Any grammar questions?

It's the start of a new term for the online university for which I teach. As always, I have a slew of new students, some of whom haven't written a formal essay in some time.

It is these students whom I ask: Do you have any grammar questions? In the several years I've been maintaining this blog, I think I've answered the most pressing, but please feel free to send me an email if you'd like to see more topics.

To those new students this term: I'm looking forward to working with you and helping you to find that writing is painless!

Keep pen to paper!
Prof. Rinehart

What do you want to know?

I'm about ready to start a new semester teaching a whole new group of students.

As I'm preparing my course-work and reviewing assignments, I'm reminded that some (many?) students are anxious about this course because they haven't written an academic composition in a while, or they just haven't had good experiences with writing.

If you're a former student (or someone who has stumbled on this blog), and you have a question about writing that is not addressed elsewhere, would you please send me an email? I'd like to add more relevant content.

Thank you!

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

An English Instructor's Pet Peeves ... or what NOT to do! (Part 2)

Have you ever wondered what really bugs your English teacher? No? Well, you should! The more that you can master English grammar concepts (and avoid making common errors), the more effective you will be as you write academic essays.

Part one covered some of the more common errors I see in students' papers. Now, let's look at a few more:

• Accept versus except: As with other similar-sounding words, these are not interchangeable. For example: I would accept your invitation except I have another appointment.
• Already versus all ready: Again, there is a difference in meaning. For example: We were all ready to go to the movie, but it had already started.
• All right: All right is always two words. Alright is a common misspelling and is incorrect.
• Lay versus lie: Lay is an action of placement; lie is an action of reclining. For example: Please lay your book on the table before you lie down. (NOTE: These irregular verbs are tricky in all tenses; review before using.)
• Raise versus rise: Raise is an action of lifting; rise is an action of getting up. For example: Will you raise the blinds before I rise? (See the note above regarding tricky irregular verbs.)
• Whose versus who's: Whose is possessive; who's is the contraction of who is. For example: Whose car is that? Who's going with you?
• Any more versus anymore: These are not interchangeable either. For example: He does not want anymore. She does not live here any more.
• Everyday versus every day: Everyday is an adjective; every day is a designation of something done each day. For example: Everyday problems tend to arise every day.
• Then versus than: Then is a proposition leading from one thought to the next; than is a comparative. For example: If you do your homework, then you can have ice cream. I would rather eat ice cream than do homework.
• All together versus altogether: These are even more words that are not interchangeable. For example: It is not altogether true that our family never spends vacation all together.
• Is when or is where: These are faulty constructions. Instead of Adolescence is when a person is between childhood and adulthood, write Adolescence is a stage between childhood and adulthood.
• Kind of or sort of: These are very weakly, informally constructed. Instead of I am feeling kind of tired, write I am feeling rather tired.
• Maybe versus may be: Tuesday may be a legal holiday; maybe we do not have classes.
• OK/O.K./Okay: All are spelled correctly, but all should be avoided with formal, academic essays.
• Being that: This is extremely weak construction. Instead of Being that I am from Southern California, I like to spend time at the beach, write Because I am from Southern California, I like to spend time at the beach.

I cannot encourage you enough to review concepts regularly and practice writing as often as you can if you want to become a more effective writer.

Keep pen to paper!
Prof. Rinehart

P.S. If you have some concepts that you would like some help with and you cannot find them here, feel free to email at writingispainless123@gmail.com. I would be happy to address any concerns.

Formal versus Informal

You're a college student, writing papers for college. You've submitted a few, and your instructor keeps telling you that your papers need to be more formal.

Formal? What does that mean? Should you be dressing up while you write?

No, of course not!

What we mean when we say formal is an issue of tone. When you're writing for fun or creatively, formality doesn't really matter. In fact, some creative writers ignore some of the more common grammar rules. However, when you're writing for a college course, you need to adhere to grammar rules, and your work needs to have a formal tone.

So, what's the difference between formal and informal tone?

So far, this blog entry has had a rather informal tone. I've used contractions. I've used a fragment. I've used a bit of levity. Formal writing does not use contractions or slang. It does not include jargon or colloquialisms. It is written in third person (he, she, they, one).

An informal paragraph might read something like:

When I read the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, my first thought was that it had a lot of imagery. He writes about yellow woods and grassy and wanted wear. This seems to make it clear that the setting is a wood in the fall. But the most important thing I see is how the entire poem is a metaphor for the choices we make. Every day, we have tons of decisions, and we need to be sure we make the right ones. When Frost stands at the fork in the road, he has to make a choice not really knowing what the result will be. We too need to make choices, but we're not sure what will happen.

A formal take on the same paragraph might read something like:

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" includes imagery and metaphor. His use of words such as yellow wood and grassy and wanted wear invoke the image of a dense wood in the middle of autumn. More important than the imagery, however, is the extended metaphor of the narrator's having to make a choice: Which of the two roads should he take? Just as the narrator faces a choice and an unknown destination, so the reader makes similar choices, uncertain of the result.

While you're certainly free to write how you choose in personal or creative writing (although I would still argue that you should still follow the rules of grammar any time you write!), it is imperative that you practice formality in your academic writing.

Finally, if you really want to know what a formal tone is like, read an entry from an academic journal. You can't get much more formal than that!

As always, if you have additional questions, feel free to send me an email.

Keep pen to paper!
Prof. Rinehart

Gerunds ... using "-ing' verbs

Well, hello ...

It's been a while since I gave a grammar tip. Hectic times.

As I was thinking about what I wanted to share with you, I decided to focus on a lesser-known concept: the Gerund.

Simply put, a gerund is a -ing verb. For example:

swimming
driving
eating

Gerunds function as nouns and can be used as subjects, direct objects, and objects of prepositions.

Subjects:

Running is my favorite way to exercise.
Singing is her greatest pleasure.

Direct objects:

My dogs do not like bathing.
Sharon wants to do more traveling.

Objects of prepositions:

Karen wrote a book about cooking.
Annie won first prize for acting. 

A key when using a gerund is using the possessive form of the noun or pronoun that precedes it. Because the gerund is a noun, your sentence needs to be structured correctly. So, if you wrote a sentence like:

I like your dress, you'd know to use the possessive form of the pronoun, right? Dress is a noun, so you'd use the possessive form of the pronoun. Easy!

However, we often see sentences written like:

Her family loves Karen cooking.
Joe enjoys his sister playing the piano.

Do these look right to you? If so, ask yourself: How are the words cooking and playing functioning in the sentences? Hopefully, you can see they're functioning as nouns; therefore, they're gerunds. Cooking and playing are things (as in "people, places, or things") not actions. So, the sentences should be:

My family loves Karen's cooking.
Joe enjoys his sister's playing the piano.

Do you see the difference?

Your goal as a writer is to look closely at each sentence you write and make certain you're using the correct structure. So when you find yourself using an -ing verb, ask yourself: Is this word functioning as a verb? Or as a noun? If it's the latter, then make certain you're using the possessive form of the noun or pronoun that precedes it.

If this isn't clear, feel free to comment (and if you're a Liberty student, send me an email via my Liberty email address).

As always, keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

APA Formatting

Last time, we focused on formatting according to MLA standards. Today, let's take a look at the other more common formatting requirements: APA.

Just as we asked with MLA, why APA? While MLA is used more often by those in the arts:

“Most disciplines in the social sciences – psychology, sociology, political science, and economics – use the name-and-date system of documentation put forth by the American Psychological Association . . . this citation style highlights the dates of publication because the currency of published material is of primary importance in these disciplines.”
(The College Writer's Reference, Fulwiler et al, 2001, pp. 375-376)   

So how do you make certain you're following the proper guidelines? First, if you're one of my Liberty students, check out the resources that are available through the library and online sources. Second, visit one of my favorite sites for APA (OWL: APA Formatting). Finally, for a quick overview, review the following:

 

If you have any questions about APA formatting, talk to your instructor BEFORE you submit any papers.

Next time, we'll have a brief overview of a less-common style: Turabian.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart
                    

The Writing Process (steps three through seven)

Last time, we finished up step two of the seven-step writing process. As I mentioned, if you master the first two steps, you'll lay a solid foundation for any academic essay ... and that's before you really begin writing!

Now you can really put pen to paper.

Step Three: Drafting

Once you've determined your subject, purpose, and audience, and you've developed a solid thesis and outline, you can begin writing your essay. [NOTE: Take a look at the blog "Academic Essays ..." for more information on what an academic essay should look like ... more or less.]

Using your outline as a guideline, draft a solid introductory paragraph, including your thesis statement. Then, draft your body and concluding paragraphs. The key is: While you want to write as clearly as possible, don't worry about perfect grammar or punctuation. You'll cover that in steps five through seven. The point of drafting is to get your thoughts on paper.




Step Four: Incubating

This step is often skipped, but is oh-so important. Many students begin the revision process right after they finish their rough draft. The problem is, when they go right back to the draft, they're still in draft mode, so they often miss errors and flow issues.

Incubating allows you to step away from your draft and then come back with fresh eyes.  This may be the one and only time you have a professor giving you permission to go and play for a while, so take advantage of it!



Step Five: Revising

When you get done playing, come back and look at your essay objectively before moving on. HELPFUL HINT: READ YOUR PAPER OUT LOUD. If every student did this during the next three steps, I GUARANTEE he or she would correct many errors and submit better papers!

Once you've read your work out loud (I really do recommend this!), move on to step five. This is what I like to call the "macro-revision." Ask questions like:

• Do the paragraphs flow smoothly?
• Does each point support my thesis?
• Do I have enough support?
• Have I included relevant information?
• Should I move any paragraphs for logical flow?

This step allows you to take a big-picture look at your essay and revise accordingly.



Step Six: Editing

Once you've looked at your essay overall (and made any large adjustments), look at your essay paragraph by paragraph. Ask questions like:

• Are my sentences structured correctly?
• Do I have any comma splices or run-ons?
• Am I using the right words to say what I want to say?
• Am I being concise? Or too wordy?
• Do my paragraphs flow?

Step Seven: Proofing

This step puts the final touches on your essay. I recommend you read your paper out loud again as you keep an eye out for punctuation and spelling errors. I do recommend you use the resources available with your word processor; however, do not rely on them! Spell check only catches spelling errors, not words that aren't used correctly. So, for example, it would catch:

I don't think thair car is here. (Thair is misspelled.)

But it would think the following sentence is spelled correctly (which it is):

I don't think there car is here. (However, while there is spelled correctly, it is not the correct word.)

It is YOUR responsibility to make certain your final paper is as correctly- and well-written as possible.



Writing is a skill to be learned, so I encourage you to use all tools available to you in order to be as effective a writer as I believe you can be!

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

The Writing Process (preparing part two ... and Step Two: Planning)

Last time, we talked about the first step of the writing process, focusing on determining your purpose and your audience. I ended with determining your subject and mentioned that it's often necessary to do some brainstorming to get started (this is still part of the preparing process).

There are three brainstorming activities I often recommend: freewriting, clustering, and mind-mapping.

The theory with freewriting is that you start with an idea or a thought and expand on it through just writing whatever comes to mind. This is a great exercise for kinesthetic learners because it gives them a hands-on approach. The theory with clustering is that you start with an idea or a thought and expand on it through logical hierarchy. This is a great exercise for visual learners because it gives them a linear view. Mind-mapping is a combination of the two and works well with most learners.

Okay. You've completed step one! You've determined your purpose, audience, and subject.

FINALLY!

Let's move on to Step Two: Planning.

This step is often skipped, but I learned the hard way how important it is. I used to skip planning. I'd go directly from preparing to drafting, and usually did okay in high school and as an undergrad. However, when I started grad school and began writing longer papers, I realized how important a good outline can be (my first few papers weren't as well-structured as they could have been, and once I began outlining, my drafts flowed much more smoothly!). I encourage you to incorporate this step with all your writing assignments!

When you begin planning, follow these four steps:



You will have determined your topic during your preparing, so now you're delving more deeply into that topic. A couple of blogs ago, I talked about developing a good thesis, so review that blog as a refresher. As a quick reminder:



Next, put together an outline (the same blog mentioned above deals with outlines as well, so take a look at it again). Outlines help to structure your essay and help you determine if you have enough support.


A sample outline:





See how a good outline can help structure your essay? If you have solid main and supporting points, you already have your paragraph topics!

Once you've written your thesis and have a well-developed outline, you're ready to move on to Step Three: Drafting. We'll talk about this next time.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

The Writing Process: Step One (Preparing, part one)

One of the most difficult parts of writing is simply getting started. I highly recommend your following some kind of process to help get past that dreaded "writer's block." If you Google "writing process," you'll get countless responses. Some recommend three steps; others recommend five steps. I recommend seven. This blog will cover the first step: Preparing.

Before we start, let's take a quick true/false quiz.

So, what do you think?

Now, comes the hard part. While you may feel confident that you're not alone in this sometimes frustrating world of essay writing, you still may be asking: How do I get started?

STEP #1: Preparing

First, you need to determine three key elements: Purpose, Audience, and Subject. Until you know these three things, you can't really get started.

Purpose is the "why." Why are you writing this essay? The obvious answer for academic essays is often "to get a grade." While that's certainly true, you also need to understand what kind of essay you're writing. Are telling a story? Analyzing a piece of literature?  Explaining a procedure? You need to decide what your purpose is.

Next, you need to determine your audience. This is the "who." To whom are you writing? Yes, your instructor will be reading your paper (and of course, grading it!), but usually, he or she is standing in for a general audience.

Finally, you need to determine your subject. This is the "what." About what are you writing? Most often with academic papers, your subject will be given to you (or at least you'll have a choice of prompts or subjects). If this is the case, you can go write on to developing your thesis (see blog on that topic). However, if you find yourself having to come up with a topic of your own, you may want to try some brainstorming. Unfortunately, I'm running out of space, so come back next time for brainstorming and Step Two: Planning.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

Academic Essays ... Writing the easy way!

Last time, I talked about how to develop a thesis statement and outline ... arguably the most important steps in writing an essay. Once you have those, however, what's next?

Most academic essays (at least until you hit graduate school) follow the same basic format:

• Introductory paragraph
• Body paragraph supporting your essay's first main point
• Body paragraph supporting your essay's second main point
• Body paragraph supporting your essay's third main point
• Concluding paragraph

Hopefully, you already determined these in your outline. If you did, then you're more than ready to take the next step: writing the essay itself.

The introductory paragraph should start with a topic sentence, some background information, and your thesis. A sample introductory paragraph (based on the blog on theses and outlines):

       Since the beginning of time, animals have been important to humans. In the story of creation, God created all animals, fish, and reptiles, and put them in the garden with Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:20-30). God then gave man the responsibility of caring for the animals. Although sin entered the world and the relationship between man and animal has been tainted, most people still have a strong affinity for animals. Domesticated animals have become very important for many humans, and many have dearly-loved pets; the most popular are dogs and cats. While both dogs and cats can be great pets, dogs are usually more dependent, trainable, and empathetic whereas cats tend to be more independent, stubborn, and apathetic.

See how I started with a topic sentence, added some broad background, and concluded with the thesis statement?

Each of your body paragraphs should be formatted in a similar way: topic sentence, supporting details, and concluding sentence. A sample body paragraph supporting the above thesis:

       Both dogs and cats are popular pets, and they have many aspects in common. For example, they can both be great companions. Only a pet-lover truly understands the joy of coming home after a hard day and being greeted by a wagging-tailed dog or a cat sinuously winding through legs. In addition, dogs and cats offer proven health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and helping Alzheimer's patients (WebMD). Pets certainly require care. They must be fed and bathed, and they also need regular veterinarian care. However, that responsibility can be another benefit for families with children. Caring for a pet can help children better understand how important regular feedings, walks, and other pet needs are. While dogs and cats certainly do have some similarities, they have even more differences.

With this body paragraph, I've written a topic sentence that directly supports my thesis. I have several detail sentences that support that topic sentence, and then I end with a concluding sentence that transitions into the next body paragraph, which will begin the discussion of the differences between dogs and cats.

After writing body paragraphs that continue to support your thesis, you'll write a concluding paragraph that brings your essay full circle. A sample concluding paragraph:

       While pets are not for everyone, they can be greatly beneficial to their owners. Dogs and cats, the most popular pets, offer joy and companionship, and can even help their owners be healthier. Dogs are arguably the friendlier, more dependent pet, while cats are independent and aloof. However, no matter which animal one chooses, having a pet can be a wonderful way of caring for some of God's creation.

A few important issues regarding academic essays:

• Each body paragraph should support your thesis (be careful not to follow "rabbit trails" of irrelevant information). For example, if you're writing about dogs and cats, don't start writing about how you've always wanted to own a lemur.
• In fact, you should avoid phrases like "I believe" or "I think." You're the writer, so your reader knows it's your opinion!
• Also, avoid phrases like, "This essay is about" or "This essay will discuss."
• As often as possible, avoid "second person" (you) with formal, academic essays. Academic essays should be written in "third person" (he, she, one, they).
• Avoid contractions.

As I wrote last time, if you start with a solid thesis and outline, writing an essay can be relatively easy. Just stay focused on your thesis and support it well.

One last note: Always make certain your essays are formatted correctly. They generally should be written with Times New Roman 12 pt. font and double-spaced; they should follow whatever style is appropriate (generally, MLA, APA, or CMS/Turabian).

Next time, I'll be talking about the writing process, including strong editing and revising, which is critical to make certain your final draft is as flawless as possible.

Keep pen to paper!

Professor Rinehart

P.S. Here are some websites that might be helpful:

http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/tips/essay/
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/01/