Students have to write so many things, sometimes they are working on their college assignments, dissertations, or essays. In such a case, they make grammatical mistakes in their document. It arises mainly because their teachers didn’t teach them grammar back then correctly or they have no interest in knowing the importance of it. Thus, they make errors with most basic things, which cost them marks and decreases the quality of their assignments. It makes them eventually search for a grammar checker free online to get aid. But worry not, here are the nine most important rules to keep in mind while writing your work.
9 Grammar Rules to Make Your Writing Perfect
So, here is a list of nine grammatical rules to keep in mind to make your writing perfect. Moreover, they will aid in you making your writing up to the mark and ensure that you use the numbers as per the rules in your work. Also, there are various ways to make your work perfect and one is to learn Driscoll reflective model, which helps in explaining the ideas. So, go through it after reading the upcoming content and without any delay, let’s start with the rules.
Write in Complete Sentences
A sentence is complete with a subject and a verb, for instance, “he writes”. Moreover, if it doesn’t have either of them, it gets fragmented. Further, try to add a whole thought in one sentence. It means that “he writes” is unclear as you cannot make its sense. But “he writes his book” is complete and if you do not follow the rule, it becomes difficult for the reader to understand.
Ensure Subject-Verb-Agreement
In the above point, it is said that you must add a subject and verb in one sentence, so this rule is that they both must agree with each other. It means that if the subject is plural, the verb has to be plural too. Often, you make this simple mistake as there are so many exceptions and specific situations.
Use a Serial Comma if Needed
You often have to write series in your sentences, for instance, he got some apples, oranges, and mangoes. The rule is to use the serial or Oxford comma before the ‘and’ of the list, like the one after oranges in the above example. Moreover, if you do not add it, some sentences become unclear, and the reader can make different meanings out of them.
Write Sentences in Active Voice
One of the major mistakes many of you make is writing in passive voice, in which the verb and object come before the subject. The problem is that the sentences become difficult to read and less impactful if you use passive voice to write them. So, try to write them in active voice as it helps to make your words easy to grasp and more powerful.
Keep the Tenses Consistent
Tenses tell the time of the event happening in the sentences. If it goes wrong, it is the same as entering into a broken time machine, as you will never be able to know the correct time of the activity. But if you have chosen the tense, be consistent with it. Do not make the mistake of starting the sentence in the past tense, but then in the mid-way, you are using verbs in the present tense.
Incorrect- John lost his wallet. He goes to his friend to get some cash and then goes to the movie. (Started with past then moved to present and past again)
Correct- John lost his wallet. He went to his friend to get some cash and then went to the movie. (Started with past and stayed in it only)
Rule of Hyphen with Numbers
Hyphen (-) is an essential sign used in two ways to represent numbers in correct grammar format. First, any number from twenty-one to ninety-nine will be hyphenated to show that they are one word. Second, you use them to spell out a number with its fraction. It means you write two-thirds and not ‘two thirds’ to show it as one quantifier.
Use Mixed-Fraction Correctly
In the above pointer, you learn the way to write a fraction. Here, you will learn how to use mixed faction correctly in the sentence. So, in short, they are expressed in figures only, for instance, John has purchased 5 1/2 oranges from the shop. Moreover, only in the situation when they are starting a sentence, they are expressed in words. For instance, Five and one-half oranges were purchased by John.
Spell Out Large Numbers
Large numbers refer to whole numerical figures like millions or billions. So, the rule is to spell them and not write in their numerical form. For instance, the house price ranges from one million to two million dollars. It is a more convenient way to use this format. Moreover, be consistent with it and do not make the mistake of using the spelt form and numerical one together, like one million to 2 million dollars.
Write Decades as Per Rule
The first rule to write decades is when you have spelt them, do not capitalise their first letter, like “the golden period of USA is the eighties” and not “Eighties”. The second one is if you are writing them in numerical format, do not use apostrophes between the year and s. For example, The golden period of the USA is the 1980s and not the 1980’s. You do it to make the sentences look cleaner.
Conclusion
So, these were the nine grammar rules to be aware of while writing any work for the colleges. Moreover, if you follow them, you will be able to understand those minute details which most of you get wrong. Also, the later part discusses the rules for writing numbers. Still, if you need any aid, you can always get the grammar checker free tool to correct all your errors.
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