WRITING SKILLS TO GET A+ GRADE IN ENGLISH SUBJECTS

General Guidelines on Style  (How to write correctly?)

♦Try to be as succinct as possible

–it is always preferable to use one word instead of seven.

For example, the phrase “From the point of view of structure...” can be simplified to

“Structurally...”

♦ Vary your vocabulary.

♦ Avoid overusing the passive form and forms of the verb to be.

Prefer the active voice and strong verbs.

♦Avoid using “there is” and “there are.”

♦ Avoid the phrase “which means” or “that means.” This verb is too blunt and uni-dimensional. Use more suggestive and interesting verbs: i.e., “the imagery evokes...” or

“This motif implies / suggests...”

♦Other words you should avoid: “thing,” “very” and “the fact that.” Write with as rich a vocabulary as possible, and state your point as clearly as possible.

♦Avoid colloquialism (a bit, a lot, lots of, kind of, kids,)

♦Do not use arrows or other signs.

♦ Avoid abbreviations.

♦ Correct fragments, comma splices and run-on sentences: — a fragment is an incomplete sentence, i.e. a sentence missing its subject, main verb or

Object.

—A comma splice consists of two full sentences separated by a comma instead of a full stop or a semi-colon.

—A run-on sentence consists of two or more sentences separated by no punctuation.

♦Review the correct usage of punctuation marks, particularly commas.

♦Avoid using first person singular or plural: e.g. “we know”

“I know”

♦Do not use contractions: for example, "don’t,”“aren’t, ”etc..

♦Do not use nonspecific pronoun references: e.g. “this shows the speaker’s grief,” or

“While this figure is mother-like, alongside it she is also a witch.”

♦ [For papers on any literary genre]:

When referring to the content of a short story, novel, poem or play, use the present tense (e.g. “

The story discloses how the protagonist perceives the changes in his family circumstances, and to some extent misunderstands them,” or “The speaker in Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” contemplates an experience that ...”).

♦ [For papers on any literary genre]: When referring to a critic or a writer, use the present tense (e.g. “as Fry notes,” “Woolf contends that...”).

♦[For papers in linguistics, education and psychology]: When referring to the case study, use the past tense (e.g. “The group of students involved in the experiment underwent a series of tests...” or “The results raised questions about...”).

♦ [For papers in linguistics, education and psychology]: When referring to a researcher, critic or a theoretician, use the past tense (e.g. “as Cooke noted,” “Freud observed...”).

♦ Make sure to place adverbs in the right place.

♦Check the correctness of the prepositions you use.