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| Jones, Adam. "Woman Cleaning Window." 18/6/2009 via wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution- Share Alike 3.0 Unported. |
Adding New Words
In compound sentences you can take out repeated words that come up in a list.
Ex. Eric went to the store and (went) to the gym on Monday.
You don't need to include the second"went" in the sentence. In quick reference guide, you don't want to be too wordy so taking out these little unneeded words can make it easier for the reader to scan through and get the main idea of the sentence. But these words can only be omitted if the sentence follows general grammar rules.
* Add "that" if it helps to clarify.
Ex. without that: He figured out the main solution of hydrogen was causing the explosion.
Ex. with that: He figured out that the main solution of hydrogen was causing the explosion.
* Make sure to include comparison words in your sentence when needed
Ex. Hellen's beaker is much cleaner than any other student's.
* Make sure you put a, an, and the when necessary. Not always necessary to put an a, an, or the in front of a thing when stating a list, but is necessary on occasion. If one of the articles in a list needs an a, then the other article needs to include an a or an as well.
Ex. I boiled a solution of water, and a solution of ethanol.
Balancing Parallel Ideas
* Parallel ideas are ideas that can be put into a sequence within a sentence and make sense together. These ideas need to be the same grammatically. They can be expressed through single words, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or phrases.
Ex. People who take chemistry classes also study, complain, and cry.
* But no matter what, all the words in the list need to be in grammatically parallel form.
* These parallels can be connected using different techniques:
* Using a coordinating conjunction (ex. and, but, or or)
* Using a pair of correlative conjunctions (either- or, neither-nor)
* Using a word to introduce a comparison (than or as)
Ex. of coordinating conjunction: My friend and I got math, english, and chemistry homework done today.
Ex. of correlative conjunctions: I had to either finish my chemistry homework or work on math.
Ex. Introduce comparison: It is much simpler to do math homework than it is to write an essay.
* Repeat functions to produce clarity.
If it is going to be a longer sentence, make sure the reader knows who you are referring to in your statements. It may help to include words like "that" within your sentences.
Ex. Students are more likely to study the night before an exam and that energy drinks are a helpful tool in staying up later.
It still amazing me how big an impact one word can have on the entire meaning of the sentence. Reviewing a lot of these rules really makes me think about how correct my grammar
Eliminating Distracting Shifts
* Make sure that the entire piece is in the same point of view. There are three points of view: first person, second person, and third person. If you continue to shift between the three, it confuses the reader as to who is the narrator.
Ex. The class and I walked around outside after getting cups of coffee. We all enjoyed the sun and the heat after sitting in a class room for 2 hours.
The verb tense has to remain the same as well. You want to avoid confusing the reader at all costs.
Ex. Yesterday, I went to the park after I danced for a couple of ours.
All the verbs are in past tense.
* But the verbs' mood and the voice also have to be consistent throughout the piece as well. The audience has to remain the same.
* Also avoid sudden shifts from indirect to direct questions or quotations.
* An indirect quote is when you repeat a question without asking it as a question:
We asked if the dog always acted so mean.
* And, obviously, a direct question asks the question as a question.
Why is the sky blue?
These are ideas that I feel writers at our level understand intuitively but forget that it is an actual rule or what the rule is exactly. It is interesting for me to remember how our grammar fits into rules.
Emphasize Key Ideas
* Make sure you draw attention to the main idea of the sentence (the subject or verb) in the independent clause. Choose subordination to indicate that one idea is less important than another.
* Use coordinating conjunctions to separate single words and phrases. These words can be used to form a list within the sentence. This gives for equal separation of emphasis on words in list or group.
* Use subordination to give unequal emphasis on phrases, nouns, verbs, etc. Place the major idea in the independent clause and the rest of the ideas in the subordinate clauses or phrases. Use words like, "after," "before," "although," "so that," "when," or "whose."
* Use dynamics in your sentences. Don't make all your sentences really short or all of them long. Using a variety makes the paper more interesting. This is something that I continue to work on since you have to be consciously aware of how long your prior sentences were and to frequently break up the monotony.
Overall, this is a reminder of how to clean up the little smudges in my QRG that I might not have thought was wrong or was not aware that I could make my thoughts even more clear.
Reflection
I commented on Michael's and Chelsea's quick reference guides.
The Clarity reading made me more aware of the grammatically structure of the sentences and little things to critique upon while reading through my piers' QRG's. I saw how important it is to use "a" "an" and "the" when necessary. The reader shouldn't have to reread a sentence multiple times in order to decipher what the author means.
Example of this error in Chelsea's QRG:
"According to Kevin Bullis, science writer for MIT technology, carbon can be safely stored deep within the ocean."
Is he "the" science writer or "a" science writer. It also shows his level of importance within the MIT technology department. Is he the only one, or is he one of many.
Using specific language is also important in making sure the reader fully understands what the author is saying.
"Uber has also dropped around $225,000 lobbying the mayor’s office, picking up some of the most powerful lobbyists they could get."
This becomes a bit wordy. Maybe in one sentence describing the amount they used on lobbyists and then talking about the quality of lobbyists they used.
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