Composition “Rules”
1. Do not assume your reader possesses the same knowledge you have about a subject; you should provide enough information for the reader so that he or she understand exactly what it is that you are talking about.
2. Titles of long works (e.g., books, plays, magazines, and web pages) should be italicized; titles of short works (e.g., articles, poems, short stories) should be surrounded by quotation marks.
The title of your own paper is never underlined OR placed in quotation marks.
3. Commas and periods are always placed inside quotation marks (e.g., Pope wrote: To err is human.”)
Semi-colons and colons are always placed outside quotations marks (e.g., Pope wrote: “To err is human”; he never met my mother).
4. Make sure your subjects and verbs agree: If you use a plural subject, you must use a plural verb. Likewise, if you use a singular subject, you must use a singular verb. Remember that no part of a prepositional phrase can be the subject of the sentence (e.g.: Each of the women at the meeting intends to leave early).
5. Always use the possessive case with a gerund (an “-ing” word that acts like a noun): I was shocked when I heard about Ed’s driving through the crowd of people OR I appreciate your returning my call.
6. A pronoun and its antecedent should agree in number. In the sentence “A student should arrange his schedule early,” student is singular, so you must use the singular pronoun his to agree with student.
Note: “Everyone,” “no one,” and other indefinite pronouns are always singular; therefore, your sentence should read “Everyone should take his seat,” or “No one should leave his computer on.”
BUT in order to avoid the cumbersome she/he, him/her problem, using plural nouns is usually better; then you can use the genderless “they,” “them,” and “their” to show agreement (e.g., “All students should take their seats”).
7. Make sure your sentences have good parallel structure when needed, meaning that ideas in a sentence, especially in a list, should be grammatically balanced. For example, “I was reading, studying, and had to work all day” becomes “I was reading, studying, and working all day.”
8. Make sure each sentence is directly related to the topic sentence of the paragraph in which it appears; likewise, in an essay, make sure that each topic sentence is directly related to your thesis statement.
9. Try to use active voice rather than passive voice whenever possible (i.e., “The governor raised taxes” is better than “Taxes were raised by the governor” because in the first sentence, the governor is in the subject position of the sentence where she belongs).
10. Avoid dangling or misplaced modifiers. In the sentence “Washing my car, a squirrel ran up the driveway,” the squirrel is washing the car. You can rewrite the sentence one of two ways: While I was washing my car, a squirrel ran up the driveway OR Washing my car, I saw a squirrel run up the driveway.
Likewise, in the sentence “I only sing in the shower,” I am telling the reader that the only thing I do when I am in the shower is sing (I don’t wash my hair or soap my body). But actually, I mean that “I sing only in the shower”; that is, I don’t sing anywhere else but in the shower.
11. Remember it’s “people who” and “things that.”
12. Proofread out loud to catch errors that you might not otherwise notice.
13. Make sure your pronouns have clear antecedents. Avoid using “this” as subject of the verb; your reader cannot be sure what “this” is! Simply make the word this an adjective instead (e.g., Rather that writing “This is a problem,” write “This child (or car or paper) is a problem”).
Similarly, a sentence such as “George called Walter because he was lonely” is confusing because we don’t know which person is lonely—George or Walter. Rewrite it: George called Walter because Walter was lonely.
14. Avoid beginning independent clauses (sentences) with “There is (are, were, have been)” or “It is (was).” Construct the sentence with the real subject in the subject position (e.g.: “There were only three people in class today” becomes “Only three people attended class today”).
15. To add interest to your writing style, vary your sentence length and your sentence structure; use introductory words, phrases, and clauses at least occasionally.
16. Do not use “very” or “really”; they add nothing. Consult a thesaurus to show the real degree of difference.
17. Do not use “you” unless you are directing your reader on how to do something. Do not use “I” or “we” unless you’re writing about yourself.
18. Avoid using clichés or other common phrases (e.g.: “last but not least”).
19. Do not use “a lot” (also: “alot” is not a word). For example, “He has a lot of nerve” becomes “He is bold.”
20. Avoid using abbreviations (including contractions, initials, and “etc.”) in formal writing.
21. Learn the difference between “effect” and “affect.” Effect is usually a noun (think: the effect, as in “The effect of the weather is significant”). Affect is always a verb (e.g.: “The weather affected my mood greatly”).
22. Be aware of the difference between fewer/less and number/amount. Use fewer when you can count the thing you’re discussing (She had fewer assignments than I have); use less when you can’t count it (I have less patience than she has). The same is true for number (count it: I have a number of assignments to complete) and then for amount (can’t count it: The amount of work I have to do is staggering).
23. Check number rules according to the type of writing you are creating. Generally, write out numbers up to 10, and write others numerically.
24. A semi-colon functions just like a period; use it between closely related sentences.
25. A colon means “which is (are) as follows” and therefore should not be used after any form of the verb “to be.” Generally, you should keep these guidelines in mind:
a. The colon should be preceded by an independent clause.
e.g.: Harvey forgot his most important possession: his credit card.
(Ind. Clause)
b. You should be able to replace the colon with the words “which is (was, were, are) as follows.”
e.g.: Harvey forgot his most important possession (which is as follows): his credit card.
c. The part of the sentence following the colon will illustrate the information introduced before the colon.
e.g. In the preceding sentence, “credit card” illustrates what Harvey’s most important possession is.
d. The colon MIGHT precede a list, but you need to check the first three guidelines first; a colon does not automatically precede a list.
26. Keep the verb tense consistent throughout your paper.
27. Avoid vague words like “things,” “nice,” “get,” “great,” and “big”; use more explicit wording to convey exactly what you mean.
28. Eliminate run-on sentences. Remember that commas cannot separate sentences.
29. Eliminate fragments. Remember that each complete sentence must have at least one independent clause.
30. Use smooth transitions both between paragraphs and between ideas within paragraphs. Make sure that the transition you use is appropriate and that you do not repeat the same transitional word or phrase too many times in your paper.
31. Be aware of the difference between “than” and “then.” Use then when referring to time (Then I went home); use than when comparing (She is taller than I am).