Grammar
Standard grammar gives you a better chance of communicating clearly and accurately. Here are some of the key points you need to focus on:
- Sentence Structure: Make sure each sentence has a subject and a verb. Also, avoid "run-on" sentences (where one sentence should really be two), such as "He discovered penicillin in St Mary's Hospital is in Paddington."
- Subject-Verb Agreement: Make sure that subjects and verbs agree in number (singular or plural). For example, “The student writes” (singular) versus “The students write” (plural).
- Tense Consistency: It is easy to forget what tense you are using and accidently change it. Usually, academic writing uses the present tense for general things and the past tense for specific studies or events that have stopped before now.
- Punctuation: Use punctuation marks correctly to clarify meaning. Commas, full stops, semi-colons, and colons each have specific uses that can affect the readability of your text. To find out the details, see the Mini-module: Grammar - Section on Punctuation.
- Pronouns: Ensure pronouns agree with their nouns in number and gender. Make sure it is clear what pronouns refer to; for example, "they" for a single person can be ambiguous: "In the meeting, I asked if my supervisor was free, but they said they weren't."
- Modifiers (words or phrases that describe other words): Place modifiers close to the words they are acting on to avoid ambiguity. For example,
- “She only dictated the results” ("only" is next to "dictation", meaning she did not record the results in any other way)
-“She dictated the results only. (”only is next to "results", meaning she did not dictate anything else, just the results)
- Common Mistakes: Be aware of common grammatical mistakes, such as commas in the wrong place, incorrect use of apostrophes, and mixing up words that sound the same (e.g., “their” vs. “there”).
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