A cognitive functional approach to nominalization in english

8 McDonald’s— part-time 9 The catalog store — Christmas holidays 10 Talk to Judy: share a job with another girl 11 News survey says many working women are older than me 12 Women retu

AP Active and Passive 18

€ Comma, Uses of the 38 Cap and LC Capitalization and Lower Case 29

CC Compas for Clearness 44

Cd Coordination 49

CF Cornma Fault or Comma Splice 4!

Ci Cliché 93 CIN Collective nouns 34 Clq Colloquial 35

€n Connotation 47 Col Colon, Uses of the 36 Conf Confused Sentence 45

D Dash, Uses of the 53

MM Mixed Metaphor 69

NS Nonstandard 72 OBS Overburdened Sentence 73 F/no §] Paragraph Divisions 76 Paral Parallel Structure 79 Per Periodic Structure 62

A Concise

Guide

for Writers

sharfi and Winston

os Ig 86 Bey exico Chy Rio de Janeiro Madrid a

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Glorfeld, Louis E

A concise guide for writers

Includes index

1 English language—Rhetoric 2 English language—

Grammar-~ 1950- IL Lauerman, David A., 1931-

IL Stageberg, Norman C III Title ị

PE1408.G56 1984 808“.042 83-22828

ISBN 0ñ-ñ3-0bebeä-5

Copyright © 1984 by CBS College Publishing

Copyright © 1980, 1977, 1974, 1969, 1963 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Address correspondence to:

383 Madison Avenue

New York, N.Y 10017

All rights reserved

Printed ín the United States of America *

Published simultaneously in Canada

456 07365432

CBS COLLEGE PUBLISHING

Holt, Rinehart and Winston

The Dryden Press

Saunders College Publishing

To the Instructor

This sixth edition of A Concise Guide for Writers contains a num- ber of changes:

1 Section 1, “Getting Ready to Write,” has been completely

rewritten to illustrate the two most common approaches to writing

2; Section 2, “Overcoming High-Frequency Faults,” contains

‘over a hundred new examples and revision practice sentences

It also includes a revised treatment of the troublesome every- body problem

3 Asample research paper has been added to the unit “Writing a Research Paper” along with a discussion of plagiarism

4 The unit “Achieving Sentence Flow” has been expanded and re-organized for easier comprehension

5 Topical matters have been updated

The purpose, contents, and use of this book are as follows:

The overall goal of this brief handbook remains the same: to aid the student-writer to achieve a simple and clear writing style Section 1 offers the student practical hints on getting started and suggests a strategy for outlining and drafting short themes Section 2 takes up the more common writing faults, one at a

- time A brief and simple explanation is given for each fault, with ample illustrations drawn from student writing Meticulous quali- fications and overrefinements are avoided Following the expla-

nations, two sets of revision exercises are presented; each set

consists of sentences taken mostly from themes written by fresh- men that embody the fault with which the explanation is con- cerned Thus the student, by grappling with real, not factitious, writing problems, has the sense of performing a task that will bring a welcome reward—success in the mastery of one impor- tant step toward sound writing

vil

vi To The Instructor

Section 3 deals with broader problems that face the beginning writer The first two chapters cover sentence flow and thought development The next two chapters present the procedures and techniques of outlining and of preparing a simple research paper These are followed by a chapter on writing essay examinations; this chapter is perhaps most profitably taught shortly before

freshman students face their first mid-term examinations Finally,

there is a brief chapter on two writing tasks that are of vital concern to many students: the resume and job-application letter The appendix on the parts of speech is intended for instructors - who find it convenient in teaching composition to have this knowledge readily available to students

We should emphasize that this guidebook is neither a grammar nor a complete handbook of composition Rather, it contains a.” thoughtful selection of those writing problems that college fresh- men need most help with We have learned, through using the guide in the classroom ourselves, that its economy of presenta- tion is helpful in clarifying difficulties for students

The instructor may use the guide in several ways: (1) Use the

correction symbols for written work, thus referring each student

to the explanations and exercises needed (2) Assign the pages dealing with those faults that are causing difficulties for the class

as a whole (3) Teach the material in the book in the order in which it appears, with original written work at intervals (4) Use the inductive method in simple cases For example, the number agreement of the verb with a collective noun can be easily taught

by having the student derive the principle from examples like

The senior class is having a party

The senior class are sending our commencement invitations

We are grateful to the following for their help on this sixth edition

of A Concise Guide for Writers:

Randy Andreozzi, Tim Ostrander, and Paul Labaki of the Writing

Lab at Canisius College; Teodor Berg of Lane Community Col- lege; William G McKie of San Bernardino College; Curtis Olsen

of Kingsborough Community College; Richard Pepp of Massasoit

November, 1983

The Second Model ô

_ Using the Two Models 12

Follow-up Activities 12

2 Overcoming High-Frequency Faults 15

Reference Chart 15

4 Abbreviations—~Ab 16

2 Active and Passive—AP 18

3 Adverbs Like Only and Just, Placement of —Adv 21

4 Agreement of Subject and Verb—Agr SV 22

40 Colon, Uses of the-—-Col 36

44 Comma, Uses of the—C 38

42 Cormma Fault or Comena Splice—-CF 44

43 Commos for Cleorness—-CC 44

14, Confused Sentence-—Conf 45

45 Connotofion—Cn 47

416, Coordination—Cd 49

47 Dangling Modifer—-DM 54

48 Dash, Uses of the—D 53

49 Foreign Plurals-—FP 55 (See 44 Sp)

Run-On (Fused) Sentence —RO 104

Semicolon, Uses of the-—~S Col 102

Sentence Beginning—~SB 104 \ Sentence Variety —SV 107 Ệ

3 Masteting Larger Writing Problems 135

4, Achieving Sentence Flow 135

2 Developing Thought in Paragraphs 146

3 Organizing by Outline 162

4, Writing a Research Paper 172

Sample Paper 189

Alphabetical List of Correction Symbols inside front cover

Words Often Misspelled 225, 226, inside back cover

|

A Concise

Guide

for Writers

in words, and see how our friends react to them After talking things over; we feel as if we have thought things out We do a lot of

thinking as we talk Some of the time, when we write, the same

sort of process goes on, and we end up with the same sort of satisfaction We look back over our experiences, ideas, and feel- ings and frame them in words Afterwards, we feel better —satis- fied that our ideas have taken shape Writing is thinking

Talking and writing are both thinking, but we all know that

there are differences between the two These differences mean

that sometimes it takes a while to find the satisfaction that comes from writing As we settle down to talk with friends, we see familiar faces and we hear immediate reactions As we settle down to write, we see nothing but a blank sheet of paper That makes us uneasy We may have disturbing thoughts like these: How can I start a conversation with a blank sheet of paper? But I have to begin, somehow, if am going to enjoy this I must begin to think I must begin to write

Begin where? Most people who write well have learned some model for getting started That means they have learned a way to begin to think about the topic they have in mind Each of us needs

a model to follow —a way to begin to write Some people start by

2 Getting Ready to Write

jotting down word doodles; some write introductions; some make lists of ideas; some sit down to write only after they have the opening sentence all worked out mentally These methods have one thing in common: all are ways of getting some words onto the blank paper When they work, they produce what every writer needs— notes on paper that can be connected in some way The first big hurdle has been crossed The next thing to do is to search among these notes for a handle on the topic —a way to deal with - the topic The writer needs to be able to connect several items of information and to relate them to a topic The writer needs a plan Getting words onto paper, finding a handle, making a plan —all these are part of getting ready to write And people who write (which in our world is nearly everybody) get the job done in a variety of ways Most people who write regularly and well follow their own process models, and teachers/researchers have re- cently been learning how these models work Two of these models are quite familiar, and both are useful to writers at work

We will lay out the elements of each of the models for you in this chapter Neither is a recipe Which model is closer to your way of planning a-paper? Once you know what works best for you, you'll

be able to plan and control more effectively, and to produce better, more orderly writing

Getting a first draft is the hardest part of writing a college composition Many first-year college students learn to handle their compositions by following a simple procedure It consists of

five steps, which are listed here in a brief overview

1 Spend a few minutes jotting down quickly whatever thoughts come to mind in the general area of the assignment For this brief period it is important to keep writing Things that seem trivial at first become helpful as they awaken further words and ideas These written thoughts become a set of notes that will bé the basis of the paper

2 Sort these notes into groups that seem to go together The trick here is to find general items that include other items The item that is the most general one of all may become the overall subject of your discussion You will soon learn to reject items that do not fit or that seem unimportant

3 Arrange the groups in some sensible order

Writing Is Thinking 9

4 Take a second look at the grouped items Fill in gaps and cross out items that don’t fit You now have a scratch outline, and you are ready to write

5 Write the first draft of the paper rapidly, making few correc- tions as you go Pay attention only to the flow of ideas When this is finished, you will have a rough draft You are on your

as they came up By the end of the class session, Kathy had

recorded this list in her notes:

Making a decision

Solving a problem

Finding a job

Leaving home for the first time

Going back to school

- Kathy’s assignment was to develop a theme of several paragraphs

on one such topic

Armed with the ideas that came up in the class discussion, Kathy sits down immediately after class and begins gathering her

ideas She does not know yet what she'll say Still, as a married

woman returning to college, she has had job-hunting and the need for extra money on her mind, and these are the first things she jots down:

(1) Extra income for clothes

(2) Look for a job

(3) Raising kids

(4) How do I look for a job?

(5) Need to stay involved

4 Getting Ready to Write

(6) Tom F says married women are good workers

(7) Where do I start looking?

(8) McDonald’s— part-time

(9) The catalog store — Christmas holidays

(10) Talk to Judy: share a job with another girl

(11) News survey says many working women are older than me

(12) Women returning to the job market need help

Kathy can now lean back for a moment, feeling better She has something in writing She did not try to say anything in particular, you'll notice So far, she is letting the words that come to mind | flow freely onto the page But now there is a pattern to be seen in her notes She has begun to focus on her subject —“Women returning to the job market need help.” This will be her first tentative thesis sentence

Step 2

Kathy’s second task is to sort out her ideas As a way of focusing |

her attention, she looks through her list for similar ideas She

pulls out ideas which seem to be related to WHERE she'll look:

(7) Where do I start looking?

(8) McDonald’s—part-time

(9) The catalog store Christmas holidays

(10) Talk to Judy: share a job with another girl

Kathy also connects several items which express her REASONS for returning to work:

(1) Extra income for clothes

(5) Need to stay involved

and she adds another:

(13) Get out of the house!

While several items express Kathy’s anxiety about finding a job, she has some REASONS to HOPE for SUCCESS:

(6) Tom F says married women are good workers

(11) News survey says many working women are older than me

Again, further reasons occur to Kathy:

(14) Older workers are probably more stable

» (15) Older workers are cheap to hire

(4), How do I look for a job?

(12) Women returning to the job market need help

Since these items may fit in later on, Kathy sets them aside and presses on with her planning

Step 9

Kathy’s plan is taking shape She has ideas for three para- graphs Now she needs to work out and arrange them ina sensible order That doesn’t take long She will begin with her list of REASONS why women return to the job market Then she’ll go to her list of WHERE women look for jobs That leaves her to conclude on a positive note: REASONS to HOPE for SUCCESS This adds up to a sensible arrangement: Reasons— Methods— and Reasons to Hope for Success And when Kathy looks back at item 12—‘Women returning to the job market need help’— she begins to see her essay as a way of outlining a helpful plan for job-seekers

Step 4

Confident in these decisions, Kathy goes on to make a readable copy of her scratch outline As she copies the items in order, she changes wording and fills in gaps Item 12 becomes her working title:

WOMEN LOOKING FOR JOBS NEED HELP

1 Reasons why women return to work:

—Need extra income for families

~——Need to be involved with other people

—Need to get out of the house

2 Where they can re-enter the job market:

Part-time work (e.g., McDonald’s)

—Temporary work (in catalog stores, at Christmas)

—Share a full-time job with another woman (Judy)

3 Reasons why employers hire women:

—Women are reliable workers

Š Getting Ready to Write

~—They don’t change jobs often

— Labor costs are high, and women work cheap

Note that Kathy has deleted item 11 (“News survey says many working women are older than me’’) from her third paragraph It doesn’t fit very well there, yet it is an attractive item: she may fit it into her first paragraph

Kathy must not pause now, lest she lose the flow of ideas She begins by writing a sentence which states her topic — returning to the job market—and states her feelings about it This sentence

Returning to the job market after twenty years spent raising a family can be a frightening experience

That sentence may be changed later on, but Kathy doesn’t pause

as the words of her first draft flow across the page Here is her first draft:

Step 5

RETURNING TO THE JOB MARKET

Returning to the job market after an absence of twenty years spent raising a family can be a frightening experience The need for extra income in hard economic times, plus the personal fulfillment of a life’s ambition and the need to stay involved in activities outside the

home, are the main reasons women in their middle years re-enter the

work force These women need to be informed about the methods used for re-entry into the job market, plus the advantages as viewed from both the employee’s and the employer's perspectives A newspa- per survey of working women has shown one out of three women who work is forty-five years old or more, and the numbers are growing dramatically over the last two decades

The majority of women find part-time work, temporary work, and job sharing to be the most effective ways of re-entering the work force

A part-time worker is a person who puts in fewer than forty hours a

week on a particular job for which she has sole responsibility This arrangement would be beneficial to women who would like to con- tinue a job and also go back to school Temporary workers — people who work on irregular or season schedules —~ enjoy a flexible sched- ule and the chance to explore A job sharing position involves one full position being covered by two people This arrangement also leaves time for the individual to manage other possibilities along with a

career and permits raises, promotions, and upward mobility, which

are impossible for part-time workers.

Writing Is Thinking 7

All of these categories are becoming more popular, as the high cost

of permanent workers increases Also, employers can count on older workers being more stable The turnover among older women is far lower than for younger women These are positive thoughts that help build the self-confidence one needs to learn the new skills required for

success All workers can benefit from assurance, and especially so, the

returning middle-ager

Now Kathy may sit back, as she would after a pleasant hour of conversation, and feel the pleasure that comes of having said what she wanted to say Of course this is still rough copy, and some revising remains to be done After working for a while at some: thing else, Kathy will return to begin polishing her work She will have to change words and revise sentences, tidy up spelling and punctuation, and consult her dictionary When she has finished and the result looks good, she will set her paper aside to cool Next day, she will reread it: in the light of morning the flaws will stand out more clearly for correction At last she will copy the final version For Kathy, writing is thinking It’s not easy, but it can be

satisfying

FREE WRITING: ANOTHER WAY OF FINDING IDEAS

Students face many writing situations over their college years They must write papers and exams on a variety of topics for many different readers It’s essential that they learn to plan their ap- proach Furthermore, teachers who observe writers at work have noted that, while some “think before they write” (as Kathy does), just as many write as a way of thinking That is, they start writing, record whatever comes to mind, and trust that their own inclina- tion to search for order will lead them to focus their thoughts Here is a sample of some writing from a journal entry:

9/30/82 Wonder what we’re going to do today I hope it’s interesting so the time goes by quickly Right now I just want to go home and get something to eat I'm hungry I wish I had some money sol could have bought something to eat between classes I wonder if we're going to get a lot of homework I got quite a bit from the class before this one

and I just feel we'll get tons of it in chemistry and calculus tomorrow I just have that feeling that I’ll be busy all weekend There is really

nothing I have to do so they'll give me homework just so I don’t get

6 Gerting Reody ro Wriie

bored Homework should be outlawed on weekends I wonder if: there'll be any NFL football this weekend I miss it on Sunday and Monday nights The weekend after this will be great because it’s a four day weekend and also I’m going camping with a group of friends for part of it We need more weekends I think we should put two week- ends in one week

This begins as a rambling complaint, but the last few sentences show that the writer has some strong feelings about how he’d like

to use his weekends He could easily focus this topic in a thesis sentence —such as “If I had my weekends to myself, I could use the time in lots of ways.” He could elaborate by discussing his interest in camping and football

Writing whatever comes to mind—babbling— is a very un- controlled and wasteful way to get a paper written, but many writers have learned to incorporate it into an efficient and useful procedure for drafting an essay

A SECOND MODEL: TIM’S WAY

Tim is writing at his desk His writing teacher has set the following

Assume that you are a teacher in your old high school, and that a senior has asked you to write a letter of recommendation for him as he applies for admission to one of the U.S service academies He is an A student, and has notable qualities of character, ability, and perform- ance He has gone out of the way to help the school community, such

as in tutoring some of the younger students He is popular with his classmates Your observation of him also reveals a strong moral

character

Tim begins much as Kathy does He lists ideas about the stu-

dent, ideas about letters, and key words noted in the assignment:

—relations with other students

Below the list Tim writes out the question he is now asking

What are the characteristics of a letter of recommendation?

To answer this, he resorts to a brief bit of free writing:

To portray a good character sketch and provide a list of accomplish- ments to prove to the reader that the student (Paul R E Vere) is, indeed, needed by the particular establishment (in this case, the West Point Academy)

Tim has found a focus He underscores the phrases “to prove to the reader that’ and “needed by the academy,” and goes on to draft

this thesis sentence:

Paul will not only be accepted at, but will be.a benefit to West Point

Tim’s next step is different from Kathy’s He does not yet prepare an outline; he immediately drafts his letter

Dear West Point:

Having worked with Paul in Boy Scouts, I found him quite a good leader His kids admired and willingly obeyed him He is relatively quiet, but when he speaks, he-speaks well and means what he says Paul’s performance at the A level during his high school career and his work as a tutor of math and science are good proofs of his intellec- tual ability and depth of understanding As a tutor, which was a service

he offered freely, he showed much patience and helped raise some of our poorer students to a fine academic level: If you have occasion to speak with him, I am sure you will find him a very friendly and

perceptive young man

The most revealing aspect of Paul is his football It wasn’t sitting and watching Saturday morning cartoons that produced one of the finest running backs our school has ever seen, but his get up and go! In fact, ifPaul has any weakness it’s his drive to produce He sets his goals and achieves them Paul is respected by all the team, and many of the students are fans of his

What’s even better is that he hasn’t allowed his success in aca-

_ demics, success in Scouts, and success in sports, to go to his head Yes,

he is quite a remarkable boy, and that’s why I am writing to you Yet I

49 Getting Ready to Write

don’t believe that a letter such as this can speak accurately of Paul I suggest you meet him There is probably no way that you can not hear about his accomplishments after he has been accepted Iam confident that Paul will do exceedingly well

Tim’s draft is messy and a bit rambling, but he’s ready to tighten

it up now

To bring the letter into tighter focus, Tim returns to the open- ing His draft lists three of Paul’s areas of achievement — Boy Scouts, school, and football Tim begins to focus on the opening paragraph by building these three points into his opening para- graph:

Ihave worked with Paul Vere in several capacities during the last five years His performance as a Scout Leader and his renown as a run- ning-back for the West Valley Spartans have shown me that he will not

only be accepted at, but be a benefit to West Point

Tim’s next step is to outline his letter Using his new “introduc- tion” as a guide, he will state the subject of each paragraph, in order, This outline will describe the logical order of Tim’s paper, and will guide him in revising it

Writing is Thinking — 44

Captain Harold Richards

Director of Admissions

West Point Army Academy

West Point, New York 14016

Re: Paul R E Vere 24 November, 1982

Dear Sir,

I have worked with Paul Vere in several capacities during the last five years His academic standing in my American History course as well as in other subjects, his performance as a Boy Scout leader in my troop, and his renown as a running-back for the West Valley Spartans

have shown me that he will not only be accepted at, but be a benefit to

West Point

Paul has succeeded in maintaining an A grade level during his entire high school career This and his work as a math and science tutor, a service which he offered freely, are definite proofs of his intellectual ability and depth of understanding Indeed, as a tutor, Paul showed much patience and helped raise some of our poorer

students to a fine academic level

Having worked with Paul in Boy Scouts, I also found him to be quite a good leader, both admired and willingly obeyed by his kids If you have occasion to speak to him, I am sure you will find him a very friendly and perceptive young man He is relatively quiet, but when he speaks, he speaks well and means what he says

However, the most revealing aspect of Paul is his football It wasn’t sitting and watching Saturday morning cartoons that produced one of the finest running-backs our school has ever seen, but his proud

endeavor! In fact, if Paul has any weakness, then it is his drive to

produce All the team respect Paul and many of the students and members of the community are great fans of his Yet, what is even

better is that he hasn’t allowed this success, success in academics,

success in Scouts and success in sports, to go to his head

Yes, Paul is quite a remarkable young man, and that is why am writing to you Since I don’t believe letters of this kind present a complete image of a person, I suggest you meet him I know West Point's reputation, and I am confident Paul will do exceedingly well there

Respectfully yours,

Timothy J Outlander

12 Getting Ready to Write

Tim may now, like Kathy, put his draft aside and go on to something else His’ copy is still rough, but his plan is clearly thought out and drafted Only the editing remains; he’ll do that in the morning

USING THE TWO MODELS

The two models we’ve looked at work equally well for these writers Rather than waiting for an idea to come, Tim and Kathy both started right in by writing

Both Kathy and Tim have learned procedures for getting started that work well Kathy writes “from the top down”: she makes a plan and follows it Tim writes the other way around: he writes to discover his ideas first; then he develops his plan Both have learned that a single draft doesn’t get the job done: it takes revision to produce orderly, readable text

Yet these young writers will point out that there are differences between the two models Kathy's outline gives her confidence Tim’s brainstorming approach gives him the excitement that

comes with discovering ideas Either of them would make adjust-

ments in the process to suit various situations The main point for each of them is that being confident and familiar with her and his writing process helps them to get started

Observe your own writing process at work, as Kathy, Tim, and other writers do As you become conscious of how you record your ideas, when you plan your strategy, and at what point you're ready to write a draft, you’ll develop a greater feeling of control over your pen and over the blank white sheet that awaits it

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

1 Look over this list of topics and select one Following Kathy's model, produce a list of items, a scratch outline, and the thesis sentence you would need to produce a brief essay

Advice to high school seniors

What makes a really good teacher

The advantages of life on a small campus

Women in college sports

Why I returned to college

Where I'd like to be ten years from now

Writing Is Thinking — 18

2 Take another look at the topics listed above This time follow Tim’s model: pick one topic and “brainstorm” a list of phrases, write sentences about key phrases until you discover a focus for your ideas; write a hasty draft; and use this list to produce a revised outline for a short essay

3 In a conference with her teacher, Kathy was told that the campus newspaper might want to print her essay Together they came away with these questions for developing her ideas:

—Does returning to college give women an advantage in their job search?

—»Does the government provide assistance to women returning to the work force?

—Which jobs are most accessible to women returning to work?

~-What methods of job-search seem to work best?

Assuming that Kathy can dig up answers to these questions, -point out ways she can work them into her plan Will the added material fit into her outline, or will she need a new plan altogether?

Parallel Structure-— 29 Paral

Periodic Structure —31 Per

Run-On (Fused) Sentence —

Transition — 49 Tr

Wordiness— 50 W

WORD CHOICE

Ambiguity—5 Amb Cliché-—7 Cl Colloquial —9 Clq Connotation — 15 Cn Idioms— 22 Id Meaning Not Clear— 23 M Mixed Metaphor—25 MM Nonstandard -—26 NS Redundancy —35 Red Repetition —-37 Rep Slang — 43 SI Wrong Word— 51 WW

(continued on page 16)

Comma, Uses of the 11 C Case —6 Cap & LC

Commas for Clearness — Paragraph Division —

13 CC 28 %/no %j

Colon, Uses o£ the— 10 Col Parentheses—30 Pns

Dash, Uses of the— 18 D Possessive — 32 Poss

Punctuation of Restrictive Quotation, Mechanics

and Nonrestrictive of —34 Quot

Abbreviations are used less frequently in formal than in infor- mal prose The form of abbreviations is sometimes variable and

inconsistent, as you may observe below Dictionaries often differ

about the abbreviated form of a particular word or phrase Each abbreviation listed here has the authority of at least one reputable dictionary

2 Titles before names of persons:

Mr Messrs Mrs Mmes Ms Miss Dr Prof

Supt St Asst Assoc Capt Gen Gov Sen

Four of these —Dr, Prof, Asst, Assoc~~may omit periods

3 Academic degrees:

BA MA PhD MD DVM DD LLD LittD EdD

Abbreviations of academic degrees may be used with or without periods

4 Organizations, countries, government agencies:

UN CBS AFL-CIO NAACP AAUW

USA USSR GB

FBI CIA

Periods usually are omitted in abbreviations like those in 4

Unless such an abbreviation is well known, like FBI, it is custom-

ary to give the full name at first use and for later occurrences to employ the initials only

5 Abbreviations from the Latin:

ca or ca or c or c = about (before -NB or N.B = note well

a date) op cit or op cit = in the work

ef or cf = compare cited

e.g = for example qv or q.v = which see

et al or et al = and others viz or viz = namely

etc or etc = and so on VS or vs = against, in contrast

ie = that is with

These Latinate abbreviations are used mostly in formal writing, like term papers In less formal writing, like college composi- tions, it is better to use the plain English terms, like for example

instead ©F °:8- | TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOAI NGU- BHOGHN

6 Contracted ý PRONG TAM HOC Libu,

4-Ab

48 Overcoming High-Frequency Faults

and he’d, are used in informal writing but usually are not appro- priate in formal writing, such as research papers and scientific reports The same applies to shortened words, like chem, econ, math, dorm, and gym Follow your instructor’s preference in using contracted and shortened words °

7 For other abbreviations, consult your desk dictionary If you are using an older one, it may not contain some relatively new abbreviations like AKA (= also known as)

2° AP

Active and Passive

An active verb is one whose subject is the doer of the action, as

in

Our neighbor stole the boat

The author discussed the nature of literature

The rnanager will close the restaurant ar nine

In these examples the verbs are active because the doers of the action are the subjects neighbor, author, and manager

A passive verb consists of at least two parts: a form of be (am, is, are, was, were, be, been) and a past participle, as in is stolen, are stolen, had been stolen, was discussed, will be closed Here is a sentence with a passive verb:

The boat had been stolen

Note that the doer is not mentioned To tell your reader who/what the doer is in a passive verb sentence, you must add a by phrase, thus:

The boat had been stolen by our neighbor

To use the passive effectively, you should be aware of two warnings:

la Avoid “weak passives”’—those that do not serve a purpose These only lead to wordy constructions.and false emphasis

Here are some examples:

BAP Active and Passive 49 The biggest fish were caught by me and my brother

The next topic has already been discussed by my opponent

i wos surprised to hear the view that was expressed by her

These sentences are neither wrong nor unclear, but they would sound more straightforward if they were made active:

My brother and | caught the biggest fish

My opponent has already discussed the next topic

{ was surprised to hear the view she expressed

ib A sentence that begins in the active voice should not be shifted to the passive voice without good reason Take this sentence, for example:

The speaker who does this believes that he is correct in the point which is being pur across

It would be more natural and direct to retain the active voice throughout:

The speaker who does this believes thar he is correct in the point he is putting

across

The passive voice is a convenient rhetorical device that may be effectively used in at least four situations:

2a When the writer wishes to remain noncommittal:

We suspected thar the boar had been stolen

Here the writer remains uncommitted as to who did the stealing 2b When a link with the preceding sentence is needed:

This is one definition of literature The other has already been discussed

In this construction, other is placed close to its referent, defini- tion, in order to aid the flow of ideas

2c, When the doer is unimportant:

The restaurant will be closed at nine

2d When the subject of a passive verb is the matter of greatest interest:

A lovely red Persian rug was unrolled ar our feet.

20 Overcoming High-Frequency Faults 2-AP

Even though Michael drives well, avoidance of this accident was impossible

Jim sees that Antonia’s physical appearance has changed This image of her is noticed by him at the end of the novel

When filling a test tube, great care must be taken to avoid spilling

- Iwas told by my teacher something that was very helpful in my later years of high school

- Maria wanted to be warm enough on the ski trip After she bundled up in her woolen slacks and light-weight wind- breaker, her long scarf was found and put on

ADDITIONAL REVISION PRACTICE

Identify and correct active-passive shifts and “weak passives” in the following sentences:

The reviews of this new and popular play were disagreed with

by the theater audiences

All my life, it seems, the intimate secrets of many people have been revealed to me

She drove the car skillfully After looking in both directions for cars, the gear was shifted, after which the clutch was released slowly and she was on her way

Placement of Adverbs like

Only and Just

As a sample of adverb placement, consider this sentence in which a witness is testifying about a burglary:

ft only saw one man at the scene

The preverb placement of only in a sentence like this has long been the subject of controversy Some writers contend that this sentence, in strict logic, means “‘only saw but did not hear” and thus should be written as

I saw only one man at the scene

They reason that, as only modifies one and not saw, it should be placed immediately before one This reasoning is an application

of the general principle, a sound one, that modifiers should be placed next to or close to the words they modify But, in the case

of only, three considerations should be noted: (1) The meaning of

the first sentence is not in doubt (2) The inner ear links together only and one by giving each a strong stress (3) The “4Hogical”” placement of only before the verb instead of before the word it modifies has been practiced by reputable writers for five cen- turies.*

However, there are cases in written English where the preverb placement of only can cause an ambiguity, as in

Your pain can only be alleviated by a spinal operation

The two meanings possible here are: “only be alleviated but not eliminated completely” and “only bya spinal operation but not by physical therapy.” The ambiguity can be removed by rewriting the sentence in either of two ways:

Your pain can be alleviated but not eliminated by a spinal operation

Your pain can be alleviated only by a spinal operation

* Note: The Oxford English Dictionary, in the 1905 volume O-P, gives in- stances of the “misplaced” only as early as 1493 (Caxton) and 1540 (Cromwell)

Samuel Johnson, in his Dictionary of the English Language, Vol II, 1755, says of

narrate: “‘a word only used in Scotland.”

4-Agr SV

What has been said above about only applies also to just, even, almost, nearly, hardly, and scarcely For example,

He just came in a minute ago

In order to play safe in your college writing, you would do best

to place these adverbs right before the words they modify or, in ambiguous cases, rewrite the sentence

1, Taylor explained that he only took the Fifth Amendment be- cause the questions dealt with matters

2 One can only succeed by hard work,

3 We just want two more helpers

4 After driving for eight days, I hardly had any clean clothes left

5 You should only give a Reggie Jackson the home run sign

ADDITIONAL REVISION PRACTICE

Place the italicized adverb right before the word it modifies In these sentences, assume that the adverb modifies an element after the verb

1, He only walked as far as the first row

2 Jeanne had only been there twice in her life

3 The doctor even warned me against chocolate

4 The counselor only wanted to inform me

5 Dorothy only desired one but she received several

4-Agr $V Agreement of Subject and Verb 28

4st | work we work

ord he works they work

Of these six verb forms, one is out of line— works It has an -s ending that is not shared by the others This -s form is used when the subject is any singular pronoun except J and you, as in

He works

She plays

it depends

Each prefers his own instrument

Each of the musicians prefers his own instrument

Everyone wishes to aid the ethnic minorities

Neither believes he is wrong

Neither of the debaters believes he is wrong

The -s form of the verb is also used when the subject is a singular noun; for example,

His duty depends on his orders

A mistake occurs in the second chapter

A mistake in punctuation mechanics occurs in the second chapter

The same -s ending is also the ending of irregular verb forms —is, was, has, does—~all of which occur with a singular subject in the

third person, as in

My favorite activity is tennis

The main thing was the pizza

Her calf has won the prize

Each does his besf

Everybody was asked fo bring refreshments

‘Now, if we look again at the six verb forms at the beginning of this paragraph, we note that the plural forms, in the right-hand column, are simply the bare verb without any ending —work

4:Agr SV

24 = Overcoming High-Frequency Faults

Verb forms without endings are the ones used with plural subjects

in the present Here are some examples:

The young people work

The young people in the volunteer groups work hard

Jack, Susan, and Carlos come iate to class on Tuesdays

His duties depend on his orders

The duties of the leader seem simple

Many go to the audirorium lectures

The plural form are, which is irregular in form, also takes a plural subject, as in

These activities are time-consuming,

The activities offered by our junior college are time-consuming

All are standing in the hall

All this is simple, and you probably have already learned not to write they was, or it depend, or the student have But there are five special sentence situations in which you are liable to go wrong in your singulars and plurals We will illustrate all five:

i A troublesome situation is this:

The duties of the guard depends on the type of post

You know that the plural duties requires the plural form of the verb, depend; and you would naturally say duties depend But the intervening modifier, of the guard (in which the noun is singular), lures you into a singular form of the verb, depends To avoid this kind of error, put your one-word subject together with its verb and see if they match; the subject-verb duties depends is obviously a Inismating; hence you must shift to duties depend

2 Another sentence situation that causes singular-plural trouble

is the which-who-that clause This sentence will show the trouble:

My roommate has two thoroughbred calves on his father’s farm which has won several prizes at the Cattle Congress

The difficulty is that, in this kind of sentence, the verb is often distant from the governing subject, so that the writer forgets what

4-Agr SV

Agreement of Subject and Verb 25

number he should use for the verb To test this situation, simply put the subject, relative, and verb together—~ calves which has— and you will see at once that the verb should be have, as in calves which have

3 Another troublesome situation may be illustrated by this sen-

tence:

For me the most important thing in high school were the activities

Here the plural word activities has coaxed a plural verb out of you, but it is the word thing before the verb that is the subject, and your sentence should read: `

For me the most important thing in high school was the activities

If, however, you made activities the subject, then the sentence

would read:

For me activities were the most important thing in high school

4 A trouble spot occurs in the there type of sentence, where the subject follows the verb Be cautious with there; it is merely a

“function” word that gets the sentence started:

In the new gym there Is a swimming pool, a wrestling room, and a basketball

Here is the same kind of error in another sentence:

In tennis there occurs several mistakes that beginners should avoid

Since the subject, mistakes, is plural, it should have a plural verb:

In tennis there occur several mistakes that beginners should avoid

REVISION PRACTICE

Revise these sentences, correcting errors in agreement

1 The health of the animals require proper care

2 The life forms that inhabit this planet consists of plants and animals

The thing people dislike about biology lab are the dead cats There’s too many nurses in this room

In the twentieth century, the culture of nations change from

decade to decade

Any one of the tutors are capable of handling the assignments The results I expect to obtain from my education is equal to the amount of effort extended

While we remained, everything that belonged to the members

of our group were there for the use of all of us

Not one of the students in my class ever speak out of turn

There’s many students who have not read their booklet on college regulations

ADDITIONAL REVISION PRACTICE

Revise these sentences, correcting errors in agreement

The thickness of the wrestling mats vary

My pile of notes are not in the other room!

In our society today there exists many problems that can be solved only by social scientists

Learning the rudiments of music are not difficult

Among the guests was an artist, a ball player, a writer, anda bank president

The law of averages protect you in a risky situation such as this

There’s many people who look for a secure future

For John, climbing the mountains were the most exhilarating moment in his life

Fil do thar in an hour.

5-Amb Ambiguity 27

The writer, who probably thought this sentence seemed simple, direct, and clear, did not notice that the word in can convey two meanings here, so that the sentence can mean either:

I'll do thet within an hour

or

I'll do that after an hour

This type of ambiguity, stemming from the multiple meanings of individual words, is called lexical ambiguity

Asecond type is syntactic ambiguity This is occasioned by the grammatical arrangement of words Here are a few of the many arrangements that may produce syntactic ambiguity:

1, Adjective + noun + noun, as in

heavy hog production

In this example, the adjective heavy can modify either hog, with the resultant meaning of “production of heavy hogs”; or the noun phrase hog production, giving a meaning of “hog production that

is heavy.” The ambiguity can be removed by a hyphen, thus

heavy-hog production

heavy hog-production

2 More + adjective + noun, as in

Give more realistic details

This sentence can mean either “Give details that are more realis- tic” or “Give more details that are realistic.”

3 Adjective + series of nouns, as in

A baseball player must have good vision, coordination, and speed

In this sentence, the adjective good may modify either vision

alone or the whole series-— vision, coordination, and speed We

can remove the ambiguity by these revisions:

A baseball player must have sharp vision, coordination, and speed

- A baseball player must have coordination, speed, and good vision

A baseball player must be good in three respects: vision, coordination, and speed

4 Head + modifier + head The term head refers to the word

5-Amb

28 = Overcoming High-Frequency Fauirs

‘modified In this arrangement the modifer may modify either the preceding or the following word, as in

What we believe profoundly influences our ability to listen fairly

Here we cannot tell whether the writer means “believe pro- foundly” or “profoundly influences.” The ambiguity can be cor- rected by changing the position of profoundly, thus:

What we profoundly believe influences our ability to listen fairly

Whar we believe influences profoundly our ability to listen fairly.*

A qualification about ambiguity must be made A sentence that

is ambiguous in isolation will sometimes be clear in a controlling context For example,

She appealed to him

by itself has two meanings: (1) She was attractive to him (2) She requested him (for something or to do something) But it is clear

in these contexts:

With her wavy golden hair and sky-blue eyes, she appealed to him in a way that made him wish to know her better

She appecied to him for mercy

Ambiguities are elusive When your mind is fixed on one mean- ing it is sometimes very difficult to make a mental shift to the other meaning Therefore your instructor may wish to devote class time

to locating the double meaning of each sentence before you begin revising the following sentences But if the instructor does not care to do this, you will find it helpful to work with a fellow student in order to locate the ambiguities

‘REVISION PRACTICE (Lexical Ambiguities)

Revise each sentence so as to remove the ambiguity and present one meaning clearly

1, How will he find his dog tomorrow?

2 Mac’s sister did not care for the pigeons

3 She rented the apartment for $250 a month

4 The agents collect at the drug store

* See 45 Sq (Squinting Modifier).