Rules for Writers

Rules for Writers supports students from a wide range of backgrounds with accessible explanations, step-by-step advice, class-tested examples, and opportunities to practice and build their writing, grammar, and research skills—all at a tremendous value.

A Process for Writing

1 Exploring, planning, and drafting

a Assess the writing situation.
b Explore your subject.
c Draft and revise a working thesis statement.
d Draft a plan.
e Draft an introduction.
f Draft the body.
g Draft a conclusion.

2 Writing paragraphs

a Focus on a main point.
b Develop the main point.
c Make paragraphs coherent.
d If necessary, adjust paragraph length.
e Choose a suitable strategy for developing paragraphs.

3 Revising, editing, and reflecting

a Use peer review: Give constructive comments.
b Learn from peer review: Revise with comments.
c One student’s peer review process
d Approach global revision in cycles.
e Revise globally by making a reverse outline.
f Revise and edit sentences.
g Proofread and format the final manuscript.
h Sample student revision: Literacy narrative
i Reflect on your writing; prepare a portfolio.

Academic Reading and Writing

4 Reading and writing critically

a Read actively.
b Outline a text to identify main ideas.
c Summarize to deepen your understanding.
d Analyze to demonstrate your critical reading.
e Sample student writing: Analysis of an article

5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts

a Read a multimodal text actively.
b Summarize a multimodal text to deepen your understanding.
c Analyze a multimodal text to demonstrate your critical reading.
d Sample student writing: Analysis of an advertisement

6 Reading arguments

a Read with an open mind and a critical eye.
b Evaluate ethical, logical, and emotional appeals as a reader.
c Evaluate the evidence behind an argument.
d Identify underlying assumptions.
e Evaluate how fairly a writer handles opposing views.

7 Writing arguments

a Identify your purpose and context.
b View your audience as a panel of jurors.
c Build common ground with your audience.
d In your introduction, establish credibility and state your position.
e Back up your thesis with persuasive lines of argument.
f Support your thesis with specific evidence.
g Anticipate objections; counter opposing arguments.
h Sample student writing: Argument

Clarity

8 Prefer active verbs.

a Active versus passive verbs
b Active versus be verbs
c Subject that names the actor

9 Balance parallel ideas.

a Parallel ideas in a series
b Parallel ideas presented as pairs
c Repetition of function words

10 Add needed words.

a In compound structures
b that
c In comparisons
d a, an, and the

11 Untangle mixed constructions.

a Mixed grammar
b Illogical connections
c is when, is where, and reason . . . is because

12 Repair misplaced and dangling modifiers.

a Limiting modifiers
b Misplaced phrases and clauses
c Awkwardly placed modifiers
d Split infinitives
e Dangling modifiers

13 Eliminate distracting shifts.

a Point of view (person, number)
b Verb tense
c Verb mood, voice
d Indirect to direct questions or quotations

14 Emphasize key ideas.

a Coordination and subordination
b Choppy sentences
c Ineffective or excessive coordination
d Ineffective subordination
e Excessive subordination
f Other techniques

15 Provide some variety.

a Sentence openings
b Sentence structures
c Inverted order

16 Tighten wordy sentences.

a Redundancies
b Unnecessary repetition
c Empty or inflated phrases
d Simplifying the structure
e Reducing clauses to phrases, phrases to single words

17 Choose appropriate language.

a Levels of formality
b Jargon
c Euphemisms and “doublespeak”
d Slang
e Sexist and noninclusive language
f Biased language

18 Find the exact words.

a Connotations
b Specific, concrete nouns
c Standard idioms
d Clichés
e Figures of speech
f Glossary of usage

Grammar

19 Repair sentence fragments.

a Subordinate clauses
b Phrases
c Other fragmented word groups
d Acceptable fragments

20 Revise run-on sentences.

a Revision with coordinating conjunction
b Revision with semicolon, colon, or dash
c Revision by separating sentences
d Revision by restructuring

21 Make subjects and verbs agree.

a Standard subject-verb combinations
b Words between subject and verb
c Subjects joined with and
d Subjects joined with or, nor, either . . . or, or neither . . . nor
e Indefinite pronouns
f Collective nouns
g Subject following verb
h Subject, not subject complement
i who, which, and that
j Words with plural form, singular meaning
k Titles of works, company names, words mentioned as words, gerund phrases

22 Make pronouns and antecedents agree.

a Indefinite pronouns, generic nouns
b Collective nouns
c Compound antecedents

23 Make pronoun references clear.

a Ambiguous or remote reference
b Broad reference with this, that, which, and it
c Implied antecedents
d Indefinite use of they, it, and you
e who for persons, which or that for things

24 Distinguish between pronouns such as I and me.

a Subjective case for subjects and subject complements
b Objective case for objects
c Appositives
d Pronoun following than or as
e Subjects and objects of infinitives
f Pronoun modifying a gerund

25 Distinguish between who and whom.

a In subordinate clauses
b In questions
c As subjects or objects of infinitives

26 Choose adjectives and adverbs with care.

a Adjectives to modify nouns
b Adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs
c good and well, bad and badly
d Comparatives and superlatives
e Double negatives

27 Choose appropriate verb forms, tenses, and moods.

a Irregular verbs
b lie and lay
c -s (or -es) endings
d -ed endings
e Omitted verbs
f Verb tense
g Subjunctive mood

Multilingual Writers and ESL Topics

28 Verbs

a Appropriate form and tense
b Passive voice
c Base form after a modal
d Negative verb forms
e Verbs in conditional sentences
f Verbs followed by gerunds or infinitives

29 Articles (a, an, the)

a Articles and other noun markers
b When to use the
c When to use a or an
d When not to use a or an
e No articles with general nouns
f Articles with proper nouns

30 Sentence structure

a Linking verb between a subject and its complement
b A subject in every sentence
c Repeated nouns or pronouns with the same grammatical function
d Repeated subjects, objects, and adverbs in adjective clauses
e Placement of adverbs
f Present participles and past participles as adjectives
g Order of cumulative adjectives

31 Prepositions and idiomatic expressions

a Prepositions showing time and place
b Noun (including -ing form) after a preposition
c Common adjective + preposition combinations
d Common verb + preposition combinations

32 Paraphrasing sources effectively

a Avoiding synonyms
b Determining a source’s meaning
c Presenting meaning in your own words

Punctuation

33 The comma

a Independent clauses joined with and, but, etc.
b Introductory elements
c Items in a series
d Coordinate adjectives
e Nonrestrictive and restrictive elements
f Transitional expressions and other word groups
g Direct address, yes and no, interrogative tags, interjections
h he said etc.
i Dates, addresses, titles, numbers

34 Unnecessary commas

a Between two words, phrases, or subordinate clauses
b Between a verb and its subject or object
c Before the first or after the last item in a series
d Between cumulative adjectives, an adjective and a noun, or an adverb and an adjective
e Before and after restrictive or parenthetical elements
f Before essential concluding adverbial elements
g After a phrase beginning an inverted sentence
h Other misuses

35 The semicolon

a Between independent clauses not joined with a coordinating conjunction
b Between independent clauses linked with a transitional expression
c In a series containing internal punctuation
d Misuses

36 The colon

a Before a list, an appositive, or a quotation
b Conventional uses
c Misuses

37 The apostrophe

a Possessive nouns
b Possessive indefinite pronouns
c Contractions
d Not for plural numbers, letters, abbreviations, words as words
e Misuses

38 Quotation marks

a Direct quotations
b Quotation within a quotation
c Titles of short works
d Words as words
e With other punctuation marks
f Misuses

39 End punctuation

a The period
b The question mark
c The exclamation point

40 Other punctuation marks

a The dash
b Parentheses
c Brackets
d The ellipsis mark
e The slash

Mechanics

41 Abbreviations

a Titles with proper names
b Familiar abbreviations
c Conventional abbreviations
d Units of measurement
e Latin abbreviations
f Plural of abbreviations

42 Numbers

a Spelling out
b Using numerals

43 Italics

a Titles of works
b Non-English words
c Words as words, letters as letters, numbers as numbers

44 Spelling

a Spelling rules
b Words that sound alike

45 Hyphenation

a Compound words
b Hyphenated adjectives
c Fractions and compound numbers
d With certain prefixes and suffixes
e To avoid ambiguity or to separate awkward double or triple letters
f Word division

46 Capitalization

a Proper vs. common nouns
b Titles with proper names
c Titles and subtitles of works
d First word of a sentence
e First word of a quoted sentence
f First word after a colon

Grammar Basics

47 Parts of speech

a Nouns
b Pronouns
c Verbs
d Adjectives
e Adverbs
f Prepositions
g Conjunctions
h Interjections

48 Sentence patterns

a Subjects
b Verbs, objects, and complements

49 Subordinate word groups

a Prepositional phrases
b Verbal phrases
c Appositive phrases
d Absolute phrases
e Subordinate clauses

50 Sentence types

a Sentence structures
b Sentence purposes

Research

51 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources

a Manage the project.
b Pose questions worth exploring.
c Map out a search strategy.
d Search efficiently; master a few shortcuts to finding good sources.
e Write a research proposal.
f Conduct field research, if appropriate.

52 Managing information; taking notes responsibly<