Grammar and Style Checklist for College Papers

Grammar and Style Checklist for College Papers

Here's a list of grammar and style points to watch out for when you're proofreading your papers. Sure, some of these may seem a little conservative, but it's crucial to know all the picky old rules, so you can follow them when necessary.

Word choice

Avoid colloquialisms, stock phrases, contractions, and unnecessary jargon in formal writing. Strive for clarity rather than fancy language. For example, instead of "The imposition of augmentative taxation policies induced individuals to utilize sequestered monetary resources," you could go with the less contrived "Higher taxes forced people to use money they had saved."
Avoid the words "clearly," "obviously," and "basically." They alert your reader that you have forgone argument and that what follows is likely to be unclear or confusing.
The following words, among others, cannot be modified by adjectives of degree (such as "more," "less," or "very"): equal, fatal, omnipotent, opposite, parallel, perfect, unanimous, unique, and universal. These are all presented in full or not at all. Instead, use the following options: similar, deadly, powerful, opposed, congruent, good, agreed, unusual, and widespread. Something can't be more unique than something else, but it can be more unusual.

Voice

Generally it's a good idea to avoid writing in what's called the "passive voice." That is, instead of writing "Political turmoil was produced by King George's madness," write "King George's madness produced political turmoil."

Quotations

Use a quote when the language of the quote is important to your argument and you intend to explain why. Don't use a quote simply because you think the author of the quote stated an idea more clearly than you could have.
Set the stage for a quote's relevance to your argument by introducing it in your own words. Follow the quote with an explanation of what it means or demonstrates.

Parentheses

Avoid parenthetical expressions. If you can't integrate a parenthetical expression's content into your prose, leave it out or put it in a footnote.

Parallelism

When writing a list, make sure all of the elements in the list are presented in the same way. For instance, "King George was loony, the ruler of England, and lost control of the American colonies" would better be written as "King George went crazy, ruled England, and lost control of the American colonies." In the rewritten version, each component of the list begins with a verb in the past tense, whereas in the original sentence the list describes King George using an adjective, a noun, and then a verb.
Other ways in which lists can be problematic include shifting verb tense or point of view -- for example, from second person (you) to third person (he, she, or they) -- midstream. Using parallel structure applies not only to lists but also to sentences with two or more elements that are related in purpose or structure.

Agreement

Watch out for subject/verb agreement and noun/pronoun agreement, especially when you're trying to write in a gender-neutral voice. For example, it's incorrect to write "As a person who rebelled against King George, they were hung." Rather, since the sentence refers to a single person, it should read "As a person who rebelled against King George, he was hung."

Pronouns

When referring to a person, "who" and "whom" are the preferable relative pronouns. "Which" cannot be used to refer to people. You would write about the person "whom" the author mentioned, not the person "which" the author mentioned.
Use "that" to introduce information that defines the subject of that part of the sentence. Use "which" when the information following is an aside. For instance, "the castle that housed the mad king" is an appropriate phrase if the reader must know the descriptive information in order to understand which castle the writer means. By contrast, "the castle, which housed the mad king" simply gives you more information about the only castle under consideration; the reader will understand the sentence even without this further description.

Prepositions

Don't end a sentence with a preposition if you can easily rewrite the sentence to avoid this construction. For example, "Taxation was one of the things American colonists complained to King George about" can be rephrased as "One of the things about which American colonists complained to King George was taxation," or simply, "Americans complained to King George about taxation."

Remember, these guidelines are for formal writing. You have more flexibility in other forms of written expression. Still, it can't hurt to get in the habit of using these guidelines in every day life. That way it becomes second nature.