2) There are only two things you can say about anything: what it is doing or what its condition is. Pick one and go with it.
3) Dudding's Rule of Simple Mechanics:The
most correct way to write something is simply the easiest to understand.
Therefore, when you are not sure of a grammar rule, ask yourself, "How
can I write this so that I can make it the easiest for my reader to understand?"
Try to keep in mind that people created the rules of grammar, and how grammatical
your writing is depends entirely upon the person who is reading it.
Our language is in constant change; most books of grammar or writing handbooks
pretend otherwise.
4) Every sentence should deal with a single idea. Every paragraph should deal with a single topic. When every sentence in a paragraph directly relates to the the topic sentence, the paragraph is said to have unity.
5) Develop your writing with facts, examples, incidents, comparisons, and contrasts. If you choose to write about things you know well, you will find it easier to come up with supporting material.
6) Four types of writing include description, exposition, narration, and persuasion. Description creates a mental image for the readers that can include all five senses. Exposition explains to your readers why or how something happens. Narration tells your readers a story. Persuasion strives to influence your readers into accepting an opinion or to motivating them to take some action for a cause. Think about your purpose in writing, but don't hesitate to mix it up by putting some description in your exposition or some some persuasion in your narration.
7) Good writing avoids empty sentences which either repeats information or makes unsupported statements. Good writing also avoids padded sentences which include expressions like "what I mean is" or "on account of the fact that." Good writing avoids overloaded sentences by insuring that each sentence has only one central thought. Good writing makes sure all necessary words are included. Good writing varies the beginning of sentences. Good writing understands these rules and is perfectly comfortable breaking them when it serves a purpose.
8) You can learn to write perfectly well without ever hearing about the parts of speech. However, if you are interested in such stuff, note that all words are used in one of eight ways known as the parts of speech. A word's part of speech is solely determined by how it is used in a sentence. The eight parts of speech include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjective, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
A noun is anything that can be talked about as a subject. It includes people, places, things, and ideas (such as honesty and beauty).
Pronouns replace nouns in sentences and should not be used unless the writer has made it clear to the reader what noun the pronoun replaces.
Verbs are words that tell what the subject is doing (The dog barked), or they link the subject to its condition (The dog is a collie.)
Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. This means they give information about the nouns they are associated with. A green sweater is not just a sweater; it's green.
Adverbs modify verbs (In "The dog ran quickly" quickly modifies ran), adjectives (In "The dark brown dog is hungry" dark modifies brown which is an adjective); and other adverbs (in the expression "very quickly", very modifies quickly).
Prepositions are words that begin phrases that include nouns; together prepositions and nouns form phrases that work as adjectives (a box of chocolates) or adverbs (jumped for joy). Describing something's position without using prepositions would be difficult.
Conjunctions are words which connect words( peanut butter and jelly), phrases(on his own and without my permission), and clauses (While I cleaned house, I whistled a happy song.). Conjunctions can be coordinating which keep the elements equal ( I cleaned, and I whistled.) or subordinating which makes one clause dependent ( While I cleaned, I whistled).
9) In writing and speaking, words are grouped three ways: phrases (which lack subjects, verbs, or both), dependent clauses (which have subjects and verbs but lack complete thoughts), and independent clauses (which may stand alone as complete sentences).
10) Clauses that begin with subordinate conjunctions are dependent (See the example in #8 above.). This means they lack a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. Dependent clauses may also begin with relative pronouns ( I told the man who delivered the pizza to expect a big tip).
11) Whenever a dependent clause (Because I lost my way) or a phrase (Looking for my keys) is punctuated as though it were a sentence, a sentence fragment is created. Many readers look upon sentence fragements as a sign of poor editing. Sentence fragments have been known to cause confusion, agitation, and snootiness. It is probably best to avoid them unless it is your intention to annoy your reader.
12) A simple sentence has a single independent clause. (The mouse ran under the bed.) A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses. (The mouse ran under than bed, but he could not escape the cat. or The mouse ran under the bed; however, he could not escape the cat.) A complex sentence has one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. (Although the mouse ran under the bed, he could not escape the cat. or The mouse that ran under the bed could not escape the cat.)