Stacked Modifiers and Nouns:
•Avoid using long strings of
modifiers
or nouns.
•These stacked modifiers and nouns can be hard to read and
sometimes create ambiguity.
• Add a few words (especially prepositions and conjunctions)
to make the relationships
between nouns clear to the reader.
Wordiness:
•Say what you have to say in as few words as possible
without sacrificing clarity or omitting
vital information.
•Conciseness is desirable in
all
writing, but especially so in technical
writing.
•Excessive use of the passive voice, excessive
nominalization,
unnecessary repetition, and
unnecessary words and phrases are
some common causes of wordy writing.
Passive Voice and Active Voice:
•Use the
active voice
whenever the passive voice is not
appropriate.
•Active verbs make for
concise
prose;sentences with passive verbs use more
words.
•Moreover, passive verbs de-emphasize or even eliminate
mention of the performer of the
action conveyed by the verb.
Nominalizations:
•Where possible, use
verb
forms instead of noun forms.
•Excessive or unnecessary
nominalization
(turning verbs into nouns) can make your
writing
wordy because it requires a noun and a verb instead of just
the verb form.
Unnecessary Repetition:
•Avoid unnecessary repetition.
• One of the most common types of unnecessary repetition
involves modifiers
that repeat
information given in the word modified.
•In the slides that follow we discuss a few examples of
recognizing and eliminating
repetition.
Unnecessary Words and Phrases:
•Make sure that each word and phrase in your sentences
contributes to meaning and clarity.
•Try to avoid the two commonly used constructions
There is/are . . .
And
It is . . .
.
•Delete superfluous material when you revise your first
draft.
Overloaded Sentences:
•Avoid sentences that contain more information than the
reader can easily follow.
•Instead, divide such sentences into more manageable pieces
that can be easily grasped.
Sentence Fragments:
•A sentence fragment is missing a subject, a
verb,
or both, but is punctuated as if it were a
complete sentence.
•In the following slides we examine a few examples of such
sentences which do not make
sense and at the same time correct them as well.
Comma Splice:
•Never link two
independent clauses
with just a comma; this is known as a
comma splice
error .
•You can correct a comma splice in four ways:
Separate the
independent clauses into two separate sentences. Punctuate both
sentences with
periods.
Replace the comma
with a semicolon
or with a semicolon and a
conjunctive
adverb such as
however
or
furthermore.
(The conjunctive adverb is then normally followed
by a comma.)
Replace the comma
with a comma and a
coordinating conjunction.
Make one of the
clauses into a
subordinate clause.
Fused Sentences:
•Do not allow two
independent clauses
to run together without a
conjunction
or punctuation
between them.
•This error produces a fused sentence.
•To join two main clauses, follow the options listed under
comma splice.
Stringy Sentences:
•Avoid stringing several
clauses
that would be easier to read and understand
if they were
broken up into separate clauses.
•The following example make the point of how incoherent, the
language becomes with the
use of stringy sentences.
Agreement:
•Agreement between
subjects
and verbs and between
pronouns
and their
antecedents
is
important for paragraph coherence, as well as for style and
grammar.
•When editing
your document, check for agreement,
paying close attention to subjects,
verbs, and pronouns.
•Make sure your subject agrees with your verb ( subject-verb
agreement).
•Make sure your pronouns agree in gender and number with
their antecedents ( pronounantecedent
agreement ).
•Make sure the form of your pronoun is appropriate for how
you are using the pronoun in the
sentence ( pronoun
case).
•For the sake of
clarity,
make sure your pronouns are closely linked to their antecedents
(pronoun reference).
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