Improving Your Grammar

IV. The Importance of Grammar

Once you have your paper to a state that you think is presentable, it is time to . The following passage from the previous CTH Style Guide states perfectly why grammar should be important to CTH students:

The preacher must fall in love with words, for our inerrant Bible tells us about God with words! We are the creatures the Lord God has made after His own image so that we can communicate with Him!

If your professors have deducted points from your paper grades because of grammatical errors, do not lose heart; there are some steps you can take to improve this aspect of your future assignments. Grammar is the fourth topic on this site in chronological order because it is much more important for you to have your ideas on paper before you begin to proofread for grammar and punctuation. But make no mistake, these are important matters because bad grammar can eclipse good ideas; the noise created by mechanical errors causes your reader to lose focus on your message.

Help with Grammar

One way to improve your grammar (and your writing in general) is to read a lot of peer-reviewed published work and note how the sentences are structured and punctuated. Another way is to use the grammar checker in your word processor, although the one in MS Word does not always give good advice. There are also some online grammar checkers, but many of those are useless. The best way to test one is to paste a sentence that you know contains errors—perhaps one that your professor marked—and see if the online grammar checker identifies the problem.

One online source that you may find helpful, even though it does not check grammar, is Grammar Monster, which includes a list of common writing errors and misused words.

Help with Punctuation

Learning correct punctuation is much easier if you know the parts of speech and grammatical concepts such as the difference between a phrase and a clause and the difference between a dependent clause and an independent clause. As with grammar, you cannot always depend on MS Word's punctuation advice, but it does provide a starting point at least. Here are some additional resources that may help you provide the textual traffic signs that will help your reader process your writing.

Basic Punctuation Marks

Sentence Punctuation

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The guidance below is adapted from the CTH Style Sheet document

Common Usage Errors:

• There is/there are: There receives its number (sing/pl) from its referent: “There are many people going to town.” Since people is the referent in this sentence, there requires a plural verb.

• Their/there: Their is a possessive pronoun and must always be followed by a noun or noun phrase, not a verb: “Their argument is that there is a problem with the translation.”
  Incorrect: “Their are many people in that store.”
  Correct: “There are many people in that store.”
  Note that “they're” is a contraction (“they are”) and as such should not be used in an academic paper, but it should also not be confused with “their” or “their.”

• Colloquial usage and Double Negative: “He ain’t got no money” is wrong on two counts. It is a double negative (often emphatic in Greek but not in English), and it uses the colloquial “ain’t,” which is unacceptable in formal writing.

• Incorrect Verb form or tense: “He done it” or worse yet, "I seen him when he done it" may be acceptable in informal usage, but such errors have no place in academic prose. Other verb errors include a mismatch in number such as “they was” or “we was,”

• Alot vs. A lot: Simply put, alot is not a word.

Common Punctuation Errors:

• Missing Comma after Introductory Clause: A common error seminary students commit is not setting off a long introductory dependent clause with a comma:“When he went to town to find a new job she followed him.”There should be a comma after “job.” Though this sentence is clear in its meaning, the longer the clause, the less clear the meaning becomes.

• Run-on Sentence: A run-on consists of two complete sentences punctuated as though they were a single sentence; for example, “He went to town to find a new job she followed him.” Another version is the comma splice: “He went to town to find a new job, she followed him.” There are several ways to correct a run-on sentence:

  • Separate the sentences with a period: “He went to town to find a new job. She followed him.”

  • Separate the sentences with a semi-colon: “He went to town to find a new job; she followed him.”

  • Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction: “He went to town to find a new job, and she followed him.” Just don't forget the comma.

  • Use a semi-colon, a conjunctive adverb, and a comma: “He went to town to find a new job; however, she followed him.” A few other examples of conjunctive adverbs are therefore, otherwise, hence, and thus.

• Misuse of Comma: “He went to town, and followed her.” No comma is needed in this instance because there is only one stated subject and thus only one sentence, not two.
  Correct: “He went to town and followed her.”

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Finally, consider how important punctuation is:

A teacher asks his students to punctuate this sentence: "Woman without her man is nothing." The men write, “Woman, without her man, is nothing.” The women write, “Woman! Without her, man is nothing!” A significant difference!