being a beard; the argument is superficially convincing until you realise that eventually the beard will indeed disappear, even if it is plucked one hair at a time. Thus the argument of the beard suggests that there is no difference between those things which occupy opposite ends of a continuum, because there is no definable moment at which one becomes the other: day and night, or childhood and adulthood, for example. This fallacy often turns up in essays that discuss such subjects as the appropriate age for drinking, voting, or driving.

7.10 Non Sequiturs

"It does not follow." In this fallacy, the writer links two ideas or events that are not in fact related. TV commercials often depend on visual or implied non sequiturs: "I own a fast, red sports car; women love me." A non sequitur of causation (Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, "after this, therefore because of this") assumes that because one event followed another, it must have been the effect of the other: "When it rained, my food processor broke."

7.11 Fallacies Of Relevance

An argument ad hominem attacks the person supporting an opposing view instead of the viewpoint itself: "How can you believe this woman; she works for the government!" The woman's employment may or may not have some bearing on what she is saying, but you should not assume that she is wrong on that basis. An argument ad populem does the reverse: it assumes that someone is correct because of his or her position: "If the Premier says so, it must be true." Again, you should not assume that the Premier is telling the truth. The appeal to authority is similar, in that it assumes that a prestigious person or document must of necessity be right. Even Aristotle may be wrong about gravity, or the Bible wrong about the circumference of a circle. Especially in literary essays, simply quoting a well-known critic will not of itself support your argument; you must be prepared for the sceptic who will question the pronouncements even of a Northrop Frye. Name-calling is in a sense the opposite of the appeal to authority: it is the process of placing what the writer dislikes or opposes into a generally odious category without justifying the use of the terms. Conservatives call Liberals "Communists" while Liberals call Conservatives "Fascists." Name-calling appeals to prejudice, not to rationality. An argument ad misericordiam argues that something is true because if it is not, someone will suffer: "There must be a solution, because otherwise we will all perish!" Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. An appeal to force argues that a statement is true because physical harm will come to those who disagree with it. The most common fallacy of relevance is the bandwagon argument: "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong!" This argument usually provokes the Bridge Question: "If everybody jumped off the Johnson St. Bridge, would you do it too?" Remember that the opinion of the majority is not always the one to accept

7.12 Catchall Explanation

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A catchall explanation provides one answer to a question with a variety of possible answers and presents that answer as if it invalidates all the others: Some people think the dinosaurs died out because of a meteor striking the earth. Some people think they died out because of the coming of the Ice Age. And some people think they died out because evolving mammals competed more successfully for available resources. But new evidence proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the dinosaurs became extinct because aliens poisoned their water supply. The actual answer may be all, some, or none of the above. The writer should not assume that the new theory renders the others obsolete.

7.13 Slanted Language

Most language in one way or another expresses an opinion as well as communicating fact. If you wish to point out that a person saves money, you may choose a word like thrifty--which signals approval of the activity--or "miserly"--which signals disapproval. Either way your discussion will be "slanted" toward one judgment or the other. That language communicates both fact and feeling is one of its great powers. There would be no literature if it did not. Language only becomes "slanted" (deviating from the upright) when it is deceptive or manipulative rather than persuasive. Propaganda--political or commercial--slants language in an attempt to deceive the audience into accepting a conclusion without question. But careful writers will be aware of the way their language presents an opinion, and careful readers will be conscious of the often deliberate slanting of language in the world around them. We are appropriately wary of accepting information passed on to us from an unreliable source. During the Gulf War of 1990, commentators regularly reminded viewers that video materials coming from Iraq had been cleared by Iraqui censors. But we tend to be less sensitive to the biases of our own point of view; as an example of politically slanted language, the Manchester Guardian Weekly printed a list of words actually used in the English press to describe the activities of the two sides in the war in the Persian Gulf:

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8. Knowing The Basics of Grammar

8.1 Forethoughts About Grammar
Grammar / Glamour . The words rhyme but otherwise might seem to have as little in common as any two words can have. What could be less glamorous than grammar ? Can you imagine a glossy monthly magazine called Grammar ? Yet the word glamour is a corruption of the word grammar and once meant magic of a verbal rather than a physical sort. And the magazine Glamour simply deals with language of a different kind, the self-communication created by our appearance. The language of clothing requires you to put things together properly. Not everything matches; what you put together and the way you put it together will vary according to the kind of statement you are trying to make about yourself, but your ability to make a statement depends on others being able to read it. In different times or places, the same skirt length may be interpreted as risqu or demure, and a boy's short haircut may seem conformist or rebellious. The language of speech is just as conventionalized and rule-bound as that of clothing, though its fashions change rather more slowly. While a great many fashion designers depend for their livelihood on the reluctance of the trendy to be seen in last year's styles, very few grammarians will become wealthy by pointing out that old words and phrases have become outmoded, obstacles in the way of effective expression. But if beauty is in this sense grammatical, it is also true that there is a real glamour in knowing a language and using it well. Your ability to move easily among the complexities of English grammar is unquestionably among your most precious and hard-won skills. All human languages provide the communities that inhabit them with subtle and powerful tools for wooing, arguing, lying, instructing, and praying. English speakers may be tempted to think, like Stephen Dedalus, that the particular virtues of English are divinely ordained: Dieu was the French for God and that was God's name too; and when anyone prayed to God and said Dieu then God knew at once that it was a French person that was praying. But, though there were different names for God in all the different languages in the world and God understood what all the people who prayed said in their different languages, still God remained always the same God and God's real name was God. (Joyce 16) To us, English may seem a uniquely powerful tool for human creativity and communication. But only historical and geographical accidents have made this language the powerful medium of international exchange that it has become. And it is worth remembering that international linguistic currencies are subjected to a good many indignities. Witness the following examples: * In a Belgrade hotel elevator: To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by national order. * A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest: It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site for people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose. * From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo: When passenger on foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigour. * At a hotel in Athens: Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m. daily. The people who put these sentences together evidently knew a certain amount of English grammar, and you can mostly understand what they are trying to say. However, they are clearly not the utterances of native speakers, because they do not abide by the rules native speakers of English follow when they put sentences together. If you have a native speaker's command of the language, you will have so thoroughly internalized the rules that you will have to make a conscious effort to disobey them. In this respect, and it is the most important respect, you as a native speaker "know" English grammar. But if you were asked to explain to the sign-makers or brochure-writers of Istanbul and Valparaiso what is wrong with their attempts, could you do so? Could you, in other words, bring the rules by which you speak to the level of consciousness? The answer to this question will certainly be "no," unless you have been taught grammar.
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You may, if you will pardon the paradox, know English grammar without knowing English grammar. You may be able to speak grammatically without being able to explain the rules by which you speak grammatically. This distinction is not the usual one between descriptive grammar , which tries to explain how grammar works, and prescriptive grammar which claims the right to tell you how you should speak. The newspapers are full of the opinions of people who think that English is in a state of decline from which only a good dose of prescriptive grammar can save it. Such people tell us that we misuse words like "hopefully" and that we shouldn't talk about "contacting" others or split infinitives: 1Hopefully I will be able to quickly contact the police is not a very elegant sentence, but most English speakers would consider it grammatically acceptable. The following example presents a different and more significant kind of problem: 2a If I could of, I would of. The statement recorded here is one that most of us will have uttered at one time or another. It is by no means ungrammatical, but its recording is, for it misinterprets the standard spoken abbreviation: 2b If I could've, I would've, which is short for 2c If I could have, I would have. Example 2a is a logical spelling of the sound of what we say, but it betrays a lack of awareness of the way in which English grammar works. And although it may be true that the ability to formulate a sentence orally is the really crucial ability, while being able to render it correctly in writing is only of secondary importance, in a culture that depends on writing this second kind of grammatical control is immensely valuable. Unless you understand how English sentences work your ability to write will be severely impaired. If you are lucky your message will get through, but at a considerable cost to your credibility.

8.2 The Sentence

The sentence is the basic unit of expression in written English. At its most simple, it comprises two parts: the subject and the predicate the actor and the action which combine to create a complete predication. 3a Mary studied. "Mary," a noun , is the subject of this little sentence; "studied" is the verb or predicate. This basic sentence is open to a variety of transformations, for we can negate the statement or turn it into a question or even a negative question if we choose to do so. And we can ring quite a number of changes on the tense of the verb, thus: 3b Mary didn't study. 3c Did Mary study? 3d Didn't Mary study? 3e Mary did study. 3f Mary was studying. 3g Mary used to study. 3h Mary has studied. Furthermore, either of its basic components can be expanded to a greater or lesser extent. "Mary" can be described by modifiers that tell us about Mary, adjectives like "young" or "clever." "Studied" can be modified by adverbs like "hard" or "nightly" and it can be completed by a noun object such as "Latin" or "Anthropology." 3i Clever Mary used to study Latin nightly, didn't she? A closer examination of these variations on the theme of Mary's studying can reveal some interesting things about the nature of English, things we don't usually have to think about because they are second nature to us. For example, word order is strictly controlled and vitally important to meaning, as sentences 3c and 3e above or the sentences below clearly show. 3j John studied Mary. 3k Mary studied John. Another feature of English is our tendency to use synthetic verb forms, verbs made of smaller parts, to indicate different kinds of pastness or completeness or habitualness, not to mention interrogation and negation. We use auxiliary or helping verbs like "do" and "have" in combination with forms of verbs known as verbal infinitives like "to eat," present participles like "eating" or past participles like "eaten."
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Non-native speakers seldom completely master the complicated tense structures of English, but even for educated native speakers they can pose real difficulties. In this connection, consider the following clause in the Victoria Real Estate Board's standard contract form for house purchases: 4This house has been has not been insulated with urea formaldehyde foam insulation. If your home was but no longer is so insulated, how would you fill the boxes provided? "Has been" implies that the house still has its foam, while "has not been" may be thought to indicate that the house never had it. The alternatives, which intend to cover all possibilities, in fact quite fail to do so. But we are moving away from the simplicities of our base sentence. By putting together nouns and verbs, as well as adjectives and adverbs (not to mention the articles "the" and "a" or "an") we can assemble sentences of the complexity of example 3i: 3i Clever Mary used to study Latin nightly, didn't she? To build larger structures we will need to add three more parts of speech: prepositions (function words that introduce adjectival or adverbial phrases and conjunctions (a related class of function words that join words or groups of words including clauses together), and pronouns (which have many functions, among them the introduction of some kinds of clauses). The UVic Writer's Guide includes a section on writing clear sentences that you will find helpful.

8.3 Phrases
Phrases are unified groups of words which do not combine the actor and act that produce predication. Beyond this crucial feature the term phrase is difficult to define with much precision. In " Clever Mary used to study Latin nightly, didn't she?" "clever Mary" would be called a noun phrase and "used to study" could accurately be called a verb phrase. But "used to study Latin" and "used to study Latin nightly" may equally well be called verb phrases in that they comprise groups of words which belong together but which do not include both the actor and act of predication. Among the commonest of phrase types in English are prepositional phrases, groups of words introduced by one of a small handful of relational words like "in," "on," "behind," etc. which are known as prepositions because they are "pre-posed" or "placed before" the phrases they introduce. Prepositional phrases can function as adjectives or adverbs. Thus in 5a, "in your class" could be an adjectival phrase if it told us about Mary, but it could equally function adverbially: 5a The Mary in your class studies hard. 5b Mary studies hard in your class. In sentence 5a the phrase acts as an adjective, modifying the noun "Mary," whereas in sentence 5b it is an adverb modifies the verb "studies," telling us where the studying takes place.

8.4 Clauses
The next larger unit above the phrase is the clause. A clause by definition does involve predication --that is, it includes a subject and a predicate. There are two principal kinds of clauses: first, main clauses (also called co-ordinate clauses), which can form independent sentences, and second, subordinate or relative clauses, which are dependent upon the main clause of a sentence. "Mary studied" can stand alone as a complete sentence but it can also be treated as a main clause to which another clause could be added: either an additional main clause to produce a compound sentence such as 5c Mary studied, but George watched television. or one or more subordinate clauses, whose addition creates a complex sentence: 5d Mary, who wants to go to graduate school, studies whenever she has a moment. Note that subordinate clauses here function differently. "Who wants to go to Berkeley," because it tells us about Mary, is adjectival; "whenever she had a moment," because it tells us about when she studied, is adverbial. But subordinate clauses are not limited to functioning as adjectives or adverbs. They can also act as nouns. In the sentence 6Whoever wants to go to UVic should study hard; "whoever wants to go to UVic" is a subordinate clause but it is also the subject of the verb "should study." Subordinate clauses differ from coordinate clauses by virtue of the the way they are joined to the rest of the sentence. Main clause is added to main clause by a coordinating conjunction, like and or or or but, which are used to join elements of equal value. "Mary and George"; " ran and played." Subordinate clauses are
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introduced by subordinating conjunctions or relative pronouns. If and although are examples of subordinating conjunctions. So is whenever. Whoever and Who, on the other hand, are pronouns.

8.5 Pronouns
Pronouns, so called because they stand for nouns, are a small but inherently difficult class of words. They are difficult for a number of reasons, among the most important of which is their necessary failure to identify directly the thing or person to which they refer; their value and their weakness is that they offer instead a non-specific short form. In the following sentence, for example, there is no way of knowing whose hat is meant. 7a Tod gave Brent his hat. Another distinguishing feature of some pronouns, including his, is that they are gender specific. This feature could, under other circumstances, have made sentences similar to the one just cited perfectly clear. Thus: 7b Tod gave Tiffany her hat. 7c Tod gave Tiffany his hat. But often we do not want to be or cannot honestly be specific about the sex of the person referred to by the pronoun. 8a The child cut his finger. 8b The child cut her finger. 8c The child cut his or her finger. 8d The child cut their finger. His in the first example can no longer be defended as the all-purpose sexless pronoun that it never was. His or her will sometimes feel too cumbersome or self-conscious. Thus it seems rather likely that the last solution above is going to prevail as English continues to evolve, though for the moment many regard it as ungrammatical since their is a plural form and child is singular. Gender specificity is a pronoun problem. Avoiding inaccurate gender specificity has become one of the major challenges of good writing. Yet another unusual feature of the pronoun class is that it continues to mark case, which was a decisive grammatical feature of English before it evolved into the word-order language it is today. His, her, and their are all possessives; so are whose, its, and so on. Each of these pronouns has what might be called a subject case and an object case as well as this possessive case. Compare them with the nouns in the following table: case pronoun forms subject: he she possessive: his her(s) object: him her nouns they their(s) them

who whose whom

it its it

Mary's Mary's Mary

John's John's John

There are a good many pitfalls in the list above: using it's or who's for its and whose, writing they're or there when you mean their, and forgetting to distinguish between Marys and Mary's. None of these is an interesting mistake since all depend simply on the identity of pronunciation of these different forms. Much more interesting is the continuing capacity of English speakers to distinguish pronoun cases in some circumstances and their inability to do so in others. 9Who did you give the ball to? 10 Whom do men say that I am? Both of these sentences could be described as ungrammatical because they contain pronouns in the wrong case. The first is the equivalent of saying 11 I gave the ball to he, and the second to saying 12 Whom am I? Though no native speaker would produce these last two sentences, most of us regularly produce statements similar to the first two examples, even if we are being careful--in the case of "Whom do men say that I am,"
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especially if we are being careful. In this respect, then, there seems to be a real distinction between grammar--meaning 1 (what native speakers feel is right) and grammar--meaning 2 (the rules that can be extracted from our normal usage). The domain of the first kind of grammar is speech; writing and reading allow or require you to be more analytical in your language use. You have to get your words to agree with each other if you want your reader to agree with you.

8.6 Agreement
Apart from its strict word-order rules, English, like all languages, has rules about what words or forms of words can be fitted together to make up sentences. Often these agreements are very easy for native speakers. Consider the following sentence: 13a Brent studies hard before he goes to bed. He agrees with Brent to the extent that it is a masculine singular form. Its being in the subjective case is a kind of agreement with its function in the sentence. Similarly goes agrees with he just as studies agrees with Brent, for both have the "s" ending which occurs when the subject of a verb in the present tense is not I, you, we, they or their equivalents. Such agreements are second nature for a native speaker, who would never say 13b Brent study hard before him go to bed, which nevertheless is a lot easier to interpret than, for example, 13c Hard before Brent studies to bed goes he, where all the right agreements could be said to occur. The errors once again illustrate the importance of word order in English. Getting the agreements right ought, in theory, to be relatively easy for native speakers, since their instincts constitute grammar (meaning 1). Perhaps if those with a professional interest in correct grammar let things evolve naturally, we would have no difficulties in this respect. But our language instincts do produce some apparent anomalies. For example, all children, left to their own devices, will say 14a Me and Darby went to the store, though none but an infant or Tarzan would say 14b Me went to the store. So we are taught, from a tender age, that "me and Darby" is egocentric and ungrammatical. Unfortunately people who have been taught to say 14c 3 Darby and I went to the store are likely to say, when they grow up, 15a It occurred to Darby and I that going to the store was a poor idea, though they would never say 15b It occurred to I that going to the store was a poor idea. In short, agreement is a muddling sort of business however we go at it. The only way to get it right consistently is to learn how to analyse the structures of your speech, which is to say, how you put sentences together. See also the pages on the subjective case and the object case.

8.7 The Subject (Subjective, Nominative) Case

If the subject is a pronoun that distinguishes cases, the subjective case form must be chosen. Thus, though we say 16a Give the hat to whomever, we also say, 16b Give the hat to whoever owns it, not 16c 7 Give the hat to whomever owns it, for in the first example whomever is the object of the preposition to, while in the second example whoever is the subject of the predicate owns and the entire clause "whoever owns it" is the object of the preposition to. We noted that a predicate consists of a verb together with whatever adverbial modifiers and completions go with it. When the verb designates no real action, the complement may function simply to complete the
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subject by providing new information about it. These subjective completions comprise predicate adjectives and predicate nouns as in the following examples. 17a Justin is studious 17b Justin looks studious 17c Justin is a student As long as we are not dealing with pronouns, such constructions are quite simple. The trouble with pronoun subjective completions is that, although we understand that they should logically be in the subject case, the instincts of word order incline us to prefer objective case forms, which is why you have to be taught not to write 18 7 It's me and why Christ's question in the King James translation cited above as sentence 10 is properly termed hyper-correct, that is, so correct that it's wrong. The translator has too successfully resisted the desire to say: 19 Who do men say that I am? where "who" is the subjective completion of "I am."

8.8 The Object (Objective, Accusative) Case

The commonest of verbal completions is the direct object, whatever it is that issues from or undergoes the act of the actor. In sentence 3i it's "Latin"; in sentence 7 it's "hat," while in sentence 8 it's the word "ball." If the object is a pronoun capable of exhibiting case distinction, the case should be objective. Thus, 20a I hit him which is easy, and 20b Whom did I hit, which is less easy, because our word-order instincts urge us to put "who" at the beginning of a sentence whether it's the subject or not. Sometimes a verb will also take an indirect object, which can be replaced by "to" and a prepositional phrase. Once again the objective case of the appropriate pronoun will be in order. Thus 21a I gave her the ball 21b I gave the ball to her 21c Whom did you give the ball? 21d Whom did you give the ball to? (See sentence 9 above.) 21e To whom did you give the ball? (You have probably heard that you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition, as in 21d, but this is a stylistic question not a grammatical one. If you choose the more elegant approach of 21e, be sure you don't drift off and write 21f 7 To whom did you give the ball to? There is a lyric by Paul McCartney that reads "This ever-changing world in which we live in.")

8.9 Verb Agreement

Apart from the effort necessary to get pronouns to agree properly with their antecedents and to use the form appropriate to their sentence function, the residue of the old inflectional system of English requires us to attend to verb agreement in the present tense, according to which we distinguish between 22a He studies and 22b They study. This kind of agreement is not intrinsically difficult to deal with, but it is possible to lose track of the subject of a sentence or to get confused as to whether the subject is singular or plural. Most people are inclined to say 23a Neither of us wish to go, rather than 23b Neither of us wishes to go, though when we think about it we know that "neither" should logically be construed as a singular pronoun form, which therefore requires a singular verb form. Once again it is the immediately preceding plural form "us" that throws us off.
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The UVic Writer's Guide's advice about writing clear sentences will also give you information about subject/verb agreement that you'll find helpful.

8.10 Punctuation
Getting your words to agree with one another is not a problem unique to written English, though the greater complexity of written English may increase the probability of disagreements arising, and readers are in a better to position to catch one out than listeners are. The considerable difficulties of punctuating properly are, however, entirely a feature of writing, for punctuation is an inadequate substitute for the pauses and intonations by which we signal the structures and rhetorical force of our sentences. Unfortunately we are poor witnesses to our own use of pauses and intonations. It is also true that the inventory of punctuation marks is much more limited than the devices we use to signal, say, the completeness or uncertainty of something we say, especially since, by convention, we punctuate only at the end of groups of words. Poets have a better time of it, since they are able to use lines and extra spaces as subtle aids to the emphasis of their sentences. But even poets have to know what rules they are breaking if they are to break them effectively: a knowledge of grammar does not make punctuating easy, but an ignorance of grammar makes it impossible. Proper punctuation is a matter of recognizing two things: When a punctuation mark is permitted or required. Which punctuation mark to use. Once you have decided to use punctuation, it will help if you make a distinction between the two main kinds of punctuation marks. Those which separate parts within a main clause: the comma, the dash, and the parenthesis. Those which separate different main clauses or sections of the sentence: the period, semi-colon, colon, question mark, and exclamation mark. Thus it is sentence structure that you must consider in taking these decisions. Periods and the like identify word groups that can stand alone, that is, sentences containing complete predications (or understood substitutes for complete predications). Commas and the like divide sentences into parts in order to facilitate reading. Too many periods produces sentence fragments: 24a While Michael went to the store. Heather studied. Too few periods will result in run-on sentences or comma splices, 24b Michael went to the store Heather studied. 24c Michael went to the store, Heather studied. Replace the period after "store" in 24a with a comma or insert a semi-colon in the same spot in 24b and 24c and you have perfectly acceptable punctuation, the first indicating the presence of an introductory (adverbial) subordinate clause, the second the existence of two coordinate clauses. To avoid this kind of punctuation problem, at least in such straightforward cases, you simply have to be able to recognize coordinate and subordinate clauses. You have to be able to recognize subjects and predicates to avoid the common error of wrongly separating these fundamental sentence parts. If you rely simply on your sense of the pauses of speech, you may be tempted to write 25 The time that I went to Disneyland, was a real high point in my childhood. The comma here suggests that the subject and predicate belong only loosely together, whereas they are the inseparable constituents of the the act of predication that forms a sentence. This is not to say that no comma can occur between a subject and a predicate, but such a comma must either be needed to set out a list or it must be part of a pair of commas setting off an insertion. Sentence 5d provides an example of this kind of construction: Olga, who wants to go to graduate school, studies whenever she has a moment. The commas around "who wants to go to graduate school" indicate that we are treating this clause as a kind of parenthetical comment, something interesting to know but not the distinguishing feature of our friend Olga. We call such a clause non-restrictive. If we knew two Olgas, of whom one wants to go to graduate school, the other to law school, we couldn't dispense with the clause identifying her aspirations, so we would remove the commas; the resulting sentence Olga who wants to go to graduate school studies whenever she has a moment. would indicate to the attentive reader that the clause was restrictive and important to know. But in neither case would we allow a single comma to intervene between subject and verb.
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8.11 Colons, Semi-Colons, Parentheses and Dashes

Colons, semi-colons, parentheses and dashes are punctuation symbols that form looser connections than the comma. The four symbols are extremely useful, but their subtleties make it easy to confuse them. Learning to use them correctly allows you a greater degree of variety and style in your writing.

8.12 Colons
The colon's function is introductory. The presence of a colon at the end of a sentence points forward to further information, often in the form of a list: 26 There are three ways to write: the right way, the wrong way, and my way. The colon can only be used if the statement preceding it is grammatically complete. If it is not (for example, if an object is needed for the verb ), then you should resist the temptation to add a colon: 27 I saw Brent, Darby, Noel and Lara today. In this case, the names can act as the object of "saw" without a colon. The colon is often preceded by "as follows" or "the following": 28 The runners will be starting as follows: Leonard, Charles, Jones, Nesmith and Nash. Examples and illustrative details appended to sentences are preceded by colons (note the use of colons to introduce all of our examples in this Guide): 29 There is only one solution left: we shall have to sell the yacht. 30 Ilsa's return to Casablanca could mean only one thing: trouble. A sentence after a colon may be capitalized if it seems to stand on its own as a statement, as when it is long or needs emphasis: 31 There was one thing, he said, which we must never forget: No one has a right to happiness that deprives someone else of deserved happiness. In literary and research essays, colons are used to introduce long quotations.

8.13 Semi-colons
The semi-colon is more complex than the colon; it is used to connect rather than to introduce. The semi-colon is a staple of formal writing because it allows the writer to join thoughts with more sophistication than can be achieved using only the period and the comma. It pulls together independent clauses like a comma, but it allows each to retain its individual strength, like a period. Essentially, the semicolon is a cross between the two symbols. Note that a semi-colon can only join independent clauses; it can only be used where a period could also be used. Its effect is to show when thoughts that are independent grammatically are dependent logically on one another. The semi-colon is most effective when it joins two independent clauses for contrast or balance: 32 I am not trying to deceive you; I am merely trying to educate you. The writer can present two ideas succinctly without having to use a coordinating conjunction such as and or but. The clauses are at once independent and connected. Often the first clause will be explained by the second: 33 That's odd; Jim never has a second cup of coffee at home. The independent clauses may also be joined by a conjunctive adverb (such as therefore, nevertheless, meanwhile, besides, however, otherwise or then). In this case, the semi-colon and the adverb work together to form a closer connection: 34 The classroom was full; however, I was able to watch from the doorway. On the other hand, one should not write: 35 The classroom was full; because the teacher was popular. "Because the teacher was popular" is a dependent clause and cannot be separated from the main clause by a semi-colon. Be aware of the difference between subordinating conjunctions like "because" and conjunctive adverbs like "however." If you use a comma to join clauses that are linked by a conjunctive adverb you will create a comma splice. In the above examples the semi-colon operates as a kind of linking period, but it has another use in which it could be described as a strong separating comma. Ordinarily, when you write a
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sentence with several clauses you use commas to separate them, but if the clauses contain commas themselves, the semi-colon can be used to distinguish between the clauses: 36 I went to Hawaii because I love the sand, the sun, and the surf; because my aunt, uncle, brother and sister live there; and because my favourite cities are Honolulu and Lahaina. In this sentence the semi-colon does not join main clauses but rather keeps the subordinate clauses clear.

8.14 Parentheses
Parentheses indicate an interruption in a sentence: an aside or a digression. Usually they enclose a piece of information that is not worthy of its own sentence or even its own clause, but which is worth tucking into another sentence. A more emphatic break in the sentence should be made with a dash (see below). Consider the different emphases in the following sentences: 37a Jane had to go to City Hall to pay her taxes before she could go to the beach. 37b Jane had to go to City Hall (to pay her taxes) before she could go to the beach. 37c Jane had to go to City Hall--to pay her taxes--before she could go to the beach. Too many parenthetical interruptions will disrupt the flow of your essay. If you find you have used parentheses too often, try to work the material into the main body of the sentence, or ask yourself whether the digressions are really necessary.

8.15 Dashes
The dash is used for interjections and asides. It indicates an abrupt break in thought, much like that signalled by parentheses, but with greater emphasis: 38a I was thinking about biology--though not especially hard--when suddenly I realized I had missed the test. Parentheses would have performed the same function, but they would have integrated the aside more subtly into the sentence. Dashes indicate an interruption while parentheses signal a digression. If you use dashes in this way, make sure that the sentence makes sense without them. The biology example above would be faulty if it read like this: 38b I was thinking about biology--realizing I had a test--and I had missed it. If the material between the dashes is removed, the sentence reads 38c I was thinking about biology and I had missed it. An important piece of information is now missing, and the sentence makes no sense. Therefore the sentence is incorrect even with the dashes restored. The dash has an ironic quality that is useful in informal writing. For example, in the following sentence, a colon could have been used in place of the dash, but the dash brings out the sarcasm: 39 We had a magnificent feast--Twinkies and Kool-Aid. This kind of usage should be confined to informal writing as it tends to be humorous or flippant: 40 That lecture was interesting--or at least it kept me awake.

8.16 A Grammar Glossary

Adjectival Functioning as an adjective. Phrases and clauses that modify nouns are adjectival. Adjective A word that modifies the meaning of a noun. The little girl climbed quickly up the very tall tree. Adjectives are capable of comparison: positive: small, beautiful comparative: smaller, more beautiful superlative: smallest, most beautiful. Adverb A word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. They answer the questions "how?" "when?" "where?" etc. The little girl climbed quickly up the very tall tree. Adverbs are capable of comparison: positive fast, quickly
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comparative faster, more quickly superlative fastest, most quickly. Adverbial Functioning as an adverb. Phrases and clauses that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs are adverbial. Article One of a set of three words: the, the definite article; aand an, the two forms of the indefinite article. Auxiliary A "helping verb" like "have" or "should" or "was." I should have been trying to please them, but I forgot. C Case The use of word form to indicate grammatical function. The form "I" identifies the pronoun as either a subject or a subject completion, "my" or "mine" indicates possession, while "me" is the equivalent object form. Noun endings only indicate whether or not the noun is a possessive: Lara, Lara's. Clause A group of words containing a complete predication. Clauses belong to two types: (1) subordinate, relative, or dependent clauses (italicised below) function only when conjoined to (2) a main, coordinate, or independent clause, which can--contrariwise--stand by itself. Before Tanya or I arrived, it had become late and cold, so we left. Completion A word or group of words that combine with a verb to complete the meaning of a predicate. Different verbs take different kinds of completions: objects, indirect objects, subject completions. Complex sentence A sentence made up of a main clause together with one or more subordinate or relative clauses. Barb ran down the street for help while Liz called the police. Compound Sentence A sentence made up of two or more independent or main clauses. Liz ran down the street for help and Barb called the police. Conjunction One of a small number of relational (function) words that join words or groups of words together. Conjunctions are of two kinds: some like "and," "or," "for," join words or phrases of equivalent grammatical weight. Before Tanya or I arrived, it had become late and was turning cold, so we left. Others, like "since," "when," and sometimes "for," connect subordinate clauses to the rest of the sentence. Before Tanya or I arrived, it had become late and cold, so we left. Conjunctive Adverb An adverb expressing a relationship between main clauses, which can be joined by a semi-colon. Unlike a conjunction, a conjunctive adverb need not come between the main clauses: I worked hard; nevertheless I did no better than before. I worked hard; I nevertheless did no better than before. There are entries for these letters: G Gender Specificity The restriction of noun or pronoun reference to male or female persons or animals. "He" and "chairman" exhibit gender specificity: the former is a very odd pronoun to use for a woman; the latter an incongruous noun when used for the same purpose. Gerund A verbal that functions as a noun (as distinct from a participle that functions as an adjective). In the following examples, "Running" is a gerund in the first, and a modifying participle in the second. Running in every race was Amanda's goal. Running in every race, Amanda was known to everyone. Grammar
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1. The rules by which native speakers generate acceptable sentences in a language. 2. the study or codification of such rules. H Hyper-correct Too correct; so correct as to be wrong. That's between Jay and I. I Infinitive The non-finite form of a verb, that is, the form of the verb which is not limited to time, place, or agent. A verbal capable of functioning as a noun, or a modifier, or combined with an auxiliary verb to construct a synthetic verb form. Infinitives can have subjects and completions. To offer help is better than to refuse it. Friends and neighbours stopped by to offer help after the fire. I was able to offer help because I was at hand. Inflectional System The pattern of endings indicating different cases or numbers in nouns and pronouns, as well as different tenses in verbs: Subject: he they who it Mary Possessive: his their(s) whose its Mary's Object: him them whom it Mary Tenses: give, gave, given tide, rode, ridden go, went, gone sit, sat, sat Interjection An exclamatory word intended to express strong feelings. Interrogation questioning M Modifier A word or group of words that adds to or refines the meaning of another word. Modifiers are either adjectives or adverbs. Mood the form of the verb by which it denotes a state (indicative), a command (imperative), a question (interrogative), or a hypothetical condition (subjunctive). There are entries for these letters: N Negation A denial; the opposite of affirmation Mark did not sell his store. Non-restrictive clause A clause that adds to our knowledge of whatever it is it modifies but without being crucial to its identification; the opposite of restrictive clause. The children, who loved ice cream, ran to the Dairy Queen. Noun The name of a person, place, or thing. A proper belongs to a particular individual; a common noun identifies a member of a group. Mark sold his store. O Object (direct) The person or thing affected by the action of the verb; a verb completion Noel hit the ball; it hit me. Noel hit me the ball. Object (indirect) The person or thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb; a verb completion. Noel hit me the ball. Object case
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The form that certain pronouns take when they are the object in a sentence. (The object case combines the Old English accusative and dative cases, corresponding roughly to the direct and indirect objects noted above.) P Participle One of two different kinds of verb-derived words which can function as nouns, modifiers, or parts of synthetic verbs. Present participles end with "-ing." Past participles of most verbs end with "ed" or "-en." I hate running when I feel tired. He was running scared. Parts of Speech The classes of words from which sentences are constructed: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections etc. Phrase A unified group of words which does not include both parts of the actor-act combination that produces predication. The term is a general one, but includes the prepositional phrase as one of its most important classes. In the box which sat on the porch behind the house was an egg. Plural more than one; the opposite of singular. Possessive Case (traditionally called the genetive case) The form indicating "possession"; it includes but is not restricted to ownership. Predicate what is said about the subject. It comprises a verb, which may stand alone, or the entire verb phrase including complements. Children read. Friends and neighbours stopped by to offer help after the event. Grass is green. Predication The act of saying something about a subject. Preposition One of a small number of relational (function) words like "in," "on," "behind," etc. which are known as prepositions because they are "pre-posed" or "placed before" the phrases they introduce. In the box which sat on the porch behind the house was an egg. Pronoun A word standing for a noun. There are many different kinds of pronouns, including the following: indefinite pronouns ("some," "any"), demonstrative pronouns ("this," "those"), interrogative pronouns ("who," "which"), personal pronouns ("I," "you," "she"), There are entries for these letters: R Relative pronouns Which, that, whom> and so on. Restrictive clause A clause crucial to the identification of whatever it modifies; the opposite of a non-restrictive clause. The restrictive clause is not set off from the rest of the sentence by commas. Children who are allergic to milk should avoid ice cream. S Singular One; the opposite of plural. Subject The word or words in a sentence about which something is said. Children read. Friends and neighbours stopped by to offer help after the event. Subject Case Traditionally called nominative case) the form that certain pronouns take when they are the subject or subject completion of a sentence. Iam here. This is she.
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Subject Completion (also called a subjective completion) Either a noun or an adjective (a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective) that completes a copulative or linking verb by defining or describing its subject. The ball appeared round. Ms. Carswell is a lawyer. Synthetic verb form A multi-part verb form expressing one of a variety of possible degrees of pastness, futurity, completeness, habitualness, determination, uncertainty or the like. I should have been trying to please them, but I forgot. V Verb A word which specifies the action or condition in which the subject of a sentence participates. Predicates comprise a verb with whatever modifiers or complements accompany it. Friends and neighbours stopped by to offer help after the event. You seem unhappy. Verbs are capable of being inflected for tense (and number): stop (stops) stopped stopped bite (bites) bit bitten Verb Phrase The combination of a verb and an adverb whose combined meaning cannot be deduced from their individual meanings. Friends and neighbours stopped by to offer help after the event. Compare: He stopped by the side of the road. Verbal A form of a verb which either (1) does not function as a verb but as a noun or adjective or (2) combines with another verb to form a predicate. Infinitives and participles are verbals.

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