SENTENCE

WRITING SKILLS
Shida Kondowe Mwalwayo
Writing Skills

Writing skills are specific abilities

which help writers put their
thoughts into words in a
meaningful form

Good writing skills are essential for

effective communication. Learning
to write well takes time and
practice.
 The Effective

Sentence: Good
A sentence is a group of related words that one uses to

Sentence Structure
communicate ideas
Clauses are the building blocks of sentences. A clause is a
group of words that contains (at least) a subject and a verb.
 There are two types of clauses: independent and dependent
 An independent clause contains a subject and a verb and
expresses a complete thought. It can stand alone as a
sentence; formed with a subject & a verb (& a complement)
 Eg: The sun rose. Water evaporates rapidly in warm climate
 Dependent clause begins with a subordinator such as
‘when’, ‘while’; it does not express a complete thought, so its
not a sentence by itself. It is also called a sentence fragment
 It is formed with a subordinator, a subject, and a verb
 Eg: when the sun rose. because water evaporates rapidly …
 Good Sentence

Structure
There are four basic sentence structures, namely; simple,
compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences
 The type is determined by the kind of clauses used to
form it
 Simple: Consisting of a subject and a predicate. These
are simple and easy to write. Eg. We love Africa. Too
many simple sentences in a paragraph, however,
produce choppy writing and simple thoughts and ideas.
 Compound: Consisting of two or more simple sentences
joined by a comma, and a conjunction. Eg. We love Africa
and enjoy its Music
 Complex: Consisting of a simple sentence with one or
more clauses attached. Eg. We love Africa despite its
poor economy
 Compound-Complex: Consisting of a complex and a
simple sentence. Eg. Despite its poor economy, we love
Africa and enjoy its Music
 Tips for writing Good
Sentences
a) Put the subject close to the beginning of the sentence
o Ineffective: Looking at Brutus, Caesar collapsed and
died
o Effective: Caesar collapsed and died, looking at Brutus.
b) Use active voice as compared to passive
o Ineffective: Water is drunk by everybody
o Effective: Everybody drinks water
c) Vary sentence length; this adds emphasis where the
writer wants it. Do not write either long or short
sentences throughout the paragraph.
 Writing that uses only one type of sentence is boring and
may not convey the message that you intend. Let them
vary from simple to compound-complex sentences.
 Types of Sentences
 Depending on the purpose of the sentence, there are four types
of sentences
i. Declarative - A declarative sentence makes a statement. It
ends with a period. Eg. Someone will dropout here.
ii. Interrogative - An interrogative sentence asks a question. It
ends with a question mark. Eg. How did you find yourself here?
iii. Exclamatory - An exclamatory sentence shows strong feeling.
It ends with an exclamation mark. Eg. The monster is attacking!
iv. Imperative - An imperative sentence gives a command or a
direction. Eg. Beryl, try the other course.
 Parallel Sentence

(Parallelism)
Parallel structure (Parallelism) means using the same
pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have
the same level of importance.
 Parallelism is an important element in writing,
especially when you are listing and comparing and
contrasting items or ideas.
 If you are writing a list and the first item in your list is
a noun, write all the following items as nouns also
 If the first item is an –ing word, make all the others –
ing words; if it is an adverb clause, make all the others
adverb clauses.
 In short, do not mix forms, and this jumble of forms
leads to faulty parallelism
 Parallelism helps to improve the coherence and to
clarify the meaning of constructed sentence
 Parallelism Continued…
 In parallelism, you need to balance equal terms to
increase the power of their words
 Balance a word with a word. Eg. Your friend is ill-
mannered, ill-behaved and ill-dignified.
 Balance a phrase with a phrase. Eg. Its much easier
to write a solemn book than a funny book
 Balance a clause with a clause. Eg. I can write STM
for Short-Term Memory; write LTM for Long-Term
Memory
 My Language class is made up of Chinese, Spaniards
and some are from Bosnia. ?? Sort out the problem??
 Usually words, phrases and clauses that are joined
by coordinators (and, or , and but) are written in
parallel form
 Use parallel forms with correlatives (paired
conjunctions either…or; both…and; not only…but
also).
 Parallelism

Continued…
Do not use such imbalance (faulty) parallelism as
the ones below, because there is no rule of
parallelism (no any balance of equal terms).
i. The lawyer chose not to criticize the Judge but
appealed the decision. (to appeal)
ii. Formerly, science was taught by the textbook
method, while now the laboratory method is
employed. (now it is taught by the laboratory
method)
iii. He was neither a good host nor someone who could
tell a good story (a good storyteller)
iv. Seeing is as good as to believe (believing)
 The application of parallelism in sentence
construction improves writing style and readability.
 Modifiers
 A modifier can be a word, a phrase or an entire clause
that describes and provides more accurate definitional
meaning for another element. Eg. Put it gently in the
drawer. The word ‘gently’ provides more information
on how to put.
 These modifiers should be placed carefully in a
sentence to avoid unintentionally confusion to the
reader
 Consider the following sentences (with different
meaning)
1. He will kill you only
2. He will kill only you
3. He will only kill you
4. Only he will kill you
 The best solution is to place a modifier close to the
word it describes
 There are basically three types of problems that arise
with modifiers if put wrongly in a sentence
 a) Misplaced Modifier
 This is when a modifier is placed in such a way that it modifies
something queer – something surprising, usually, not a possible
referent
o Misplaced: The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.
(surely a dog was not in a short skirt)
 To correct this, place the modifying phrase close to the possible
referent, the girl
o Correct: The young girl in a short skirt was walking the dog.
 The waiter brought a steak to a young man covered with
mushroom (??)
 b) Squinting (Two way
Modifier)
 This is when a modifier has two possible referents bringing
in confusion when interpreting the meaning
o Squinting: Mary said in the meeting John laughed like a
mad person (a confusion has arisen, we don’t know
whether John laughed in the meeting, or Mary said in the
meeting)
 To correct this, move the modifying phrase close to the
word it describes.
o Correct: In the meeting Mary said, John laughed like a
mad person
o Correct: Mary said John laughed like a mad person in the
meeting
 The store that had the big sale recently went bankrupt (??)
 c) Dangling Modifier

 This occurs when the subject (doer of the action) is

unstated. A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that
modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence. The
subject of the modifier in this case is implied than stated
o Dangling: Having finished the assignment, the TV
was turned on (certainly we don’t know who finished the
assignment, honestly, its not the TV, as the sentence
suggests, the subject is not stated)
 To correct this, provide the subject of the modifying
phrase after the modifier
o Correct: Having finished the assignment, Davis
turned the TV on
 Carrying a heavy pile of books, his foot caught on a step
(??)
 Shifts
 Abrupt or inappropriate shifts weaken the logic of
your writing or obscure the meaning
 These shifts could be changes from 1st to 3rd person,
etc, from past to present tense, etc, from formal to
informal diction, etc
 To avoid such shifts:

i. Use pronouns that are consistent in person and

number eg. We were told you could get meals from
the café (we)
ii. Maintain the same verb tense eg. As he went home,
he finds people all over waiting for him (found)
iii. Balance up your parallelism
iv. Keep subject and voice consistence
v. Avoid unnecessary shifts from direct to indirect
quotation
 Subject – Verb
 Agreement
Subject-verb agreement refers to the correspondence in
form between a verb & its subject. Every verb in a
clause or sentence must agree in number and person
with its subject
 Number: Make a verb singular/plural if its subject is
singular/plural
 Person: Make a verb agree in person (doer of the action
– 1st, 2nd or 3rd persons) with its grammatical subjects
 Eg. Everyday we/he eat/eats delicious food
 Sometimes the intervening word groups obscure the
relationships. Eg. The first three weeks of basic training
is the worst (are)
 In neither/nor & either/or the verb agrees with the closer
subject, Eg. Neither the instructor nor the students are
mad. or Neither the students nor the instructor is mad.
 Emphasis and the Short
Sentence
 Good writers need to put emphasis on some important
ideas in a sentence to at least differentiate it with others
 There are a number of techniques in achieving this other
than an inexperienced way of putting italics or (!!) (??)
a) Subordination:
 This is putting the important ideas in the main clause and
the less important in the dependent clause.
 If there are no minor points to put them in a subordinate
clause, then use Coordination the forming of a compound
sentence (two simple sentences) with its coordinating
conjunction to show that both ideas are equally
important.
 Tell students to visit me when they are free
(subordination)
 College students should attend classes, and take their
own short notes during lectures (coordination)
 Emphasis and the Short
b) Sentence
Positioning:
 The rule of emphasis by position states that the
beginnings and the endings of a writing unit carry more
emphasis than the center parts.
 This rule applies whether the unit is a message, a
paragraph of the message or a sentence within the
paragraph
 The first and last paragraphs of a message, the first and
last sentences of a paragraph, and the first and last words
of a sentence all carry more emphasis than the middle
parts.
 Therefore, place important ideas / points at these positions
 ‘When our best players were injured, our hockey team
was in a sense defeated’. (note the important words)
 Emphasis Concluded
c) Voicing:
 Use the active rather than the passive voice
 The active voice of a verb is emphatic because it stresses the
doer of an action; put every important detail in active
 The passive voice, however, stresses the receiver of an action
 Of all parts of speech, verbs do the most to make the writing
interesting & lively; they contain the action of the sentence
 But not all verbs add vigor to the writing; overuse of the verb to
be & passive voice can sup the energy from your sentence.
 To minimize the use of ‘to be’ verbs, make verbs more active by
using active voice (verbs that can take a direct object)
 The help desk personnel serves over 300 customers (Active)
 There are 300 customers served by the help desk (Passive)
 Emphasis Concluded
 This doesn’t mean that it is wrong to use passive
construction. It has a place but do not overuse it.
 Passive construction is better when:
 The doer of the action is not important (not known)
 The writer wants to avoid accusing the doer of the action
 The writer prefers not to name the performer
 The writer wants to avoid first and second person pronoun
in academic essays (the essay has been designed to ….)
 Petroleum is refined in Texas (not need of who refines it)
d) Repetition:
 Repeat important information for emphasis. This is to
keep an idea before the reader. Repetition and
parallelism are frequently found together in writing for
emphasis
 Emphasis Concluded
e) Short Sentence:
 Sentence structure determines emphasis. Short,
simple sentences call attention to their content
and long sentences do not.
 Consider the possible sentence arrangements of
your information. Place the more important
information in short, simple sentences so that it
can have an impact
 Occasionally, use a short / dramatic sentence. A
short sentence, especially when it follows a longer
one, can startle the reader & thus achieve
emphasis
 Avoid the overuse of short simple sentences as
they lead to choppy and monotonous passages
 From Sentence to
Paragraph
 A Paragraph is a group of related sentences that
discuss one (and usually only one) main idea.
 In academic writing, you often write a paragraph to
answer a test question, and good paragraphing
greatly assists your readers in following a piece of
writing
 You can have brilliant ideas, but if those ideas
aren't presented in an organized fashion, you will
lose your readers (and fail to achieve your goals in
writing)
 Parts of a paragraph
 All good paragraphs should have a topic sentence
and supporting sentences, and some paragraphs
also have a concluding sentence
 The topic sentence states the main idea of the
paragraph. It limits the topic to one specific area to
be discussed. Eg. ‘Registration for college classes
(topic) can be a frustrating experience for new
students’ (controlling idea)
 Paragraphing

continued…
Supporting Sentences develop the topic sentence; they
explain or prove the topic sentence by giving more
information about it through explanations, illustrations etc
 The Conclusion Sentence signals the end of the
paragraph and leaves the reader with important points to
remember.
 The sentence becomes customary for stand-alone
paragraphs, but for those that are parts of a longer piece
of writing usually do not need concluding sentences
 The 3 parts of a paragraph, if done correctly, bring about
important elements of a paragraph unity & coherence
 Unity
 The entire paragraph should concern itself with a single
focus. If it begins with a focus or major point of discussion,
it should not end with another or wander within different
ideas.
 Paragraphing concluded
 Coherence
 Coherence is the trait that makes the paragraph easy to
understand to a reader. You can help create coherence
in your paragraphs by creating logical bridges & verbal
bridges.
 Logical bridges
 The same idea of a topic is carried over all the sentences
 Successive sentences can be constructed in parallel form
 Verbal bridges
 Key words can be repeated in several sentences
 Synonymous words can be repeated in several
sentences
 Pronouns can refer to nouns in previous sentences
 Transition words can be used to link ideas from different
sentences
 From Paragraph to

Essay
An Essay is a piece of writing several paragraphs long. It is
about one topic, just as a paragraph is. However, because
the topic of an essay is too complex to discuss in one
paragraph, divide it into several paragraphs, one for each
point
 You need to tie the paragraphs together by adding an
introduction and conclusion
 Parts of an Essay
 An essay has 3 main parts: an introduction (introductory
paragraph), a body and a conclusion (concluding
paragraph)
 An essay Introduction consists of two parts: a few general
statements to attract your reader’s attention and a thesis
statement to state the main idea of the essay (funnel
model)
 A thesis statement for an essay is like a topic sentence for a
paragraph: it names the specific topic and gives the reader
a general statement of the contents of the essay
 Essay concluded
 The Body consists of one or more paragraphs. The
paragraphs are like the supporting sentences in a
paragraph.
 Each paragraph develops a subdivision of the topic, so
the number of paragraphs in the body will vary with the
number of subdivisions or subtopics
 Organize your body paragraphs according to some sort
of pattern; chronological order, order of importance etc.
 The Conclusion, like the concluding sentence in a
paragraph, is a summary or review of the main points
discussed in the body.
 It signals the end of the essay and leaves your reader
with final thoughts on the topic
 Finally, plan and organize your ideas before you write
your essay. The best way is to write an outline. The
outline will also keep you on tract once you begin to
write.
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
1. TAUTOLOGY
 Unnecessary or unessential repetition of meaning using
different and dissimilar words that effectively say the
same thing twice
 It is regarded as a fault of style ‘saying the same thing
twice’
 Usually, the needless repetition of the idea imparts no
additional force / emphasis, but mere repetition
 Some double expressions are not regarded as
tautologies because they add emphasis to meaning eg.
I can see it with my own eyes, I made it with my own
hands.
 Some examples of tautologies are: free gift, cheapest
price, can be able to, discuss about, new innovation,
planning ahead, added bonus, short summary,
adequate enough, etc.
 Some of these tautologies are in expressions: By acting
now, we can finish sooner than if we wait until a later
date
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
2. CAMOUFLAGED WORDS
 When a verb is camouflaged, the verb describing the
action in a sentence takes the form of a noun to disguise
the intended action (the verb itself).
 Taking the military sense, camouflage means disguise. In
writing, therefore, it is the use of words that misrepresent
/ disguise the true nature of the actual words not used.
 The change of the verb into a noun form might also
result into passive construction of a sentence
 In the sentence: ‘The staff eliminated the surplus’, if you
change the verb ‘eliminate’ to its noun form ‘elimination’,
you might end up with a passive construction of:
‘Elimination of the surplus was effected by the staff.
 This results into, confusing, disguising the intended
meaning
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
 Camouflaged verbs are abstract nouns – Academically,
preference goes to concrete words than to abstracts
 Camouflaged verbs frequently require passive voice –
Academically, preference goes to active voice than to
passive construction
 Consider the following examples of camouflaged verbs:
 This step takes the identification process further and
involves a comparison of each stamping method.
→ This step identifies the process further and compares
each stamping method.
 An arrangement was made to meet for breakfast
→ They arranged to meet for breakfast
Others: give assistance (assist), make an appearance
(appear)
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
3. DISCRIMINATORY WORDS
 These are words that do not treat all people
equally and with respect. More especially they
are words that refer negatively to groups of
people such as by sex, race, nationality, sexual
orientation, age, disability.
 These words bring prejudice / unfairness /
biasness against individuals or groups
 Academic and professional writing should not
contain explicit or implicit discriminatory
messages, therefore, avoid discriminatory ideas in
writing
 These words can be eliminated by examining
them carefully and placing oneself in the
discriminated shoes.
 Language is discriminatory when it: stereotypes
people, treats people unevenly, excludes people,
and insults people.
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
 There are different forms of discriminatory words
a) Gender
 Most of our words suggest male superiority (there was male
dominance when languages developed) such common
gender superiority forms include use of pronouns, titles, etc.
 To avoid this discrimination, you can just eliminate it, or use
gender-neutral words, or use the plural form (if possible)
 The student must review his notes after the lesson
 The student must review the notes after the lesson
 The student must review his/her (one’s) notes after the
lesson
 The students must review their notes after the lesson
 Some words were derived from masculine family -man- try
to avoid them (man-made, manpower, policemen,
manhandle)
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
b) Stereotype by age, race, etc
 Stereotype is a fixed generalization / assumption that
people make about characteristics of all members of
a group based on an image (often a wrong one)
 Words that stereotype all members of a group by
race, nationality, sexual orientation, are especially
unfair.
 Stereotypes ignore the uniqueness of individuals by
painting all members of a group with the same brush
 Thus it is unfair to suggest that ‘Jews are miserable’
 Four science graduates, including one Vietnamese,
have been offered positions at COM (Why focusing
only on one person’s background)
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
 Some words discriminate people by age (both young and
old). Be sensitive with words such as ‘mature vs. immature’,
‘elderly vs. young’ ‘youngster vs. oldster’. Use them only
when relevant, otherwise, use positive terms when possible
c) Typecasting people with disabilities
 People with disabilities are likely to be sensitive to
discriminatory words. Just as with age, avoid derogatory
labels and apologetic or patronizing behavior
 Avoid words like deaf & dumb, crippled, retarded, blind, etc
 Other examples of discriminatory words include:
 Anna Smith, the attractive wife of eminent surgeon, is the
head of department (Why attractive?)
 Women are bad drivers (true? all women are bad drivers?)
 White men are not good at Basketball (true?)
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
4. GOBBLE DE GOOK (GIBBERISH)
 This is any text containing jargon, resulting in it
being excessively hard to understand / comprehend
 In general, gobbledygook means the use of big /
technical and unfamiliar words / expression in
writing
 This should be avoided in an academic /
professional writing, instead, use words /
expressions the intended audience can understand.
 These gobbledygook can be categorized as:
 Technical word / Jargon:
 Jargon is a terminology which is especially defined
in relationship to a specific activity, profession /
group
 In this case, when writing, do not officiate the
language into specific fields of, for example,
Medicine, Accounting, Law, Politics, etc.
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
 The term jargon, however, also pertains in general to
gibberish and unintelligible language and to overinflated,
needlessly technical language
 An example of jargon in medicine include such formal
technical expressions as perorbital hematoma (black eye)
 Avoid such words or rather reserve the jargon for formal
technical language (writing)
5. SLANGS
 This is the use of informal verbal communication that is
generally unacceptable for formal writing.
 This includes colloquial language – which is the use of a
word / phrase, or form of pronunciation that is acceptable
in casual conversation but not in formal writing
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
 At any given time, in any society, some slang words and
clichés are in vogue (the popular taste at a given time)
 These might be meaningful only for a moment; they may
be out of vogue tomorrow
 Slang expressions are created by the same processes that
affect ordinary speech. Words may acquire new meanings.
Words may be clipped, or abbreviated (mike,
microphone), and acronyms may gain currency (VIP, FAO).
 Examples include: stewed, plastered for drunkenness.
 Wired (for nervous), chill out (for relax), easier said than
done (more difficult in practice), buzz off (for go away)
 Do not use such expressions in academic writing; use
them only sparingly and in informal communication with
people who know and appreciate them.
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
6. IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION
 It is a fixed expression with no literal meaning: a fixed
distinctive expression whose meaning cannot be deduced
from the combined meanings of its actual words
 This means that it’s the use of phrases where the words,
together, have a meaning that is different from the
dictionary definition of individual words
 It is one of the figurative expressions (word group used to
give particular emphasis to an idea with user's conscious
deviation from the strict literal sense of a word)
 Adam’s apple → a bulge in a throat
Food for thought → worthy thinking about
Follow your heart → …….
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
7. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
 Figures of speech are expressions to give particular
emphasis to an idea. (you exaggerate or alter the usual
meaning of the component words. It may involve
analogy to similar concepts)
 The special emphasis is typically accomplished by the
user's conscious deviation from the strict literal sense
of a word, or from the more commonly used form of
word order
 Common used figures of speech include: irony,
euphemism (rest room for toilet), metaphor, paradox
(well known fact)
 Examples include:
 Raining cats and dogs → raining intensively
 Butterflies in your stomach → nervousness
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
8. INFLATED LANGUAGE
 Words that are undeservedly exaggerated: greater
than is justified or normal (not your own words /
expression, just meant to impress than to convey
meaning)
 Inaugurate for start, purchase for buy, vehicle for car,
interface for talk, possess for own, etc.
9. CLUTTERING PHRASES
 Cluttering phrases are laborious phrases, which add no
extra emphasis to the meaning and should be avoided.
 It can be replaced by a shorter wording without loss of
meaning. By avoiding cluttering, you achieve
economizing on words (seeking shorter ways of saying
things)
 In the event that payment is not made by February,
operations will cease (‘if’ can replace the whole phrase)
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
 In spite of the fact that they received help, they failed to
exceed the quota (‘although’ can replace the phrase)
 To avoid cluttering phrases, prune away dead syntax: At
this point in time → now, due to the fact that → because.
10.SURPLUS WORDS
 These are the words that add nothing to the sentence
meaning and should be eliminated for economic writing.
 Eliminating these words sometimes requires recasting a
sentence but sometimes they can just be left out
 It will be noted that the records for past years show a
steady increase. (remove it, it adds nothing to the
meaning)
 His performance was good enough to enable him to
qualify for the promotion. (remove the phrase)
 ‘When all is said and done’, ‘its worthy noting’→ omit
them
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
11. ABSTRACT WORDS
 Abstract words should also be avoided in academic
writing. These are words with no physical referents.
 They are vague, they cover broader meanings,
concepts, ideas; it is difficult to visualize what these
words stand for
 Words like good attendance, substantial amount,
majority, bring no measurable referents. Use concrete
words instead.
 In contrast, concrete words stand for things the reader
can see, feel, taste, or smell. Concrete words hold
interest, for they refer to the readers’ experience.
 Concreteness also means being specific. Exact or
specific wordings are concrete, vague & general
wordings; abstract
 Significant loss → 60% loss, the majority → 78%, in the
near future → just say the exact future; by Thursday
noon
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
12. INDIRECT/ROUNDABOUT EXPRESSIONS
 This is an expression of an idea in an indirect way, trying to
put thoughts in a round about form, to disguise the truth.
 This should be avoided since it obscures the intended
meaning, and violets the idea of writing economically
 Usually the direct way of writing ideas is shorter than an
indirect (roundabout) way of presenting ideas
 Roundabout expressions blur the meaning intended by the
speaker, often perplexing the hearer
 Indirect: I believe we should rather consider their positions
Direct: My feeling is that we sack them both
 Indirect: There could be a problem in persuading the staff
Direct: You will never persuade the staff
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
 In some extent, roundabout expression called euphemism is
essential since you want to minimize harshness.
 Do away with → kill; mentally challenged → mad, etc.
13.STIFF AND DULL EXPRESSIONS
 When faced with writing task, people change character.
Instead of writing normally, they tend to write stiff and
stilted words (overformal). They seek the big word, the
difficult word. The result is cold and unnatural style.
 The undersigned wishes to advise that the aforementioned
contract is at hand → I have the contract.
 Enclosed herewith is the brochure about which you made
inquiry → Enclosed is the brochure you asked about
 WHAT TO AVOID!!
14. OLD ENGLISH
 This is the use of archaic expression or language.
Some of the words stopped being in use long time
back. Use language that is conventional and
effective.
 Old English was a much more inflected language
than contemporary English.
 Grammar and spelling were not yet completely
formalized, people could interchange the various
parts of speech, using nouns as adjectives or
verbs, adjectives as adverbs, and pronouns as
nouns.
 we two, me think, go with speed, cometh, liveth,
beseech, etc
 Make haste → hurry up; I have a harkening to see
→ would like; I dot on your sister → I am fond of
 Others to avoid!
a) Contractions: These are words formed from two
abbreviated words eg. do not (don’t) can not (can’t)
b) Run on expressions: These are phrases such as
‘and so forth’, ‘etc’, ‘ the list is endless’; don’t use
them.
c) Adverb placement: Don’t place adverbs at the
beginning or at the end of the sentence because the
expression becomes informal. Place it with the verb.
 Then the solution can be discarded (informal)
The solution can then be discarded (formal)
 The blood is withdrawn slowly (informal)
The blood is slowly withdrawn (formal)
d) Using intimacy tone: Writing in first or second
person creates an intimacy and should be avoided.
Writing in third person usually maintains distance.
Essays should, therefore, be written in third person
 Others to avoid!
e) Use of abbreviation without full expression: Do
not use abbreviation without putting their full versions
the first time you encounter it, eg. Say Curriculum
Vitae (CV)
f) Using Colloquialisms: A colloquialism the usage of is
a word or phrase usually in conversation. However,
when it comes to academic writing, colloquialisms are
out of place and even awkward in an essay. Consider
the following:
 Parents should treat their kids with respect. (children)
 We know for sure that Galileo was correct. (for certain)
g) Using interjections: This is similarly informal and
shouldn’t be employed in academic essay writing.
 Well, I learned my lesson.
 Wow! Taking notes can indeed yield a great deal.