Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace¶
Ten Principles for Writing Clearly¶
Distinguish real grammatical rules from folklore.
Use subjects to name the characters in your story.
Use verbs to name their important actions.
Open your sentences with familiar units of information.
Get to the main verb quickly:
Avoid long introductory phrases and clauses.
Avoid long abstract subjects.
Avoid interrupting the subject-verb connection.
Push new, complex units of information to the end of the sentence.
Begin sentences that form a unit with consistent subjects/topics.
Be concise:
Cut meaningless and repeated words and obvious implications.
Put the meaning of phrases into one or two words.
Prefer affirmative sentences to negative ones.
Control sprawl:
Don’t tack more than one subordinate clause onto another.
Extend a sentence with resumptive, summative, and free modifiers.
Extend a sentence with coordinate structures after verbs.
Above all, write to others as you would have others write to you.
Style as Choice¶
Understanding Style¶
Unclear writing is a social problem rooted in tradition.
Some writers use complicated sentences to indicate deep thought.
Some writers are focused on minimizing grammatical errors instead of readers’ comprehension.
Some writers need more experience in their academic or professional setting.
Most writers don’t know how readers will interpret their discourse.
Correctness¶
Present tense inflections¶
\(\left\{ \text{Singular}, \text{Plural} \right\} \times \left\{ \text{1st Person}, \text{2nd Person}, \text{3rd Person} \right\}\).
Only Singular 3rd Person still requires the additional -s.
Three Kinds of Rules¶
Real Rules
Defines the essence of a language.
English requires articles (i.e. a / an / the) to precede nouns.
Social Rules
Distinguish between standard and non-standard.
Native speakers only think about them when they notice others violating them.
Only non-native speakers self-consciously try to follow them.
Invented Rules
“Bullshit” invented by grammarians because they can.
Don’t split infinitives (e.g. to quietly leave).
Don’t end a sentence with a proposition (i.e. on, at, in).
Don’t use hopefully for I hope.
Don’t use which for that (e.g. a car which I sold).
Two Kinds of Invented Rules¶
Folklore
Don’t begin sentences with and or but.
This “rule” probably stems from advice aimed at avoiding sentence fragments.
This “rule” can be violated; however, subordinate clause beginning with because usually introduces new information.
Words like since can be used to begin a sentence with a clause expressing familiar about causation.
Use the relative pronoun that – not which – for restrictive clauses.
The inventor of this “rule” wanted to remove the random variation between that and which.
A nonrestrictive clause modifies a noun naming a referent that you can identify unambiguously without the information in that clause.
An example would be a company’s bankruptcy versus product line. There can only be one bankruptcy, but many products can be sold. The former is appropriate for which while the latter should use that.
This “rule” may be broken for stylistic reasons.
that sounds softer that which.
Using two thats close together doesn’t sound good.
Use fewer with nouns you count, less with nouns you cannot.
No one uses less with mass nouns (e.g. dirt, pounds).
Educated writers often use less with countable plural nouns (e.g. resources).
Use since and while to refer only to time, not to mean because or although.
People ignore this rule.
since can be associated with “What follows I assume you already know.”
while can be associated with “I assume you know what I state in this clause, but what assert in the next will qualify it.”
Elegant Options
Don’t split infinitives.
This “rule” is nonsense.
Use whom as the object of a verb or preposition.
A more appropriate rule: use who when it is the subject of a verb in its own clause; use whom only when it is an object in its own clause.
When a relative clause modifies a noun, the correct form is whom if you can delete the relative pronoun and still make sense. If you cannot delete the who/whom, the correct form is who.
You cannot delete whom when it begins a clause that is the object of a verb.
Always use whom as the object of a proposition.
Don’t end a sentence with a proposition.
This is often violated unless one wants a more formal style.
Violation of this can end a sentence weakly.
Use the singular with none and any.
This will make the writing style more formal.
Hobgoblins¶
Never use like for as or as if.
This “rule” is arbitrary nonsense.
Don’t use “hopefully” to mean “I hope”.
No basis in grammar or logic.
Don’t use finalize to mean finish or complete.
Hundreds of other useful words end in -ize.
Don’t use impact as a verb; use it only as a noun.
No historical evidence of this.
Don’t modify absolute words such as perfect, unique, final, complete, etc…with very, more, quite, etc….
This is a good “rule” in general, but can be violated.
Never ever use irregardless for regardless or irrespective.
Follow this “rule” despite how arbitrary it is.
We currently have a problem with singular generic pronouns.
“No one should turn in their writing unedited”.
This solution requires accepting the plural they as a correct singular.
Clarity¶
Actions¶
Principle of Clarity¶
Make main characters subjects.
Make important actions verbs.
Verbs and Actions¶
A sentence seems clear when its important actions are in verbs.
Readers will think your writing is dense if you overuse abstract nouns.
Using lots of nominalizations, especially as the subjects of verbs, will make your writing turgid.
Revision is a Three-Step Process¶
Diagnose
Ignoring short (four- or five-word) introductory phrases, underline the first seven or eight words in each sentence.
Look for two results:
You underlined abstract nouns as simple subjects.
You underlined seven or eight words before getting to a verb.
Analyze
Decide who your main characters are.
Look for actions that those characters perform, especially actions in nominalizations.
Rewrite
If the actions are nominalizations, make them verbs.
Make the characters the subjects of the verbs.
Rewrite the sentence with subordinating conjunctions (e.g. because, if, when, although, why, how, whether, that).
Common Nominalization Patterns to Revise¶
The nominalization is the subject of an empty verb (e.g. be, seems, has).
Change the nominalization to a verb.
Find a character that would be the subject of that verb.
Make that character the subject of the new verb.
The nominalization follows an empty verb.
Change the nominalization to a verb.
Replace the empty verb with the new verb.
One nominalization is the subject of an empty verb and a second nominalization follows it.
Revise the nominalizations into verbs.
Identify the characters that would be the subjects of those verbs.
Make those characters the subject of those verbs.
Link the new clauses with a logical connection.
To express simple cause: because, since, when.
To express conditional cause: if, provided that, so long as.
To contradict expected causes: though, although, unless.
A nominalization follows there is or there are.
Change the nominalization to a verb.
Identify the character that should be the subjects of the verb.
Make that character the subject of the verb.
Two or three nominalizations in a row joined by prepositions.
Turn the first nominalization into a verb.
Either leave the second nominalization as it is, or turn it into a verb in a clause beginning with how or why.
Useful Nominalizations to Keep¶
A nominalization that is a short subject that refers to a previous sentence.
A short nominalization that replaces an awkward “The fact that…”.
A nominalization that names what would be the object of the verb.
A nominalization that refers to a concept so familiar to your readers that to them, it is a virtual character.
Characters¶
Understanding the Importance of Characters¶
Readers want actions in verbs, but they want characters as subjects even more.
Readers prefer concrete subjects over abstract ones (e.g. fear).
Diagnosis and Revision¶
Underline the first seven or eight words.
Find the main characters.
They may be:
possessive pronouns attached to nominalizations,
objects of prepositions (e.g. by, of),
implied.
Skim the passage for actions involving those characters, particularly actions buried in nominalizations.
Ask “who is doing what?”.
“governmental intervention” \(\rightarrow\) “government intervenes”.
“interference” \(\rightarrow\) “[government] interferes”.
Be aware that just as actions can be implied in adjectives, so can characters.
“reliable” \(\rightarrow\) “rely”.
“theological” \(\rightarrow\) “theologians”.
Reassemble those new subjects and verbs into a sentence using conjunctions.
Reconstructing Absent Characters¶
Readers have the biggest problem with sentences devoid of all characters.
When you are explaining a complicated issue to someone involved in it, imagine sitting across the table from that person, saying you as often as you can.
If you seems not appropriate, change it to a character that is.
Abstractions as Characters
Readers want the subjects of verbs to name flesh-and-blood characters.
When the main characters are abstractions, make them the subjects of verbs that tell a story.
If readers are unfamiliar with the abstractions, avoid using other abstract nominalizations around them.
English does not have a good solution for naming a generic “doer”.
Try a general term to describe whoever is doing the action; when that is not possible, use we.
Characters and Passive Voice¶
Active Voice
Put the agent or source of an action in the subject.
Put the goal or receiver of an action in a direct object.
Passive Voice
The subject names the goal of the action.
The agent or source of the action is after the verb in a by-phrase or dropped entirely.
Beyond Grammatical Meanings of Active and Passive
Both forms can exhibit figurative, impressionistic meanings as well as flat feelings.
There are exceptions to “Write in the active voice, not in the passive”.
Choosing Between Active and Passive
Must your readers know who is responsible for the action?
Sometimes we don’t know, we don’t want the readers to know, or the reader doesn’t care.
Would the active or passive verb help your readers move more smoothly from one sentence to the next?
Would the active or passive give readers a more consistent and appropriate point of view?
Pick a point of view and stick to it.
Passives, Characters, and Metadiscourse
Metadiscourse is language that refers not to the substance of your ideas, but to yourself, your reader, or your writing:
Your thinking and act of writing: We/I will explain, show, argue, summarize…
Your readers’ actions: consider now, as you recall, look at the next example…
The logic and form of what you have written: first, second; to begin; therefore, however, consequently…
Beware of dangling modifiers when writing passive sentences.
You dangle a modifier when an introductory phrase has an implied subject that differs from the explicit subject in the following or preceding clause.
Deleting I or we from a sentence does not make it more objective.
Avoid using too many I’s and we’s.
Avoid writing a narrative prose.
Long Compound Noun Phrase
Strings of nouns feel lumpy, so avoid them.
Revise all compound nouns that consists of more than two nouns, especially if they contain nominalizations.
Reverse the order of words.
Find propositions to connect them.
Cohesion and Coherence¶
Cohesion¶
Sense of Flow
The last few words of one sentence set up information that appears in the first few words of the next sentence.
Passive voice allows us to arrange sentences so that they flow from one to the next easily.
Writers often put words (e.g. this, these, that, those, another, such, second, more) at or close to the beginning of a sentence to refer to something in a previous sentence.
Diagnosis and Revision
Begin sentences with information familiar to your readers.
Readers get that familiar information from either the words they remember from the sentences they just read or prior knowledge.
End sentences with information that readers cannot anticipate.
Readers always prefer to read what’s new and complex after they read what’s familiar and simple.
A passage’s overall cohesion trumps the clarity of individual sentences.
Coherence¶
A Sense of the Whole
The subjects of the sentences need to be related.
Subjects, Topics, and Cohesion
The flaw of defining subject as what a sentence is about, its main topic.
The subject of a sentence doesn’t state its main topic.
Other parts of the sentence often “comments” on the topic.
Diagnosis and Revision
Diagnose
Underline the first seven or eight words of every sentence in a passage, stopping when you hit a verb.
If possible, underline the first five or six words of every clause in those sentences.
Analyze
Do the underlined words constitute a relatively small set of related ideas? Will the readers see that?
Do the underlined words name the most important characters, real or abstract?
Rewrite
In most of your sentences, use subjects to name their topics.
Be sure those topics are, in context, familiar to your readers.
Avoiding Distractions at the Beginning of a Sentence¶
Before you begin writing, name the things you are writing about.
Those are your topics; they should be short, concrete, familiar words, and more often than not, they should name the main characters in your story.
Your topics should tell your readers what a passage is globally about.
Most of your subjects should be topics.
Do not vary your subjects for the sake of variety.
Two Qualifications¶
Alleged Monotony
“Vary how you begin your sentences” is a BAD idea, especially when you change subjects just to make them different.
If you have used exactly the same words for the same topics in exactly the same positions, you can vary a few of the words that refer to a repeated topic.
Faked Coherence
Readers do not need conjunctions (e.g. thus, therefore, however) when your sentences are cohesive and the passage they constitute is coherent.
Use but and however when you contradict or qualify what you just said.
Use therefore or consequently to wind up a line of reasoning.
Minimize the number of times these words show up in a single page.
Emphasis¶
Understanding How Sentences End¶
Your readers want you to organize your sentences to help them manage:
long and complex phrases and clauses;
new information, particularly unfamiliar technical terms.
Carry the reader from simplicity to complexity:
a short introductory phrase or clause,
followed by a short, concrete subject,
followed by a verb expressing a specific action;
after the verb, the sentence can go on for several lines.
Diagnosis and Revision: Stress¶
Readers look at the last few words for emphasis.
Three Tactical Revisions
Trim the end.
Shift peripheral (insignificant) ideas to the left.
Shift new information to the right.
Six Syntactic Devices to Emphasize the Right Words
There shift: Using “there is/there are” constructions lets you shift a subject to the right, thereby emphasizing it more.
Passives: A passive verb lets you flip a subject and object; use it to get old and new information in the right order.
What shift: Another device that shifts a part of the sentence to the right, thereby emphasizing it more.
It shift: When you have a subject consisting of a long noun clause, you can move it to the end of the sentence and start with it.
Not only X, but (also) Y (as well): Emphasizes Y.
Pronoun substitution and ellipsis: Instead of repeating the noun, use a pronoun; this will avoid flat endings and reader voice drops, which means the reader will at least hear emphasis on the word just before it.
Topics, Emphasis, Themes, and Coherence¶
Put key words in the stress position of the first sentence of a passage in order to emphasize the key ideas that organize the rest of it.
We call those key concepts that run through a passage its themes.
Help readers identity concepts running through a passage in two ways:
Repeat those that name characters as topics of sentences, usually as subjects.
Repeat others as themes elsewhere in a passage, in nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Clarity of Form¶
Motivation¶
Understanding Motivation¶
We read most attentively when we read about a problem that is important (and possibly interesting) to us.
Part 1: Establishing Shared Context
Remind readers of what they know (e.g. historical background), have experienced (e.g. a recent event), or readily accept (e.g. a common belief).
Part 2: Stating the Problem
The Two Parts of a Problem
The first part is some condition or situation that has potential to cause trouble.
The second part is the intolerable consequence of that condition, a cost that readers don’t want to pay.
Two Kinds of Problems
A practical problem concerns a condition or situation in the world and demands an action as its solution.
A conceptual problem concerns what we think about something and demands a change in understanding as a solution.
This may be a small question that contributes to answering a larger, more important one; otherwise, the question may not be worth asking.
The condition is always something that we do not know or understand.
The cost is the dissatisfaction we feel because we don’t understand something important to us; not the palpable unhappiness we feel from pain, suffering, or loss.
Part 3: Stating the Solution
To solve a practical problem, propose that the reader (or someone) do something to change a condition in the world.
To solve a conceptual problem, state something the writer wants readers to understand or believe.
Another Part: Prelude
Most common in humanities and writing for the general public.
Typical Approaches: a quotation, a startling fact, an illustrative anecdote, or a combination of the previous.
Diagnosis and Revision¶
Determine whether you are posing a practical or conceptual problem.
Draw a line after your introduction.
Divide the introduction into its three parts: shared context + problem + solution/main point/claim.
Make sure the first word of the first sentence after the shared context is but, however, or some other word indicating that you will challenge/qualify that shared context.
Divide the problem into two parts: condition and cost.
Is the condition the right kind for the problem?
Does the cost appropriately answer “So What”?
Underline your solution/main point/claim.
Conclusions¶
Open your conclusion by stating (or restating) the gist of your point, the main claim of your paper, the solution to your problem.
Explain its significance by answering “So What?” in a new way, if you can; if not, restate what you offered in the introduction, now as a benefit.
Suggest a further question or problem to be solved, something still not known. Answer “Now What?”.
End with an anecdote, quotation, or fact that echoes your prelude.
Popular writing describe this as your coda.
Global Coherence¶
Coherence is an Experience and Does Not Refer to Anything on a Page¶
Forecasting Themes to Create Coherence¶
Document
Identify the start of each new section with a heading that includes the key themes for that section.
At the end of the introduction, readers look for the document’s main point/solution to the problem, which should state the main themes developed in the rest.
If you choose to save your main point for the conclusion, put a sentence at the end of the introduction that promises the point to come and states the main themes.
In the body, readers look for the concepts announced as themes at the end of the introduction, using them to organize their understanding of the whole.
Be sure that you repeat those themes regularly.
Section/Subsection
Readers look for a short segment that introduces the section or subsection.
At the end of that introductory segment, readers look for a sentence that states both the point of the section and the special concepts you will develop as distinctive themes for that section.
In the body of the section, readers look for the concepts announced as themes at the end of the introduction segment, using them to organize their understanding of that section.
Be sure that you repeat them regularly.
Put the point sentence at the end of the short opening segment; make it the last sentence (e.g. introductory segment) that your reader reads before starting the longer, more complex segment that follows.
Two More Requirements for Coherence¶
Readers must see how everything in a section or whole is relevant to its point.
Sentences are relevant to a point when they offer: background or context; points of sections and the whole; reasons supporting a point; evidence, facts, or data supporting a reason; an explanation of reasoning or methods; consideration of other points of view.
Readers must see how the parts of your document are ordered.
Chronological: time or cause and effect.
Coordinate: ordering of the sections according to some criterion (e.g. importance, complexity).
Logical: complex ordering such as \(\text{example} \leftrightarrow \text{generalization}\), \(\text{premise} \leftrightarrow \text{conclusion}\), and \(\text{assertion} \leftrightarrow \text{contradiction}\).
A Basic Principle of Clarity¶
Readers are more likely to judge as clear any unit of writing that opens with a short segment that they can easily grasp and that frames the longer and more complex segment that follows.
A unit of writing entails either a simple or complex sentence, one or more paragraphs, one or more pages.
Get beginnings of the document, major sections, subsections, paragraphs, and sentences straight, and the rest is likely to take care of itself.
Grace¶
Concision¶
Six Principles of Concision¶
Delete meaningless words.
E.g. kind of, actually, particular, really, certain, various, virtually, individual, basically, generally, given, practically.
Delete doubled words.
E.g. full and complete, hope and trust, any and all, true and accurate, each and every, basic and fundamental, hopes and desires, first and foremost, various and sundry.
Delete what readers can infer.
Redundant Modifiers
E.g. terrible tragedy, various different, free gift, basic fundamentals, future plans, each individual, final outcome, true facts, consensus of opinion.
Redundant Categories
May have to change an adjective into an adverb or a noun.
General Implications
Example: imagine someone trying to learn the rules for playing the game of chess.
Learn -> trying, rules -> playing the game, and chess -> game.
Imagine learning the rules of chess.
Replace a phrase with a word.
Change negatives to affirmatives unless you want to emphasize the negative.
Implicitly Negative Words
Example verbs: preclude, prevent, lack, fail, doubt, reject, avoid, deny, refuse, exclude, contradict, prohibit, bar.
Example prepositions: without, against, lacking, but for, except.
Example conjunctions: unless, except when.
Avoid combining not with negative words.
Avoid combining explicitly and implicitly negative words with passives and nominalizations.
Delete adjectives and adverbs.
Redundant Metadiscourse¶
Metadiscourse that attributes your ideas to a source.
Announce that something has been observed, noticed, noted, etc…
Metadiscourse that announces your topic.
Call attention to a topic i.e. separate topic and subject.
Hedges and Intensifiers¶
Hedges qualify your certainty.
Common adverbs: usually, often, sometimes, almost, virtually, possibly, alledgely, arguably, perhaps, apparently, in some ways, to a certain extent, somewhat, in some/certain respects.
Common adjectives: most, many, some, a certain number of.
Common verbs: may, might, can, could seem, tend, appear, suggest, indicate.
Intensifiers increase your certainty.
The most common intensifier is the absence of a hedge i.e. 100% certainty.
Common adverbs: very, pretty, quite, rather, clearly, obviously, undoubtedly, certainly, of course, indeed, inevitably, invariably, always, literally.
Common adjectives: key, central, crucial, basic, fundamental, major, principal, essential.
Common verbs: show, prove, establish, as you/we/everyone knows/can see, it is clear/obvious that.
When most readers encounter words like obviously, undoubtedly, it is clear that, they reflexively think the opposite.
When using metadiscourse to state a solution, beware of making it sound like announcing a topic instead of sounding like advancing a claim.
If without the metadiscourse the resulting claim seems self-evident, you need to say more or do more thinking about what you want to say.
Concise, Not Terse¶
Mind how your writing feels to your readers.
Shape¶
Diagnosis and Revision: Sprawl¶
You feel out of breathe before you come to a place where you can pause to integrate all of its parts into a whole that communicates a single conceptual structure.
Rule of Thumb 1: Get to the subject quickly.
Move the long introductory clause to the end or turn it into a separate sentence.
English style have clauses beginning with if, since, when, although before main clauses, so keep those subordinate clauses short.
Use periodic/suspended style sparingly because the deliberately piled up introductory subordinate clauses are still tiring to read.
Rule of Thumb 2: Get to the verb and object quickly.
Avoid long, abstract subjects.
Avoid interrupting the subject-verb connection; if not possible, then minimize the duration.
Avoid interrupting the verb-object connection.
When a movable prepositional phrase is shorter than a long object, try putting the phrase between the verb and object.
Starting with Your Point¶
Begin a paragraph with a sentence (or two) expressing its point so that readers can understand what follows.
Begin a section of a document with a paragraph or two stating its point.
Begin a whole document with an introduction that states its point and frames the rest.
The explanation or support material should always follow a point and not before.
Reshaping Sprawl¶
Cut
Reduce some of the relative clauses e.g. delete combinations of who, that, which and is, was.
Rewrite remaining verb into an -ing form.
Turn subordinate clauses into independent sentences.
Change clauses to modifying phrases.
Resumptive Modifiers
Find the noun the tacked-on clause modifies, pause after it with a comma, repeat the noun, and continue with a restrictive relative clause beginning with that.
For an adjective or verb, repeat it after a comma and continue.
one that can be used as a resumptive modifier.
Summative Modifiers
End a grammatically complete segment of a sentence with a comma, add a term that sums up the substance of the sentence so far, and continue with a restrictive relative clause beginning with that.
Free Modifiers
Can either begin or end a sentence.
Resembles resumptive and summative modifiers, but more focused towards commenting on the subject of the closest verb.
An adjective, a past participle verb, or an -ing present participle can denote the start of a free modifier.
Coordinate
Group the elements into blocks and order them from shorter to longer, from simpler to more complex.
Emphasize a coordination with correlative conjunctions: both X and Y, not only X but Y, (n)either X (n)or Y.
The word that comes after both, not only, (n)either must be coordinate with the word that comes after and, but, (n)or.
Troubleshooting Long Sentences¶
Faulty Grammatical Coordination
We coordinate elements only of the same structure: clause and clause, prepositional phrase and prepositional phrase, etc…
Nonparallel coordinations do occur in two forms:
A noun phrase with a how clause.
An adverb with a prepositional phrase.
Faulty Rhetorical Coordination
Ensure the elements are coordinated in thought.
Unclear Connections
Long coordinations can make readers lose track of the internal connections and pronoun references.
Ambiguous Modifiers
A modifier at the end of a clause can ambiguously modify either a neighboring or a more distant phrase.
Dangling Modifiers
Occurs when its implied subject differs from the explicit subject of the main clause.
Elegance¶
Balance and Symmetry¶
Balanced Coordination: see the block anatomy of Walter Lippmann’s speech.
Uncoordinated Balance: see the block anatomy.
Use these literary devices to emphasize important points.
Climatic Emphasis¶
Weighty Words
Adjectives and adverbs are heavier than prepositions, but lighter than nouns, the heaviest of which are nominalizations.
Nominalizations at the end of a sentence provide a satisfyingly climatic thump, particularly when a pair of them are used in coordinate balance.
Of + Weighty Word
The light of (followed by a lighter a or the) quickens the rhythm of a sentence just before the stress of the climatic end.
Echoing Salience
At the end of a sentence, readers hear special emphasis when a stressed word or phrase balances the sound or meaning of an earlier one.
Chiasmus
This device balances elements in two parts of a sentence, but the second part reverses the order of the elements in the first part.
Suspension
One way to heighten a sense of climax is to open a sentence with a series of parallel and coordinated phrases and clauses.
The impact of a long suspension is inversely proportional to its frequency of use: the less it’s used, the bigger the bang.
Nuances of Length and Rhythm¶
Think about the length of your sentences only if they are all longer than thirty words or so or shorter than fifteen.
Some write short sentences to strike a note of urgency, terse certainty, or directness.
Some write long sentences imbue feelings and thoughts.
Appendix I: Punctuation¶
Punctuated Sentence¶
Begins with a capital letter.
Ends with a period or question/exclamation mark.
Contains at least one word.
Grammatical Sentence¶
Subject and verb in a main clause along with everything else depending on that clause.
Punctuating the Ends of Sentences¶
Common Forms¶
Period (or Question/Exclamation Mark) Alone
Too many short punctuated sentences may make the prose seem choppy or simplistic.
Combine too many short grammatical sentences into one long one may result in sentence sprawl.
Semicolon Alone
Whatever is on either side of it should be a grammatical sentence.
The first grammatical sentence has fewer than fifteen words.
The content of the second grammatical sentence is closely linked with the first.
If used with however, however must come after it followed up with a comma.
Comma + Coordinating Conjunction
Readers expect the end of a grammatical sentence when they see a comma followed by two signals: a coordinating conjunction i.e. FANBOYS, or another subject and verb.
When readers begin a coordinated series of three or more grammatical sentences, they expect a comma between them and no internal punctuation.
If any of the grammatical sentences has internal punctuation, separate them with a semicolon.
All of these sentences should be short; otherwise, use a period instead.
Omit the comma between a coordinated pair of short grammatical sentences if you introduce them with a modifier that applies to both of them.
Use comma before but to qualify preceding sentence.
Minimize the use of this sentence structure to promote style.
Less Common Forms¶
Period + Coordinating Conjunction
Minimize the use of this sentence structure to promote style.
Use period before But if what follows is important and you intend to go on discussing it.
Semicolon + Coordinating Conjunction
Minimize the use of this sentence structure to promote style.
Conjunction Alone i.e. no preceding comma
Though writers of the best prose do this, some teachers consider this an error.
Comma Alone
The grammatical sentences are short, a few words each; closely linked in meaning e.g. cause-effect, first-second, if-then; and no internal commas.
Special Cases¶
Colon
Shorthand for to illustrate, for example, that is, therefore.
Avoid a colon if it breaks a clause into two pieces, neither of which is a grammatically complete sentence.
Put a colon only after a whole subject-verb-object.
Dash: suggests a casual afterthought.
Parentheses: insert a short afterthought inside a grammatical sentence.
Intended Sentence Fragments¶
Relatively short, fewer than ten or so words.
Reflect a mind at work: the writer is speaking to you, finishes a sentence, then immediately expanding and qualifying it.
Almost as an afterthought, often ironically.
Punctuating Beginnings¶
Five Reliable Rules¶
Always separate an introductory element from the subject of a sentence with a comma if a reader might misunderstand the structure of the sentence.
Never end an introductory clause or phrase with a semicolon, no matter how long it is.
Never put a comma right after a subordinating conjunction if the next element of the clause is its subject.
Avoid putting a comma after the coordinating conjunctions if the next element is the subject.
Put a comma after an introductory word or phrase if it comments on the whole of the following sentence or connects one sentence to another.
Example introductory words are: fortunately, alledgely, however, nevertheless, otherwise.
Omit the comma for the exceptional cases: now, thus, hence.
Two Reliable Principles¶
Readers usually need no punctuation between a short introductory phrase and the subject.
Readers usually need a comma between a long (four or five words or more) introductory phrase or clause and the subject.
Punctuating Middles¶
Subject-Verb, Verb-Object¶
Do not put a comma between a subject and its verb, no matter how long the subject (nor between the verb and its object).
If the sentence consists of a list with internal punctuation:
Use a colon or a dash at the end of the list of subjects.
Add a one-word subject that summarizes the preceding list.
Interruptions¶
Avoid interrupting a subject-verb or verb-object except for reasons of emphasis or nuance.
Always put paired commas around the interruption.
Unnecessary clauses should be separated from the main clause with a comma.
Do not use a comma when tacking on a necessary subordinate clause at the end of an independent clause.
Adverbial phrases can go before, after, or in the middle of a clause depending on the desired emphasis.
Loose Commentary¶
Set off with paired commas, parentheses, or dashes.
Restrictive Modifiers
Uniquely identify the noun they modify.
Do not use commas with this.
Nonrestrictive Modifiers
Always set off with paired commas.
Adds information that does not change the meaning of the sentence.
An appositive is a truncated nonrestrictive clause.
A dash is useful when the loose commentary has internal commas.
Use parentheses for explanatory footnotes or sotto voce asides.
Punctuating Coordinated Elements¶
Punctuating Two Coordinated Elements¶
Do not put a comma between just two coordinated elements.
Four Exceptions
For a dramatic contrast, put a comma after the first coordinate element to emphasize the second (keep the second short).
If you want your readers to feel the cumulative power of a coordinated pair (or more), drop the and leave just a comma.
Put a comma between long coordinated pairs only if you think your readers need a chance to breathe or to sort out the grammar.
The writer should revise the sentence to avoid this scenario.
If a sentence begins with a phrase or subordinate clause modifying two following clauses that are independent and coordinated, put a comma after the introductory phrase or clause, but do not put a comma between the two coordinated independent clauses.
Punctuating Three or More Coordinated Elements¶
A comma must always precede the last one.
If any of the items in the series has its own internal commas, use semicolons to show how readers should group the coordinated items.
Apostrophes¶
Contractions¶
Use an apostrophe in all contracted words.
Contracted words gives off an informal tone.
Plurals¶
Never use an apostrophe to form a plural.
Exceptions:
All lower case single letters.
Single capital letters: A, I, U.
When a word is unambiguously all numbers or multiple capital letters, add just s, with no apostrophe.
Possessives¶
Singular common or proper nouns.
Add apostrophe + s.
For singular nouns that already end in s or with the sound of s, add the apostrophe only.
Plural common and proper nouns that end in s: add an apostrophe only.
Singular compound noun: add an apostrophe + s to the last word.
Appendix II: Using Sources¶
Paraphrasing Recasts the Source in a New Sentence Structure¶
Weaving in the Quotation¶
Don’t change its meaning.
Indicate added or changed words with square brackets.
Signal deletions with three space dots.
Use four space dots if you delete a whole sentence or more.
Add [my emphasis] or [emphasis mine] after the parts of the quote you emphasized using italics, boldface, or underlineation.
Punctuating Quotations¶
If the quotation ends in a period, comma, semicolon, or colon, replace it with the punctuation you need in your own sentence.
If your punctuation is a period or comma, put it before a final quotation mark.
If your punctuation is a question mark, colon, or semicolon, put it after the final question mark.
If the quotation ends with a question mark or exclamation point and your punctuations is a period or comma, drop your punctuation and put the question mark before the quotation mark.
If you use quotation marks inside a quotation, put your comma or period before both of the marks.
References
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Joseph M Williams. Style: Lessons in clarity and grace. Longman Publishing Group, 2007.