The following is a "top ten" list that every student is expected to observe when writing an essay.
1. Use the present tense in English essays, even to describe actions or events in a literary work.
Imagine you are reading your paper aloud in front of an audience.
(Right) Macbeth returns to Glamis Castle to tell his wife that the king is coming to stay with them.
(Wrong) Macbeth returned to Glamis Castle to tell his wife that the king was coming to stay with them.
2. Avoid the passive voice.
The passive voice construction is generally a weak one, and it often involves leaving a dangling modifier.
Therefore use the active voice whenever possible.
3. In general, avoid using the first or second person (I, me, my; we, us, our; you, your).
This is a good rule to follow in order to avoid verbose phrases (e.g. "I think that the hero is a hypocrite" rather than "The hero is a hypocrite").
Use "one" when an impersonal pronoun is needed.
4. Write complete, correct sentences.
A sentence expresses a complete thought that can stand by itself.
It must have a subject, a predicate, and an appropriate end mark.
It must have a subject, a predicate, and an appropriate end mark.
These are the three ways in which your sentences can be incomplete:
Sentence Fragments: These sentences lack a subject or predicate.
Macbeth murders King Duncan for many reasons. One being his desire for power.
Run-on Sentences: These sentences incorrectly connect so many elements that the main idea becomes unclear.
Huck Finn's father is an abusive parent he kidnaps his son, holds him prisoner, and nearly kills him in a drunken fit.
Comma splices: these sentences incorrectly combine two independent clauses joined by only a comma.
In A Clockwork Orange, the elderly and defenseless do not choose to stay in their homes watching television, they are scared into doing so by the violence in the streets.
5. A subject and a verb must agree in number (singular, plural).
Modifiers may distract you from determining the subject. Also, do not be confused by intervening prepositional phrases: the object of a preposition cannot be a subject.
(Right) Lady Macbeth's relentless goadings of her husband finally spur Macbeth into action.
(Wrong) Lady Macbeth's relentless goadings of her husband finally spurs Macbeth into action.
When two or more subjects are joined by "or" or "nor," the verb must agree with the subject closest to it.
(Right) Either Maddy or the girls in the "Foxfire" gang are going to get into trouble.
(Wrong) Either the girls in the "Foxfire" gang or Maddy are going to get into trouble.
6. Pronouns must agree in number (singular and plural) with their antecedents.
Make sure that you can point to a single noun or the group of nouns to which each of your pronouns refers.
(Right) A person should be able to defend her principles.
(Wrong) A person should be able to defend their principles.
Remember: The only indefinite pronouns that are commonly (though not necessarily) plural are "some" and "all." The others (each, every, either, neither, etc.) are singular. "None" can be either singular or plural.
Example: Every one of the students knows what to do.
7. Put pronouns in the appropriate case (subjective, objective, possessive).
(Right) She was the last person whom I saw.
(Wrong) She was the last person who I saw.
In this example "whom" is the object of the clause and receives the action. It can be helpful to look for prepositions (of, to, from) commonly used with "whom."
(Right) Give the credit to her and me.
(Wrong) Give the credit to she and I.
In this example "her" and "me" are the objects of the sentence. This is a very easy task whenread without the conjunction "and": "Give the credit to her." It is also a common mistake to use "myself" when "me" is sufficient; you will hear it done during lunchtime announcements almost every day!
(Right) Their car ran well.
(Right) Theirs is a nice home.
In these examples the words "their" and "theirs" indicate possession. There is no need to add an apostrophe to a pronoun.
8. Do not use "this" as a substitute for a noun.
It is not always clear to the reader what "this" refers to when used as a pronoun.
(Right) In Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who, Horton the elephant says that he hears a voice.This claim causes his friends to accuse him of being insane.
(Wrong) Horton the elephant says that he hears a voice. This causes his friends to accuse him of being insane.
9. Avoid misplaced modifiers.
In the example below the phrase modifies the subject.
(Right) Seeing his blood-stained hands, Macbeth (subject) reacts with horrified dismay.
(Wrong) Seeing his blood-stained hands, Macbeth's reaction (subject) is horrified dismay.
10. Use parallel structure (similar grammatical forms) to coordinate similar ideas.
(Right) In a good essay, the sentences are clear, concise, and logically coherent.
(Wrong) In a good essay, the sentences are clear, concise, and follow each other logically.
(Wrong) Pride and Prejudice reveals the superficiality of opinion and how people judge each other by the size of their income.
(Right) We went to town to gamble and to have fun.
(Right) We went to town for gambling and for fun.
(Wrong) We went to town to gamble and for fun.
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