Write Right

How to Avoid Common

Grammar Pitfalls
Take a quick tour of the most common errors writers
make, how to fix them, and how to impress with clear
and unblemished prose.
Timothy Kitz
refreshingwords.net
Your tourguide is a freelance editor who has edited novels,
timothykitz@protonmail.com
picture books, academic essays, game manuals, legal
transcriptions, medical translations, band biographies, and
other forgotten things with words.
RATIONALE
Why being correct matters

Incorrect writing is unclear and inelegant

Its no fun to read

It peeves gatekeepers and readers

SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Yes, a writer needs to know what a
sentence is
Nail down in your brain what
independent and dependent clauses are,
and you will be able to:
Avoid run-on sentences (e.g. comma splice)
Avoid sentence fragments
Write proper sentences
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
(cont.)
Independent
Independent Clauses
Clauses:
A complete phrase consisting of a verb and usually a
subject, sometimes an object or predicate.
E.g. Walk. = complete sentence (only if it is an imperative i.e. a
command)
I did. = complete sentence
Obviously, this is also a complete sentence.
An independent clause needs to be terminated with strong
punctuation (i.e. a period, colon, or semi-colon)
OR
a comma and a coordinating word but, and, because, etc.
E.g. Obviously, this is also a complete sentence, but now it has a second
clause too.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
(cont. still)
Dependent Clauses
Dependent Clauses:
A phrase introduced with a coordinating word
(subordinate conjunction) that signals it is an incomplete
thought.

These words include after, although, as, as far as, as if,

as long as, as soon as, as though, because, before, even if,
even though, every time, if, in order that, since, so, so
that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where,
whereas, wherever, and while
E.g. While this is an incomplete sentence
 SENTENCE STRUCTURE (still
cont.)
Independent
Some coordinatingClauses Strike
words DO NOT Back!
signal a dependent
clause
The conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so (FANBOYS)
E.g. Obviously, this is also a complete sentence, but now it has a second clause too.
This second clause is still an independent clause. It is equally correct to write:
Obviously, this is also a complete sentence. But now it has a second clause too.

Ditto for words like Either or, Not only but, No sooner than
E.g. Either you accept that your grade school teacher was wrong, or you continue to believe
that it is wrong to start a sentence with and.

Less controversially, the same goes for independent markers like

also, consequently, furthermore, however, moreover, nevertheless, and
therefore.
E.g. Also, first-rate writers from across the English-speaking world regularly begin sentences
with conjunctions, in even the most formal writing.
 SENTENCE STRUCTURE (last
slide)
The Revenge of the Sentence
Sentence Fragments also occur if they are missing:
AFragment
subject (and its not an imperative or command)
E.g. Finding a place in a changing world.

A verb
E.g. A detailed neighbourhood in a city or intergalactic civilizations.

SUMMARY:
Is there no verb? Is there no subject and no command?
Is it a dependent clause, as signalled by a word like
because?
Then its a sentence fragment.
HOMONYMS
Where spellcheck starts
sputtering
Theyre going to their car over there.
Youre going to your car.
Then you will prove your car is faster than theirs.
The effect of this loss might affect their mood for days.
Effect is a noun; affect is a verb.
Effecting and effected are not real words, so if it would be appropriate to use
the word affecting or affected in the context of your sentence, it has to be affect
and not effect.
 AND OTHER EASILY
CONFUSED TERMS
That vs. Which
That is used for restrictive clauses.
E.g. Jackhammers that dont have noise-dampening technology are on sale.
Which is for non-restrictive clauses.
E.g. Jackhammers, which are useful for breaking up concrete, are on sale .

Who vs Whom
Who refers to the subject, and pairs with she, he, we, they
Whom refers to the object, and pairs with she, he, we, they
Tip: If the question could be answered with he its who, and with him its whom.
The m points the way
E.g. Who went to the store? He did. With whom did he go? Him.
Note: Whom is a dying prestige form best abandoned in all but the most formal writing.
 Possesives & contractions
Too many exceptions
Watch that you dont pluralize when you need to add a
possessive
E.g. Thats the farmers truck.

Plural possessives drop the s

E.g. That was the Jays last game of the season.
Two Weeks Notice (But the movie mistitled it as Two Weeks Notice)

Some sources want you to tack the s back onto singular proper
names.
E.g. Jesuss grave because we pronounce the second s?
But Jamess grave? Really?
Why complicate your life?

Note that its is possessive and its is a contraction of it is.

 Punctuation
A book publishing deal seems to foster grammatical absolutism.

Grammar is one of the things the internet does right.

I actually recommend websearching any punctuation you feel iffy on

the top hits on any grammar search, wikipedia, or Grammar Girl
regularly outdo classics like the Chicago Manual of Style.
They tend to be precise, concise, non-technical, and non-
dogmatic

Every writer would benefit from reading the complete wikipedia article
on the dash.

See my handout for how to punctuate dialogue.

Pronouns with unclear referents
and dangling modifiers
E.g. Jane told Sally that she was taking it too
seriously.

E.g. When its their turn to roll, the dice will be given to
the player.
What does the their refer to?
Why isnt the opening phrase isnt immediately followed by
what it modifies?

Should be When its their turn to roll, the player will be given
the dice.
FAULTY PARRALELISM
The Writers Bane
I like to read, write and editing.
I like to read, write, and edit.

"Don't be intimidated and afraid of the grammar terminology on

this page."
Better Dont be intimidated by and afraid of the grammar terminology on this page.
Best (?) Dont fear the grammar terminology on this page or be intimidated by it.

It was both a long wedding and very beautiful

The wedding was both long and (very) beautiful.

Modern agricultural practices such as pesticide use, habitat loss and climate
change pose a serious threat to biodiversity.
Climate change and habitat loss arent agricultural practices.
Grey areas and hot spots
in the language
In many areas, there are multiple ways of doing things
correctly
E.g. Comma use, en vs. em dash, UK vs. US vs. Canadian spelling
Its important to use a targets style guide if youre writing for them
Otherwise, pick your personal preference, be consistent, and stop worrying

In many areas, there is conflict over what is the correct way

E.g. split infinitives, they as a singular genderless pronoun

Why? What drives this conflict?

Prescriptivists vs. Descriptivists
The joys of linguistic warfare
Descriptivists describe how people use the language
They tend to be linguists and write dictionaries
The meaning of a word is its use in language Ludwig Wittgenstein
(Philosophical Investigations)

Language evolves and changes, and if lots of people do something with the
language for long enough, it becomes correct

Prescriptivists prescribe how people should use

language
They are (traditional) grammarians, and will write grammar manuals
Words have abstract, correct, universal meanings
Ditto for questions of grammar and mechanics
Literally begging the question
Prescriptivists and Descriptivists
Square Off
A traditional example
I was late because I didn't leave on time.

Modern use
"I'm sorry I'm late; I did leave on time"

Im literally starving
Round two
Prepositions and Split infinitives
to boldly go where no man has gone before
This was banned by a rule created by Victorians who loved Latin
Supposedly, nothing should come between to and its verb

Similarly, sentences supposedly cant end with a

preposition, which are words that describe position
E.g. above, by, over, for, from, after, before, and since
Compare What did you step on? with On what did you step?
Compare She displayed the good humor shes known for with She
displayed the good humor for which shes known
Round three
They as a generic singular genderless
pronoun
This usage of they has been correct in spoken English
since the pronoun entered the language from Old
Norse
Shakespeare, the King James Version, Charles Dickens,
Jane Austen, Lord Byron, etc. all used it this way
Late Victorian grammarians discarded it, saying the
male gender was superior and prototypical of humanity
IMO, they is relatively elegant and natural where he
is sexist, she or he and variations are awkward, one
is stuffy, and invented pronouns are a non-starter
And yet, its acceptance is hotly contested
Lost in a sea of grey
Hyphenation of compound words
To hyphen or not to hyphen, that is the question
Two words might start out as separated (African American), transition to hyphenation
(white-out), and end up combined (driveway)
Pick an authority and stick with them but then you might be stuck with Websters
saying its web-page
Or, just be internally consistent make your own project style sheet and stop
stressing

Hyphenate compound adjectives before the verbs they describe

This is only necessary if confusion is possible; e.g. cold-storage vaults
But its never wrong to hyphenate, unless it involves an adverb ending in ly
e.g. largely irrelevant facts or smartly dressed man

Hyphenation is complex the Canadian governments The

Canadian Style is head-spiningly thorough, if you want to dive
into it
Lost in a sea of grey (THE SEQUEL)
Comma Use
Punctuation is governed two-thirds by rule and one-
third by personal taste."
- G. V. Carey

Punctuation is the art of dividing written discourse into

sections by means of points, for the purpose of showing
the grammatical connection and dependence, and of
making the sense more obvious.
- John Seely Hart,
A Manual of Composition and Rhetoric, 1892.
HOW TO USE COMMAS
Like a Nobel Laureate
From the first paragraph of Hemingways A Farewell to
Arms:

Troops went by the house and down the road and the
dust they raised powdered the leaves of the trees.

The drops fell very slowly, as they fall from an icicle

after the sun has gone. It was cold in the car in the night
as the road climbed. At the post on the top they took the
stretcher out and put another in and we went on.
HOW TO USE COMMAS
Like a Nobel Laureate, Part 2
From Jos Saramagos Blindness (Trans. Giovanni Pontiero):
The car at the head of the middle lane has stopped, there must
be some mechanical fault, a loose accelerator pedal, a gear level
that has stuck, problem with the suspension, jammed brakes,
breakdown in the electric circuit, unless he has simply run out of
gas, it would not be the first time such a thing has happened. (p. 3)
Faltering, as if his lack of sight had weakened his memory, the
blind man gave his address, then he said, I have no words to thank
you, and the other replied, Now then, dont give it another though,
today its your turn, tomorrow it will be mine, we never know what
might lie in store for us, Youre right, who would have thought, when
I left the house this morning, that something as dreadful as this was
about to happen. (p.7)
A few conclusions

Learn the rules and understand the controversies

so that:
You can communicate clearly
You can write to impress
You can break the rules for effect
You can weigh the consequences

Cultivate resources (on-line, written, personal) and

work on your own skills set so that you can
Stop stressing (stay practical) and write with confidence
Seriously, get on with your writing!