Grammar Tips: Avoiding Wordiness and Improving Sentence Structure, Lecture notes of Biology

Download Grammar Tips: Avoiding Wordiness and Improving Sentence Structure and more Lecture notes Biology in PDF only on Docsity! Grammatical Tips Avoid Wordiness Wordiness includes being redundant (ex. little kittens), using long words when there are good short ones available, and including unimportant detail. Shorter sentences are often more effective. Bad: “It is my objective to more fully utilize my management expertise than has heretofore been the case.” Good: “I want to use my management skills more fully.” One way to avoid wordiness is to write like you talk. Who actually says the word “heretofore”? Write Complete Sentences Every complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is what (or whom) the sentence is about, while the predicate tells something about the subject. In the following sentences, the predicate is enclosed in braces ({}), while the subject is highlighted. Judy {runs}. Judy and her dog {run on the beach every morning}. Know When to Use a Comma and When Not to Use a Comma 1) A comma should precede a coordinate conjuction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) in a compound sentence where there are two independent clauses. Right: The snow fell all day Monday, so we can expect classes to be cancelled on Tuesday. Wrong: We can talk until the early hours, and lose valuable study time. (“lose valuable study time” is not an independent clause; it has no subject. Omit the comma or add a subject.) 2) A comma should follow each item in a series and precede the conjuction. The comma can be a visual reminder that each item is meant to be thought of by itself. Right: Heavy rainfall damaged many homes, farms, roads, and bridges. 3) A comma should follow an introductory word, phrase, or clause only if the sentence can be read without the introductory word and it still makes sense. Right: Unfortunately, we were not home when Abbey and Len came to visit. Right: Although Mary had gone over the instructions, the class still did not understand the assignment. Wrong: The class still did not understand the assignment, although Mary had gone over the instructions. 4) Use commas around a word or word group that interrupts the flow of a sentence. If the interrupting word group is really long or has its own commas, double hyphens or long hyphens can be used. Right: The city tax, however, increased last year. Right: The discussion, everyone was willing to concede, had reached a logical conclusion. Right: All members of the scientific community – whether working in academia, government, or a commercial interprise – have equal responsibility for upholding standards. 5) DO NOT comma splice. Comma splicing is when you stick two complete sentences together with a comma. Instead of forcing two independent clauses (or complete sentences) Docsity.com together in this type of grammatically unholy marriage, keep them as separate sentences or put a conjuction between the two clauses. You can use a semicolon as the separating punctuation ONLY IF the two clauses have enough to do with each other that it makes good sense for them to be in a sentence together. Wrong: Corn belongs in the genus Zea, it is a leading staple crop across the world. Right: Corn belongs in the genus Zea. It is a leading staple crop across the world. Right: Corn belongs in the genus Zea, and it is a leading staple crop across the world. Right: Corn belongs in the genus Zea; it is more generally classified within the family Poaceae. Use the Active Voice When a verb is in the active voice, the subject of the sentence is also the doer of the action. Passive: The worms were placed into each of the pots. Active: We placed worms in each of the pots. Know How to Use the Possessive Case Most nouns are made possessive by adding “’s”. However, if a noun ends in “s” already and is plural, simply add an apostrophe. The personal pronoun “it” does not use an apostrophe in the possessive form. Wrong: All of the worm’s hats are on their heads. Right: All of the worms’ hats are on their heads. Wrong: The worm lost it’s life. Right: The worm lost its life. Use Parallel Construction There are times when you should deliberately arrange words and sounds in similar fashion in order to show the reader the similarity of information contained in the sentences. Bad: John’s ordered list of priorities comprised his wife, playing with his children, spending time with his friends, and to manage his business. Good: John’s ordered list of priorities included talking to his wife, playing with his children, spending time with friends, and managing his business. Do Not Change Tenses If you begin to write in one tense, don’t switch to another. Science writing is usually in past tense. Bad: We added 12 g of fertilizer to each pot. Next, we will add 15 ml of water to each pot. Good: We added 12 g of fertilizer to each pot. Each Friday, we added 15 ml of water to each pot. Make Verbs Agree With Subjects Plural subjects require plural verbs; singular subjects require singular verbs. Wrong: The list of people in your lab group are posted on the bulletin board. Right: The list of people in your lab group is posted on the bulletin board. Avoid Splitting Infinitives An infinitive is split when an adverb is placed between the word to and a verb. Wrong: We had to quickly terminate the experiment. Right: We had to terminate the experiment quickly. Docsity.com