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#1
Oct 15 2009 09:28pm


Section I. Introduction
Section II. Contractions
Section III. E-Prime
Section IV. "I Believe" tool
Section V. Tenses
Section VI. The Comma
Section VII. Run-On Sentences
Section VIII. The Semi Colon
Section VIII. The Colon
Section IX. Conclusion


Section I. Introduction

Introduction
    It is my goal in writing this guide to help you improve your writing talents. This guide is to help you learn useful tools and techniques when writing a formal piece of writing. Learning and using these tools and techniques should help your ability to write.

Section II. Contractions

Contractions

Section III. E-Prime


E-Prime
    • The Rule of E-Prime is to avoid the following words from all pieces of formal writing.
      - Is
      - Am
      - Are
      - Was
      -Were

    • By avoiding these words it will cause you to keep close attention to your writing. If you have never used E-Prime I would suggest to use this above all the other techniques. E-Prime will greatly improve your writing.
    • The History of Writing in E-Prime

Examples of how to Repair E-Prime
    • John is rich. --in E-Prime--> John appears/seems rich. OR John acts as if he has a lot of money. OR John's wealth cannot be disputed.

    • Where is my umbrella? --in E-Prime--> Where did I leave my umbrella? OR Have I lost my umbrella again?

    • There was a lot of noise in the kitchen. --in E-Prime--> The noise in the kitchen startled everyone sitting at the table. OR The noise in the kitchen seemed loud.

    • The stone wall is a good place to meet. --in E-Prime--> The stone wall provides us with a safe meeting place. OR

    • Ladies and Gentlemen, here is your new representative. --in E-Prime--> Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you your new representative. OR Ladies and Gentlemen, Jack represents you all in his new position.

    • If you want anymore examples feel free to PM ME

Section IV. "I Believe" tool

Writer’s Tool: Avoid Sentence Fragments
    How does a SENTENCE FRAGMENT appear?

      • A sentence fragment is a group of word that pretends to be a sentence.
      • They can be easy to recognize when taken out of context and stand alone.
      • They “hide” when they appear with other sentences, as in a paragraph.
      • A sentence fragment = spoken informal English.

Examples of Fragments
    1. Phillipe found a cat. Which he immediately took home with him.
    2. A large car blocked my driveway. A huge SUV.
    3. I got really upset. Because I knew I would be late to work,
    4. I beeped the horn a couple of times. Just to let the driver know.
    5. He rolled down his window and gave me a vulgar gesture. What a low-life fool.
    6. I have to take I-95 every day. The highway from hell.


DIAGNOSING AND IDENTIFYING SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
    • Put the words "I Believe" in front of the sentence.
    • By separating the sentences, and using the “I believe that ” “I realize that” tool, you can easily spot them.
    • If the sentence does not make sense with "I believe" it is a sentence fragment.


Example
    1. I believe Phillipe found a cat. (Not a complete sentence)
    1. I believe which he immediately took home with him. (Not a complete sentence)

    • Try it with the other 5!


Section V. Tenses

Keep the Tenses the Same!!
    • Make sure every verb is in the verb you began with. Either present or past tense.
    • In some instances in a formal piece of writing different tenses are needed; however, if that is not the case make sure all your tenses are the same!

Section VI. The Comma

Eight Points About the Comma

1. Use commas to separate complete sentences when they are joined by the “fanboys.” The comma comes before each fanboys.
    • FANBOYS stands for ,And, But, For, Or, Nor, So, Yet.

    Example (Comma): The game ended, but the crowd refused to leave. (notice these two can stand alone as sentences)
    Example (No Comma): She liked my dog but not my cat. (notice if you added a comma "not my cat" would be a fragment


2. Use commas after common starter words in sentences like: after, although, as, because, if, since, when, while.

    Example: While I ate my granola, the cat scratched at the door.
    Example: Because her alarm clock was broken, she ran late for class


3. Use a pair of commas in the middle of a sentence to set off “scoopable” information. “Scoopable information” means information that the sentence does not really need.
    Example: That Tuesday, which happens to be my birthday, appears to be the only day when I can meet you.


4. Do not use commas to set off THAT clauses
    Example: The book that I borrowed from you has an excellent plot.


5. Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses written in a series.
    Example: The candidate promised to lower taxes, protect the environment, reduce crime, and end unemployment.


6. If you can add the word AND between two or more descriptive words, such as adjectives, you will need to use commas.
    Example:
    It felt like a hot humid December day. (add “and”and see what happens)
    It felt like a hot and humid and December day. (think of the comma as the word “and”)
    It felt like a hot, humid December day.


7. Use commas to set off all geographical names, items in dates, addresses, and titles in names.
    • Keep the month and day together (no comma)
    • Keep the street number and street name together (no comma)
    • Use commas to set off cities, states and countries.
    • Use commas to set off month+day, year.


8. Use a comma before a quote in a sentence.
    Example: John said without emotion, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Section VII. Run-On Sentences

The Run-On is too long. Looks flashy, wordy, yet dooms the essay.
    • THE RUN ON has two “doers” doing something within the same sentence. These two “doers” (subjects) and what they do (verbs) need
    S P A C E.

Correcting a Run-On
    • Use a • Period
    • Use a ; Semi-Colon

Section VIII. The Semi Colon

The Semi Colon FORMULA with the transition word.
    • COMPLETE SENTENCE; + transition word, COMPLETE SENTENCE
• “Transition” means to smoothly connect one topic with a similar one.
    set-up -->;transition word,

COMMON TRANSITION WORDS

• Most of these words belong to “formal speech.” Only a few of these appear in “informal” American English when we speak.
    ; however,
    ; consequently,
    ; after all,
    ; finally,
    ; in conclusion,
    ; for example,
    ; furthermore,
    ; for instance,
    ; nevertheless,
    ; otherwise,
    ; therefore,

Make 2 sentences.
    Example: Text messaging simplifies life; without the right plan it can really prove wuite expensive.

Use a COMMA + a “fanboy”
    • Remember, FANBOYS stands for ,And, But, For, Or, Nor, So, Yet.

THE VISUAL PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SEMI COLON
    The reader’s eye draws itself to the semi-colon. Very often the semi-colon appears incorrectly used. Fragments may not appear after a semi-colon.


Section VIII. The Colon

THE SECRET OF THE COLON
    • The COLON joins a fragment that defines, clarifies or presents more information about some item in the first sentence.

    Example:
    A large car blocked my driveway. A huge SUV. (WRONG)
    A large car blocked my driveway: a huge SUV. (RIGHT)

    P.S. Another alternative to the colon would be using -- however, the colon looks better in a formal piece of writing


Section IX. Conclusion
    • This concludes my tools and technique guide for formal writing. I hope this assists many of you in raising your ability to write a successful piece of formal writing. If you have any questions feel free to PM me at any time and I will try to get back to you.
    • I would like to give my gratitude to my English Composition teacher, DR. K, for teaching me these successful tools and techniques.

    • My Profile: Located Here



This post was edited by _Mork_ on Oct 18 2009 03:26pm
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#2
Oct 15 2009 11:50pm
Sticky this please!
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#3
Oct 15 2009 11:56pm
Quote (Katey @ Fri, Oct 16 2009, 12:50am)
Sticky this please!


Word.
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#4
Oct 16 2009 01:54am
e prime didn't give enough examples

never heard of it in my life

in argumentative english atm

doesn't give tips on that!

nor does it give any other help towards writing an essay.

only helps you with syntax/usage/grammar

-

edit

Make 2 sentences.

Example: Text messaging simplifies life; without the right plan it can really prove wuite expensive.

2nd part isn't a complete sentence.

without the right plan it can really prove wuite expensive.

-

edit

Example (Comma):The game ended, but the crowd refused to leave. (notice these two can stand alone as sentences)

these can't stand alone as sentences

-

edit
Section VIII. The Colon

THE SECRET OF THE COLON

• The COLON joins a fragment that defines, clarifies or presents more information about some item in the first sentence.

Example:
A large car blocked my driveway. A huge SUV. (WRONG)
A large car blocked my driveway: a huge SUV. (RIGHT)

P.S.Another alternative to the colon would be using -- however, the colon looks better in a formal piece of writing

completely wrong......

-

Section IX. Introduction

• This concludes my tools and technique guide for formal writing. I hope this assists many of you in raising your ability to write a successful piece of formal writing. If you have any questions feel free to PM me at any time and I will try to get back to you.
• I would like to give my gratitude to my English Composition teacher, DR. K, for teaching me these successful tools and techniques.

section 9 is an introduction?


OVERVIEW OF YOUR GUIDE:

-kindergarten/elementary techniques (ie fanboy/i believe)
-organized, but lacks more examples
-proof read before posting.. (last section you called it introduction)

-

edit

Quote (Katey @ Thu, Oct 15 2009, 10:50pm)
Sticky this please!


disagree

This post was edited by Act1 on Oct 16 2009 02:02am
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#5
Oct 16 2009 04:06am
Protip: Leave JSP when attempting to write anything.
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#6
Oct 16 2009 09:09am
e prime didn't give enough examples

never heard of it in my life

in argumentative english atm

doesn't give tips on that!

nor does it give any other help towards writing an essay.

only helps you with syntax/usage/grammar

---------------------------------

These are huge tips when writing an essay. Attempting this simple tools and techniques will greatly increase your ability to write an essay. This guide is not for helping your grammar, that is what middle and high school are for. I am merely posting tools that are extremely useful to keep in mind when writing an essay. However, think about it. By keep these in mind, run-ons, fragments, commas, etc it will help when constructing your essay and fix your grammer.

@ Examples for E-Prime, Sure I can add more. What E-Prime does is removes the words Am, Is, Are, Was, Were and replaces them with another series of words causing you to be more aware of your sentences.

--------------------------------------------

edit

Make 2 sentences.

Example: Text messaging simplifies life; without the right plan it can really prove wuite expensive.

2nd part isn't a complete sentence.

Try the "I Believe Tool" and tell me these aren't two sentence. This is where this tool comes in handy. These ARE two sentences.

"I believe text messaging simplifies life." "I believe without the right plan it can really prove quite expensive."


without the right plan it can really prove wuite expensive.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

edit

Example (Comma):The game ended, but the crowd refused to leave. (notice these two can stand alone as sentences)

these can't stand alone as sentences

Try the "I Believe Tool" and tell me these aren't two sentence. This is where this tool comes in handy. These ARE two sentences.

"I believe the game ended." "I believe the crowd refused to leave." -- both can stand alone as two sentences
------------------------------------------------------------

edit
Section VIII. The Colon

THE SECRET OF THE COLON

• The COLON joins a fragment that defines, clarifies or presents more information about some item in the first sentence.

Example:
A large car blocked my driveway. A huge SUV. (WRONG)
A large car blocked my driveway: a huge SUV. (RIGHT)

P.S.Another alternative to the colon would be using -- however, the colon looks better in a formal piece of writing

completely wrong......

These are not wrong. You did not even list any examples of how my explanation of the colon is wrong. This is the correct way to use a colon.

---------------------------------

Section IX. Introduction

• This concludes my tools and technique guide for formal writing. I hope this assists many of you in raising your ability to write a successful piece of formal writing. If you have any questions feel free to PM me at any time and I will try to get back to you.
• I would like to give my gratitude to my English Composition teacher, DR. K, for teaching me these successful tools and techniques.

section 9 is an introduction?

Error I noticed myself, will be changed with a few other spelling errors

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

OVERVIEW OF YOUR GUIDE:

-kindergarten/elementary techniques (ie fanboy/i believe)
-organized, but lacks more examples
-proof read before posting.. (last section you called it introduction)

It could use more examples and people could also PM me for more examples. I don't know about you and others, but I never learned the fanboy and "I believe" tool in elementary-high school. It is proof enough you thought some of the sentence were fragments that you have never used the "I believe" tool yourself. Seems it could greatly improve fixing your fragments.


Thanks for your input but it seems most of what you said is to demoralize this help guide. Yet, it seems this guide shows knowledge you still lack.

This post was edited by Ryans on Oct 16 2009 09:12am
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#7
Oct 18 2009 07:59am
Quote
E-Prime will greatly improves your writing.

hmpf, grammar please. will greatly improve.

Quote
John is rich. --in E-Prime--> John appears/seems rich

wrong. when john is rich, it's a fact. when john seems/appears rich, it's an implication.

gotta go now,
can't spot out all the flaws here, but there are surely more than a few.

gl
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#8
Oct 18 2009 11:40am
Quote (Synonym @ Sun, Oct 18 2009, 08:59am)
hmpf, grammar please. will greatly improve.


wrong. when john is rich, it's a fact. when john seems/appears rich, it's an implication.

gotta go now,
can't spot out all the flaws here, but there are surely more than a few.

gl


It has nearly the same meaning substituting a broad word with a more complex word that will help you leave your 300 average word bubble most of us had. The point of e-prime is to help bring more words into your vocabulary. Try it in a formal piece of writing and I guarantee you will see an improvement.

I did recognize I misspelled improve that has been noted and changed when I re-post.
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#9
Oct 18 2009 01:58pm
I think this helps a lot, grammar is a plus where people have a lot of trouble with, myself as well.
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#10
Oct 18 2009 02:59pm
Quote (Weebl_sNaw @ Sun, Oct 18 2009, 02:58pm)
I think this helps a lot, grammar is a plus where people have a lot of trouble with, myself as well.


Thank you :) I will try to add a few more examples as one of the other guys requested. As well as fixing a few errors I made myself.

If you ever need like a full paragraph of examples of tenses, commas, etc feel free to pm me.
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