Comma in a List
Category Archives: Sentences
A Comma Story–video
The Case of a Misplaced Modifier–video
Commas
“I like cooking my family and pets. Use commas. Don’t be a psycho.”
SPELL—Making Sense of Sentences
Check out this blog post about writing great sentences:
http://www.writingandspeakingforbusiness.com/blog/spell-making-sense-of-sentences
Using “you” when writing
At certain times and in certain documents, addressing the reader as “you” is acceptable. When writing a letter, for example, addressing the reader is common. Many of your business documents will be to a specific person and you will use “you” to address your reader.
The problem with addressing the reader as “you” comes when the writer does not mean the reader specifically. “You” is often used to make generalizations but can make for confusing and inaccurate sentences.
For example, the following sample sentence appeared in a memo to a professor:
- I have found that with the general business degree you can find a decent job.
The author is writing to a professor, so it is unlikely that the professor is looking for job opportunities presented by a general business degree. The author either means to generalize or refer to him/herself. Therefore, either of the following examples is more accurate:
- I can find a decent job with a general business degree.
- People with general business degrees can find decent jobs.
Writers should pay careful attention to their intended meaning and use either first person (I, me) or third person (they, people) in their writing. Do you (the reader of this document) mean to address your reader?
photo credit:
J E Theriot via Compfight
Assertive Language
In the business world, one wants to appear assertive and confident. Using “hedging” or conditional words undermines the reader’s confidence in the writer.
The most common words that undermine a writer are: seems, appears, maybe. To make your writing more assertive, delete these conditional words. Some examples appear below.
- Not assertive: It appears that the engineering department receives much of the blame.
- Assertive: The engineering department receives much of the blame.
- Not assertive: It seemed like everyone thought there was a different problem.
- Assertive: Everyone thought there was a different problem.
- Not assertive: The XYZ Corporation appears to be very successful.
- Assertive: The XYZ Corporation is very successful.
- Not assertive: The R&D team is pretty much off the hook.
- Assertive: The R&D team is off the hook. (This is terrible vocabulary, however.)
- Not assertive: The first recommendation I would make is to spell check your document.
- Assertive: First, I recommend you spell check your document.
- Not assertive: I think that maybe what the company should do is hire a consultant.
- Assertive: The company should hire a consultant.
Now that you have seen some examples, look for conditional words in your writing and eliminate as many as possible.
Unclear Referents–or Why Does My Paper say “ref”?
Why Does my Paper Say “Ref”?
Tennessee Journalist via Compfight
To ensure your writing is clear and easy to read, pronouns must clearly refer to a noun in the current or previous sentence. The reader must know what noun the pronoun is replacing. The “ref” designation on an edited piece of writing means the referent is unclear.
A pronoun refers to a noun (he/she, they, them, it etc.)
An antecedent (or referent) is the noun to which the pronoun refers.
Identify the pronoun and antecedent in this sentence:
- Many students are anxious when they have to take an exam.
The pronoun is “they.” “The antecedent is “students.” This sentence is clear.
In this sentence, the reference is unclear:
- Both John and Will loved his new IPod.
The pronoun is “his” but the reader does not know if the “his” is John or Bill. This sentence is unclear because the reader cannot tell who loves the IPod.
Another example shows confusion in sentences in which two or more nouns are possible antecedents. The following sentence is unclear:
- When the president objected to Mr. Carter, he told him to mind his own business.
(Who told whom?)
This revision is clear:
- When the president objected to Mr. Carter, Mr. Carter told him to mind his own business.
Confusion also occurs when the pronoun does not have an antecedent or the antecedent is implied. This sentence is unclear:
- Students should not allow the mixture to boil; so when they do it, watch the temperature gauge.
The “it” in the second clause does not have an antecedent, which makes the sentence confusing. The following revision is correct:
- Students should not allow the mixture to boil; so when conducting the experiment, watch the temperature gauge.
The rules to ensure clear pronoun referents are:
- Do not use “they” when referring to unspecified persons (generalizing); “they” must refer to specific people.
- Terms such as everyone, everybody, anybody, company, committee are singular and take singular pronouns.
- Use “it” and “that” when referring to a specific word or phrase.
- Pronouns must agree in number with their antecedents
- Plural antecedents need plural pronouns
- Incorrect: Each person should follow their major plan.
- Correct: Students should follow their major plan.
- Incorrect: Everybody should plan for their retirement.
- Correct: Everybody should plan for his or her retirement.
- Plural antecedents need plural pronouns
Sentence Structure
Are your sentences clear and easy to read or messy and confusing?
Creating clear sentences is essential for all writers. Some common sentence structure problems are explained below.
Agreement means the subject (noun, doer of action) and verbs (the action) must agree in number and tense:
- “A company is” is correct; “a company are” is incorrect.
- “I wrote” is correct; “I written” is incorrect.
Sentences must end with a period or other punctuation.
Fused sentences are complete sentences run together without punctuation; to fix, separate sentences with a period, a conjunction (and, but etc.), or a semicolon.
- Correct: I didn’t know which job I wanted. I was too confused to decide.
- Incorrect: I didn’t know which job I wanted I was too confused to decide.·
Comma splices are two sentences (independent clauses) joined by a comma; to fix, replace the comma with a period, a conjunction (and, but etc.), or a semicolon.
- Correct: I woke up late this morning. I didn’t have time for breakfast.
- Incorrect: I woke up late this morning, I didn’t have time for breakfast.
Sentence fragments are phrases that lack a subject or verb.
- Correct: The five days spent in the library were boring.
- Incorrect: The five days spent in the library.
Edit your writing carefully to avoid these sentence structure errors.
The Lonely This
Writers often use “This” to refer to the subject of the previous sentence. However, using the pronoun “this” alone is sometimes called a Lonely This. A subject should follow a “This.”
A Lonely This looks like:
- This is mine.
- This is likely due to too much freedom.
- This left them feeling inadequate.
In each of these examples, the reader does not know to what the “This” refers. The “This” is lonely because it doesn’t have a subject.
Writers should identify the “This” as in the following examples:
- This textbook is mine.
- This problem is likely due to too much freedom.
- This problem left them feeling inadequate.
In these examples, the “This” is followed by a noun. The more specificity in your writing, the easier it is to read because the reader doesn’t have to re-read sections to determine your subject.