Top 10 English Grammar Myths and Superstitions in EssayWritingby Good English Essays

There are some myths inEnglish grammar that people continue to believeand practise in their essay writing. It is a dismal situation that most Englishusers learn these

English grammar myths

from their teachers who do notbother to update themselves with the evolution in English.

Never split infinitives

“To publicly critique someone you respect” is considered a grammatical error inthe past because an adverb ‘publicly’ is placed between ‘to’ and the verb. Someprofessionals may still avoid it, but many publications regard it as acceptable.

Never use contractions in essay writing

Some English users believe thatcontractions should never be used in essaywriting.They believe that contractions like won’t, can’t, shouldn’t etc should onlybe used in spoken English. This is no longer true as more and more newspapersand publications are using contractions in the writing.

Never begin a sentence with ‘and’, ‘but’ or ‘because’ (conjunctions)

As English evolves, this is no longer true. It is now acceptable to begin asentence with ‘and’, ‘but’ or ‘because’. People promoting this myth are either notreading newspapers or do not care to learn proper English.

Never begin the essay title with prepositions

It has become a writing style for essay writing to be entitled using prepositionslike ‘of’ or ‘on’. Examples of essay titles that I came across just now were- Of Professionals and Degrees- On Kolej Universiti Teknikal Kebangsaan Malaysia (KUTKM)

Never use first-person pronouns in academic writing

There is a superstitious notion that says never use first-person pronouns like ‘I’and ‘we’ in essay writing because doing so will make your essay writing to lookunprofessional. Contrary to the notion, English writers are encouraged to usefirst-person pronouns to draw readers’ attention and to put some life into your writing. Corporate letters should use ‘I’ to personalise the letter and acceptresponsibility.

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Never refer the readers as ‘you’

Copywriters will find this myth very funny. Please take note that you can actuallyrefer the readers as ‘you’ or ‘we’ to include yourselves. However, you should beconsistent in using either ‘you’ or ‘we’ throughout your essay writing.

Never use ‘between’ with more than two objects

This is a popular misconception among English beginner users. While it is truethat we use ‘between’ when comparing two objects, it is correct to use ‘between’when more than two people or objects are involved.Examples taken from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE):

Comparing two things:

In her book she makes a comparison between Russianand British ballet.

More than two people or objects:

- Tom divided his money between his children.- Between the four of them they managed to lift her into the ambulance.- We collected £17 between us.

Never use ‘since’ as because

There’s a groundless notion that ‘since’ is only used to mean from a particular

time or event in the past until the present, or in that period of time. ‘Since’ canactually be used to give the reason for something. The following sentence takenfromdictionaryis grammatically correct.- Since you are unable to answer, perhaps we should ask someone else.

Never use direct question

Using direct question in writing to arouse the readers’ interest on certain topic hasbecome an essay writing style. When writing essay on smoking, for instance, youcan include questions like ‘what are the bad effects of smoking?’ and ‘why peoplesmoke?’ in your essay. There are debates that direct question is not suitable for academic writing.

10.

Two-syllable adjectives must use the suffix –er or suffix –est form to formcomparative or superlative

E.g. prettier, prettiest; gentler, gentlest; narrower, narrowest. Adding ‘more’ or ‘most’ to two-syllable adjectives to form comparative or superlative, however, isgetting common and gaining ground in modern English. E.g. more pretty, mostpretty; more gentle, most gentle; more narrow, most narrow.After all, the evolution of English is about ‘spoken’ style becoming acceptable as writingforms.