Forbidden Errors
The following information discusses errors which college bound juniors should have already eliminated from their writing. Writing for this class which contains errors in these areas will earn no more than a C.
Thesis: Every essay must have a clear thesis. For class, this thesis must be located in the introductory paragraph and underlined. A paper without a thesis is not an essay.
Fragment and run on sentences: Use complete, correctly structured sentences in all writing for this class.
Wrong word: Use the correct word, especially when dealing with homonyms such as its/it's or their/there/they're. Know the difference or ask!
Subject verb agreement: Every verb must agree with its subject in number no matter what phrases or clauses intervene. Some pronouns used as subjects are always plural. Some are always singular. Some can be either. Compound and collective nouns used as subjects are also confusing because whether they are plural or singular often depends on the context of the sentence. Compound subjects joined by or or nor also create problems. The rule says that, in this case, the verb agrees with the portion of the subject nearest to it. To avoid weird sounding sentences, place the plural portion of the subject nearest to the verb and use a plural verb.
Pronoun antecedent agreement: (Antecedent is a fancy name for the noun a pronoun refers to or replaces.) A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number and gender. It is sometimes better to use plural antecedents to avoid the awkward he or she, the politically incorrect he by itself, or the politically correct but grammatically incorrect they to refer to a singular antecedent.
Pronoun reference: Be certain all pronouns refer to one and only one antecedent.
Modifiers: Be certain every modifier has something to modify (no dangling modifiers). Be certain every modifier is placed as close as possible to the item it modifies and that it can only be interpreted as modifying one item (no misplaced modifiers).
Indefinite you: Do not use the pronoun you to refer to people in general.
Parallel structure: Parallel structure simply means that all portions of a sentence, a paragraph, or an essay are in the same grammatical format. Place correlative conjunctions as close as possible to the items being compared.
Tense: Be consistent in the use of tense. Do not change tenses unless there is a compelling reason to do so. Always use the present tense to summarize or recapitulate the action of a piece of literature. In other words, Huck Finn travels (not traveled) down the river in search of freedom. Use the past tense to retell history.
MLA format for citations: Use the correct format for internal citations and works cited pages. When in doubt, cite. I would prefer that the students in this class cite too much than that there be any question of plagiarism. Cite even if all students in the class are writing on the same topic and selection.
Background information: Always state the title and author of the selection being analyzed even if everyone is writing on the same selection. This information belongs in the introductory paragraph.
Punctuation of titles: Underline or italicize (one or the other, not both) the title of books, newspapers, and magazines. Use quotation marks for the titles of works such as short stories, poems, and articles. Do not combine quotation marks with underlining or italics on a single title.
Mature vocabulary: Use the best word possible in all instances.
Sophisticated sentence structure: Use it. That's what marks of punctuation are for.
Action verbs: Use action rather than linking verbs whenever possible.
Active voice: Use the active rather than passive voice. Say "Joe clobbered the robber" not "The robber was clobbered by Joe."
Directness (organization): Stick to the point--don't wander about before finally arriving at the crux of the argument.
Support: Use solid examples and explanations as support for every assertion. (As in paying for college, one can never have too much support!)
Careful reading: Never make assertions that can't be supported by the text. Especially, do not contradict the text. No matter what happens in the play, in The Joy Luck Club, An Mei's mother does not commit suicide by accidentally overdosing on opium. No amount of "interpretation" will change the facts as stated in the text. (An error such as this may result in an F on a paper--after all, if students haven't read the assigned material, they are cheating by pretending they have.)
Possessive case: Use the possessive before a gerund.
Nominative case: Use the nominative case for the predicate nominative.
Proofreading: Do it. An occasional error may slip by and be forgiven. However, in the real world a proofreading error can jeopardize one's reputation or even one's career.