Grammar & Essay Rules
Grammar Rules to Remember (Updated 2021)
(The following rules and examples are frequent on the ACT and expected in college)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-5yxfK9Ri238Y-TGWAIWwWvp6VFb-PXh/view
Video link above covers Wordcounttools. This tool helps guide us through revision.
The Semi-Colon (2 usages for class)
Video Link above will cover the semi-colon
Rule: 1. Use a semicolon between independent clauses not joined by for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
NO RED INK FANBOYS
ex.) Take with you only indispensable things; leave behind all heavy and bulky items.
Rule: 2. Use a semicolon between independent clauses joined by such words as for example, for instance, that is, besides, accordingly, moreover, nevertheless, furthermore, otherwise, therefore, however, consequently, instead, hence. No RED INK THAMOs
ex.) Tension rose rapidly during yesterday's meeting; nevertheless, most of the Council members remained calm.
3. A semicolon (rather that a comma) may be needed to separate independent clauses if there are commas with the clauses.
ex.) The Canby, the new theater on Bank Street, announced programs of Westerns, gangster pictures, and re-releases of horror and blood-and-thunder movies; and the crowds, surprisingly enough, were enormous.
4. Use a semicolon between items in a series if the items contain commas.
ex.) The following are members of the new committee: Jan Bates, president of the Student Council; Allan Drew, president of the Senior Class; Helen Berger, vice-president of the Honor Society; and James Green, who, as a member of the Student Council, proposed that the committee be formed.
The Colon (3 usages)
Video link above walks you through colon usages.
Rule: 1. Use a colon before a list of items, especially after expressions like as follows and the following.
ex.) The car trunk was large enough for everything: rackets, golf clubs, fishing supplies, suitcases, a picnic basket, and heavy clothing.
2. Use a colon before a long, formal statement or quotation.
ex.) Dr. Stoddard made the following observation: The time is coming when a general college education will be as common as a high school education is today.
3. Use a colon between independent clauses when the second clause explains or restates the idea in the first.
ex.) These seat covers are the durable kind: they are reinforced with double stitching and covered with a heavy plastic coating.
4. Use a colon between volume and number or between volume and age number of a periodical.
ex.) Harper's 198:12 (volume and number)
ex.) Harper's 198:68-74 (volume and page numbers)
5. Use a colon after the salutation of a business letter.
ex.) Dear Ms. Green:
The Dash
See this video
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SDlMpMww2YT5Ztfo2fJ6heZjRG6OpP58/view
Rule: 1. Use a dash to indicate an abrupt break in thought.
ex.) He might—and according to plans, should— have reinforced the Second Division.
ex.) The title— if, indeed, the poem had a title— has escaped me.
ex.) I invited Margie— she's the new girl in town— to Winter Carnival
ex.) The dog skidded on the floor— his nails acted like ice skates— and crashed into the kitchen table.
2. Use a dash to mean namely, in other words, or that is before an explanation.
ex.) The referees had it in their power to prevent the fracas—they could have stopped the game at any time. [the dash means that is]
The Hyphen
Rule: 1. Use a hyphen to divide a word at the end of a line.
2. Use a hyphen with compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine and with fractions used as adjectives.
ex.) Thirty-three students
3. Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex-, self-, all-, with the suffix -elect, and with all prefixes before a proper noun or proper adjective.
ex.) ex-president, self-imposed
4. Hyphenate a compound adjective when it precedes the word it modifies.
ex.) a second-story room, an after-school meeting.
5. Use a hyphen to prevent confusion or awkwardness.
ex.) re-collect [prevents confusion with recollect]
The Comma (Introductory Clauses)
Rule: 1. Use a comma after words such as well, yes, no, and why, when they begin a sentence.
ex.) Yes, you were elected.
ex.) Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that.
2. Use a comma after an introductory participial phrase.
ex.) Behaving like a spoiled child, he pouted and threw a fit.
3. Use a comma after a succession of introductory prepositional phrases.
ex.) At the edge of the deep woods near Lakeville in Cumberland County, they built a small log cabin.
4. Use a comma after an introductory adverb clauses.
ex.) While Mario put the costume on, the accompanist played "Deep Purple."
The Comma (Appositive Phrases)
Rule: 1. Appositives and appositive phrases are usually set off by commas.
ex.) A syndicated column by Bernie Silverman, the noted writer, will appear in the Times-News, a local paper.
2. Words used in direct address are set off by commas.
ex.) I don't know, Alice, where your brother is.
3. Parenthetical expressions are set off by commas.
ex.) My parents will, I am sure, let me have the car tonight.
Essay Checklist: do this before you turn it in!!!
1. Never use First person in analysis: I, we, you, me, our
2. Never use the following words of profanity: IS, WAS, SHOWS, and USE
3. Never retell events in a piece: Place your reader at the precise point then analyze the theme or effect.
Remember ICE: Introduce, Cite, and Explain
4. Never use the word VERY or CONTRACTIONS
5. Never heap praise upon an author. That is opinion. Just state the facts.
6. Never utilize a quotation longer that one to two lines of text. 3-6 words ideal for this length
7. There are A LOT of reasons not to utilize this phrase of doltishness.
(myriad, plethora, multitudinous, innumerable, numerous, etc)
8. Literary Analysis is in present tense because
9. The words "quote" or "quotation" should never appear in the essay. BTW: quote is a verb and quotation is a noun. Likewise, in an AP synthesis essay, never write the word "source A" or "Source B"
10. Give the author credit for EVERYTHING. Never say, "This quote shows" instead "Here Orwell details his philosophy..."
11. Check out Purdue's Online Writing Lab to make sure your bibliography looks correct
The Universal Outline
Always be the above
Introduction: If this paragraph is bad, the essay is doomed at the start. the introduction must CONTEXTUALIZE. I know you know that word. When you brainstorm, you ask the following questions to assist in CONTEXTUALIZATION.
Broad - Statement about time period surrounding author
When: (book was written, major events surrounding it)
Where: (culture, country, area)
What: (the central issue of the time)
Why: (it pertains to the novel)
Who: (This you answer in the second part, the narrow)
Narrow - Statement relating the author and piece(s) to the issue of the broad.
Author(s): remember WHO is talking about it
Piece(s):
Link: How does piece relate back to broad
You CONTEXTUALIZE the author and pieces with subject
Thesis - This statement is the “theme” of the essay. The reason for everything
Restated Prompt:
Direction: Take prompt and provide vision/direction as to the author’s intent
Body: Each paragraph should consist of a general pattern with at least 1 or 2 quotations tied directly to the THESIS
Remember: ICE: Introduce, Cite, and Explain your evidence. You learned this in the 10th grade. We
Transitional Statement: Move reader from thesis to point one or from point one to point two. ICE = 2,3,4
Introduce: Lead/Placement: Your quotation has significance: what is going on when it is stated. Place reader into the piece so the context of quotation makes sense. You must CONTEXTUALIZE the quotation in the piece to set up the analysis to come back to the THESIS.
Cite: Quotation: The author says it better: find the best example for you point which ties back to the thesis
Explain: Analysis: You need sentences explaining how your quotation in relationship to the piece/book exemplifies the message of the author in regards to the time period
Extension:
Transition and Lead to another point
Quotation #2 can be worked into the paragraph for strength
All quotations should be 3-6 words and provide the "best part"
Analysis again will confirm
Conclusion: Besides the obvious recapitulation (recap) of the thesis and point, the conclusion should offer some lesson or direction the reader or society can learn.
Restate and recap the author’s purpose and thus your point
Provide a lesson to take into a broader world. The next step
Work in a quotation that exemplifies the point.
So you think your essay stinks.....
See below....
Transcendental Individualism 2019
As the 19th century ushered in a new country conceived in liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the mid 1800s saw and emergence of a philosophy directly descendant from the country’s Declaration of Independence. The newly formed United States of America had founded itself on the principal of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and that mantra proved to be the inspiration for the young country’s first two philosophers of the transcendental movement. Ralph Waldo Emerson with his essay “Self-Reliance” and Henry David Thoreau and his two year stationary odyssey entitled Walden established a shared ethos of individuality in the young country whose citizens were still trying to find their place in a Euro-centric world.
The pioneer of the transcendental movement emerged from the Concord, Massachusetts, and through his words and speeches inspired the nation. Ralph Waldo Emerson toured the country lecturing the fledgling nation on the principals of individuality: first as a nation, then as a people. “We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe” exemplifies Emerson’s view that the country need only to look inwardly to find its identity; he perpetually preached the need for the nation to understand that European thought ideology need not be followed, but a new philosophy in the new world. Not only did Emerson speak to the nation, he also spoke to the individual. In his essay “Self-Reliance”, Emerson laid the ground work for a nation of men to understand and believe that “imitation is suicide” (225) and “nothing is at last as sacred but the integrity of your own mind” (225). This philosophy of individuality instructed his listeners to follow their individual wants and needs—in essence: be an individual.
The philosophy of the Ralph Waldo Emerson did not cease with his lectures; his pupil—disciple really—Henry David Thoreau took the teachings of his master and took those one step farther. The younger Thoreau decided to practice what Emerson preached a daringly took to the woods for two years in a stationary odyssey defying his townsman’s expectations and leading a life of liberty and individuality unknown at that time. As Thoreau went to the woods “to front only the essential facts of life” (237) he endeavored to shake off the shackles of conformity and tradition to find the meaning of life. In his two years of living in the woods he professed that man’s lives are “frittered away by detail” (237). During the course of his stay in Emerson’s vast expanse of woods, Thoreau learned that the true meaning of life proved to be “Simplicity! Simplicity! Simplicity!” (237) which ran contrary to the emerging capitalistic economy of the newly minted United States of America. In his sojourn in the woods, Thoreau bucked traditional norms of living with a rather august and devote approach to individuality which he encapsulated well with “if a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer” (243).
All in all, Henry David Thoreau along with his mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson established the America ethos of individuality. These two American philosophical pioneers forged out in the new world an ideology which ran contrary to that of their European predecessors. This tradition of individuality did not simple die the in middle of the 19th century but has continued to influence the minds of Americans throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. The writings of both Emerson and Thoreau can still be echoed today in minds of Americans who still to this day freely express themselves with their words, dress, religion, and lifestyles. Still to this day American prickle when any one or any institution demands some form of conformity; American’s demand individuality and all of its forms of expression.
Here below—like a pillar of intellectualism—lies a paper of exemplary stature. Befriend this budding intellectual; this paragon of rhetoric, a alpha of the first order.
Over the past recent years, the English language has flourished across the world. English’s dominance in international finance, science, and politics leave many questioning the need to learn foreign languages entirely; consequently, a steady decline of foreign language learning in English-speaking countries has undeniably emerged. However, many experts agree that as long as monolingualism remains the norm in these parts of the world, the potential of these places will be restrained. Conversely, by encouraging the learning of additional languages, English speaking countries would benefit the national interest by improving security and the global economy, by aiding in communication with others more efficiently in everyday life, and by bolstering overall brain capabilities by surging them towards more sophisticated deliberation.
Undoubtedly, an effort towards the learning of foreign language would be in the national interest of English-speaking countries. Countless claim knowing more Arabic could have helped the U.S. be “ ... more effective in the Iraq War” and that sweeping comprehension of languages like Mandarin, Hindi, and Korean could expand current trade connections (Berman). Effective communication in warfare and business promotes a country’s well being. In addition to the national and global benefits, a more intimate, local improvement can be observed. Domestically, “employers … have learned enough Spanish to speak to to their employees … [and] … workers in hospitals, clinics, courts and retail stores … have picked up parts of another language to make their jobs easier,” clearly portraying the positive impact of knowing multiple languages on an everyday level (Erard). A healthy workplace environment lives and dies by communication. By acknowledging this need and addressing multilingualism in employment opportunities, employers revitalize their business for the future.
Despite these aforementioned benefits, others continue to endorse English as the only language of universality, primarily citing its ability to “… perform the magic trick of uniting the entire globe” (Thomas). While a plethora of evidence of English’s dominance on the world stage of language exists—thus granting this argument its due merit—the psychological benefits of multilingualism would not be accrued by native English speakers who, in this case, share this view collectively. Catherine Porter, former president of the Modern Language Association, states “the language-learning process [can] … make the brain more flexible and incite it to discover new patterns,” sonorously illuminating the reality that the ability to speak multiple languages forges superior thinkers and, in turn, a more enlightened people (Oaks). Even if every human spoke English and no other language be required for trade or common life, the cognitive bonuses of multilingualism would go largely untouched, a travesty for the world and its inhabitants.
Truly, monolingualism currently relegates the natives of the English tongue to unfortunate mediocrity: an unwillingness to learn the languages and understand the cultures of the rest of the world lead only to inevitable detriment, as they will lag behind economically, both at home and abroad, and will fail to match the unbridled cognitive capabilities of a people empowered by language. English speakers still possess the time to change course: this grim future on English has not yet arrived. Still, an over complacency in the familiar often leads from content to dismay and, likewise, while English remains in the spotlight for now, a few short decades could leave a profoundly different star at center stage.