GRAMMAR

Read the article by Kim Cooper from Harvad University. What information is new for you?

Avoiding repetition

1. To avoid unnecessary repetition of words or phrases in speech or writing, we can use

a. substitution, when we replace one word or phrase with another, such as a pronoun:
Instructions are given on each machine. We ask customers to read them carefully before
exercising.
b. ellipsis, when we leave out or replace nouns, verbs and entire clauses which have
previously been mentioned:
Mike left at about the same time as Jane (left).
2. We can leave out or replace nouns, verbs and entire clauses which have previously
been mentioned:
The managers in our company have often adopted production processes which give rise
to unsatisfying jobs because it is cheaper for them to do so.
(them = managers; do so = adopt production processes…)
Emphasis and focus

We show emphasis in writing in many different ways. They include

a. fronting, or bringing a word or phrase to the beginning of a sentence:
The bell rang. Almost at once the old man appeared at the door.
b. making one simple sentence into two clauses or a cleft sentence:
The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. It was in 1989 that the Berlin Wall fell.
Jackson published the book himself. What Jackson did was publish the book himself.
c. inversion (reversing the position of two things):
Hardly had she written one book before she started another.
We usually invert the subject and the auxiliary, modal or main verb that follows it:
Harry did not offer once to take Norma home to visit her elderly parents.
Not once did Harry offer to take Norma home to visit her elderly parents.
Nominalisation

We use nominalisation (making nouns from other parts of speech) to be more concise in
writing. We can form nouns from verbs
a. by adding a suffix: educate – education, establish – establishment, teach – teacher
b. by using a verb as a noun (more informal): Can’t you open that? Shall I give it a try?
I’ll take you to the station if you give me a shout when you are ready.
c. by combining the verb and particle in multi-word verbs. The particle often (but not
always) comes before the verb in the noun form:
The epidemic first broke out in Guinea. – The first outbreak of the epidemic was in Guinea.
The plane took off very smoothly. – The takeoff was smooth.
The car broke down not far from home. – The breakdown happened not far from home.
Not all verbs can be used as nouns. It is best to check in a good dictionary.
He made a speak on the theatre in Ireland. – He made a speech on the theatre in Ireland.

Tips on Grammar, Punctuation and Style

Commas and semi-colons. If the rules you learned about commas and semi-colons don't
mean much to you, forget them and try this: Read one of your sentences aloud and see
where you would naturally pause, where you would draw a breath. If it's a short pause, like
that just was, you probably need a comma. If it's a longer pause, but not quite a full stop (for
which you'd need a period), you probably need a semi-colon; remember that whatever
follows a semi-colon must be able to stand on its own, as a full sentence, like this one.

If you don't want your reader to pause, there shouldn't be a comma, there, because as,
this demonstrates it's very difficult to figure, out, what you're saying when your punctuation,
makes the sentence unreadable.

Your sentences shouldn't leave your reader hyperventilating from the constant shallow
breaths that over-punctuation requires. Nor should they be gasping for breath at the end of
a long, unpunctuated sentence. (Consider yourself responsible for your readers'
cardiovascular health.)

Check your dashes and hyphens. When you're setting off a clause—this one is a good
example—use the longer dash, called an m-dash. (You can indicate this dash with two
hyphens—like this—if you don't have an m-dash function on your computer.) Be sure that the
parts of the sentence that precede and follow the dashes would make sense even if you
removed the dashes and the words they bracket. (In the example above, the sentence is
readable with or without the clause inside the dashes.)

You can also use the m-dash in place of a colon if you want to emphasize more
dramatically the words that follow: "The mantelpiece was lined with photographs of people
she loved—her mother, her grandmother, a favorite aunt." Or you can use it to add a
surprising element into a sentence: "Her family's photographs were displayed on the
mantelpiece; there were pictures of parents, grandparents, and siblings—and of Muffin, a
Yorkshire terrier." Whereas the m-dash is used to set off parts of a sentence, hyphens are
used to join words together: broken-hearted, two-thirds, sister-in-law.

Always identify abbreviations before you use them, unless you feel reasonably confident
that the average intelligent reader would be able to identify the acronym—like when the
acronym is more commonly used than the words it stands for. (It would be odd to write out
all the words for ESP, NATO, CEO, or AIDS.) Keep in mind the audience for the particular
essay you're writing, though; readers who are specialists in a particular discipline may not
want or need to have terms spelled out for them.

Try to avoid split infinitives. This is no longer a hard and fast rule, and occasionally keeping
an infinitive together in a sentence can introduce more awkwardness than the split, but
usually the split is ungraceful. (Imagine: To be or to not be.)
 Make sure all your referents are clear. When you say "This theory" or "that point" or, simply,
"it," is it clear which theory or point you're referring to? When you use "he" or "she" or "these
critics," will your reader have to pause to figure out who all these people are?

There's more to say about this. We often throw in a "this" when we're not entirely sure
exactly what we want to draw our readers' attention to, especially when we're making a
complex argument with many different elements. Sometimes vagueness in our language
can be a symptom of muddled thinking. So ask yourself, what does this "this" refer to? What
words would I replace it with? If you're not easily able to answer, you need to go back and
work out your ideas in that section. (Readers will never understand what you mean when
you don't know yourself. When you notice vague referents, or other apparently minor
problems, take the opportunity to ask yourself if there might be any larger problem lurking
beneath your surface error.)

Never use "that" when you're referring to a person: "The first man that walked on the
moon.""The author that she was referring to." These are people, not objects—it's insulting to
call them "that." Use who or whom: "The first man who walked on the moon." "The author to
whom she was referring." Are you using "that" because you're shaky on the who/whom
thing? See below. (And while you're at it, consider whether you're twisting your sentences
around to avoid any other grammatical points you're uncertain of. If so, take control!
Liberate yourself! Learn the rules once and for all so you can write freely, instead of skulking
around trying not to break the rules—or breaking them without realizing it. Try starting a text
file in which you list the rules you tend to forget, and keep it open when you write. You can
look rules up in any style manual, or come to the Writing Center.)

Who is what doing what to whom? That's the question you need to ask yourself if you're
uncertain which word to use. The one that does the action (the subject) is who. The one that
gets something done to it (the object) is whom.

Avoid passive voice. It tends to sap energy and power from your prose. It's usually better to
say "Einstein's theory" than "the theory that was formulated by Einstein."

Italics and underlines. You can use one or the other but never both. They mean the same
thing—underlining used to be a copy-editing mark to tell printers to set certain words in italic
type. Underlining italics meant the editor wanted the words taken out of italics. So
underlining your already- italicized phrase is, in effect, like using a double negative.
 Be sure all of your sentences have parallel construction. This sentence doesn't have
it: "Re- reading my first draft, I notice it's trite, repetitive, and with no thesis." This sentence
does: "Re- reading my first draft, I notice that it's trite and repetitive, and that it has no
thesis." Or you could say: "Re-reading my first draft, I notice it's trite, repetitive, and lacking in
a thesis." In the two examples with parallel construction, you could take out any of the words
in the list and still have the sentence make sense.

INTERNET USE 2
Follow the link to find more information about the rules of English punctuation.

Further Activity:
Punctuation: capital letters (B, D) and full stops (.)
– We use capital letters to mark the beginning of a sentence and we use full stops to
mark the end of a sentence:
We went to France last summer. We were really surprised that it was so easy to travel on the
motorways.
– We also use capital letters at the beginning of proper nouns. Proper nouns include
personal names (including titles before names), nationalities and languages, days of the
week and months of the year, public holidays as well as geographical places:
Dr David James is the consultant at Leeds City Hospital.
They are planning a long holiday in New Zealand.
Can she speak Japanese?
The next meeting of the group will take place on Thursday.
What plans do you have for Chinese New Year?
– We use capital letters for the titles of books, magazines and newspapers, plays and
music:
‘Oliver’ is a musical based on the novel ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens.
They are performing Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.
– In addition to closing sentences, we also use full stops in initials for personal names:
G. W. Dwyer
David A. Johnston, Accountant
– Full stops are also used after abbreviations, although this practice is becoming less
common:
etc. (etcetera) Arr. (arrival) Dr. (doctor) Prof. (professor)

Punctuation: question marks (?) and exclamation marks (!)

– We use question marks to make clear that what is said is a question. When we use a
question mark, we do not use a full stop:
Why do they make so many mistakes?
– We use exclamation marks to indicate an exclamative clause or expression in informal
writing. When we want to emphasise something in informal writing, we sometimes use more
than one exclamation mark
Punctuation: commas (,)
– We use commas to separate a list of similar words or phrases:
They were more friendly, more talkative, more open than last time we met them.
 – We do not normally use a comma before and at the end of a list of single words:
They travelled through Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.
– American English does use a comma in lists before and:
We took bread, cheese, and fruit with us.
– We use commas to separate words or phrases that mark where the voice would
pause slightly:
I can’t tell you now. However, all will be revealed tomorrow at midday.
James, our guide, will accompany you on the boat across to the island.

Separating clauses with commas

– When main clauses are separated by and, or, but, we don’t normally use a comma if
the clauses have the same subject. However, we sometimes use commas if the clauses
have different subjects:
They were very friendly and invited us to their villa in Portugal. (same subject)
Footballers these days earn more money but they are fitter and play many more
matches. (same subject)
It was an expensive hotel in the centre of Stockholm, but we decided it was worth the
money. (different subjects)

– When a subordinate clause comes before the main clause, we commonly use a
comma to separate the clauses. However, we do not always do this in short sentences:
If you get lost in the city centre, please don’t hesitate to text us or phone us.
If you get lost just phone us.

– When we use subordinate or non-finite comment clauses to give further details or

more information, we commonly use commas to separate the clauses:
You do need to wear a darker jacket, if I may say so.
To be honest, I thought they were very very rude.

Commas and relative clauses

– We use commas to mark non-defining clauses. Such clauses normally add extra, non-
essential information about the noun or noun phrase:
The ambulance, which arrived after just five minutes, took three people to the hospital
immediately.
Warning:
We don’t use commas to mark defining clauses:
Barcelona was the Spanish city that was selected for the Olympic Games.
Not: … the Spanish city, that was selected …

Commas and speech forms

– We commonly separate tags and yes-no responses with commas:
They are going to the party, aren’t they?
No, thank you. I’ve already eaten too much.
– We also usually separate vocatives, discourse markers and interjections with commas:
Open the door for them, Kayleigh, can you. Thanks. (vocative)
Well, what do you think we should do about it? (discourse marker)
Wow, that sounds really exciting. (interjection)
– We use commas to show that direct speech is following or has just occurred:
He said in his opening speech, ‘Now is the time to plan for the future.’ (or He said in his
opening speech: ‘Now is the time to plan for the future.’)
– When the direct speech is first, we use a comma before the closing of the quotation
marks:
‘We don’t want to go on holiday to the same place every year,’ he said impatiently.

Punctuation: colons (:) and semi-colons (;)

– We use colons to introduce lists:
There are three main reasons for the success of the government: economic, social and
political.
– We also use colons to indicate a subtitle or to indicate a subdivision of a topic:
Life in Provence: A Personal View
– We often use colons to introduce direct speech:
Then he said: ‘I really cannot help you in any way.’
– We commonly use a colon between sentences when the second sentence explains or
justifies the first sentence:
Try to keep your flat clean and tidy: it will sell more easily.
– We use semi-colons instead of full stops to separate two main clauses. In such cases,
the clauses are related in meaning but are separated grammatically:
Spanish is spoken throughout South America; in Brazil the main language is Portuguese.
Semi-colons are not commonly used in contemporary English. Full stops and commas are
more common.

Punctuation: quotation marks (‘…’ or “…”)

– Quotation marks in English are ‘…’ or “…”. In direct speech, we enclose what is said
within a pair of single or double quotation marks, although single quotation marks are
becoming more common. Direct speech begins with a capital letter and can be preceded
by a comma or a colon:
She said, “Where can we find a nice Indian restaurant?” (or She said: ‘Where can we find a
nice Indian restaurant?’)
– We can put the reporting clause in three different positions. Note the position of
commas and full stops here:
The fitness trainer said, ‘Don’t try to do too much when you begin.’ (quotation mark after
comma introducing speech and after full stop)
‘Don’t try to do too much when you begin,’ the fitness trainer said. (comma before closing
quotation mark)
‘Don’t try to do too much,’ the fitness trainer said, ‘when you begin.’ (commas separating
the reporting clause)
– When we use direct speech inside direct speech, we use either single quotation marks
inside double quotation marks, or double quotation marks inside single quotation marks:
“It was getting really cold,” he said, “and they were saying ‘When can we go back home?’”
Jaya said, ‘They were getting really excited and were shouting “Come on!”’.
– We commonly use question marks inside the quotation marks unless the question is
part of the reporting clause:
‘Why don’t they know who is responsible?’ they asked.
So did they really say ‘We will win every match for the next three weeks’?
– We also use single quotation marks to draw attention to a word. We can use
quotation marks in this way when we want to question the exact meaning of the word:
I am very disappointed by his ‘apology’. I don’t think he meant it at all.
NEW ‘WAR’ OVER NORTH SEA FISHING PLANS
– We sometimes use quotation marks to refer to the titles of books, newspapers,
magazines, films, songs, poems, videos, CDs, etc:
There’s a special report all about it in ‘The Daily Mail’.
 – We can use italics instead of quotation marks for these citations:
There’s a special report all about it in The Daily Mail.
– Articles or chapters within books, or titles of short stories, are normally punctuated by
single quotation marks:
The longest chapter in the book is the last one called ‘The Future of Africa’.

Punctuation: dashes ( – ) and other punctuation marks

– Dashes are more common in informal writing. They can be used in similar ways to
commas or semi-colons. Both single and multiple dashes may be used:
Our teacher – who often gets cross when we’re late – wasn’t cross at all. No one could
believe it!
Just wanted to thank you for a lovely evening – we really enjoyed it.
– Brackets have a similar function to dashes. They often add extra, non-essential
information:
Thriplow (pronounced ‘Triplow’) is a small village in the eastern part of England.
– We use brackets around dates and page numbers in academic writing:
Heaton (1978) gives a convincing explanation of how hurricanes are formed (pages 27–32).
– We often use forward slashes in internet addresses and to indicate and/or in
academic references:
You can find the figures you need on [Link]/finance
Binks (1995/1997) has already researched this aspect of Roman history.

Punctuation: numerals and punctuation

– In British English the date is usually given in the order day, month, year.
– We use full stops in dates. Forward slashes or dashes are also commonly used:
Date of birth: 1.8.1985 (or 1/8/1985 or 1–8–1985)
– In American English the day and the month are in a different order so that 8 January
1985 is written as follows:
1–8–1985 (or 1/8/1985 or 1.8.1985)
– We don’t usually punctuate weights and measures and references to numbers:
4kg (4 kilograms)10m (10 metres) 5m dollars (5 million dollars)
– Commas are used in numbers to indicate units of thousands and millions:
7,980 (seven thousand, nine hundred and eighty)
11,487,562 (eleven million, four hundred and eighty-seven thousand, five hundred and sixty-
two)
– We use full stops, not commas, to indicate decimal points:
6.5 (six point five)
Not: 6,5
– We can punctuate times with full stops or colons:
The shop opens at 9.30. (or 9:30)

Saying email and internet addresses

Spoken English:
– When we speak email and web addresses, we say each word separately. To avoid
confusion, we sometimes spell out each letter of a word:
[Link]@[Link] = Hannah dot reeves at l-i-t dot com
miles_hotel.com/home = miles underscore hotel dot com forward slash home
[Link] = www dot theplace (all one word) dot org
Symbols and typographic conventions
. full stop X.X decimal point (2.2: two point two)

, comma * asterisk

? question mark () parentheses (or round brackets)

! exclamation mark [] square brackets (or box brackets)

: colon {} curly brackets

; semi-colon ° degrees (40º: forty degrees)

“
double quotation marks % per cent
”

‘’ single quotation marks & and (also called ‘ampersand’)

’ apostrophe © copyright

- hyphen < less than

– dash > greater than

+ plus @ at

– minus ✓ tick

multiplied by (2 × 2: two multiplied

× X cross
by two)

divided by
÷
(6 ÷ 2: six divided by two) underscore (ann_hobbs: ann underscore
X_X
hobbs)
= equals

/ forward slash \ back slash

READING
Have you ever written a narrative or descriptive essay about yourself or your
relatives/friends/pets? Why have you written the essay? In what situations people write
about themselves?
This is an actual essay written by a college applicant to NYU in response to this question: In
order for the admissions staff of our college to get to know you, the applicant, better, we
ask that you answer the following question: are there any significant experiences you have
had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?
Read the essay. What adjectives will you use to characterize it? Find sentences in the text
to prove your attitude.
 Funny College Application Essay
DAVID EMERY

Updated May 12, 2017

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to
remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat
retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I
manage time efficiently.

Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and
godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed,
and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in
love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small
village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I
was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I
build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays,
after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon
over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I
receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last
summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400.

My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children
trust me. I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once
read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to
refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item
in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA.

I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I
successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. I balance,
I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid.
On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered
the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals
using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prize-winning clams. I have won bullfights in
San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin.

I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

(The author was accepted and is now attending NYU.)

What result does the author of this college application essay want to obtain? Has he
managed?

Read short background information about the article. Are you surprised?

This satirical essay — or a version of it — was written in 1990 by high school student Hugh
Gallagher, who entered it in the humor category of the Scholastic Writing Awards and won
first prize. The text was then published in Literary Cavalcade, a magazine of contemporary
student writing, and reprinted in Harper's and The Guardian before taking off as one of the
most forwarded viral emails of the 1990s.

Though it was not Gallagher's actual college application essay, he did submit it as a
sample of his work to college writing programs and was accepted, with scholarship, to New
York University, from which he graduated in 1994. Since then he has worked as a freelance
writer. His first novel, Teeth, was published by Pocket Books in March 1998.

Write an essay on the following question: are there any significant experiences you have
had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?
Do it in humorous manner.

Read the essay in the class to be sure you and others have a sense of humour.