Microsoft Word - Writing and Grammar Guide.DOC

WHEN IN DOUBT . . . (a quick and easy writing reference)

©August 2004 Jayne Taylor Kacer

CONTENTS

PUNCTUATION

COMMAS

SEMI-COLONS

COLON

APOSTROPHE

DASHES AND PARENTHESES

QUOTATION MARKS

HYPHENS

QUESTION MARKS

BRACKETS

ELLIPSES (. . .)

ITALICS

CAPITALIZATION

COMMONLY MISUSED WORDS

COMMON WRITING ERRORS

"LEGALESE"

APPROPRIATE TONE OF FORMALITY

SUPERFLUOUS STATEMENTS

RUN-ON SENTENCES

BIG WORDS

USE OF PASSIVE VOICE

PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION

CONTRACTIONS

USE ACTIVE VERBS, NOT NOMINALIZATIONS

DEFINED TERMS

FOOTNOTES

MISPLACED MODIFIERS

ENDING A SENTENCE WITH A PREPOSITION

SPLITTING INFINITIVES

PRONOUNS

Failure of pronouns to clearly refer to the words for

which they are substitutes

Failure of a pronoun to agree with the noun

When referring to the court

VERB TENSES

Failure of the verb tense to agree with the noun

Past vs. present tense

IMPROPER PLURAL FORM OF A PROPER NOUN

ADJECTIVES v. ADVERBS

ADJECTIVES WITH COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE

NOUNS

NUMBERS

GRAMMAR AND SPELLING CHECKERS

EDIT, EDIT, EDIT

HELPFUL WRITING AND GRAMMAR WEBSITES

PUNCTUATION

COMMAS

• Comma controversy. Do you use a comma before and in a list of more

than two items? For example: Is it “apples, oranges, and peaches” or

“apples, oranges and peaches”? The final comma may be omitted unless

it is necessary to avoid ambiguity (property, torts, legal research and

writing, and contracts). Most authorities, however, encourage use of the

comma before and.

• Use a comma between two adjectives that modify a noun (the confident,

well-prepared law student).

• Use a comma in dates. Place a comma between the day of the month and

the year. Most writers omit the comma when referring to only the month

and year (October 1951, not

October, 1951).

• Use a comma after an introductory phrase or clause. (When the class was

over, the students celebrated.)

• Use a comma when a conjunction separates independent clauses in a

compound sentence. An independent clause can stand alone as a

sentence. For example: “One group of students went to the party, and

the other group of students went to the library.” When the subject of

both clauses is only in the first clause, do not put a comma before the

conjunction if the conjunction is and because the clause following the

conjunction cannot stand on its own. For example: “You should make

an outline for each class and participate in study groups.” If the

conjunction is something other than and, put a comma before the

conjunction. For example: “You should make an outline for each class,

but do not have to participate in a study group.”

• Avoid comma splices. A comma splice is the placement of a comma

between two independent clauses without the use of a conjunction. For

example: “One group of students went to the party, the other group of

students went to the library.” To correct the sentence, make two separate

sentences, separate the independent clauses with a semi-colon, or include

a conjunction.

• Use commas to set off phrases in a sentence. If the sentence still makes

sense when the phrase is removed, place commas at the beginning and

the end of the phrase. For example: “The law student, eager to become a

good writer, never missed her legal writing class.”

SEMI-COLONS

• Use a semi-colon to combine two sentences into a single sentence

without the use of a conjunction. For example: “One group of students

went to the party; the other group of students went to the library.”

• Use a semi-colon when the second independent clause in a sentence

begins with a transitional word such as moreover or however. For

example: “One group of students went to a party; however, the other

group of students went to the library.”

• To avoid confusion, use a semi-colon to separate items in a series when

commas are included in some of the items. For example: “The law

students previously majored in engineering; science, such as biology and

chemistry; and drama.”

COLON

• A colon can be used to introduce a quotation.

• A colon indicates the start of a series. “The first year law student’s diet

consisted solely of junk food: Twinkies, pretzels, donuts, and coffee.”

• A colon may be used to introduce a summary, elaboration, or example.

APOSTROPHE

• Use an apostrophe to indicate the omission of numerals (’83, instead of

1983).

• Use an apostrophe to form the plurals of letters, numerals, and

abbreviations. (Do not forget to dot your i’s.) The modern trend is to

omit the apostrophe when forming the plural of years (1960s).

• When two persons are in possession of a single object, only the second-

named person should be in the possessive. For example, if Mom and

Dad own a single car, write: “Mom and Dad’s car.” If Mom and Dad

both have their own cars, write: “Mom’s and Dad’s cars.”

• Use an apostrophe when referring to a plural unit of measure. For

example: “The law student, who has two weeks’ worth of pizza boxes

under his bed, decided it was time to clean his room.”

• Form singular

possessives by adding ’s, regardless of how the word ends

(Carlos’s, Hans’s). Exception: Put an apostrophe only (no s) for biblical

and classical names that end with a –zes or –eez sound (Socrates’).

• Place an apostrophe after the s when forming plural

possessives

(professors’, students’). Do not add a second s (do not write

“professors’s” or “students’s”). If the word is plural but does not end in

an s (men, women, geese), add ’s (men’s, women’s, geese’s).

DASHES AND PARENTHESES

• Use parentheses to enclose matter that is incidental to the main thought

and, if removed, would not have a grammatical effect on the sentence.

Commas and dashes also can be used in this situation.

• Use dashes instead of commas or parentheses to draw greater attention to

or emphasize a phrase.

QUOTATION MARKS

• Does the punctuation go inside or outside the quotation marks? Place

periods and commas inside the quotation marks. Semi-colons and colons

should be placed outside the quotation marks. Put question marks,

dashes, and exclamation points inside the quotation marks if they are part

of the quote; otherwise, put them outside the quotation marks.

• Quotation marks are not used with blocked quotes unless a part of the

matter you are quoting includes a quote, in which case only the quote

within the quote is placed in quotation marks. Quotations of 50 words or

more must be blocked.

HYPHENS

• Use a hyphen when two or more words act together as a single modifier

and

the modifier precedes the term it modifies (a hard-boiled egg; the egg

is hard boiled).

• Do not use a hyphen if the first word is an adverb ending in ly.

• A hyphen is typically used with the prefixes quasi, self, ex, and all, and

the suffix elect, but is not used after the prefixes anti, co, de, inter, intra,

multi, non, para, pro, re, semi or super unless the second part is

capitalized or the hyphen is needed to avoid confusion.

• Use a hyphen when its omission will confuse the reader (pre-judicial,

prejudicial).

• Use hyphens for numbers twenty-one through ninety-nine and fractions

(one-fifth).

QUESTION MARKS

• A question mark must be placed at the end of a direct question. (Is this

your book?)

• Do not use a question mark at the end of a command or request that is

politely phrased as a question. (Will you please take your feet off the

desk.)

BRACKETS

• Place brackets around words added to or modified in a quote.

ELLIPSES

(. . .)

• Use ellipses to indicate an omission in a quote. Do not, however, use an

ellipses at the beginning of a quote or when quoting a phrase or clause

instead of a full sentence.

• Put a space between each period.

• If an ellipses is used at the end of a sentence, add a fourth period.

ITALICS

Italicize:

• Id. and id.

• Case names

• Titles of books, magazines, newspapers, plays, movies, works of art, and

musical compositions

• Names of ships, aircraft, and spacecraft

• Words, letters, and figures when referred to as words, letters, and figures

(Example: The word judgment is often misspelled.)

• Foreign words and phrases that have not been naturalized in English

(pasta, frommage)

Do not italicize Latin words and phrases commonly used in legal writing:

i.e., e.g. (unless used as a signal in a citation), res judicata, res ipsa loquitur.

If your word processing software does not allow for italics, underline

instead.

CAPITALIZATION

• Capitalize the names of agencies, government bodies, and government

offices (Congress, the Legislature).

• Capitalize titles when they precede the name (President Lincoln), but not

when the titles are used alone or follow the name (The emperor has no

clothes; Isabella, the queen of Spain).

• Words of family relationship are capitalized when they precede or take

the place of the person’s name (Cousin It; call Mother everyday; call

your mother).

• Corporate titles are capitalized when referring to specific individuals

(Justin Taylor, Vice President; the vice president called me).

• Capitalize all words in the titles of books, etc. except internal

conjunctions of four words or less, prepositions of four words or less, and

articles (The Grapes of Wrath).

• Names of specific areas or places are capitalized (the Northwest, the Big

Apple). Capitalize west, east, north, and south only when indicating a

part of the country, not when referring to a direction.

• Capitalize circuit only when it refers to a specific circuit (the Ninth

Circuit, the circuit court).

• Words designating national, regional or local areas, districts or divisions

are capitalized when they are essential elements of a name (New York

City); however, they are usually in lower case when they precede a

proper name or are used alone (the state of California; fires in four

states).

• Capitalize seasons only when used in a title (the Fall 1995 edition).

• Capitalize periods (the Victorian Era) and events (the KROQ Weenie

Roast), but not century numbers (twenty-first century).

• Capitalize trademark names (Diet Coke, Roxy, Billabong).

• Capitalize the names of national, political, racial, social, civic, and

athletic groups (Anaheim Angels, Austrians, Green Peace, Anti-

Defamation League).

• The word court is capitalized when naming any court in full (Orange

County Superior Court), referring to the U.S. Supreme Court, and

referring to the court to which the document will be submitted (This

Court should issue an order . . . .).

• Capitalize party designations (plaintiff, defendant, etc.) only when

referring to the parties in the matter that is the subject of the document.

• Capitalize the titles of court documents that have been filed in the matter

that is the subject of the documents, but only when the actual title or a

shortened form of its actual title is used. Do not capitalize generic

document names. For example: “In his First Amended Complaint,

Plaintiff argues . . . .” “A complaint is subject to a motion to strike when

. . . .”

• Capitalize federal only when the word it modifies is capitalized (the

Federal Reserve, federal legislation).

COMMONLY MISUSED WORDS

• a v. an—Use a with words beginning with a consonant sound. Use an

with words beginning with a vowel sound (an MBA degree, a European).

• Accept v. except—Accept means to “receive willingly,” “to make a

favorable response,” “to assume an obligation to pay,” and “endure

without protest.” Except means “all but” or “other than.”

• Adapt v. adopt—Adapt means “to modify.” Adopt means “to accept as

one’s own.”

• Advise v. advice—Advise is a verb meaning “to recommend.” Advice is a

noun that means “an opinion” or “recommendation.”

• Affect v. effect—Affect is a verb meaning “to influence.” Effect used as a

noun means “result”; effect used as a verb means “to produce” or

“accomplish.”

• All of—Omit of unless followed by a pronoun.

• All right, not

alright

• Already v. all ready—Already indicates time. All ready means

“prepared.”

• All together v. altogether—All together means “at one place.” Altogether

means “completely” or “in all.”

• Allude v. elude—Allude means “to refer to something indirectly.” Elude

means “evade,” “avoid,” and “escape.”

• Among v. between—Use among when referring to undefined or collective

groups. Use between when referring to one-on-one relationships.

• Any and all—Use one of these words, not

both.

• Assure, ensure, and insure—Assure means “makes promises to

convince”; ensure means “make certain”; insure is what insurance

companies do.

• A while v. awhile—Use a while when the term is preceded by a

preposition. For example: “She read for a while.” If the preposition is

eliminated, use awhile. Example: “She read awhile.”

• Can v. may—Can is used to indicate “ability.” May is used to indicate

“permission,” “possibility,” or “authorization.”

• Cite v. site—Cite means “refer to.” Use site to indicate a location.

• Clearly, undeniably, and obviously—Avoid the use of these words in

legal writing. Most things are not

clear or obvious. If they were clear or

obvious, the parties probably would not be arguing about them. Only use

these words when something is truly clear or obvious. Otherwise, you

weaken your argument.

• Continual v. continuous—Continual means “frequently recurring.”

Continuous means “without interruption.”

• Counsel v. council—Use council to indicate a deliberative group or

executive body. When used as a verb, counsel means “to advise.” When

used as a noun, it means “legal adviser.”

• Discrete v. discreet—Discrete means “separate” or “distinct.” Discreet

means “cautious, judicious.”

• Disinterested v. uninterested—Use disinterested to indicate a lack of

personal interest or bias. Use uninterested to indicate a lack of interest.

• Each and every—Use one of these words, not

both.

• e.g. v. i.e.—e.g. means “for example.” i.e. means “that is” or “that is to

say.”

• Elicit v. illicit—Elicit means to “draw out.” Illicit means “not

permitted.”

• Eminent v. imminent—Eminent means “distinguished.” Imminent means

“impending.”

• Esq.—In the United States, this abbreviation is commonly used after the

names of both male and female attorneys. In England, however, it is only

used with the names of men thought to have the social status of a

“gentleman.” Do not use Esq. with your own name or any other title

(Dr., Ms., Mr.).

• Et al. v. etc.—Et al. means “and others.” Etc. means “and other things.”

Use et al. when referring to people; otherwise, use etc.

• Farther v. further—Farther indicates distance. Further means “to

advance.”

• Guarantee v. guaranty—Guarantee means “an assurance for

fulfillment.” Guaranty means “something given as security.”

• Hang v. hung—People are hanged; paintings and juries are hung.

• However—Do not use however at the beginning of a sentence when used

as nevertheless. It may be used at the beginning of a sentence if used as

in whatever way or to whatever extent.

• I v. me—Use I as the subject of a sentence. As the object of a verb or a

preposition, use me. When there are two pronouns (one of which is I or

me), or there is a pronoun (I or me) and a noun, drop the other noun or

pronoun. This will help you decide whether to use I or me. For example:

“She gave the book to Wally and—(I or me).” Drop Wally and. “She

gave the book to I” does not make sense so use me in this sentence.

• -ible v. -able—If the root is not a complete word, use –ible (horrible,

visible). Use –able if the root is a complete word. Some exceptions

include irritable, flexible, responsible, inevitable, contemptible, and

digestible.

• In order to—Just use to.

• Irregardless—There is no such word. Use irrespective or regardless.

• Its v. it’s—It’s is a contraction for it is. Its is the possessive form of it.

• Judgment, not

judgement—Learn to spell this word correctly.

• Kind of and sort of—Use rather, somehow, or somewhat instead.

• Lie v. lay—Generally, the former means “to recline,” and the latter

means “to place or arrange.” The past tense of lie, however, is lay, and

the present perfect tense of lie is have lain.

• Loath v. loathe—Loath is an adjective meaning “reluctant” or

“unwilling”; loathe is a verb and means “detest.”

• Lose v. loose—Lose means “to misplace”; loose means “not tight-

fitting.”

• Myself (also himself, herself, ourselves, itself, themselves, and yourself)—

Use these reflexive pronouns only when they refer back to another word

in the sentence. (I baked it myself, not

my sister and myself baked it.)

• Null and void—Use one of these words, not

both.

• Off of—Off is sufficient.

• On the part of—Use by instead.

• Oneself, not

one’s self

• Only—Put this word directly before the words to be limited by it.

• Otherwise—Use at the beginning of a sentence or after a semi-colon, not

after a comma.

• Plead—The preferred past tense is pleaded, not pled.

• Prescribe v. proscribe—Prescribe means “to dictate”; proscribe means

“to prohibit.”

• Principle v. principal—A principle is a fundamental belief, rule or

understanding. A principal is the lead person. When used as an

adjective, principal means “a thing or matter of primary importance.”

• Shall v. will—Many writers consistently use shall when referring to a

command or something that is mandatory. According to Bryan Garner’s

The Elements of Legal Style, however, these words should be used as

follows in formal prose: To indicate simply futurity, use shall with I and

we; use will with you, he/she/it, and they. When indicating

determination, a promise, or a command, use will with I and we; use shall

with you, he/she/it, and they.

• Stationary v. stationery—Stationary means “at rest” or “immobile.”

Stationery is writing paper.

• Than v. then—Use than when making a comparison. Use then when

referring to a result or something that occurred later in time.

• That v. which—That is used with restrictive clauses (clauses that are

essential to the grammatical and logical completeness of the sentence).

Which is used in nonrestrictive clauses (clauses that, if omitted, would

not change the meaning of the sentence). Nonrestrictive clauses typically

are set off by commas. Can’t decide? Put the clause in parentheses. If

the basic meaning of the sentence remains intact without the clause, use

which.

• Their, they’re, and there—Their is the possessive form of they. There

means “that place.” They’re is a contraction for they are.

• Therefore v. therefor—Therefore means “it must follow that.” Therefor

is legalese for for it and for that. Use these words instead.

• To, too, and two—Too means “also” or “very.” Two means the

number 2. To is a preposition or the first part of the infinitive form of a

verb.

• Until and till—These words are interchangeable. Do not use ‘til or ‘till.

• Waiver v. waver—Waiver means “to relinquish a known right or claim”;

waver means “to hesitate.”

• Were, we’re, and where—Were is a past tense of “to be.” We’re is a

contraction for we are. Where is a location.

• Whether or not—Whether is sufficient.

• Who v. whom—Whom is used as the object of a preposition or verb. Who

is used as the subject of a clause. Confused? Here is a tip. Delete the

part of the sentence that comes before who/whom and replace who/whom

with he and him. If he sounds right, use who. If him sounds right, use

whom.

• Who’s v. whose—Who’s is a contraction for who is. Whose is the

possessive form of who.

• Willful, wilful, and willfull—Willful is the preferred American spelling,

wilful is the preferred British spelling, and willfull is a misspelling.

• You’re v. your—You’re is a contraction for you are. Your is the

possessive form of you.

COMMON WRITING ERRORS

“LEGALESE

” Banish from your vocabulary words and phrases like preparatory

to, aforementioned, heretofore, comes now the plaintiff, said (when it replaces the,

this or that; i.e., “said plaintiff”), and forthwith.

APPROPRIATE TONE OF FORMALITY

Do not use first names unless you are referring to a minor.

Avoid using the first person. Don’t say “I think” or “I believe.” The court

does not care what you think or believe; the court wants to know what the law is.

Avoid colloquialisms and jargon (“partying,” “24/7”). As Matthew Ross, a

senior research attorney at the Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, Division

Three and one of the best legal writers I know, once said: “Yes, it is true.

Shakespeare did create new words. When you write like Shakespeare, you may

too.”

SUPERFLUOUS STATEMENTS

Avoid throat-clearing words and phrases such as interestingly and you

should note that. When editing, look for introductory words and phrases followed

by a comma. In most instances, the word/phrase adds nothing, and the

word/phrase and the comma can be deleted.

RUN-ON SENTENCES

Use short

sentences. If a sentence has a lot of commas in it or takes up more

than three lines on the page, chances are good that it is a run-on sentence.

Solution—rearrange the sentence or make two separate sentences.

BIG WORDS

Don’t use a $10 word when a 10¢ word will do. Otherwise, some readers

will have to refer to a dictionary to understand what you have written. Example:

Use short instead of diminutive.

USE OF PASSIVE VOICE

When writing in the active voice, the subject of the sentence acts upon the

object. In the passive voice, the object does the acting, and the reader has to wait

until the end of the sentence to find out who the actor is. This results in longer

sentences. Also, use of the passive voice can result in confusion for the reader

because the identity of the actor is sometimes omitted all together in sentences

written in the passive voice. Passive voice is easy to recognize because the verb

phrase includes a form of the verb “to be” in almost all instances: am, is, was,

were, are or been.

Examples

Active voice: Hunter read the book.

Passive voice: The book was read by Hunter.

Active voice: Ozzie filed a complaint.

Passive voice: A complaint was filed by Ozzie.

A complaint was filed. (Here, the actor is not even identified.)

Writing in the active voice is preferred in most instances. Use of the passive

voice is acceptable, however, when the object is more important than the identity

of the actor, when needed to clarify the relationship between old and new

information, or when you want to downplay the connection between the actor and

actions.

PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION

Sentence structure should be consistent when joining words, phrases, or

clauses. This typically occurs after “and,” “or,” or a colon. Write: “Gidget likes

to snowboard and to surf.” Or: “Gidget likes snowboarding and surfing.” Do not

write: “Gidget likes to snowboard and go surfing.”

CONTRACTIONS

Do not use contractions in legal writing (unless they are included within a

quotation).

USE ACTIVE VERBS, NOT NOMINALIZATIONS

A nominalization is the conversion of a verb into a noun. Use active verbs

instead. Here is an example from Legal Reasoning, Writing and Persuasive

Argument by Robin Wellford-Slocum.

Nominalization: Michael engages in sleeping activities on a futon in a loft area of

the garage.

Active verb: Michael sleeps on a futon in a loft area of the garage.

DEFINED TERMS

It is helpful to use defined terms instead of repeatedly referring to a long

name or title. For example: (“NYSE” instead of “New York Stock Exchange”).

To indicate to the reader that you will be using a defined term, state the full name

followed by the defined term in quotation marks within parentheses: The Kacer

Family Trust dated October 21, 1981 (“Trust”); Grand Funk Railroad (“GFR”);

It’s A Beautiful Day (“White Bird”). After you have defined a term, use the

abbreviated version of the term for the remainder of the document. Do not define

terms unless you will be using them repeatedly. Also, avoid creating defined terms

that are unflattering. For example, if the opposing party’s name is Boston

Underground Railway Program, do not use the first letter of each word, i.e.,

“BURP.”

FOOTNOTES

Use footnotes sparingly. If something is important, don’t hide it in a

footnote. If it is not important, why are you including it? Some attorneys use

footnotes as a way of fitting their briefs within the page limitations imposed by the

courts. The courts are well aware of this trick and probably ignore the footnotes in

most of these situations. I too am aware of this trick, so think twice before

applying it to your LRW assignments.

MISPLACED MODIFIERS

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes or clarifies another

word in the sentence. A modifier is misplaced if the reader might think the

modifier applies to a word different than the word the author intended. Here’s an

example from Richard Wydick’s Plain English for Lawyers: “Being beyond any

doubt insane, Judge Weldon ordered the petitioner’s transfer to a state mental

hospital.” Who is insane—the judge or the petitioner? You can clear up the

ambiguity by relocating the modifier. If the insane person is the petitioner, write:

“Judge Weldon ordered the insane petitioner transferred to the state mental

hospital.”

ENDING A SENTENCE WITH A PREPOSITION

Avoid ending a sentence with a preposition. Prepositions include words like

above, below, across, against, ahead of, along, around, behind, beneath, beside,

between, from, inside, hereby, off, through, toward, under, with, and within. The

goal of the rule is to end sentences with strong words, not weak ones. This rule is

not thought to be as important as it once was, but you should continue to adhere to

the rule unless it results in an awkward or stilted sentence.

SPLITTING INFINITIVES

An infinitive is a verb preceded by to, e.g., “to run,” “to sit.” Here is an

example of a split infinitive: “It is not necessary to quickly run to the store.”

Instead, write: “It is not necessary to run quickly to the store.”

PRONOUNS

1. Failure of pronouns to clearly refer to the words for which they

are substitutes

“The judge asked the attorney about the issue that he was explaining.” Who

was doing the explaining? The judge or the attorney?

This problem frequently arises when using this, that, those, he, and she. The

best way to correct the problem is to eliminate the pronoun.

2. Failure of a pronoun to agree with the noun

If the noun is singular, the pronoun must be singular. For example, write:

“If the factory closes, it

must give prior notice to its employees,” not “if the factory

closes, they

must give prior notice to their employees.”

When the gender is unstated (“a student”), avoid sexist language. Use his or

her, his/her or they. Better yet, do not use a pronoun; use the noun instead.

3. When referring to the court

Refer to the court in the singular, even when it is a panel of two or more

judges or justices.

VERB TENSES

1. Failure of the verb tense to agree with the noun

If the noun is singular, the verb must be singular. This error occurs most

often when using these words: Either, none, each, each one, everybody, everyone,

anybody, anyone, somebody, and someone. All of these words are singular. Use

“none is,” not

“none are.”

When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are connected by or or nor,

the verb should be singular. If the conjunction and is used, use a plural verb.

When a singular noun and a plural noun are joined by or or nor, the verb should

agree with the subject closest to the verb. Examples: “Neither the boy nor his

friends study every day.” “Neither the students nor their friend studies every day.”

Collective nouns such as group, class, and committee are considered

singular.

2. Past vs. present tense

Present tense—rules of law, facts that still exist

Past tense—facts in cases, client facts that occurred in the past, court

holdings

IMPROPER PLURAL FORM OF A PROPER NOUN

If a proper noun ends in s, sh, ch, or x, add es to form the plural. Otherwise,

just add s. Do not use ’s to form the plural of a proper noun. For example:

“Joneses,” not

“Jones’s.”

ADJECTIVES v. ADVERBS

Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives,

and other adverbs. Adverbs are easy to recognize because many end in ly. Many

writers (and Rex Hudler) err by using an adjective to modify a verb. Wrong: “She

did poor on her test.” Correct: “She did poorly on her test.” Use of an adjective to

modify a noun or pronoun is proper only

if the adjective follows a form of the verb

“to be” or a “sense” verb such as feel, taste, smell, sound, look, appear, or seem.

For example: “Skip has been sick all week.” Sick is an adjective that modifies

Skip and is preceded by a form of the verb “to be”—has been. Further example:

“I feel sick.” Sick is an adjective that modifies I and is preceded by a sense verb—

feel.

ADJECTIVES WITH COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Countable nouns include students, books, dogs, help, and cars.

Uncountable nouns include water, food, and stress.

A little bit of—Use only with uncountable nouns.

A lot of/lots of—Use a lot of with countable nouns; use lots of with uncountable

nouns.

Few/fewer and little/less—Use few and fewer with countable nouns; use little and

less with uncountable nouns.

Many/much—Use many with countable nouns; use much with uncountable nouns.

Plenty of/enough—Both words may be used with countable and uncountable

nouns.

Some/any—Both words may be used with countable and uncountable nouns.

NUMBERS

Spell out numbers zero through ten.

Exceptions

If a sentence includes one number smaller than 11 and one number that is

11 or larger, use numerals for both numbers.

Use numerals for numbers smaller than 11 in calculations.

Use numerals for numbers smaller than 11 in units of measure: $1 million, 7

centimeters.

Use a numeral when a number smaller than 11 is used for identification. For

example: the 5 Freeway.

Use a numeral for numbers smaller than 11 when referring to a page number

or the division of books and plays (to indicate the chapter, scene, or act).

Spell out numbers larger than 10 if they begin a sentence. For example:

Nineteen students went to the party.

When indicating percent, the numbers zero through ten may be written out

or numerals may be used. Write the word percent instead of using the percent sign

(%) unless you are making reference to several different percentages.

GRAMMAR AND SPELLING CHECKERS

Most word processing programs have grammar and spelling checker

functions. Use them! They’re not perfect, but are very helpful.

EDIT, EDIT, EDIT

As one of my former partners, Matthew Ross, once said: “Edit with a machete, not

a butter knife.”

HELPFUL WRITING AND GRAMMAR WEBSITES

www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/

www.askoxford.com

www.dictionary.com/writing

www.drgrammar.org

www.grammarbook.com

www.grammarlady.com

www.grammarnow.com

www.grammarstation.com

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/