What we should pay attention to when writing a good essay in English

陸影

Key words： word， sentence， writing a good essay

Outline： Paying attention to Word Spelling， Word Form， Verb Tense Agreement， Shifts in person， Sentence Fragments， Run-on Sentences， Stringy Sentences， Dangling Modifiers， Parallelism and Sentence combining is the key to write a good essay.

· 【中圖分類號】H319.3

An essay is composed of paragraphs and a paragraph is made up of sentences. A sentence contains words. Therefore， sentences and words play very significant roles in writing a good essay in English.

Ⅰ.Words

1. Pay attention to word spelling.

One English proverb goes： “Haste makes waste.” Also， the Chinese have a saying： “A journey of 1，000 miles begins with the first step.” In order to write a good essay in English which seems to be 1，000 miles away. We have to begin with our first step by dealing with spelling errors for the following reasons： Misspellings cause misunderstanding， confusion and misleading. As a result， spelling errors should be avoided at all cost. E.g：

Joe is left lonely， but he does not feel alone at all. （wrong）

Joe is left alone， but he does not feel lonely at all. （right）

He received a great amount of money beside some honorary degrees. （wrong）

He received a great amount of money besides some honorary degrees. （right）

2. Understand the word forms.

Another kind of serious error that a great number of English learners in China tend to make is that they only know the meaning of a certain word， but pay little attention to the word form of that word. That is ， they do not know whether a certain word is a verb（v.）， a noun（n.）， an adjective（adj.）， or an adverb（adv.），etc. E.g：

With the developing of a market economic， people can change their jobs free. （wrong）

With the development of a market economy， people can change their jobs freely. （right）

The geography structure in Oyster Bay is suitable for oil producing. （wrong）

The geographic structure in Oyster Bay is suitable for oil production. （right）

Ⅱ. Sentences

1. Verb Tense Agreement is indispensable.

Verb Tense Agreement refers to the consistency of verb tenses in a sentence， a paragraph， or even an essay. In other words， if you begin writing an essay in a certain tense， do not shift now and then to another tense. However， when some Chinese students write in English， their errors in verb tense agreement can sometimes interfere with communication. Therefore， students should make every effort to minimize， or get rid of errors in verb tense agreement. E.g：endprint

We had just finished painting the floor when the dog runs through. （wrong）

We had just finished painting the floor when the dog ran through. （right）

The guest speaker gave his speech， answered questions， came down from the stage， and goes around shaking hands with everyone. （wrong）

The guest speaker gave his speech， answered questions， came down from the stage， and went around shaking hands with everyone. （right）

2. Shifts in person are also important.

You may shift， for example， from one to he because they are both

in the third category， but you should not shift from one category to another. In other words， you must be consistent： if you begin your essay using the third person he， then you must stick with the third person he all the way through. The rule for avoiding shifts in person is： Do not mix “persons” unless meaning requires it. E. g：

If one really wishes to sample fine cooking， try that famous restaurant on the corner. （wrong）

If you really wish to sample fine cooking， try that famous restaurant on the corner. （right ）

In doing an experiment in chemistry， one should read the directions carefully. Otherwise you may have an explosion. （wrong）

In doing an experiment in chemistry， you should read the directions carefully. Otherwise you may have an explosion. （right）

3. Sentence Fragments should be avoided in writing.

Before we know what a sentence fragment is， we should first learn to distinguish between an independent clause and a dependent clause. An independent clause is one that makes complete sense on its own. It can stand alone， as a sentence. A dependent clause， as its name suggests， can not stand alone as a sentence； it depends on another clause to make complete sense. Dependent clauses are easy to recognize because they begin with words or phrases such as these：

Dependent-Clause Cues

after unless

although/though until

as， as if what/whatever

as long as when/whenever

because/because of where/wherever

before whether

even if/even though which/whichever

if while

in order that who

since whom

so/so that whose

E.g.

Before the sun sank behind the mountain. （sentence fragment）

Before the sun sank behind the mountain， the villagers left the field for home. （right）

Even if you catch the morning bus. （sentence fragment）

You will miss the chance to see her even if you catch the morning bus. （right）endprint

Any group of words that is punctuated as a sentence but that has no subject， or no predicate， or neither of them can also be another kind of sentence fragment. E.g.

Paid little attention to his table manners. （no subject）

He paid little attention to his table manners. （right）

The high cost of living in Tokyo. （both subject and verb are missing）

Many people can not bear the high cost of living in Tokyo. （right）

4. Run-on Sentences should be noted.

One of the most common errors for student writers is called the run-on sentence. A run-on sentence is a sentence in which two independent clauses are joined by only a comma between them. E.g.

The dog is obedient， it has been well trained.

A foreign student faces many problems， for example， he has to cope with a new culture.

There are four ways to correct this run-on sentence：

Method one： make the two independent clauses into two separate sentences or join the two independent clauses with a semicolon. E.g.

I came to the open field， it was not like the one I remember. （run-on sentence）

I came to the open field. It was not like the one I remember. （right）

Or： I came to the open field； it was not like the one I remember. （right）

Method two： insert one of the seven coordinating conjunctions （and， but， for， yet， so， or， and nor） with a comma between the two independent clauses. E.g.

I came to the open field， but it was not like the one I remember. （right）

Method three： insert a semicolon and a conjunctive adverb such as： then， for example， on the other hand， also， consequently， furthermore， moreover， however， nevertheless， and therefore between the two independent clauses. E.g.

I came to the open field； however， it was not like the one I remember. （right）

Method four： make one of the independent clauses into a dependent clause， changing the wording as necessary. E.g.

I came to the open field， which was not like the one I remember. （right）

5. Stringy Sentences are also disturbing.

This kind of sentence is created when more than two independent clauses are joined together with coordinating conjunctions， such as： and， but， so， because， etc. In general， a sentence should convey no more than two ideas. Although there is no strict rule about how many clauses you may have in a sentence， more than two independent clauses can result in a sentence that is hard to read and even harder to understand. E.gendprint

Many students attend classes all morning and they work all afternoon， and then they have to study at night， so they are usually exhausted by the weekend. （stringy sentence）

There are four ways to correct this stringy sentence.

Method one： separate. E.g.

Many students attend classes all morning and they work all afternoon.

Then they have to study at night. As a result， they are usually exhausted by the weekend. （right）

Method two： subordinate. E.g.

Many students， after they attend classes all morning， work all afternoon， and also have to study at night， they are usually exhausted by the weekend. （right）

Method three： subordinate and combine. E.g.

Many students who attend classes all morning， work all afternoon， and also have to study at night are usually exhausted by the weekend. （right）

Method four： participial phrases. E.g.

After attending classes all morning， working all afternoon， and studying at night， many students are usually exhausted by the weekend. （right）

6. Dangling Modifiers

A dangling Modifier is a word or a group of words that does not clearly and logically refer to the proper noun or pronoun in the same sentence， which frequently appears at the beginning of a sentence and mainly takes one of the following four forms：

（1） Participles and participial phrases. E.g.

Looking up at the sky， the sun goes behind a cloud.

（2） Gerunds and gerund phrases. E.g.

After adjusting the microscope， a slide was put under the lens.

（3） Infinitive phrases. E.g.

To receive a reply to your inquiry， a self-addressed envelope must be enclosed.

（3） Elliptical clauses. E.g.

While running down the stairs quickly， the clock struck twelve.

There are two major ways to get rid of a dangling modifier.

Method one： choose the subject of your sentence carefully so that there is a word for the modifier to apply to. E.g.

Looking up at the sky， we see the sun go behind a cloud. （right）

After adjusting the microscope， the researcher put a slide under the lens. （right）

To receive a reply to your inquiry， you must enclose a self-addressed envelope. （right）

While running down the stairs quickly， she heard the clock strike twelve. （right）

Method two： change a dangling modifier into a dependent clause. E.g.

While we look up at the sky， the sun goes behind a cloud. （right）endprint

After the researcher adjusted the microscope， a slide was put under the lens. （right）

If you want to receive a reply to your inquiry， a self-addressed envelope. must be enclosed. （right）

While she was running down the stairs quickly， the clock struck twelve. （right）

7. Parallelism

In order to make your ideas in your sentences clear and understandable， you should make words， phrases， and clauses parallel； that is， the sentence elements that are alike in function should be alike in structure. E.g.

（1） Parallel words.

The actress is young， bright， and beautiful.

（2） Parallel phrases.

We can travel by land， by sea， and by air.

（3） Parallel clauses.

A mother who spends time with her children and who thoughtfully answers her childrens questions will be respected and loved.

Faulty parallelism occurs when sentence elements that are alike in function are not alike in structure. E.g.

Our teacher teaches with skill and humorously. （wrong）

Our teacher teaches with skill and humor. （right）

Knowing what you want and to do it well will bring you success. （wrong）

Knowing what to do and doing it well will bring you success. （right）

We need a supplementary work force to free full-time employees from routine duties， to relieve operators at lunch breaks， and for the replacement of vacationing employees. （wrong）

We need a supplementary work force to free full-time employees from routine duties， to relieve operators at lunch breaks， and to replace vacationing employees. （right）

8. Sentence combining

If you are going to say exactly what you want to say in your writing， you are expected to write as many compound sentences as possible. There is nothing wrong with using simple sentences_ they are quite effective sometimes_ but overusing them is considered poor style in academic writing. E.g.

Choppy： He wrote a poem last week. He wrote the poem in this room. The poem is long. He is going to read the poem.

A combined sentence： He is going to read the long poem that he wrote in this room last week.

If we lay more emphasis on the above items we could write a good paragraph and even a good essay which can be fluent and understandable.endprint