Writing better sentences

Clear Writing:language and grammar by Dr Jennifer Minter

How to avoid common errors

and

How to write better sentences

Jim says:

“I am often marked down in English because my teacher says that my expression is unclear or clumsy. I thought ideas were the thing that mattered.”

Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 97-111.

Dear Jim• “This is a very common problem and you

are by no means alone. Your teacher is drawing your attention to the fact that there is a link between good expression and good ideas/clear thought processes.

• If you are consistently losing marks in English, it is often because you have awkward phrases/expression. If the entire essay consists of clumsy, clunky grammar, it is hard to achieve an A.”

Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 97-111.Clear Writing: language and grammar, pp 5-34; 46-60.

Writing Better Sentences

• Sentences are the building blocks of each of your paragraphs.

• If words and phrases are put together in a muddled way, the sentence, and hence your message, will be unclear.


Clear Writing: language and grammar, pp 5-34; 46-60.

Sentence elements

Clear Writing: language and grammar, pp 5-34; 46-60.

Common errors

• Follow the grammar tipsrelating to common grammaticalerrors such as:• The clause lacks a subject.• The (transitive) verb lacks an object. • The tenses are incorrect.• The subject-verb agreements are incorrect.


Spot the error

• Jack writes:

“He believes that war have many negatives, something which the rest of the town don’t believe.”

Clear Writing: language and grammar, pp 41-46.

A clause must have a subject

• Sally writes: “Hence, showing the reader that the senator does not take her profession seriously.”

• This sentence does not have a grammatical subject.

• Correction: “Hence, the author shows the reader that the senator does not take her profession seriously.”


The present participle : “.. ing” form of the verb

• Present participles, “going”, “having”“showing” do not have a direct subject.

• Sally writes: “Owing to his bad temper, … “• Sally’s next clause must include a

grammatical subject. • “… Sam did not want to join in.”

Clear Writing: language and grammar, pp. 15-20.

A transitive verb must have an object

• Sally writes: “Ms Duff condemnsthat there are parents who do notvaccinate their children.

• The verb “condemns” must take a grammatical object.

• Correction: “Ms Duff condemns the fact that many parents do not vaccinate their children.


Other grammar tips:use of pronouns

• The pronoun must clearly relateto a previous noun or pronoun. It must agree in number and gender.

• The relative pronoun is incorrect.• Do not use “that” to refer to a person.


Stand alone clauses

• An independent clause can “stand alone”.

• A dependent clause cannot “stand alone”.

• Jim writes: “Because he was denied access to the station.” (Because = subordinating conjunction and the clause cannot stand alone.)


Longer (and sophisticated) sentences

• When writing long sentences, watch out for listing devices or multiple predicates.

• If sharing a grammatical subject, we cannot join two different parts of speech with “and”.


Be careful with listing devices

• Kate writes: “In Macbeth, we see Macbeth’s struggle for power and upholding this power.”

• Kate uses a listing device: in this case two phrases are joined by “and”. The “struggle for power” is a noun phrase and “upholding this power” is a verb phrase.

• If sharing a grammatical subject, we cannot join two different parts of speech with “and”.


A long sentence

• Jack writes:

“Scott feels guilty about leaving his family and the townspeople scorn him because of his cowardice. As a result, Scott is torn between staying with Elroy, fleeing to Canada or returning home and going to war.”

• (Notice the effective list based on the “….ing” verb (present participle).


Spot the error

• The author juxtaposes how dangerous the fireworks can be by giving examples of Carlos’s death.

• This implies that illegal fireworks should be monitored and encourages the use of fireworks in celebratory events.

• Evidence such as the reference from the past about a stolen child and if she had this product we would have found her.

• The author also uses emotive connotations such as “anxiously searching”.

• Alliteration such as “care and concern”, this focuses on the attitude of the parents.

• With the comparison of a well known pet, it demonstrates the unnecessary actions.

See Writing Better Sentences: E-book 5 (plus responses)

Resources include:Clear Writing: language and grammar

Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques

Suggested responses

E-books with exercises (downloadable and writable)

An e-licence (and class sets)

Education

Writing better sentences