Making a Good Impression
You may not realize it, but you are judged by what you write. Using correct grammar not only conveys a precise meaning, it also gives readers confidence that you know what you're talking about. This is very important when the reader is a prospective employer or editor.
Grammatical mistakes or spelling errors can make the reader doubt your abilities. To make the best impression, you should strive to use correct grammar and proper spelling.
Grammar is only one part of making a good impression. This chapter will help you understand the basic aspects of effective writing. When you use the techniques outlined in this chapter, your writing becomes stronger, which gives readers more confidence in you as a person, not only in your writing.
Active Voice
The voice of a sentence can be active or passive. When it is active, the subject of the sentence is performing the verb. With a passive sentence, however, the subject of the sentence is on the receiving end of the verb. Consider the following active example:
The cheerleaders danced to the half-time music.
The subject of the sentence — cheerleaders — is performing the action, namely dancing to the music. Now look at the following example of using passive voice:
The half-time music was accompanied by the dancing of the cheerleaders.
As you can see, the music isn't actually doing anything. The cheerleaders are still doing the dancing, but the action of the sentence has shifted. When you construct a sentence using the passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action of the verb instead of performing it.
There's a simple little trick to recognize when the passive voice is being used. If the word by is used in the sentence to indicate who is performing the action, it's probably a passive voice construction.
Omitting Unnecessary Adjectives
Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. When used properly, they can add a great deal of depth to your writing. When used improperly, adjectives can make your writing seem unprofessional and stilted.
The elderly man picked up his ugly, rusty old razor and began to shave his craggy wrinkled face.
As you can see, too many adjectives in a sentence can make the reader stumble. It's a much better idea to break up your adjectives and intersperse them within a number of sentences; this puts them into bite-sized bits that are much easier for the reader to digest and swallow. Better yet, try to stretch out the description, so that you're not relying entirely on adjectives:
The old man picked up his razor. It was rusty, but it was all he had. He lathered up the soap and applied it to his face, covering up the wrinkles and stubble in preparation for his shave.
Compulsively Overusing Adverbs
An adverb is a word that modifies a verb. Adverbs can also modify adjectives, other adverbs, or even entire sentence clauses. They can convey degree, manner, number, place, or time. Adverbs can ask questions; they can also modify entire clauses in a sentence, like the word
Most adverbs end in
Overuse of adverbs can detract from your message, causing the reader to get hung up on the words instead of the point you're trying to make.
The following adverbs tend to appear too often in written English. Make sure that you use them sparingly. If you tend to use them a lot, cut them, and find other ways of getting your point across.
Accordingly
Also
Anyhow
Consequently
Otherwise
Still
Then
Therefore
Yet
If you tend to overuse the words in the above list, don't fret; working around them is relatively easy to do. Simply restructure your sentence and try to do away with the adverb.
Are there any things to look for in my writing that will help me find (and then get rid of) excessive adverbs?
Most often, excessive adverbs are used with compound sentences. Semicolons and commas tend to go hand in hand with adverbs, so use periods instead. This will help you break down those compound sentences into smaller portions. Nine times out of ten, you can just delete the adverb, change the comma or semicolon to a period, and end up with wonderful adverb-free sentences.
Before:
I feel that I am the ideal candidate for this position. Accordingly, please accept the attached resume; also please accept the attached letter of reference. I am available weekdays; however, I am not available every second weekend. However, after Christmas, I will be able to work any weekend.
After:
I feel that I am the ideal candidate for this position. Please accept the attached resume and letter of reference. I am available all weekdays. Until Christmas, I am unable to work every second weekend; after Christmas, I can work any weekend.
Good grammar never goes to waste. The rules of grammar are relatively easy to learn and will stay with you for your lifetime. You can get excellent grammar guides at your local library (Try
Noun-Pronoun Agreement
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. They are nice to use because they are short and concise, and they avoid the needless repetition of nouns in a sentence. The following table shows common English pronouns grouped according to their function.
Subject |
Object |
Possessive |
I |
me |
my |
you |
you |
your |
he |
him |
his |
she |
her |
her |
it |
it |
its |
we |
us |
our |
they |
them |
their |
who |
whom |
whose |
Because a pronoun is used in place of a noun, it must have a noun to relate to. This is why some grammar teachers nail home the point that you should never start a sentence with
It ran the length of the track before it returned to the stable.
What exactly is it? How can you tell? You might be able to gain an inference from the sentence; after all, how many things will run a track and then return to the stable? However, this creates work for the reader, and any time you make a reader think, you run the risk of losing him or her along the way. A much better choice would be:
The horse ran the length of the track before it returned to the stable.
Not only must your pronoun relate to a noun, it must also relate to the noun in number, which is why you can never use
In addition, you should be careful to make sure that the noun agrees in gender, too. Never use
In conversation, many people use the pronouns they, them, and their even when referring to one person. This is not proper grammar. The correct choice is he or she when referring to a singular subject; him or her when referring to a singular object; and his or her when using a possessive adjective:
Wrong:
Who left their shoes by the door? They did.
Correct:
Who left his or her shoes by the door? She did.
Avoiding Ambiguous Pronoun Usage
You must be careful with pronouns, because using them improperly can result in an ambiguous sentence. If only two people of different genders are involved, the pronoun usage should be obvious. With two people of the same sex, or a group, confusion (or even the opportunity for it) can quickly result. Consider the following example:
“How is your shift going?” Matthew asked David, sitting down at his desk and running his fingers through his hair.
At whose desk did Matthew sit? Matthew's or David's? Moreover, whose hair did Matthew run his fingers through? Matthew's or David's? At first glance, it might seem obvious what's truly going on in the sentence, namely that Matthew sits at his own desk and runs his fingers through his own hair while he converses with David. The pronoun usage in the sentence, however, is far from specific and open to interpretation. If you were writing that sentence, the “alternative” interpretation is probably far from what you actually meant. So, it's a good idea to be careful. A much better sentence construction would be:
Matthew sat down at his desk and ran his fingers through his hair. “How is your shift going?” he asked David.
Remember that a pronoun must relate to another noun, and that that relationship should be obvious. If it is not, fiddle with your sentences until the pronoun usage makes sense. It's also a good idea to have someone else read over your work, not just to check for typos but also to check for problems with pronoun usage and other inconsistencies. If one of your friends is confused by a pronoun, there's a very good chance that someone else will be too. For other proofreading suggestions, see Chapter 4.
In fiction writing, each character's speech should appear in its own paragraph. If a new person speaks, then start a new paragraph. Depending on your own personal style, you may want to keep description and narrative in their own separate paragraphs, distinct from dialogue.
Sentence and Paragraph Structure
Sentence structure is usually a matter of style. As you gain more experience with your writing, you will develop your own personal style with the way you put words together into sentences, and the way you put sentences together into paragraphs. It helps if you keep these two things in mind:
Keep your sentences as concise as possible. Normally, this means “short,” but don't oversimplify your sentences if you're trying to make a specific point. A sentence should be as long as it needs to be — and no longer.
Try to keep your paragraph limited to one point or idea. Rather than introduce multiple ideas in the course of one paragraph, break up the ideas and present them in their own paragraphs. This creates ease of understanding for the reader.
