mechanics essay writing

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English Mechanics 101: What Are Writing Mechanics? (Definition and Examples)

If you want to learn more about English mechanics, this is the article for you. You'll learn what the main aspects of mechanics are, how to use them in your writing, and why you should.

• English Mechanics are the rules that govern written language. They tell you how to write in a way that is coherent and standardized.

This article is part of our free online Grammar Book .

The Main Parts of English Mechanics

English mechanics provide a way to standardize writing so that you may get your message across effectively. They're the rules you look to when you're unsure which punctuation to use or whether to capitalize a word, to mention just a couple of examples.

In other words, they cover the technical aspects of writing in English. It's like when you have a car. You may know how to drive it, but there are mechanics involved, too, if you want to keep your vehicle on the road. Do your tires meet the legal requirements? Do you have the right level of oil? How should you position your seat? These mechanical aspects ensure you can drive your car safely and according to legal standards.

• Knowing about English mechanics accomplishes the same thing: it ensures your writing meets the standard rules.

So why should you care about English mechanics? Well, I think it's safe to say that when you write, you want to be understood by your readers, right? You don't want to be misunderstood, do you? That's what understanding mechanics will help you to do. It ensures you express yourself with accuracy.

The four main aspects of English mechanics include:

Capitalization

Punctuation.

Let's take a look at these one by one.

Word order, also known as sentence patterns, tells us which order we should place the words in our sentence. You can't just place words wherever you like, as this affects the sentence's meaning. In order to communicate effectively, you must know that certain parts of speech must be placed in specific parts of the sentence.

The most basic sentence pattern is:

[Subject] + [Verb]

That could look like this:

I am sleeping. 

You might want to add other parts of speech to make your sentence more complex. There are sentence patterns for these cases, too. For instance, if you want to add an adjective, you should remember to always place it before the subject. And objects come after the subject and verb.

Here are some more example sentence patterns:

[Subject] + [Verb] + [Adjective] + [Noun] I used brown sugar.  [Adjective] + [Subject] + [Verb] + [Adverb] The excited puppy barked loudly. [Subject] + [Verb] + [Direct Object]  I study English mechanics.  [Subject] + [Verb] + [Indirect Object] + [Direct Object]  We sent everyone an invitation.

These are just a few of the possible combinations. If you'd like to learn more, check out our blog on sentence patterns .

Knowing whether or not to capitalize or word can be tricky business. Also, different style guides might advocate for slightly different practices.

• Capitalizing a word means you start it off with an uppercase letter.

There are seven instances when you should use a capital letter at the beginning of a word, and those are:

• The first word of the sentence You look fantastic tonight!
• Proper nouns Is it ok if we bring our dog, Rex ?
• The pronoun 'I.' It's high time that I get my own place.
• The first word after a colon (if it's a complete sentence) You must keep track of your main goal: You need to graduate with a scholarship.
• The first word of a quote (if it's a complete sentence) As Gandhi said: " Be the change that you wish to see in the world."
• Most words in titles Have you ever watched The Shawshank Redemption?
• Titles and honorifics (if followed by the person's name) I'd like to introduce Sir Paul McCartney.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you spelling is a major aspect of English mechanics and is essential in getting your message across accurately. One big reason for this is that English words don't tend to be spelled the way they sound, so you'll need to be familiar with spelling conventions in order to avoid errors.

As well as this, there are homophones to content with: words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Getting the spelling right for these words is key so your reader knows what you mean.

Look at the following words, for example:

• 'Ware' vs 'wear'
• 'Isle' vs 'aisle'
• 'Sow' vs 'sew'

The spelling makes all the difference here because when you hear them out loud, they sound like the same word, but when you write them down, you see they are different.

Of course, a spellchecker can always help with this, and we're lucky to live in an age where these are available, so we can ensure our writing is error-free before publishing/handing it in. But it's good practice to familiarize yourself with the different spelling rules over time so that you're not entirely relying on your spellchecker.

To learn more about the spelling rules, check out our article on the topic.

Without punctuation, our writing would just be a jumbled-up mess of words; it would be impossible to make any sense of it.

There are three different types of punctuation:

• punctuation to end a sentence
• punctuation to mark a pause
• punctuation for quotations
• punctuation to edit words

Punctuation to End a Sentence

Exclamation points , question marks , and periods are the three kinds of punctuation you can use to end a sentence. They help the reader know if you're expressing emotion, asking a question, or simply making a statement.

Here's an example sentence for each of these:

Oh wow, that's great news! What's your name? Sorry to hear that you lost your job.

Punctuation to Mark a Pause

Most kinds of punctuation are intended to mark a pause or separate a piece of information from the rest of the sentence. Some of the most commonly used ones are commas , colons , semicolons , and parentheses .

Let's take a look at what these look like in a sentence:

I'd like a blueberry muffin, a flat white and a glass of water, please. Today we're going to be discussing a topic dear to my heart: English mechanics.  She's skipping movie night ; she isn't a big fan of the action genre. Everything I set out to do today (clean the house, fix my car and eat a nourishing meal) was a complete and utter success.

Punctuation for Quotations

This category's pretty straightforward: it's the kind of punctuation that allows you to demark quotations in your writing. These are called quotation marks . You can use either single or double quotation marks. The former tends to be more common in countries that use British English, and American English-speaking countries prefer the latter.

You can use quotations to directly quote what someone said, report dialogue , mention titles of works, or set words apart from the rest of the text.

Here are some examples:

" In three words I can sum up everything I've learned in life: It goes on ." — Robert Frost She asked, "Do you know anyone here?" John Donne's poem "No Man Is an Island" really resonated with me. He was nicknamed "The King of Pop".

Punctuation to Edit Words

The English language is very versatile. Though it contains a wide variety of words, we'll often use the same word in different ways to mean something different. That's where apostrophes and hyphens come in.

Apostrophes allow you to contract a word or form possessive nouns:

I've never been so happy to see you in my life. The young girl's speech was very moving.

Hyphens can be used to create compound words, connect a word with its prefix, and for numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine:

We live in a fast-paced world and it can be difficult to slow down. They host a bi-annual gala. In my class of thirty-six students there are only three boys.

Other Types of Punctuation

There are other kinds of punctuation that don't fit into the aforementioned categories but that still perform an essential role in English mechanics. Slashes and brackets are two examples.

Slashes are used to show a contrast or a connection between two things:

Dear Sir/Madam. Do you take sugar/milk?

Brackets allow you to add edits, comments, or further explanations for something you have said:

My mom always says "Carpe diem [ seize the day]"

To learn about the other punctuation marks not discussed here, visit our Grammar Book. We have an entire section on punctuation.

Other Aspects of English Mechanics

We've covered the main aspects of English mechanics, but there are others too. Many grammarians disagree on what constitutes mechanics vs grammar , so what you're reading here is just our take on what constitutes the building blocks of English mechanics.

But don't worry; there's no need to get stuck on semantics. The important thing is that you're familiar with all the rules, whether mechanics or grammar, and this is something you'll accomplish over time just by practicing and reading all our Grammar Book articles.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations are shortened versions of words. They're not typically used in formal writing, but you will see them around, so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with them. Plus, you can also use them in your writing to shorten your text/save time.

Here are some different examples of abbreviations:

Did you see that ad on TV for the new iPhone? He's from the FBI. They're raising money for UNICEF. I honestly had to LOL when he said that.

To learn more about abbreviations, check out our article on the topic .

Prefixes and Suffixes

• Prefixes are added to the beginning of words to change their meaning
• Suffixes are added to the end of words to change their form.

Most prefixes and suffixes are standardized, so learning about them can mean you'll be able to decode a word's meaning, even if you've never seen the word before. How cool is that?

For example, here are some prefixes that give the word its opposite meaning:

• de declutter deficient
• in inexpensive inadequate
• dis disadvantage disagree

Here are some examples of common suffixes that change a word into a noun:

• -acy private → privacy
• -ism optimist → optimism
• -ance maintain → maintenance
• -er train → trainer

If you want to learn more about prefixes and suffixes , we've got an article that covers everything you need to know. Check it out here.

Singular vs Plural

Nouns can be either singular or plural. Their basic form is singular; to pluralize them, you must follow a certain set of rules.

Sometimes it's as simple as adding -es  to the end of the word, like for words ending in  -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, or -x.

• bus → buses
• pass → passes
• church → churches

Sometimes you'll have the option to add either -es or -s , like with words ending in  -o.

• piano → pianos
• volcano → volcanoes
• hero → heroes

And other times yet, you'll need to change some of the letters in the word first. That might look like adding a -z and then the plural ending:

• quiz → quizzes

Or changing the - v  to an  -f:

• wife → wives

So yes, the rules are a bit more complex than simply adding an  -s  or an  -es , like many would like to believe. I would like to believe that myself, as it would make life much easier!

To learn about pluralization rules in more depth, check out this article .

Concluding Thoughts on English Mechanics

That concludes this article on English mechanics. I hope you found it helpful.

Let's summarize what we've learned:

• English mechanics exist to help us express ourselves accurately in writing.
• The four main aspects of English mechanics are word order, capitalization, spelling, and punctuation.
• Important aspects also include abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes, and pluralizing nouns.

If you found this article helpful and would like to learn more, check out our Grammar Book , a free online database of grammar articles just like this one.

Learn More:

• Singular and Plural: Understanding Singular and Plural Forms in English (Examples)
• Confusing Words: 51 Commonly Confused Words in English (Examples)
• Periods: When to Use Periods in Writing (Examples)
• Exclamation Points: When to Use Exclamation Points in Writing (Examples)
• Commas: When to Use Commas in Writing (Examples)
• Semicolons: When to Use Semicolons in Writing (Examples)
• Colons: When to Use Colons in Writing (Examples)
• Parentheses: When to Use Parentheses in Writing (Examples)
• Brackets: When to Use Brackets in Writing (Examples)
• Ellipses: When to Use Ellipses in Writing (Examples)
• Slash: When to Use Slash in Writing (Examples)
• Language Register in English Writing: Definition, Meaning, and Examples
• Hyperbole: What is Hyperbole in English? Definition and Examples
• Onomatopoeia: What is Onomatopoeia? Discovering Sound Words in English (Examples)
• Curse Words: What Are Bad Words in English to Call Someone? (Examples)

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Effective Writing Mechanics: Essential Guide & Tips

1. get to know the basics, grammar rules, punctuation guide, proper capitalization, 2. build your vocabulary, explore thesaurus, learn new words, use vocabulary apps, 3. write regularly, set writing goals, join writing groups, use writing prompts, 4. edit your work, proofread for errors, use editing tools, hire a proofreader, 5. learn from others, read quality writing, take writing courses, follow expert bloggers, 6. experiment with styles and tones, try different writing styles, adapt various writing tones, write in different genres, 7. engage your readers, use interactive content, respond to comments, create engaging titles, 8. stay motivated, set personal goals, celebrate small wins, keep a writing journal, 9. practice mindfulness, meditate for focus, practise mindful writing, stay present while writing, 10. reflect and improve, get feedback, analyse your progress, plan for improvement.

Have you ever pondered about the question: "what is mechanics in writing"? If so, you're in the right place. Writing mechanics are the nuts and bolts of language that make a piece of writing clear, fluid, and enjoyable to read. It's the underlying structure that holds your words together and gives them meaning. This blog aims to help you navigate the realm of writing mechanics with practical advice and actionable tips, making the complex simple and the daunting achievable. Let's start with the basics.

Learning the fundamentals of writing mechanics is like building a strong foundation for a house—it ensures everything else you build will stand strong. With a firm grasp of grammar rules, proper punctuation, and correct capitalization, you'll be able to express your thoughts accurately and impressively. Let's dig a bit deeper.

Grammar is the rulebook of writing—it's what helps us make sense of language. Here are a few key things to remember:

• Understand the eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
• Ensure your subjects and verbs agree. If your subject is singular, your verb should also be singular.
• Use correct verb tenses to express time accurately.

Remember: even the most interesting ideas can lose their appeal if they're tangled in grammatical errors. So, give grammar the attention it deserves.

Punctuation is like the traffic signals of writing—it guides the reader through your words, indicating when to pause, stop, or expect more. Here's a quick guide:

• A period (.) signals the end of a sentence.
• A comma (,) indicates a pause or separates items in a list.
• Colons (:) and semicolons (;) can be used to connect related sentences or divide complex lists.

Tip: Punctuation misuse can lead to confusion or misunderstandings, so it's worth taking the time to learn the rules.

Capitalization helps distinguish specific words, like proper nouns, from the rest of the text. Here are some capitalization rules:

• Capitalize the first word of a sentence.
• Capitalize proper nouns, which include names of people, places, organizations, and sometimes things.
• Do not capitalize common nouns unless they're at the beginning of a sentence.

Note: Incorrect capitalization can be a distraction to readers, so keep these rules in mind as you write.

Getting the basics right is the first step to understanding what mechanics in writing is all about. Once you've nailed these, you're ready to tackle more advanced aspects of writing mechanics.

Expanding your vocabulary is like adding more colors to your palette—it allows you to paint more vivid, precise pictures with your words. Let's look at some effective ways to build your vocabulary.

A thesaurus is a treasure trove of words. It's an invaluable tool to help you find synonyms (words that mean the same thing) and antonyms (words that mean the opposite). Here's how to make the most of a thesaurus:

• When you come across a word you're overusing, look it up in the thesaurus. You'll find a list of alternatives to add variety to your writing.
• Use a thesaurus to learn new words, but make sure to also learn their definitions to use them correctly.

Tip: While a thesaurus can enhance your writing, remember that simplicity often trumps complexity. Don't use complicated words when a simpler one will do.

Just like a chef needs to know a variety of ingredients to create different dishes, a writer needs a vast vocabulary to express diverse ideas. Here's how:

• Read widely and diversely: Books, newspapers, magazines, and even websites can be rich sources of new words.
• Use a word of the day calendar or app to learn a new word every day.
• When you encounter a word you don't know, look it up. Try to use it in a sentence to help remember it.

Remember: Language is continuously evolving, and so should your vocabulary. Challenge yourself to learn new words regularly.

In today's digital age, learning new words is as easy as tapping on your smartphone. Vocabulary apps like Magoosh, Vocabulary.com, and Anki can make learning new words fun and convenient. Here are some benefits:

• Most vocabulary apps feature a word of the day, flashcards, quizzes, and progress tracking.
• They allow you to learn at your own pace, whether you have a few minutes or an hour to spare.
• They make learning interactive, which can help improve retention.

Note: While apps can be helpful, they should supplement—not replace—reading as a means of building your vocabulary.

Building a robust vocabulary not only helps you express your ideas more precisely but also understand others better. It's an integral part of what mechanics in writing is all about.

Writing, like any skill, improves with practice. The more you write, the more you'll hone your mechanics in writing. Let's dive into some practical ways to write regularly.

Setting goals can give your writing practice direction and purpose. Here's how to set effective writing goals:

• Start with small, achievable goals like writing 200 words a day. Once you're comfortable with that, gradually increase your word count.
• Be specific about what you want to achieve. Instead of "I want to write more," say "I want to write a 500-word blog post every week."
• Hold yourself accountable. Track your progress, and celebrate your achievements—no matter how small.

Remember: The goal is not just to write more, but also to write better. Always strive to improve your writing mechanics.

Writing may be a solitary activity, but that doesn't mean you have to do it alone. Joining a writing group can provide support, feedback, and motivation. Here are some benefits:

• Writing groups can provide constructive feedback to help you improve your writing.
• They can offer encouragement, especially when you're feeling stuck or uninspired.
• You can learn from other writers' experiences and techniques.

Note: You can find writing groups in your local community or online. Choose one that aligns with your writing goals and interests.

Writing prompts can kickstart your creativity when you're feeling stuck or uninspired. They can be a word, a phrase, a situation, or even a picture. Here's how to use them:

• Choose a prompt that interests you. Don't feel limited by the prompt—let your imagination run wild.
• Set a timer for 10-15 minutes and write without stopping or editing. This can help you get into the flow of writing.
• Use prompts to explore different genres, styles, and tones. It can help improve your versatility as a writer.

Tip: You can find writing prompts in books, websites, or even writing apps. Use them as a tool to practice and experiment with your writing.

Writing regularly is like exercise for your brain—it strengthens your writing muscles and improves your writing mechanics. So, grab your pen or keyboard and start writing!

Editing is a crucial part of writing mechanics. It's the stage where you refine your work, clarify your ideas, and eliminate errors. Let's delve into some ways you can effectively edit your work.

Proofreading is the process of checking for and correcting mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting. Here are some tips:

• Take a break before proofreading. Coming back to your work with fresh eyes can make it easier to spot errors.
• Read your work aloud. This can help you catch awkward sentences and misplaced punctuation.
• Use a spell-checker, but don't rely on it completely. It can miss homophones and context-specific errors.

Remember: Proofreading is not just about finding errors—it's also about making sure your writing is clear, coherent, and engaging.

Editing tools can help you catch errors and improve your writing. They can check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors, as well as readability and style issues. Here's how to use them:

• Choose a tool that suits your needs. Some popular options include Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, and ProWritingAid.
• Use them as a guide, not a rulebook. They can offer suggestions, but you're the one who knows your voice and message best.
• Don't forget to proofread even after using an editing tool. No tool can catch every error.

Note: While editing tools can be useful, they're not a substitute for understanding writing mechanics and editing skills. Use them as a complement, not a crutch.

If you're working on a big project or you want a professional touch, consider hiring a proofreader. A proofreader can provide a fresh perspective and catch errors you might have missed. Here's what to consider:

• Look for a proofreader who specializes in your type of writing. A proofreader experienced in academic writing might not be the best fit for a novel, for example.
• Be clear about your expectations. What do you want the proofreader to focus on—grammar, formatting, style, or all of the above?
• Remember to budget for this. While it can be a worthwhile investment, professional proofreading services do come with a cost.

Tip: You can find professional proofreaders on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, or even LinkedIn.

Editing is like polishing a rough diamond—it can transform your writing from good to great. So, embrace the editing process and see your writing shine!

Learning from others is a crucial aspect of understanding what mechanics in writing is all about. It's about observing, understanding, and implementing the styles, techniques, and strategies of successful writers. Let's explore how you can learn from others to improve your writing mechanics.

Reading quality writing is a powerful way to learn. It exposes you to different styles, tones, and effective uses of language. Here are some strategies you can adopt:

• Read a variety of genres. From novels by Stephen King to research papers by Albert Einstein, different genres offer different lessons.
• Analyze what you read. Look at how the writer structures sentences, builds paragraphs, and uses punctuation. This is an excellent way to learn practical writing mechanics.
• Take notes. If a piece of writing impresses you, jot down why. Did they use a clever metaphor? Was their argument well-structured?

Remember: Reading is not just about consuming content—it's also about understanding how effective writing is crafted.

Writing courses are a structured way to learn writing mechanics. They can offer guided lessons, practical exercises, and expert feedback. Here's how to go about it:

• Choose a course that suits your needs. There are courses on everything from basic grammar to advanced narrative techniques.
• Engage fully with the course. Complete the exercises, ask questions, and take advantage of any feedback offered.
• Don't forget to apply what you learn. Practice is key to improving your writing mechanics.

Note: You can find a wealth of writing courses online, on platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and even YouTube.

Following expert bloggers can offer insights into successful writing. You can learn from their style, their engagement strategies, and their content. Here are some tips:

• Choose bloggers who write about topics you're interested in. This will make your learning process more enjoyable.
• Take note of how they engage their readers. Do they use humor? Do they ask questions? Do they use storytelling?
• Try implementing some of their strategies in your own writing. Remember—it's not about copying, but about learning and adapting.

Tip: Some popular bloggers who are known for their excellent writing include Seth Godin (marketing), Maria Popova (culture), and Tim Urban (science and philosophy).

Learning from others is like standing on the shoulders of giants—it gives you a higher vantage point from which to improve your writing mechanics. Embrace the journey, and see your writing skills soar!

One of the best ways to understand what mechanics in writing truly means, is to experiment with different styles and tones. By varying your style and tone, you can discover your unique writing voice and learn how to adapt it to different contexts. Here's how to go about it.

Writing styles are like the clothes that language wears - they can completely change the perception of your words. Exploring different styles can teach you a lot about writing mechanics. Here are some steps to take:

• Explore styles across genres. Write a short story one day, a business report the next, and maybe a poem after that.
• Imitate the styles of writers you admire. This can help you understand the mechanics behind their writing.
• Experiment until you find a style that feels authentically yours. Your unique style is your trademark as a writer.

Remember: Trying different styles isn't about being inconsistent, but about understanding the vast possibilities of language.

Tone is the mood or attitude conveyed by your writing. Adapting your tone to suit different contexts is a key part of mastering writing mechanics. Here's how to get started:

• Write the same content in different tones. Try writing a cheerful blog post, a serious academic essay, and a satirical commentary.
• Take note of the words, sentence structures, and punctuation that set the tone in different pieces of writing.
• Practice adjusting your tone based on your audience and purpose. A speech for a wedding will have a different tone than a speech for a business conference.

Note: The right tone can make your writing engaging, persuasive, and memorable. So, don't be afraid to play around with it!

Writing in different genres can help you explore new perspectives and challenge your writing mechanics. Here's how to do it:

• Choose a genre you're unfamiliar with. This could be anything from science fiction to journalistic writing.
• Research the conventions and expectations of the genre. What makes a crime novel different from a romance novel?
• Write a short piece in your chosen genre. Remember, it's not about producing a masterpiece, but about learning and growing as a writer.

Tip: Writing in different genres can also help you discover new interests and expand your writing horizons.

Exploring different styles, tones, and genres is like a fun adventure in the world of writing. So, get ready to experiment and learn, and watch your understanding of writing mechanics deepen and evolve!

Writing is a two-way street. As you explore what mechanics in writing is, remember that a significant part of good writing involves engaging your readers. Here are a few strategies to help you connect with your audience better.

Interactive content is a great way to engage your readers and make your writing more memorable. Here's how you can incorporate it into your work:

• Use quizzes, polls, or surveys to encourage reader participation.
• Include infographics or interactive diagrams to explain complex concepts.
• Add a comments section where readers can share their thoughts.

Remember: Interactive content not only makes your writing more engaging but also helps you understand your readers better.

Responding to your readers' comments is an excellent way to build a community around your writing. Here's how to do it effectively:

• Thank your readers for their comments, even if they're critical. This shows that you value their input.
• Answer questions and provide additional information where necessary.
• Use readers' feedback to improve your writing. Their perspectives can help you understand the mechanics of writing from different angles.

Note: Responding to comments can take time, but it's worth it for the connection you'll build with your readers.

Engaging titles can draw readers in and make them eager to read your content. Here's how to craft compelling titles:

• Keep your titles short and clear. Avoid jargon and complex phrases.
• Make your titles intriguing but not misleading. The content should deliver what the title promises.
• Use powerful words that evoke emotion or curiosity.

Tip: A great title can make the difference between your content being read or ignored, so spend time perfecting it!

Engaging your readers is an art in itself, and mastering it can take your writing to new heights. So, as you explore the mechanics of writing, don't forget to keep your readers at the heart of your work!

Writing can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, but staying motivated is key. Even as you grapple with the question, "what is mechanics in writing?", maintaining your enthusiasm for the craft is crucial. Here are some ways to keep your writing spirit high.

Personal writing goals can help you stay focused and motivated. Here are some tips on setting effective goals:

• Set both short-term and long-term goals. A short-term goal could be writing a certain number of words per day, while a long-term goal could be completing a novel in a year.
• Make your goals achievable but challenging. This can help you push your writing skills to the next level.
• Track your progress. Seeing how far you've come can be incredibly motivating.

Remember: Setting personal goals is like creating a roadmap for your writing journey. It keeps you on track and makes the destination seem achievable.

Celebrating small wins can boost your motivation and make the writing process more enjoyable. Here's how:

• Celebrate each completed chapter, blog post, or poem. These small victories are stepping stones to your larger goals.
• Share your accomplishments with others. Whether it's a supportive friend, a writing group, or your social media followers, sharing your progress can be motivating and rewarding.
• Give yourself a small reward for each achievement. This could be as simple as a cup of your favorite coffee or a walk in the park.

Tip: Celebrating small wins can make the writing process more enjoyable and keep your motivation levels high. It's all about enjoying the journey, not just the destination.

Keeping a writing journal can be a great source of motivation and a way to track your progress. Here's how you can use a writing journal:

• Record your daily writing achievements, no matter how small they may seem.
• Write down your thoughts, ideas, and inspirations. They could be useful for your future writing projects.
• Reflect on your writing journey. This can help you see how much you've grown as a writer.

Note: A writing journal is more than just a record of your writing—it's a tool that can help you stay motivated and inspired.

Staying motivated as you navigate the world of writing mechanics is key. With these strategies, you can keep your writing spirit high, no matter the challenges you face.

As you continue to explore "what is mechanics in writing", it's important to stay grounded and focused. Practicing mindfulness can bring clarity to your writing process and instill calmness in your practice. Here's how.

Meditation can help you clear your mind and focus on your writing. Consider these steps:

• Before you begin a writing session, take a few minutes to meditate. This can help clear your mind and prepare you for focused writing.
• Focus on your breath or a calming word or phrase during your meditation.
• Try to make meditation a part of your daily writing routine for maximum benefits.

Keep in mind: Meditation isn't about achieving a certain state—it's about being present and focused. This can greatly enhance your writing practice.

Mindful writing involves being present and focused while you write. Here's how to practice it:

• Before you start writing, take a moment to become aware of your surroundings. Notice the feel of the pen or keyboard under your fingers, the sound of your breath, the words forming in your mind.
• As you write, stay focused on the present moment and the words flowing from your mind to the page.
• When your mind wanders, gently bring it back to your writing.

Remember: Mindful writing can help you write more clearly and creatively. It's about enjoying the process, not just the end result.

Staying present while writing can help you write more effectively and enjoy the process more. Consider these tips:

• Try to stay focused on your writing, without worrying about the past or the future.
• If you find your mind wandering, gently bring it back to the task at hand.
• Take regular breaks to rest and refocus.

Note: Staying present while writing isn't always easy, but it's worth the effort. It can bring a new level of depth and enjoyment to your writing practice.

Practicing mindfulness can bring calmness and clarity to your writing practice. As you continue to explore the mechanics of writing, remember to stay present and enjoy the process.

Understanding "what is mechanics in writing" is a journey that involves continuous learning and improvement. Here's how you can reflect on your progress and plan for improvement.

Receiving feedback is a powerful way to improve your writing. You can:

• Ask friends, family, or fellow writers to read your work and give their opinions.
• Consider their feedback and decide which suggestions can help improve your writing.
• Apply these suggestions in your next piece of writing.

Don't forget: Feedback is not about criticism, it's about growth. Every piece of advice is a step towards becoming a better writer.

Tracking your writing progress can help you see how far you've come and where you can improve. Here are some ways you can do this:

• Keep a record of the pieces you've written, noting the date, word count, and any feedback you received.
• Every few weeks or months, review your progress and note any patterns or improvements.
• Use this information to guide your future writing efforts.

Tip: Analysing your progress can help you appreciate your growth and inspire you to keep improving. It's a way of saying "look how far you've come!"

Once you've analysed your progress, it's time to plan for further improvement. Here's how:

• Identify areas where you'd like to improve. This might be grammar, vocabulary, or a specific aspect of writing mechanics.
• Create a plan to work on these areas. This might involve setting aside time for study, joining a writing group, or taking a course.
• Stick to your plan and review it regularly to ensure it's helping you reach your goals.

Remember: Improvement is a journey, not a destination. As you continue to learn about the mechanics of writing, celebrate your progress and always strive to do better.

Understanding "what is mechanics in writing" is a lifelong journey. By reflecting on your progress and planning for improvement, you can continue to grow and develop as a writer. And remember, every step you take is a step towards becoming a better writer.

If you're eager to improve your writing skills and learn more about the art of storytelling, be sure to check out Jessy Moussallem's workshop titled ' Scriptwriting '. This workshop provides valuable insights, tips, and techniques to help you craft compelling scripts and elevate your writing abilities to the next level.

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Table of Contents

Ai, ethics & human agency, collaboration, information literacy, writing process.

• © 2023 by Joseph M. Moxley - University of South Florida

Learn about mechanics -- the rules and conventions that inform written as opposed to spoken discourse.

What are Mechanics ?

Mechanics are the conventions or rules that govern written language , including

Capitalization

• Parts of Speech
• Parts of a Sentence

Punctuation

• Run-on Sentences
• Sentence Fragments
• Sentence Errors
• Sentence Patterns
• Sentence Structures

Mechanics are a socio-cultural-rhetorical construct. Mechanics evolve over time as communication technologies and discourse communities/communities of practice evolve.

Related Concepts: Grammar ; Register

Why Do Mechanics Matter?

Mechanics enable writers, speakers, and knowledge makers . . . to communicate with audiences .

Mechanics and grammar are the rules and conventions that inform communicative practices among members of a discourse community. Mechanics rules are for governing written language.

When writers violate conventions related to mechanics, readers are likely to be confused.

Mechanics vs Grammar

Mechanics and grammar are interrelated concepts. For some users, they are equivalent terms. Traditionalists make this distinction, however:

• Grammars govern the language patterns of oral discourse
• Mechanics govern the language patterns of written discourse.

While this distinction between mechanics and grammar is nice and tidy, it breaks down in practice. Some elements of language practice pertain to both written and oral discourse. This may explain why Grammar Handbooks and online websites (e.g., The Owl at Purdue University or Grammarly.Com or Wikipedia) disagree about whether or not some elements of discourse such as Modifiers , Parallelism (Parallel Structure) , Punctuation or Sentence Fragments should be indexed under Grammar or Mechanics.

Regardless, the takeaway here is that you need a firm grounding in grammar and mechanics in order to edit your work on the work of others.

Mechanics as a Socio-cultural-historical-Rhetorical Process

Mechanics evolve  over time as technologies empower new methods of composing . 

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Writing Mechanics: The Secret to Effective Writing

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Conveying your thoughts effectively in written form isn’t the easiest of things to do. It’s frustrating, not being able to get your point across because the reader can’t follow the flow of your sentences. This is where knowledge of the proper writing mechanics comes in.

Following the appropriate rules of writing is a tried and tested way of improving reader comprehension.

At our  content marketing agency , we review and compare the best writing apps and MasterClass classes so that you don’t have to. In this article, we’ll outline these rules, and the ways each one can be used effectively in your work. Before we begin though, let’s give you a bit of an idea of what writing mechanics actually are.

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What Are Writing Mechanics?

Writing mechanics are the established rules that should be followed when writing sentences. They go hand in hand with grammar as the standards to follow when writing and are an important way to effectively communicate ideas.

By consensus, the rules on grammar and writing mechanics have become the official standard. They aren’t set in stone though but using them as a guide is still a good idea.

#1: Parts of speech

The classifications of parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives among others is one of the most important things to know if you’re a writer. Knowing the difference between a verb and an adverb, or a preposition from a conjunction, plays a big part in being able to communicate effectively. It’s not really necessary to be familiar with the definitions of each, but knowing how to use them properly is.

#2: Parts of sentences

There are no hard and fast rules about making sentences.

This is actually a good thing, as it allows you a lot of leeway to exercise your creativity. Knowing the parts of sentences such as subjects, objects, phrases, and clauses helps to give your sentences cohesion.

Being able to observe harmony while being creative with sentence structure is the sign of a good writer.

#3: Sentence errors

Sometimes, even sentences that seem to be correct may still not follow proper writing mechanics.

Run-on sentences, dangling participles, and faulty parallelism among others, are easy to miss if you aren’t familiar with them. The only way to actually spot these errors is to know what to look for. Ultimately, you should be aware of these types of sentence errors to avoid committing them yourself. At our  content marketing age ncy , our writers use Grammarly to follow the appropriate writing mechanics.

#4: Subject-Verb agreement

Subject-verb agreement is easy to miss, especially for novice writers. Knowing the proper or singular forms of verbs and then matching them to the subject as is required makes your sentences easier to understand.

Subject-verb agreement also makes your work more enjoyable to read. Incorrect subject-verb agreement can be grating to a reader, especially if committed often in a single work.

#5: Capitalization

Improper capitalization may not exactly affect the meaning behind the words that you use, but it does help keep your sentences organized. Capitalization signals to a reader the important details in a sentence.

People, places, and ideas that are capitalized give them a hint as to the significance of that word. Capitalization also helps your sentences and paragraphs flow better as it signals the beginning of each sentence that you use.

#6: Punctuation

There’s a joke that can easily convey the importance of proper punctuation. The difference between ‘Let’s eat, Fred,’ and ‘Let’s eat Fred’ is a simple comma, but it changes the meaning significantly. One is a dinner invitation, the other is cannibalism!

Using the correct punctuation gives you the ability to convey your ideas to the reader exactly as you intended. Punctuation may be a small part of the sentence as a whole, but it definitely has a big impact.

#7: Spelling

No one really wants to see bad spelling, certainly not a discerning reader. Improper spelling takes away from your work and gives a reader fewer reasons to finish it.

Fortunately, most modern text programs have spell checkers that can identify errors. You really shouldn’t be too complacent though. Even spell checkers can miss words that are spelled correctly but used improperly.

#8: Abbreviations

Never use abbreviations that aren’t familiar to your readers unless you’re trying to hide the meaning intentionally. The best practice would be to use the full title first, followed immediately by the abbreviation.

Once this is done, you could use the abbreviation instead. Familiarize your reader with the abbreviations that you use, don’t let them have to wonder what they actually mean.

#9: Homonyms, homographs and homophones

This is a part of English speech that can easily confuse a novice writer. A lot of words in the English language sound alike or are spelled alike but have different meanings. The words ‘ there,’ ‘their,’ and ‘they’re,’ or ‘you’re’ and ‘your’ come easily to mind. They sound the same but are significantly different.

Words like leaves can have different meanings depending on the context. It may be the singular present tense of leave, or the plural of leaf. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the difference.

#10: Eliminating redundancy

Using synonyms, and antonyms of words reduces redundancy in sentences. It’s not a thing that would really affect the ideas that you want to convey, but it can be off-putting to a reader. Try to limit using similar words, at least in the same sentence or paragraph.

If you must repeat words, try to space them out so that they don’t seem too jarring. If you run out of synonyms, you could always use the negative of an antonym to convey the same idea. Additionally, with an AI writer , the possibilities for creating engaging and persuasive content are endless.

The Proper Mechanics of Writing: A Summary

Let’s go over some of the most important mechanics of writing that you need to be familiar with before you get started on your masterpiece.

• Mastering the proper usage of quotation marks.
• Ensuring that both grammar and spelling are correct. Knowing grammar rules is extremely vital.
• Mastering punctuation.
• Knowing how, where, and when to use apostrophes.
• Creating a concise topic sentence or thesis.
• Being able to form coherent sentence structures and avoiding sentence fragments.
• Ensuring that capitalization is used properly.
• Having a mastery of the English vocabulary.
• Knowing how to formulate concise paragraphs that are not too wordy.

Hopefully, this article has enlightened you on the proper use of grammar and writing mechanics to improve your overall writing skills .

Effectively conveying your thoughts on paper is admittedly much easier when both the writer and the reader understand each other. If you still have questions about the topic, feel free to contact us for more information or read our review on the best grammar checker.

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Unit 4: Writing Mechanics

Writ course learning outcomes (lo) addressed.

• COMPOSE complete sentences and paragraphs using effective vocabulary  (LO 6).
• EXPRESS a clear written argument (LO 7).
• PROVIDE evidence in support of arguments (LO 8).
• APPLY basic principles of quotation and/or paraphrase integration (LO 9).

Rubric Spotlight

• Errors that are absent or minor
• An assured and sophisticated command of grammatical structures, punctuation, mechanics, usage
• Language use that enhances your message

Putting the Pieces Together Copyright © 2020 by Andrew Stracuzzi and André Cormier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Mechanics of Writing Composition

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In composition , writing mechanics are the conventions governing the technical aspects of writing , including spelling , punctuation , capitalization , and abbreviations . Getting your main points together can be a challenge, and one solution is to put together a draft of main ideas before writing. Some writing textbooks also include issues related to usage and organization under the broad heading of mechanics. Here are the basics of writing mechanics for students and writers.

Writing Mechanics

"Teachers using a traditional, product-oriented approach tend to focus on the formal mechanical and technical aspects of writing while paying little attention to the individual writer's communicative purposes. Thus with this approach there is a danger that, for many children, writing will become an exercise in formal mechanics divorced from personal content and intentions." Joan Brooks McLane and Gillian Dowley McNamee,  Early Literacy . Harvard University Press, 1990

In written language,  spelling  is the correct arrangement of  letters  that form  words . To improve spelling skills, you can use a memory device known as mnemonics . This memorable phrase, acronym or pattern can come in handy for remembering something like the spelling of a word. You can also increase your reading skills, make a list of common words you often misspell or mark words in a dictionary that seem to give you trouble repeatedly.

Punctuation

Punctuation is the set of marks used to regulate  texts  and clarify their meanings, mainly by separating or linking words,  phrases , and  clauses .

" [R]evision  involves  critical thinking  about content, with secondary consideration to mechanics and neatness. This does not mean that technical aspects of writing can be ignored but that introductions to a revision that seems to privilege rote application of rules and neatness over critical interaction with text (however brief it may be for beginners) conveys entirely the wrong message to young authors. As children learn the cognitive processes involved in revision, they acquire the inclination to monitor and revise their work in all areas." Terry Salinger, "Critical Thinking and Young Literacy Learners." Teaching Thinking: An Agenda for the Twenty-First Century , ed. by Cathy Collins and John N. Mangieri. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1992)

Capitalization

Capitalization is the practice of using  capital letters  in writing or printing. Proper nouns , key words in  titles , and beginnings of  sentences  are generally capitalized . You will also want to capitalize the letter "I" under all circumstances.

"Capitalization and punctuation are the mechanics of writing. They are not simply rules that we must memorize and follow; they are specific signals to the reader. These mechanics are used to determine the meaning and to clarify intent. It is possible to change the connotation  of a sentence by altering punctuation and/or capitalization." ​ Maureen Lindner,  English Language and Composition . Career Press, 2005

Abbreviations

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase, such as "D.C." for "District of Columbia."

"Mechanics, in theory, includes matters such as usage and spelling, as well as  hyphenation  and the use of  italics . Essentially, mechanics refers to a set of conventions—how to abbreviate and when to capitalize, for example." Robert DiYanni and Pat C. Hoy II,  The Scribner Handbook for Writers , 3rd ed. Allyn and Bacon, 2001

• revision (composition)
• Editing and Proofreading Marks in Composition
• Definition and Examples of Periods: Full Stop
• Best Practices for the Most Effective Use of Paragraphs
• Conventions of Editing House Style
• What's the Preferred Way to Write the Abbreviation for United States?
• 10 Tips for Using Abbreviations Correctly
• Writing Dates in Spanish
• What Is an Abbreviation?
• Focusing in Composition
• When To Capitalize Letters in Spanish
• Abbreviations and Acronyms for English Learners
• How to Form a Balanced Sentence
• How to Create a Rubric in 6 Steps
• Proofreaders' and Teachers' Correction Marks
• Capitalization in German

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9 Getting the Mechanics Right

“correctness” in writing.

Many students assume—or fear—that college writing is judged primarily on its grammatical correctness. Ideas, evidence, and arguments matter more than the mechanics of grammar and punctuation; however, many of the rules of formal writing exist to promote clarity and precision which writers much achieve in order to effectively convey ideas, evidence, and arguments. In addition, texts that observe the rules of formal written English tend to be more persuasive by making the author appear well informed and careful. Writing replete with errors does not make a great impression , and most educators want to help students present themselves well. Correctness, then, isn’t the most important thing, but it does matter.

Another common assumption among students is that one is either good at grammar or not good at grammar, and that such is one’s immutable fate. Not true. Once you master a particular rule or practice, it becomes second nature, and then you can focus your attention on mastering another. I finally nailed down commas and semicolons in college and some finer points of grammar in graduate school. I do a lot of formal writing in the course of my career, and I still look things up in a writing handbook from time to time. You can master the practices of formal written English, and college is a great time to use the feedback from your professors to identify your common errors and learn to correct them.

In thinking about correctness, it’s important to recognize that some rules are more important than others. Joseph Williams helpfully distinguishes three kinds of rules. [1] First, there are rules that are basic to English, such as “the car” not “car the.” For example,

INCORRECT: I thought whether true claims not.

CORRECT: I hadn’t thought about whether the claims were true.

If you’ve gotten most of your formal education in English, you probably observe these rules routinely. If your writing has mismatches of number (singular/plural) or tense, it might be due to haste or carelessness rather than unawareness. Similarly, capitalizing the first word of a sentence and ending with appropriate punctuation are basic rules that most people comply with automatically when writing for a professor or in other formal situations.

Williams’ second category is comprised of rules that distinguish standard written English from the informal variants that people use in their day-to-day lives. Most students with middle-class and non-immigrant backgrounds use informal vernaculars that closely parallel standard written English. Students with working-class or more modest backgrounds or who are members of transnational and multi-lingual communities may use informal variants of English in their everyday lives that are quite different from standard written English. It’s an unfortunate reality of social inequality that such students have to expend more effort than their middle-class English-speaking counterparts to master the standard conventions. It’s not really fair, but at least the mechanics and rules of formal writing are documented and unambiguous. Learning to communicate effectively in different social contexts is part of becoming an educated person.

Some examples:

INFORMAL:We ain’t got no more of them cookies.

FORMAL: We don’t have any more of those cookies.

INFORMAL: My coat, my phone, and my keys was all lock in the car.

FORMAL: My coat, my phone, and my keys were all locked in the car.

INFORMAL: u shd go 2 café b4 wrk bc coffee

FORMAL: You should go the café before work to get some coffee.

The informal versions are clearly English, and they’re widely understandable to others. The first and second examples contain choices of tense, number, and punctuation that are inappropriate in standard written English even though they don’t actually impede communication . Most students already understand that these first two categories of rules (rules fundamental to English and the rules of standard written English) are obligatory for formal writing.

There is a third category of rules that Williams notes and enthusiastically criticizes; he calls them “invented rules” because they usually arise from busybody grammarians rather than enduring patterns of customary language use. Some invented rules Williams calls “options”: those that your reader will notice when you observe them and not care if you don’t. Here’s an example of the fabled don’t-end-a-sentence-with-a-preposition rule :

OBSERVING THE RULE: With which concept can we analyze this problem?

IGNORING THE RULE: Which concept can we analyze this problem with?

Some grammarians would claim that only the first version is correct. However, you probably have the (accurate) impression that professional writers are much more likely to choose the second version. This rule does not reflect real-life customary practice, even in standard written English. That’s why Williams calls it an “invented rule.” Most of your professors are fine with the second version above, the one that ends a sentence with a preposition.

Similarly, there’s this murky idea out there that one should not split infinitives ; that is, one should not have any words between “to” and the verb that follows. Here’s an example:

OBSERVED: to go boldly where no one has gone before

IGNORED: to boldly go where no one has gone before

Again, while some grammarians have argued that conscientious writers should avoid splitting infinitives, most professional writers have ignored that claim. The second version, which puts the adverb (“boldly”) within the infinitive (that is, between “to” and “go”) makes for a perfectly clear and pleasing phrase. The invented rule about splitting infinitives is an attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. If you want to give your writing more of a scholarly air, you could observe some or all of these optional rules. But, unless your professor has a particular penchant for one of these invented rules, you can safely ignore them.

Williams calls the second sub-category of invented rules “folklore.” They’re invented rules (like “options”) in that grammarians think writers should observe them, but, in reality, no one does. Williams gleefully lists instances in which the very grammarians who propose these rules go on to unselfconsciously violate them. [2] You may have heard of these rules, but they’re widely considered absurd.

For example, some grammarians are dismayed that people use “that” and “which” interchangeably, and they argue that writers should use “that” to indicate restrictive elements and “which” to indicate non-restrictive elements. A restrictive element is one that makes a necessary specification about something; a non-restrictive element is one that simple adds extra information. Consider these two examples:

The party that Alex went to was shut down by the police.

The party which Alex went to was shut down by the police.

For almost all readers, versions 1 and 2 are saying the exact same thing. For the persnickety grammarian, version 1 is specifying the party that Alex went to, and not the party that, say, Jordan went to, while version 2 is simply inserting extra information about Alex’s attendance at the party. According to these grammarians, “that Alex went to” adds critically needed information (restrictive) while “which Alex went to” adds bonus information (non-restrictive).

As Williams and some others explain: it’s bullshit . Professional writers use commas and carefully chosen words to do the job of distinguishing restrictive and non-restrictive elements, and they choose whichever relative pronoun (“that” or “which”) sounds better in context. You could observe the distinction between that and which if you like, but no one would notice. More importantly, observing this invented rule wouldn’t necessarily make your writing any clearer, more concise, or more graceful.

There is one rule that Williams calls “folklore” that you probably have to observe in college papers nonetheless: that is, the rule that you can’t start sentences with But, And, So, For, or Yet (or other coordinating conjunctions) . I’m sure you could browse through assigned readings and articles published in major newspapers and magazines that violate this so-called rule. Here are two examples that took me about 10 minutes to find:

From the front page of the New York Times January 7, 2014 : [3] “But since the financial crisis, JPMorgan has become so large and profitable that it has been able to weather the government’s legal blitz, which has touched many parts of the bank’s sprawling operations.” And a little further down we see, “Yet JPMorgan’s shares are up 28 percent over the last 12 months.”

From a news article in Science , December 21, 2007 : [4] “Altered winds blew in more warm air from the subtropics only in models in which mid-latitude oceans warmed as observed; apparently, the warmer oceans altered the circulation. And that ocean warming is widely viewed as being driven by the strengthening greenhouse.”

If you’re writing a paper for my class, feel free to begin sentences with conjunctions. As the above examples show, it’s a concise way to support clarity and effective flow. However, I suspect most instructors still hold to the old rule. Thus, you shouldn’t start sentences with “And,” “But” or other coordinating conjunctions unless you’ve been specifically invited to.

There are countless other rules that I don’t discuss here. The point of these examples is to show that you don’t have to observe every little rule you’ve ever heard of. There are some elements of mechanics that you have to master; I summarize some common ones below. These practices will gradually become second nature. It’s sometimes hard to know at the outset which rules are standard, which are options, and which are folklore. With the help of a good handbook and your instructors, you’ll learn them over time. The larger point I want to make here is that that observing rules isn’t about traversing a minefield of potential errors; it’s just about learning and adopting the practices appropriate to your audience, which is one of the first rules of writing well.

Elements of punctuation and language you must master

If you’ve gotten most or all of your formal education in English, you’ve mastered the vast majority of the real rules of grammar. Most of the students I work with just have to nail down a few additional practices to produce appropriate academic writing. There isn’t any great secret to learning them; they’re learned through repeated practice and feedback.

1. Comma usage

I didn’t really master correct comma usage until my college years. There was a year or so in which I constantly checked my work against a style guide, but since then I haven’t often had to think about commas. Here’s a brief run-down of the rules of comma usage that I see many students violating.

A. Use a comma to join two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction:

CORRECT: Her misdeed was significant, but the punishment was excessive.

ALSO CORRECT: Her misdeed was significant but justified by the circumstances.

In the first example, the comma is telling the reader that one clause (her misdeed was significant) is ending and another (the punishment was excessive) beginning. The second example does not use a comma, because the words that follow “but” (justified by the circumstances) do not add up to an independent clause; they make a dependent clause that could not stand alone as a sentence.

Note: “Because” is NOT a coordinating conjunction. It’s a subordinating conjunction. Therefore, it does not use a comma:

INCORRECT: Conspiracy theories can be compelling, because many people distrust the government.

CORRECT: Conspiracy theories can be compelling because many people distrust the government.

“Because,” like other subordinating conjunctions (such as “although,” “unless,” or “until”), is meant to knit together one indivisible thought; hence, no comma. Including a comma weakens the connection in the mind of your reader.

B. Use a comma to mark the end of an introductory element

CORRECT: While we were eating, the baby crawled out of the room.

CORRECT: Alongside the road, we found the perpetrator’s gun.

CORRECT: Because many distrust the government, conspiracy theories can be compelling.

The first example would be comically confusing without the comma. The second example shows how the comma helps your reader separate the introductory element from the part that followed. The third example might be confusing. The sentence from part A, above, beginning with “Conspiracy theories” does not use a comma, but in this example, a dependent clause is serving as as an introductory element.

Learn these rules, and if you hate them, learn to love them. In college, writing stops being about “how well did you understand fill-in-the-blank” and becomes “how professionally and strongly do you argue your point.” Professionalism, I have found, is the key to the real world, and college is, in part, preparing you for it. If you do not learn how to write in a way that projects professionalism (i.e. these rules), then expect to get, at best, Cs on your papers.

Kaethe Leonard

C. Use a comma to set off non-essential information (so-called non-restrictive elements)

Both of these sentences are correct, but they convey different ideas:

EXAMPLE 1: Gathering places vital to their communities are worth the investment.

EXAMPLE 2: Gathering places, vital to their communities, are worth the investment.

The first says that only those gathering places that are vital to their communities are worth the investment (implying that some are not vital and therefore not worth investing in). In that first example, “vital to their communities” is a restrictive element. In the second example “vital to their communities” is extra information. The sentence implies that gathering places in general are worth the investment (ostensibly because they’re vital to their communities). The commas mark the phrase as non-essential information, which is a non-restrictive element. In writing the second sentence, you might enclose the non-essential information in parentheses instead.

2. Use punctuation and coordinating conjunctions to avoid sentence fragments

At some point, you were probably instructed that all sentences must have a subject (which includes a noun) and a predicate (which includes a verb) and that they must be written to stand alone. Consider this example of a sentence fragment :

INCORRECT: When you go to the supermarket. You don’t often think about the work behind the scenes.

It has a subject (you) and predicate (go to the supermarket), but the “when” indicates that the sentence is incomplete. When people write sentence fragments, they usually have the missing elements in the preceding or following sentences, so it’s really a punctuation error.

CORRECT: When you go to the supermarket, you don’t often think about the work behind the scenes.

ALSO CORRECT: You don’t often think about the work behind the scenes when you go to the supermarket.

In the first version the dependent clause (the part that couldn’t stand alone) comes first, necessitating a comma. In the second, the main clause (the part that could stand alone) comes first, so no comma is used.

3. Use punctuation and coordinating conjunctions to avoid run-on sentences and comma splices

A run-on sentence (one that smooshes two sentences together) may be incorrectly connected with a comma, which is then called a comma splice. This error is easily corrected with punctuation and some coordinating words.

INCORRECT (run-on): The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest literary works it had a major influence on Mesopotamian culture.

INCORRECT (comma splice): The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest literary works, it had a major influence on Mesopotamian culture.

Clearly, the writer wants the reader to see these two sentences as connected. He or she has three options to show their reader how the sentences relate.

CORRECT OPTION 1 (semi-colon): The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest literary works; it had a major influence on Mesopotamian culture.

The semi-colon is an elegant and underutilized option. By joining two sentences with a semi-colon, the writer can subtly tell the reader that the epic’s earliness and influence, together, make it important.

CORRECT OPTION 2 (comma and coordinating conjunction): The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest literary works, and it had a major influence on Mesopotamian culture.

The use of “and” in this option also tells the reader to put the two claims together. A more specific conjunction—such as “but,” “so”, or “yet”—is usually a better choice than “and” or a semi-colon because it would provide more information about how the two claims relate.

CORRECT OPTION 3 (separate sentences): The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest literary works. It had a major influence on Mesopotamian culture.

If you don’t want your reader to consider the two sentences closely related, you can convey that by choosing separate sentences. With the Gilgamesh example, you might choose this option if the paragraph is mostly about the influence of the epic on Mesopotamian culture but you have a good reason to include a sentence about how early it is. These two sentences would function well as the first two sentences of an introductory paragraph.

4. Use colons correctly for lists, quotations, and explanatory information

INCORRECT: We packed: clothes, camping equipment, and a first-aid kit.

CORRECT: We packed the essentials: clothes, camping equipment, and a first-aid kit.

For lists, use a colon when the part before the colon can stand alone as a sentence. Otherwise, leave the colon out (“We packed clothes, camping equipment, and a first-aid kit”).

INCORRECT: Mitchell explains that: “Part of the fascination of Gilgamesh is that, like any great work of literature, it has much to tell us about ourselves.” [5]

CORRECT: Mitchell explains the power of the epic: “Part of the fascination of Gilgamesh is that, like any great work of literature, it has much to tell us about ourselves.” [6]

You can use a colon to introduce a quote if the parts before and after the colon can stand as complete sentences. A comma is an option here as well. Introducing a quote with your own complete sentence and a colon is another underutilized trick in student writing. Recall from Chapter 5 that you have to use source material within your own analytical thread. Introducing a quote with your own complete sentence can make it immediately clear why the quote you choose is important to your argument.

5. Use modifiers clearly and precisely

Modifiers are words and phrases that add information to a sentence. They specify the meaning of (that is, they modify) a noun or verb. Sometimes the modifier is misplaced, ambiguous, or not clearly pertaining to a noun or verb (a so-called dangling modifier). These problems can lead the reader to wonder what exactly you’re claiming.

MISPLACED: The ski-jumper looked sleek in his new suit weighing only 140 pounds.

CORRECT: The ski-jumper looked sleek wearing a new suit and weighing only 140 pounds.

The suit didn’t weigh 140 pounds (one hopes); the ski-jumper did.

AMBIGUOUS: When formal rules and day-to-day practices differ, they should be changed.

CLEAR: Formal rules should be changed to match day-to-day practices.

CLEAR: Day-to-day practices should be changed to match the formal rules.

In the first version, it’s not clear what should be changed. The two clear versions make it obvious what the author is arguing.

DANGLING: Walking down the street, the houses glowed pink in the sunset.

CORRECT: Walking down the street, she saw houses glowing pink in the sunset.

The first version suggests that the houses were walking down the street. The pronoun to which that first phrase refers (“she”) is missing. The second version corrects that by bringing in the needed pronoun.

6. Choose correct words

Many wrong-word errors that I see seem to be artifacts of the spell-checkers built into word-processing programs. For example, I often see “costumers” where students meant “customers,” “defiantly” instead of “definitely” and, somewhat comically, “martial” instead of “marital.”

Other wrong-word errors come from homonyms, two or more words that sound the same, such as the there/their/they’re or your/you’re errors. In college writing, another common one is the misuse of effect/affect. Use “effect” if you’re talking about the result of a cause as a noun, and “affect” if you mean influence or talking about emotion in psychology (in which case it’s pronounced AF-fect).

CORRECT: The effects of the conflict have been long-lasting.

CORRECT: The conflict has affected everyday life throughout the country.

CORRECT: Research shows that the presence of living plants impact both cognition and affect.

“Effect” can also be a verb, in which case it means to bring about:

CORRECT: The conflict effected major international policy changes.

That sentence is saying that the conflict brought about policy changes. If you wanted to say that the conflict influenced (but did not itself cause) policy changes, you would write that the conflict affected policy changes.

The dilemma of gendered language in English

What to do about gender with an unspecified subject? In the past, the consensus was to always use “he” and readers were supposed to understand that the subject might be female. As you know, that’s no longer accepted . The culture of formal academic writing hasn’t settled on a widely supported solution yet, which creates a pervasive problem for the student writer.

Informally, using “they/their” as the neutral singular is becoming a common practice. For example, if a Facebook friend hasn’t specified a gender, Facebook used to exhort you to “write on their timeline” for “their birthday.” I hear this more and more in spoken language as well. For example, most people who hear this sentence spoken wouldn’t note a glaring problem: “A doctor who makes a mistake is often too scared to admit their slip-up.” However, in an academic paper, that sentence would be considered a pronoun-antecedent error because “doctor” is singular and “their” is still considered plural. Most of your professors still don’t accept they/their as a gender-neutral singular possessive. Hopefully in coming years, academic writing will come to accept this perfectly reasonable solution to the gendered language problem, but we’re not there yet.

My first semester in college, it was my standard practice to rotate back and forth between the male and female pronouns. I did not want to appear sexist and was unsure how to avoid doing so. Referring to the same hypothetical person in one of my papers I wrote, “When one is confronted by new information that does not fit tidily onto her personal map…” Later in the paragraph I referred to the same individual by saying, “This new information demands that he forsake the world of the Cave in which he had been raised.” Obviously, in retrospect, that was confusing and certainly not the best option. But it illustrates the point that this can be a challenging dilemma. Thankfully for you, three more appropriate solutions are provided in this chapter.

Peter Farrell

So what to do? Here are three possible solutions.

• Choose plurals when possible . For example, “Doctors who make mistakes are often too scared to admit their slip-ups.”
• Write “he or she” or “his or her” if it’s not too repetitive . You don’t want to have more than two or three such “ors” in a paragraph, but a couple wouldn’t be tedious for the reader. For example, one might write, “A doctor who makes a mistake is often too scared to admit his or her slip-up. He or she might be forbidden from doing so by hospital attorneys.”
• Consider whether a real-life example is better than a hypothetical subject . Long passages about hypothetical people and situations often lack argumentative force. If you’re writing a paper about medical errors, you might do better to replace hypothetical claims like the above example with real-life examples of physicians who have made mistakes but were reluctant or forbidden to acknowledge them. Better yet, discuss the results of studies of medical errors and their outcomes. In addition to solving the gendered language problem, real examples are more persuasive.

Remember, it’s about precision and respect. Whatever you do, don’t just write “he” for doctors, attorneys, and construction workers and “she” for nurses, social workers, and flight attendants. You also shouldn’t just write “he” or “his” for everything, expecting your readers to mentally fill in the “or she” and “or her” themselves. Doing so seems lazy, if not actively sexist . Showing respect through precise language about gender makes you seem much more credible.

This chapter does not (and could not) provide a complete run-down of formal English language usage. You would do well to bookmark a couple good reference sources to consult when questions arise. If your writing usually has a lot of errors in it, don’t despair. Identify one or two practices to master and then learn them, using the feedback from your instructors as a guide. You can’t become a flawless writer overnight (and no one writes flawlessly all the time). But over the course of a few semesters, you can certainly produce more precise text that presents your ideas in their best light.

Exercises and other resources

• Purdue OWL offers excellent exercises in grammar and mechanics. If you keep getting dinged in your papers for misplaced apostrophes, for example, you can review a lesson and find exercises on that topic.
• Most college libraries subscribe to online reference sources for their students. Go to your library’s website and look for proprietary guides like the Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style . These are often of much higher quality than the first few hits you get on Google.
• In Andrea Lunsford’s The Everyday Writer 5th ed. (New York: Bedford-St.Martin’s, 2012) she includes a list of the 20 most common errors in student writing . This site, like Diana Hacker’s, also offers free online exercises in mechanics.
• The three types of rules are explained in Williams and Bizup’s Style . Williams first described invented rules in J.M. Williams, “A Phenomenology of Error,” College Composition and Communication, 32, no. 2 (1981): 152-168. ↵
• J.M. Williams, Phenomenology of Error ↵
• Peter Eavis, “Steep Penalties Taken in Stride by JPMorgan Chase,” New York Times , January 7, 2014, page A1. ↵
• Richard A. Kerr, “Global Warming Coming Home to Roost in the American Midwest,” Science 318, no. 5858 (2007): 1859. ↵
• Stephen Mitchell, Gilgamesh: A New English Version (New York: Free Press, 2004). ↵
• Ibid. ↵

Writing in College Copyright © 2016 by Amy Guptill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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6.1: Grammar & Mechanics

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• Page ID 69235

• Sybil Priebe, Ronda Marman, & Dana Anderson
• North Dakota State College of Science via North Dakota University System

This chapter is brought to you by Sybil Priebe.

Grammar refers to the structure of a language: the parts of speech and their functions, their relationship to each other, word order in sentences, the parts of a sentence and how they are put together (sentence patterns).

The mechanics of writing refers to the technical elements - or the itty-bitty building blocks of sentences - such as: punctuation, capitalization, spelling, etc.

HERE’S WHAT’S COMING UP IN THIS UNIT:

Grammar: parts of speech review.

• Grammar: The Basic Sentence Patterns

Grammar: Active vs. Passive Voice

• Mechanics: Common Punctuation Errors

Mechanics: The Basic Comma Rules

Mechanics: commonly confused words, mechanics: common misspellings.

• Common Error: Subject/Verb Agreement
• Other Common Errors

Let’s review using a poem!

PARTS OF SPEECH POEM 68

Every name is called a noun,

As field and fountain, street and town,

In place of the noun the pronoun stands

As he and she can clap their hands.

The adjective describes a thing,

As magic wand or bridal ring.

The verb means action, something done,

As read and write and jump and run.

How things are done the adverbs tell,

As quickly, slowly, badly, well.

The preposition shows relation,

As in the street or at the station.

Conjunctions join, in many ways,

Sentences, words, or phrase and phrase.

The interjection cries out, “Hark!

I need an exclamation mark!”

Things native English speakers know, but don’t know we know 69 :

…adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-color-originmaterial-purpose Noun. So, you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest, you’ll sound like a maniac. It’s an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out. And as size comes before color, green great dragons can’t exist.

Grammar: Basic Sentence Patterns

S = Subject = Topic of the sentence

V = Verb = What is going on in the sentence – what the subject is doing/action

C = Completer = Most sentences need to be completed, but there are some without completers like the sentence: “I do.”

THE SEVEN BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS:

• Kenneth is a screwball.
• He wouldn’t stop telling racist jokes, and Sally didn’t like that.
• Yesterday evening, Sally and Kenneth screwed in some lightbulbs.
• Kenneth, the dude from Indiana, had some screwy-looking pizza.
• The pizza that was weird got tossed in the garbage.
• The stinky garbage contained the following: the screwy pizza, two paper plates, and seven old lightbulbs.
• Kenneth took the garbage outside; however, Sally had to holler at him to do so.

Here is the entire list of conjunctions:

and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.

Here’s a list of complex conjunctions (a.k.a. conjunctive adverbs):

also, consequently, for example, furthermore, however, in addition, in contrast, in fact, instead, likewise, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, still, then, therefore...

AND THE WEIRD SENTENCE PATTERNS:

• MAYBE: Without his love.
• YES: I was torn without his love.
• EH: He didn’t want to stay and well I guess that was okay, but I wanted him there and he couldn’t be so whatever.
• YES: He didn’t want to stay, but I wanted him there. He couldn’t be, though.
• NO: The doctor mentioned the heart condition, I couldn’t believe it.
• YES: The doctor mentioned the heart condition; I couldn’t believe it.

HERE ARE THE FOUR PURPOSES A SENTENCE COULD HAVE:

• Declarative: I need my Batman cup in order to screw together this IKEA set.
• Imperative: Go get my Batman cup.
• Interrogative: Where did you put the screws?
• Exclamatory: Holy crud, Batman!

The majority of readers and teachers prefer the active voice over the passive voice.

• NO/PASSIVE: The book was written by me.
• YES/ACTIVE: I wrote the book.

One main reason readers and teachers prefer active voice is because the passive voices allow writers to kind of evade responsibility:

• NO/PASSIVE: Dana’s favorite pen was lost by Sybil.
• YES/ACTIVE: Sybil lost Dana’s favorite pen.

Active voice must be used for contracts and all legal documentation. Passive voice is used in the sciences.

Mechanics: Common Punctuation Errors 70

Punctuation errors most often involve the comma, which means knowing when and how to use one. Of course, that’s easier said than done.

• NO: Sally wants to go to the party, John will be there with his friends.
• YES: Sally wants to go to the party; John will be there with his friends.
• YES: Sally wants to go to the party because John will be there with his friends.
• YES: Sally wants to go to the party. John will be there with his friends.

APOSTROPHE:

Used for contractions and to show possession.

• NO: I cant make my famous caramel roll’s for the weekend.
• YES: I can’t make my famous caramel rolls for the weekend.

SEMI-COLON:

Sybil’s favorite punctuation mark is the semi-colon . And not just because it makes a winky face when paired with a comma for a text message. No, she likes semi-colons because they are powerful. They can substitute a comma and conjunction when the two sentences smacked together are heavily related.

• YES: It’s a gorgeous day today; I have to go swimming.

QUOTATION MARKS:

Quotation marks are typically under-utilized by students. They can protect you from plagiarism, they help with adding dialogue to something, and they can go around words that are tricky to define.

• YES: In the article by Dr. James Johnson, he declares that, “Cramming knowledge into one’s head the night before will causes headaches, not great test grades.”
• YES: Then my mom said, “Please don’t quote me in this essay you are writing; I don’t want to sound stupid.”
• YES: I wanted to ask him what he thought of the “party” we went to because it was weird.

CAPITALIZATION:

The majority of students already know that capitalization is used for the first word of a sentence, for the names of people and of proper nouns, and when dealing with titles of books, movies, magazines, web sites, etc. The issues seen sometimes are usually centered around oddball items like titles of classes, titles of degrees, etc. YES: I took History 101 because it was required for my major. YES: Sybil, Ronda, and Dana have their Master’s degrees.

HYPHENS & DASHES:

The difference between hyphens and dashes is that hyphens are used IN words and dashes are not. Dashes are used in a similar way to how parenthesis function. YES: Three unlikely people - a witch, a pastor, and a bishop - all walked into a bar. Hyphens join two parts of a compound word like brother-in-law or five-years-old.

PARENTHESIS:

Speaking of parenthesis, parenthesis are to be used to add extra remarks within a sentence. YES: Be sure to call me (extension 2346) when you get this message. YES: My brother (Jed) works in Fargo.

Ellipses are pauses in dialogue/speech and are rarely more than three periods… so, please stop using seventeen.

• Use a comma with a coordinating conjunction to join two or more sentences. In Layman’s terms, fix a comma splice by adding one of the following: and, but, for, so, or, nor, or yet.
• Use a comma to set off non-essential information in a sentence. Basically, put commas around extra information that is not part of the main idea. See #4 in Sentence Patterns.
• Use a comma in lists or items in a series. See #6 in Sentence Patterns.
• Use commas in addresses and dates. YES: I live in Wahpeton, ND.
• Use a comma between adjectives if they make sense with the order reversed or with “and” inserted in between them. YES: She is a smart, beautiful human.

The Wildcard Rule

There are always exceptions to the rules, and often it is just a matter of personal preference and style. Think about your purpose and your audience; then decide whether or not a comma makes the sentence clearer or is just an extra mark on the page.

A spell-checker will warn you of most spelling mistakes, but if it’s a word - even if it’s the wrong one - Microsoft Word won’t detect its “wrongness.” A good tip is to keep a list of words you have trouble with.

Here are some you might need to include in that list:

• YES: The two of us are too tired to go to the store.
• YES: They’re going to their store over there.
• YES: She is smarter than he is, but then he’s definitely nicer.
• YES: If they let the quarterback get loose, they will lose.
• YES: I definitely want to finish this paper before the party.
• YES: The toddler defiantly threw his food on the floor.

Other Commonly Confused Words:

except/accept

effect/affect

all together / altogether

allusion / illusion

capital / capitol

cite / site

complement / compliment

farther / further

it’s / its

laid / lain / lay

lend / loan

passed / past

precede / proceed

principal / principle

who’s / whose

you’re/your

accommodate

convenience

fundamental

independent

Common Error: Subject/Verb Agreement 71

Verb tense and subject/verb agreement are also key errors that should be looked for when proofreading a paper. The subject should always agree with the verb in tense and number. These verb issues are often overlooked or unnoticed while writing an initial draft but can usually be caught with a good proofread.

Below are some examples of errors with subject/verb agreement. Take some time and see if you can figure out what the error is in these sentences.

• NO: The dog need to go on a walk.
• The subject in the original sentence (dog) is singular. The verb (need) is plural. The verb needs to be changed from plural to singular form in order to agree with the subject.
• NO: Chris and Molly goes for walks often in the evening.
• In this case the verb started out as a singular form. It needed to be changed to plural to fit with Chris and Molly (plural subject).

A quick way to check for subject/verb agreement is to circle the verb and underline the subject of each sentence. Make sure that if the subject is plural, you use a plural form of the verb. If you cannot identify subjects and verbs this method will not be practical, and you should seek guidance.

OTHER COMMON ERRORS: WITH A SIDE OF HUMOR

• NO: “Could of, would of, should of.” YES: “Could have, would have, should have.”
• No one needs to use more than three exclamation points if they are excited.
• “I seen him somewheres.” No, Dad. No. You saw him somewhere.
• NO: “Sybil took a class with Carrie and I.” YES: “Sybil took a class with Carrie and me.” If you’re stumped, take out one of the names.
• NO: “I’m pooped out, so I’m going to lay down.” The trick here is to substitute “lay” for “place,” and if the word “place” doesn’t work, the word you want is “lie.” YES: “I’m pooped out, so I’m going to lie down.”
• NO: “Please contact Sybil or myself if you have any questions.” YES: “Please contact Sybil or me if you have any questions.”
• Please don’t litter your sentences with side thoughts using parenthesis. If it’s important, make it a separate sentence. If it’s not, leave it out.
• The use of both “all right” and “alright.” NO: “Alright” is not in the dictionary.
• “Anyways” isn’t a word, yet. Go yell at Merriam-Webster if you want it in there.
• “Irregardless” also isn’t a word. Stop it.
• NO: “I could care less.” That means you still care. YES: “I couldn’t care less.” This means there is no more caring in your system.
• Watch out for dangling modifiers. NO: “After rotting in the basement for weeks, my sister brought up some apples.”
• Using the correct pronoun! NO: “Every one of the female students had their papers ready.” YES: “Every one of the female students had her papers ready.” NO: “Neither Jack nor John believed they had known about the project.” YES: “Neither Jack nor John believed he had known about the project.”
• Parallelism: NO: “Over the weekend, Kevin bought a new MacBook Pro online, two software programs, and arranged for free shipping.” YES: “Over the weekend, Kevin bought a new MacBook Pro online, ordered two software programs, and arranged for free shipping.”
• Comparison words need a comparison. NO: “Doctors make more money.” YES: “Doctors make more money than teachers.”
• Different than vs. Different from: Use the latter! YES: “This house is different from the one I have.” NO: “This house is different than the one I have.”

Assignments or Questions to Consider

(Insert ideas from students or teacher here.)

68 Unknown author. If you know who created this, please let us know.

69 From a tweet by Matthew Anderson, @MattAndersonBBC.

70 “Basic Writing/Print version.” Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project . 9 Sep 2008, 16:02 UTC. 11 May 2016, 17:32 .

71 “Basic Writing/Print version.” Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project . 9 Sep 2008, 16:02 UTC. 11 May 2016, 17:32 <en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php...&oldid=1273791>.

🌟 New Update: As of JAN 30, 2024, Experience enhanced grammar and punctuation detection! 🚀

Top 10 Mechanics of Writing To Improve Writing Skills

Grammar in writing isn’t about avoiding errors but providing strength to sentences. Learning all the grammatical rules is necessary if you want to be a good writer.

Not only will it upgrade your writing skills, but it will also help shape productive text. A firm grip on grammatical aspects conveys the content with utmost clarity. Understanding the grammatical rules is vital for applying them to the content.

Writing is one of the easiest ways of showing your ideas to the world. It provides you with the self-assurance of bringing your thoughts into reality. Yet, the most unfortunate thing is when a reader fails to understand your sentences. That’s where the need for writing mechanics steps in.

What is mechanics in writing?

Have you ever wished to improve your writing skills as a content writer? You might confuse over where you should begin. Let’s start our venture with the basics. Writing mechanics make a piece of text precise and correct.

It brings an alignment in the content. Also, it focuses on correcting the spelling, punctuations, sentence structure, and everything that’s wrong.  

These are the writing rules that every writer must follow while preparing reports. In this way, their research looks authentic, and they appear to be professional in the field. The ones who don’t mind writing mechanics get undesirable results. If the content looks clumsy, how would the reader get your message?

Research says that reporting without using writing mechanics is of no use at all. They’re the set standards but considering them is still a good idea.

Top 10 Writing mechanics: Are they worth it?

Even when we start learning the basics of writing, grammar is the very first tool that we’ve to get a command on. It is a language’s structure and tone.

Writing mechanics play a significant role in this cause. When you understand them, you’ll know the usage of words and how to put them within the report. We’ve appeared with the Topmost commonly used for a more detailing session. Read on to acknowledge them.

1. Capitalization:

Capitalization highlights all the vital details in a sentence. Be it a place or people, we’ve to capitalize them to notify the reader that we’re mentioning something important. Improper capitalization might not affect the meaning behind the word, but it can misalign the text. It gives a separate identity to every written paragraph and allows a smooth flow.

At first, the rules of writing capitalization appear simple. Every writer must know to capitalize the nouns and the first word of every sentence.

If we’re adding in any quotations as an example, then capitalization is a must as well. Usually, we don’t capitalize after a colon, but there might be exceptions. What can you do if you’re unsure whether something is a noun or not?

2. Punctuation:

Do you think punctuation isn’t worth learning in English writing? Every writer must know that writing is quite challenging to understand without punctuation. Using correct punctuation allows you to convey your ideas to the readers. Punctuation as a writing mechanic is to bring comprehension to a report.

For instance, the term ‘Let’s play, john’ and ‘let’s eat Fred’ doesn’t seem different. Yet, it affects the meaning of a sentence because of a comma.

Punctuation clarifies sentence structure by separating some texts and grouping others. It includes commas, semicolons, dashes, hyphens, apostrophes, quotation marks, and so much more.

A writer should consider all of them before switching their thoughts to a paper. It’s a tiny part of a sentence, but it is more impactful. They’ll get the message while extracting all the essential points out of it.

3. Parts of Speech:

If you’re a writer, you wouldn’t be unfamiliar with the parts of speech. Words are the vital elements of each sentence. Based on their functions, parts of speech classifies into eight categories.

These categories include nouns, adverbs, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, conjunction, and interjection. Knowing the difference between all of them is essential for effective communication. Learning the definitions is not necessary, but understanding and using them properly is the key. Let’s unfold the details together.

• Noun : 

It is the easiest among all the other parts of speech. It refers to persons, things, places, animals, and events. 

• Pronoun begins with a capital letter highlighting places, persons, or things.  
• Verb:  It refers to the state of being in an action of the subject. It is another central part of speech that provides completeness to a sentence. 
• Adverb:  It usually changes the verb and adjective. Often, it describes another verb.  
• Adjective:  This part of speech improves the existence of a noun or pronoun in a sentence. It adds more data about the size and quality. 
• Conjunction:  It makes each sentence interesting to read by connecting words, phrases, and clauses.  
• Preposition  refers to the words supporting a noun or a pronoun to show time, direction, and place. 
• Interjection:  It refers to the text showing some emotions.  

4. Abbreviations:

To abbreviate is to lessen an existing word. It’s fine to use them, but there’s a series of rules for words to shorten. Ideally, readers aren’t familiar with it unless you’re going for a technical write-up.

The best way of using it is to add a full title first, followed by an abbreviation. After doing it, you can use only the acronym throughout. Try familiarizing your readers instead of leaving them to wonder what you mean.

5. Spellings:

No reader wants to read wrong spellings within the content, not selective. Improper spellings remove credibility and damage your reputation as a writer.

It might happen, but no one pays heed to it. As long as you provide a flawless piece of content with spelling errors, they’ll stick to it. The arrival of an automated writing tool allows checking up on any spelling mistakes. Yet, you can’t rely on spellers entirely; instead, you must be attentive as well.

6. Parts of sentences:

The parts of sentences show how writers shape sentences from smaller pieces. You might confuse parts of speech with sentences, but they both function differently. The position of sentences forms the basic vocabulary of grammar. It would be better for your writing career if you took some time off to learn and understand them.

There’re no such rules for sentence structuring. Writers can go with the flow without designing it, but they must meet the requirements. Sentences allow you to outshine your creativity. Parts of writing, including subjects, objects, clauses, and phrases helps clarify your sentences. Showing cordiality with creativity in paragraphs is a sign of a good writer.

7. Eliminating Repeated words:

Using synonyms and antonyms of similar words reduces continuity in sentences. Generally, repeating the exact words within the content isn’t pleasing to the eyes as well. It wouldn’t affect your goals but indeed upset a reader. Often, the audience reads written reports to enhance their vocabulary and English skills.

What if they get to read similar words twice or thrice? Will they find your text informative or productive? They won’t. Writers must remember this writing mechanic to bring uniqueness to their works. If you’ve no other choice, try to use them distantly so that it wouldn’t look crowded. .

8. Homophones and Homographs:

Beginner writers quickly get confused with this part of English speech. We’re referring to homophones, in which many words in English grammar sound and are spelled similarly. However, the meanings are utterly different. For instance, words like ‘there,’ ‘their,’ or ‘your,’ or ‘you’re’ seem similar. It sounds the like same but used in a completely different way.

On the other hand, we have homographs, the texts with exact spellings but different pronunciations and meanings. For instance, words like “lead” can be applied in two cases, one as a noun and another as a verb, in a different sense.

9. Subject-Verb agreement:

Most writers aren’t familiar with subject-verb agreement, especially the newbies. Knowing the right forms of the verb and then mixing them with the subjects makes your sentences understandable. It’s a creative practice, and only experienced writers command it. However, by this writing mechanics into their content, beginners can reach the highest level of professionalism. The subject must always relate to the verb in writing, so this writing rule makes your content amusing to read. Readers find the incorrect usage of verbs quite offensive. 

10. Run-on sentences:

Often, it might just be an illusion that your sentences have followed proper writing mechanics. A run-on sentence occurs when independent clauses are misconnected. For instance, “I love to eat pies I would eat one every day if I got the chance.”

There’re two complete sentences combined in a single one. The writers, familiar with run-on sentences, must’ve got the absence of a comma between the sentences. It’s easy to miss it if you’re unaware of this writing mechanic. The only perfect way of spotting these errors is to understand them. Of course, you wouldn’t want your readers to judge you for such minor mistakes.

Pro tips for using Writing mechanics:

Now that you’ve already made up your mind regarding your next copy, we would suggest getting a hold on the following pointers.

• Significance of Writing mechanics:

Believe it r not, writing mechanics matter even in the texts and tweets. Let’s say you send in a blog post to a social side for consideration. Odds say that they’ll be going through a massive pile of submissions. If your report has multiple grammatical errors, it might end up in the trash. When trying to become a better version as a writer, it’s always helpful to strengthen punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

• Choosing the right words:

Every form of communication requires the proper choice of words. For this purpose, avoid using words that are unclear and difficult. Instead, opt for easier words with similar meanings. Depending on the terms you select, you’ll grab the audience’s attention right away, or bore them up, so choose your texts wisely.

• Writing Regularly:

The most efficient tip for improving your writing skills is regularly practicing them. Treat writing like a full-day job , take it seriously, and stay stick to one goal until you succeed.

• Reading consistently:

Professional writers suggest reading as much as possible. After all, can you write well if you haven’t done your research? Read biographies, mysteries, creative stories, science-fiction, and everything you’re interested in. Remember that reading is the key, regardless of whether it’s in your niche or not.

• Reviewing and revising:

In writing, you might assume that the finishing line is the completion of an article. However, revision is equally essential. Opt for effortless and less wordy paragraphs, the ones that readers efficiently finish within minutes. It is because preceding your content with hard-to-understand texts serves no real purpose. Writing involves a lot of revision to get it ready for publishing.

Final thoughts:

Just like a mechanic is someone whose job is to maintain and repair engines, especially for vehicles. He aims to make them flawless, so the user would comfortably travel in the long haul without any nuisance. Similar is in the case of writing mechanics.

Every reader wants to read without any inconvenience, but grammatical errors and other issues might distract. In this regard, the above-evaluated writing mechanics comes in handy. Not only would they make your report perfect, but they also help improve your writing skills. Not to forget, these are the writing rules that no writer can avoid in any case, or he’ll lose his credibility.

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• Writing Mechanics
• Understanding the Assignment
• Need a Topic?
• Evaluating Sources
• Brainstorming Strategies
• Drafting Strategies
• Thesis Formulation
• Introductions
• Conclusions
• Show Don't Tell
• Expand Your Draft
• Flow & Lexical Coherence
• Revision Checklist
• Introduction to Style and Grammar
• Apostrophes
• Article Usage for ESL Learners
• Capitalization
• Clarity: Get Rid of Nominalizations
• Cohesion: Does my Paragraph Flow?
• Commas and Colons
• Conciseness
• Confusing Words
• Parallel Structure
• Passive Voice
• Quotation Marks
• Run-on Sentences
• Subject-Verb Agreement

Directed Learning: Writing Mechanics

Directed learning activity: writing mechanics, links to other resources.

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• Scientific Lab Reports
• Screenwriting
• Publication Opportunities
• Meet with a Tutor This link opens in a new window

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Titles: Italics or Quotation Marks?  

Italicize names of books, plays, poems published as books, scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, websites, films, TV & radio shows, dance performances, operas, CDs (albums), paintings & sculptures, ships, aircraft and spacecraft.  Italicize these titles when you refer to them in your own paper.  Think the whole enchilada! 

For example, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Godzilla, New York Times, IMDb, Queen Mary, the Mona Lisa.

When an exclamation mark or question mark is part of a title, make sure that the mark is italicized along with the title:

            My favorite book is Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

            I love Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Use quotation marks for the titles of articles, essays, stories and poems published within larger works, chapters of books, pages in websites, individual episodes of TV and radio shows, short musical compositions such as songs, unpublished words such as lectures and speeches. Think the tortilla or cheese in the enchilada – only a part of the enchilada.  Not the whole thing.

For example, “Mr. Brightside” from the album Hot Fuss , “Burning Questions with Michael Hanover” from The Los Angeles Loyolan

Exceptions: don’t use italics or quotation marks for

       - Scripture: Bible, Old Testament, Genesis, Gospels, Koran, Talmud

       - Laws, acts, political documents: Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence

       - Musical compositions identified by form, number and key: Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7

       - Words designating the divisions of a work: preface, introduction, list of works cited, appendix, scene 7, chapter 2

Remember you only use italics or quotation marks when referring to a title within another document as a cue to the reader.   Do not italicize the title of your own paper. 

Capitalization of Titles and Subtitles  

Capitalize the first word, the last word and all principal words including those that follow hyphens in compound terms.  Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the) unless they are at the beginning of a title or subtitle.  Do not capitalize prepositions (e.g. in, of, to, against, between, during, over). Do not capitalize coordinating conjunctions (and, but, so, or, nor, yet, for).

For example:

            The Teaching of Spanish in English-Speaking Countries

            Storytelling and Mythmaking: Images from Film and Literature

            Life as I Find It

            “What Americans Stand For”

Other Uses of Italics

Italicize words from other languages: arigato, feng shui, dolce, que pasa?  

Do not italicize words that have become part of English:  bourgeois, pasta, laissez-faire, per diem, for example.  If a word is in an English dictionary, it does not need italics.

Italicize names of aircraft, spacecraft, ships, and trains.

             Air Force 1, the Queen Mary, the Silver Zepher

Italicize words, letters, numbers when used as themselves.

             The most commonly used vowel is e and consonant is t .

             The hexadecimal number system does not have a 9 .

             Most Asian languages do not have articles such as a, an, or the .

Use italics for emphasis (sparingly).

Other Uses of Quotation Marks

Use quotation marks around definitions. 

            The term selfie means “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone, and uploaded to a social media website.”

Use quotation marks to signal irony and coinages (words you made up).

             The hunger “banquet” was bread and water.

General rule for MLA*: Spell out numbers written in one or two words (e.g. one, fifteen, forty-six, two hundred).  Write all other numbers with numerals (e.g. 3 ½, 204, 1,458).  

*APA citation style has slightly different rules regarding numbers.  Please see www.apastyle.org

Number Exceptions :

       - Spell out centuries in lowercase letters: the twentieth century, the eighteenth century.

       - Use a hyphen when the century acts as an adjective: eighteenth-century thought.

       - Decades are written out with NO capitalization: the nineties, the sixties.

       - Decades can also be expressed in numerals: the 1990s, the ‘60s.

       - Use numbers in divisions: page 7, year 3 of the study, chapter 11

       - Never begin a sentence with a number: Two thousand twelve is an election year.

       - For large numbers, use a combination of words and numerals: 4.5 million

       - For percentages and amounts of money use numbers and symbols: 1%, 200%, $35, $2,000

Names of Persons

General rule: The first time you use a person’s name in your paper, state the complete name as it appears in your source. Thereafter, use only the last name.  Do not use titles such as Dr. or Prof.  Exception:  APA style prefers the last name only be used.

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• Knowledge Base
• Academic writing
• A step-by-step guide to the writing process

The Writing Process | 5 Steps with Examples & Tips

Published on April 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on December 8, 2023.

Good academic writing requires effective planning, drafting, and revision.

The writing process looks different for everyone, but there are five basic steps that will help you structure your time when writing any kind of text.

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Table of contents

Step 1: prewriting, step 2: planning and outlining, step 3: writing a first draft, step 4: redrafting and revising, step 5: editing and proofreading, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about the writing process.

Before you start writing, you need to decide exactly what you’ll write about and do the necessary research.

Coming up with a topic

If you have to come up with your own topic for an assignment, think of what you’ve covered in class— is there a particular area that intrigued, interested, or even confused you? Topics that left you with additional questions are perfect, as these are questions you can explore in your writing.

The scope depends on what type of text you’re writing—for example, an essay or a research paper will be less in-depth than a dissertation topic . Don’t pick anything too ambitious to cover within the word count, or too limited for you to find much to say.

Narrow down your idea to a specific argument or question. For example, an appropriate topic for an essay might be narrowed down like this:

Doing the research

Once you know your topic, it’s time to search for relevant sources and gather the information you need. This process varies according to your field of study and the scope of the assignment. It might involve:

• Searching for primary and secondary sources .
• Reading the relevant texts closely (e.g. for literary analysis ).
• Collecting data using relevant research methods (e.g. experiments , interviews or surveys )

From a writing perspective, the important thing is to take plenty of notes while you do the research. Keep track of the titles, authors, publication dates, and relevant quotations from your sources; the data you gathered; and your initial analysis or interpretation of the questions you’re addressing.

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Especially in academic writing , it’s important to use a logical structure to convey information effectively. It’s far better to plan this out in advance than to try to work out your structure once you’ve already begun writing.

Creating an essay outline is a useful way to plan out your structure before you start writing. This should help you work out the main ideas you want to focus on and how you’ll organize them. The outline doesn’t have to be final—it’s okay if your structure changes throughout the writing process.

Use bullet points or numbering to make your structure clear at a glance. Even for a short text that won’t use headings, it’s useful to summarize what you’ll discuss in each paragraph.

An outline for a literary analysis essay might look something like this:

• Describe the theatricality of Austen’s works
• Outline the role theater plays in Mansfield Park
• Introduce the research question: How does Austen use theater to express the characters’ morality in Mansfield Park ?
• Discuss Austen’s depiction of the performance at the end of the first volume
• Discuss how Sir Bertram reacts to the acting scheme
• Introduce Austen’s use of stage direction–like details during dialogue
• Explore how these are deployed to show the characters’ self-absorption
• Discuss Austen’s description of Maria and Julia’s relationship as polite but affectionless
• Compare Mrs. Norris’s self-conceit as charitable despite her idleness
• Summarize the three themes: The acting scheme, stage directions, and the performance of morals
• Answer the research question
• Indicate areas for further study

Once you have a clear idea of your structure, it’s time to produce a full first draft.

This process can be quite non-linear. For example, it’s reasonable to begin writing with the main body of the text, saving the introduction for later once you have a clearer idea of the text you’re introducing.

To give structure to your writing, use your outline as a framework. Make sure that each paragraph has a clear central focus that relates to your overall argument.

Hover over the parts of the example, from a literary analysis essay on Mansfield Park , to see how a paragraph is constructed.

The character of Mrs. Norris provides another example of the performance of morals in Mansfield Park . Early in the novel, she is described in scathing terms as one who knows “how to dictate liberality to others: but her love of money was equal to her love of directing” (p. 7). This hypocrisy does not interfere with her self-conceit as “the most liberal-minded sister and aunt in the world” (p. 7). Mrs. Norris is strongly concerned with appearing charitable, but unwilling to make any personal sacrifices to accomplish this. Instead, she stage-manages the charitable actions of others, never acknowledging that her schemes do not put her own time or money on the line. In this way, Austen again shows us a character whose morally upright behavior is fundamentally a performance—for whom the goal of doing good is less important than the goal of seeming good.

When you move onto a different topic, start a new paragraph. Use appropriate transition words and phrases to show the connections between your ideas.

The goal at this stage is to get a draft completed, not to make everything perfect as you go along. Once you have a full draft in front of you, you’ll have a clearer idea of where improvement is needed.

Give yourself a first draft deadline that leaves you a reasonable length of time to revise, edit, and proofread before the final deadline. For a longer text like a dissertation, you and your supervisor might agree on deadlines for individual chapters.

Now it’s time to look critically at your first draft and find potential areas for improvement. Redrafting means substantially adding or removing content, while revising involves making changes to structure and reformulating arguments.

Evaluating the first draft

It can be difficult to look objectively at your own writing. Your perspective might be positively or negatively biased—especially if you try to assess your work shortly after finishing it.

It’s best to leave your work alone for at least a day or two after completing the first draft. Come back after a break to evaluate it with fresh eyes; you’ll spot things you wouldn’t have otherwise.

When evaluating your writing at this stage, you’re mainly looking for larger issues such as changes to your arguments or structure. Starting with bigger concerns saves you time—there’s no point perfecting the grammar of something you end up cutting out anyway.

Right now, you’re looking for:

• Arguments that are unclear or illogical.
• Areas where information would be better presented in a different order.
• Passages where additional information or explanation is needed.
• Passages that are irrelevant to your overall argument.

For example, in our paper on Mansfield Park , we might realize the argument would be stronger with more direct consideration of the protagonist Fanny Price, and decide to try to find space for this in paragraph IV.

For some assignments, you’ll receive feedback on your first draft from a supervisor or peer. Be sure to pay close attention to what they tell you, as their advice will usually give you a clearer sense of which aspects of your text need improvement.

Redrafting and revising

Once you’ve decided where changes are needed, make the big changes first, as these are likely to have knock-on effects on the rest. Depending on what your text needs, this step might involve:

• Making changes to your overall argument.
• Reordering the text.
• Cutting parts of the text.
• Adding new text.

You can go back and forth between writing, redrafting and revising several times until you have a final draft that you’re happy with.

Think about what changes you can realistically accomplish in the time you have. If you are running low on time, you don’t want to leave your text in a messy state halfway through redrafting, so make sure to prioritize the most important changes.

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Editing focuses on local concerns like clarity and sentence structure. Proofreading involves reading the text closely to remove typos and ensure stylistic consistency. You can check all your drafts and texts in minutes with an AI proofreader .

Editing for grammar and clarity

When editing, you want to ensure your text is clear, concise, and grammatically correct. You’re looking out for:

• Grammatical errors.
• Ambiguous phrasings.
• Redundancy and repetition .

In your initial draft, it’s common to end up with a lot of sentences that are poorly formulated. Look critically at where your meaning could be conveyed in a more effective way or in fewer words, and watch out for common sentence structure mistakes like run-on sentences and sentence fragments:

• Austen’s style is frequently humorous, her characters are often described as “witty.” Although this is less true of Mansfield Park .
• Austen’s style is frequently humorous. Her characters are often described as “witty,” although this is less true of Mansfield Park .

To make your sentences run smoothly, you can always use a paraphrasing tool to rewrite them in a clearer way.

Proofreading for small mistakes and typos

When proofreading, first look out for typos in your text:

• Spelling errors.
• Missing words.
• Confused word choices .
• Punctuation errors .
• Missing or excess spaces.

Use a grammar checker , but be sure to do another manual check after. Read through your text line by line, watching out for problem areas highlighted by the software but also for any other issues it might have missed.

For example, in the following phrase we notice several errors:

• Mary Crawfords character is a complicate one and her relationships with Fanny and Edmund undergoes several transformations through out the novel.
• Mary Crawford’s character is a complicated one, and her relationships with both Fanny and Edmund undergo several transformations throughout the novel.

Proofreading for stylistic consistency

There are several issues in academic writing where you can choose between multiple different standards. For example:

• Whether you use the serial comma .
• Whether you use American or British spellings and punctuation (you can use a punctuation checker for this).
• Where you use numerals vs. words for numbers.
• How you capitalize your titles and headings.

Unless you’re given specific guidance on these issues, it’s your choice which standards you follow. The important thing is to consistently follow one standard for each issue. For example, don’t use a mixture of American and British spellings in your paper.

Additionally, you will probably be provided with specific guidelines for issues related to format (how your text is presented on the page) and citations (how you acknowledge your sources). Always follow these instructions carefully.

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy
• Deep learning
• Generative AI
• Machine learning
• Reinforcement learning
• Supervised vs. unsupervised learning

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

Revising, proofreading, and editing are different stages of the writing process .

• Revising is making structural and logical changes to your text—reformulating arguments and reordering information.
• Editing refers to making more local changes to things like sentence structure and phrasing to make sure your meaning is conveyed clearly and concisely.
• Proofreading involves looking at the text closely, line by line, to spot any typos and issues with consistency and correct them.

Whether you’re publishing a blog, submitting a research paper , or even just writing an important email, there are a few techniques you can use to make sure it’s error-free:

• Take a break : Set your work aside for at least a few hours so that you can look at it with fresh eyes.
• Proofread a printout : Staring at a screen for too long can cause fatigue – sit down with a pen and paper to check the final version.
• Use digital shortcuts : Take note of any recurring mistakes (for example, misspelling a particular word, switching between US and UK English , or inconsistently capitalizing a term), and use Find and Replace to fix it throughout the document.

If you want to be confident that an important text is error-free, it might be worth choosing a professional proofreading service instead.

If you’ve gone over the word limit set for your assignment, shorten your sentences and cut repetition and redundancy during the editing process. If you use a lot of long quotes , consider shortening them to just the essentials.

If you need to remove a lot of words, you may have to cut certain passages. Remember that everything in the text should be there to support your argument; look for any information that’s not essential to your point and remove it.

To make this process easier and faster, you can use a paraphrasing tool . With this tool, you can rewrite your text to make it simpler and shorter. If that’s not enough, you can copy-paste your paraphrased text into the summarizer . This tool will distill your text to its core message.

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Essay Writing: Common Grammatical and Mechanical Errors

• Essay Writing Basics
• Purdue OWL Page on Writing Your Thesis This link opens in a new window
• Paragraphs and Transitions
• How to Tell if a Website is Legitimate This link opens in a new window
• Formatting Your References Page
• Cite a Website
• Common Grammatical and Mechanical Errors
• Additional Resources
• Proofread Before You Submit Your Paper
• Structuring the 5-Paragraph Essay

Another Source

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a list of common writing errors.

Purdue is also a great resource for citation & formatting rules.

Purdue OWL: Proofreading

Common Mistakes: Presented by the University of Minnesota

Content by the University of Minnesota's  Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

This list includes brief examples and explanations for you to use as reminders while you are editing your papers. If you would like to learn more, take a short writing course, set up an individual appointment at Student Writing Support, or consult a handbook for complete explanations.

1. Sentence Fragments

Make sure each word group you have punctuated as a sentence contains a grammatically complete and independent thought that can stand alone as an acceptable sentence.

Incorrect (the second sentence is the fragment): Tests of the Shroud of Turin have produced some curious findings. For example. the pollen of forty-eight plants native to Europe and the Middle East.

Revised: Tests of the Shroud of Turin have produced some curious findings. For example, the cloth contains the pollen of forty-eight plants native to Europe and the Middle East.

Incorrect: Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine consumption. Although caffeine does cause death in certain animals.

Revised: Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine consumption, although caffeine does cause death in certain animals.

2. Sentence Sprawl

Too many equally weighted phrases and clauses produce tiresome sentences.

Incorrect (There are no grammatical errors here, but the sprawling sentence does not communicate clearly and concisely.): The hearing was planned for Mon., Dec. 2, but not all of the witnesses could be available, so it was rescheduled for the following Friday, and then all the witnesses could attend.

Revised: The hearing, which had been planned for Mon., Dec. 2, was rescheduled for the following Friday so that all witnesses would be able to attend.

3. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Place modifiers near the words they describe; be sure the modified words actually appear in the sentence.

Incorrect: When writing a proposal, an original task is set for research.

Revised: When writing a proposal, a scholar sets an original task for research.

Incorrect: Many tourists visit Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans and military personnel are buried every day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Revised: Every day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., many tourists visit Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans and military personnel are buried.

4. Faulty Parallelism

Be sure you use grammatically equal sentence elements to express two or more matching ideas or items in a series.

Incorrect: The candidate's goals include winning the election, a national health program, and the educational system.

Revised: The candidate's goals include winning the election, enacting a national health program, and improving the educational system.

5. Unclear Pronoun Reference

All pronouns must clearly refer to definite referents (nouns). Use "it," "this," "that," "these," "those," and "which" carefully to prevent confusion.

Incorrect: Einstein was a brilliant mathematician. This is how he was able to explain the universe.

Revised: Einstein, who was a brilliant mathematician, used his ability with numbers to explain the universe.

Incorrect: Because Senator Martin is less interested in the environment than in economic development, he sometimes neglects it.

Revised: Because of his interest in economic development, Senator Martin sometimes neglects the environment.

6. Incorrect Pronoun Case

Determine whether the pronoun is being used as a subject, an object, or a possessive in the sentence, and select the pronoun form to match.

Incorrect: Castro's communist principles inevitably led to an ideological conflict between he and President Kennedy.

Revised: Castro's communist principles inevitably led to an ideological conflict between him and President Kennedy.

Incorrect: Since strict constructionists recommend fidelity to the Constitution as written, no one objects more than them to judicial reinterpretation.

Revised: Since strict constructionists recommend fidelity to the Constitution as written, no one objects more than they [object] to judicial reinterpretation.

7. Omitted Commas

Use commas to signal nonrestrictive or nonessential material, to prevent confusion, and to indicate relationships among ideas and sentence parts.

Incorrect: When it comes to eating people differ in their tastes.--  (eww!)

Revised: When it comes to eating , people differ in their tastes.

Incorrect: The Huns who were Mongolian invaded Gaul in 451.

Revised: The Huns, who were Mongolian, invaded Gaul in 451.

8. Superfluous Commas

Unnecessary commas make sentences difficult to read.

Incorrect: Field trips are required, in several courses, such as, botany and geology.

Revised: Field trips are required in several courses, such as botany and geology.

Incorrect: The term "scientific illiteracy," has become almost a cliché in educational circles.

Revised: The term "scientific illiteracy" has become almost a cliché in educational circles.

9. Comma Splices

Do not link two independent clauses with a comma (unless you also use a coordinating conjunction: "and," "or," "but,"' "nor," "so," "yet"). Instead, use a period or semicolon, or rewrite the sentence.

Incorrect: In 1952, Japan's GNP was one third that of France, by the late 1970s, it was larger than the GNPs of France and Britain combined.

Revised: In 1952, Japan's GNP was one third that of France. By the late 1970s, it was larger than the GNPs of France and Britain combined.

Incorrect: Diseased coronary arteries are often surgically bypassed, however half of all bypass grafts fail within ten years.

Revised: Diseased coronary arteries are often surgically bypassed; however, half of all bypass grafts fail within ten years.

10. Apostrophe Errors

Apostrophes indicate possession for nouns ("Jim's hat," "several years' work") but not for personal pronouns ( "its," "your," "their," and "whose"). Apostrophes also indicate omissions in contractions ("it's" = "it is"). In general they are not used to indicate plurals.

Incorrect: In the current conflict its uncertain who's borders their contesting.

Revised: In the current conflict, it is [it's] uncertain whose borders they are [they're] contesting.

Incorrect: The Aztecs' ritual's of renewal increased in frequency over the course of time.

Revised: The Aztecs' rituals of renewal increased in frequency over the course of time.

11. Words Easily Confused

"Effect" is most often a noun (the effect), and "affect" is almost always a verb. Other pairs commonly confused: "lead"/ "led" and "accept"/ "except." Check a glossary of usage to find the right choice.

Incorrect: The recession had a negative affect on sales.

Revised: The recession had a negative effect on sales. (or) The recession affected sales negatively.

Incorrect: The laboratory instructor choose not to offer detailed advise.

Revised: The laboratory instructor chose not to offer detailed advice.

12. Misspellings

Spelling errors are usually perceived as a reflection of the writer's careless attitude toward the whole project. Do not allow your hard work to be marred in this way! In addition to comprehensive dictionaries, you may want to use electronic spell-checkers, spelling dictionaries, and lists of frequently misspelled words found in handbooks.

All Content by the University of Minnesota's  Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

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How To Use Writing Mechanics To Improve Literary Skills?

Writing mechanics are the set of rules that ensures effective writing. Without these rules, we can’t communicate effectively. These rules or conventions guide and appropriately convey the message a writer wants to communicate. This is why writing mechanics are the holy grail in English linguistics. 

If you are unfamiliar with the terms we used here, this blog will help you overcome the gap. We will ensure you get the best  essay writing help  for your assignment. Let’s learn these mechanics and how to use them in detail.

Table of Contents

What Are Writing Mechanics?

Writing mechanics are the rules a writer must follow to communicate appropriately. It’s also known as the  convention  in writing. An author can easily convey their message across any platform to various audiences. These guiding rules are well-known in English literature; every student must follow them.

Important parts of writing mechanics are spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation etc. Without following these four principles, a write-up is incomplete. Words’ importance, meaning, and power are lost without them. Therefore, it’s of utmost importance for students to have a deep knowledge of them.

How to Use Writing Mechanics for Improvement of Writing Skills?

Writing mechanics are the benchmark of creative and effective writing. Without knowing them completely, it’s impossible for students to hone their skills. Let’s learn tricks to use these mechanics to improve our literary skills.

Spelling is the top writing technique that creates wonders for students. Spelling is a method of arranging words in the correct order to form meaningful words. These words carry valuable meaning that helps in understanding the content. The more you use correct spelling, the more your audience will understand your message.

In literature, without accurate spelling of the words, your readers will be baffled by a complex vocabulary. Whether you are writing an essay or a research paper, it’s a cardinal rule to use exact words for spelling.

To help you improve your writing skills, you must learn all the words you want to use in your essay. In today’s digital age,  research paper writing services  are also recommended to overcome the language barrier. This will help you learn and produce precisely spelt words for your write-ups.

Additionally, accurately spelling words help readers understand the desired meaning without comprehension. Thus, students must overcome this weakness to write perfectly.

Punctuation

Punctuation is the second most important part of the mechanics of writing. There are many things punctuation does for your writing. They improve the overall context from both emotional and physical perspectives. There are many things considered in punctuation, such as commas, colons, semicolons, periods, questions and exclamation marks.

To improve our writing skills, it’s important to understand the use of each part of punctuation. For instance, if we talk about commas, they are used for various purposes. Typically, commas create a gap between two sentences offering different meanings. Using commas, two different and opposing words or sentences form one meaning.

Question marks are used only when asking someone or a group of people a specific question. They show the interrogative nature of the sentence. Regardless of the question’s nature or type, adding a question mark at the end is essential.

On the other hand, exclamation marks help convey the sentence’s emotional nature. They show meanings such as warnings, hate, or exclamation wherever we use them. Having a thorough knowledge of punctuation helps students to write great content.

Capitalization

In writing mechanics, capitalization uses capital letters at the start of the first word. This word might be at the start of the sentence or in the middle, such as a person’s name, etc.

Similarly, “I” is the word that should always be in the capital because it refers to a person. Names of places, persons, and special things must also be written only in capital letters. Capitalization rules strongly emphasize following these principles from start to finish.

Students must understand and adhere to this technique to further improve their writing. This helps them know the importance of proper nouns and special words that should be in capital letters.

Abbreviations

An abbreviation is a short form of otherwise lengthy words or phrases. Students must have in-depth knowledge of common abbreviations. In writing mechanics, these come handy when writing lengthy sentences.

Abbreviations help writers squeeze lots of words into a few fewer ones. Around the world, abbreviations are used extensively. Although they are not an integral part, they still serve a good purpose.

Some of the common abbreviations used by writers are mentioned below;

PhD :  Doctorate of philosophy

EU:  European Union

USA:  United States of America

BSc:  Bachelor of Science

MS:  Master of Science

FL:  Florida

DXB:  Dubai

JPN:  Japan

F1:  Formula One

POTUS:  President of the United States

Abbreviations help writers save space and lengthy words that would otherwise be more complicated for readers. Learning common abbreviations is not only necessary but also saves a lot of time for students. Many students receive 6000 words assignments occasionally in their college. Using an adequate amount of abbreviations can help make it to the deadline.

Writing mechanics that improve your assignment writing skills revolve around grammar. Having a good command of grammar rules and their correct usage improves creative skills drastically.

Understanding in which context a sentence should be used, such as past, present or future tense, provides clarity. This, in turn, helps your audience have a clear and precise understanding of your message. If you want to write like a essay writer , Improving grammar should be the first thing on your list.

Improvement in your writing skills takes a lot of time. Grammar and writing mechanics helps in filling the gaps or areas of improvement of new students. Therefore, one cannot ignore the importance of correct grammar in improving basic writing skills.

Parts of Speech

Like English grammar, parts of speech are important writing mechanics every student should know. Any sentence written in a book, journal or story comprises one or many parts of speech. There are a total of eight parts of speech that help in forming a sentence.

Additionally, knowing and understanding parts of speech is essential. Effective communication through writing is incomplete without understanding them.

8 Parts of speech that every student must know for creative writing are following;

Prepositions

Conjunctions

The noun  in a sentence can be anything, such as the name of a place, object or person. There are two types of nouns, common nouns and proper nouns. A dog, a table or a boy is a common noun. Whereas labrador, oak work table, Julia, Tom and Boeing 747 are proper nouns.

A pronoun  is a word you use as a substitute for a proper noun to avoid repetition. For example, Michael is a good basketball player; he started playing when he was 7. In this sentence, to avoid repeating Michael’s name, we used “he”. He, she, I, we, and they etc are pronouns.

Adjectives  are words that work by describing or modifying a noun. They help accurately identify nouns, such as a black hat or gold chain. Adjectives are also known as describing words because they describe nouns perfectly.

Verbs  are actions of a noun. Hiking, jumping, eating, jogging, watching etc are examples of verb. Any verb that explain any action is called “action verb”. A verb that describes feelings or an emotion is called “non-action verb”

Adverbs  modify verbs and adjectives and make them more pronounced. Adverbs examples are; running downwards, blazing fast internet etc. Adverbs are identified easily because most of them end with “ly” in the end. These are some of the examples of adverbs in a sentence.

Prepositions  shows connection or relation between nouns and different words. For example, my car is  in  the parking zone; I will sleep  on  the sofa tonight, etc. Without the use of prepositions, the whole sentence becomes meaningless. Students must use them to create coherence in the relationship between all the words in a sentence.

Conjunctions  join different phrases and ideas into one. Look at the example below.

“I like New York City. I Like Los Angeles. I don’t like Miami.”

Here there are three different statements and a clear lack of cohesion. We can change it by using conjunctions.

“I like New York City  and  Los Angeles,  but  I don’t like Miami”. Conjunctions make it easy to arrange different ideas and sentences into one.

Articles  come before the noun, and there are two types of articles. Definite and indefinite articles are used accordingly to the noun in the sentence context.  The  and  this  are definite articles, and “ A ” is indefinite.

Definite articles such as the and this refers to a specific thing or noun. This green apple tastes good in the Harry Potter book, The Da Vinci’s Code.

On the other hand, indefinite articles mean any general noun, such as a green apple, a tasty pie, a piece of paper etc.

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Writing mechanics are important factors in improving writing skills. It’s essential for all students to learn the guidelines. Students must follow the steps and provisions of creative writing. This way, they can succeed and take top grades on their writing assignments.

Writing is very important because it helps you compose outstanding assignments. Writing an assignment shows how much a student has learned from books and lectures. An excellent assignment gets appreciated as well as receives good grades.

Punctuation is part of grammar and helps add meaning to a word or sentence. Proper use of punctuation conveys correct meaning and understanding to the readers.

Typically fiction writers use passive voice to create dramatic effects in their stories. Passive voice helps in throwing attention on the object than the subject.

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Why Are Writing Mechanics Important? (8 Key Reasons Explained)

Written language has added complications not seen in spoken communication. Careful attention must be paid to all the elements to ensure the message is conveyed accurately. Most people understand that grammar plays a crucial role in written language, but the importance of writing mechanics is not widely considered.

Writing mechanics are the rules and conventions for written language. They include spelling and punctuation, critical factors in written language, which can clarify the meaning or confuse the reader. Logical presentation and correct word choice, also a part of writing mechanics, affect meaning.

Some people may not understand the term writing mechanics, but they are familiar with the skills as they are taught in school.

The Reasons Writing Mechanics Are Important

There are many features of spoken language that assist in adding to the meaning. The tone of voice, inflections, and stress patterns give additional information not present in written language.

The physical environment, hand gestures, and facial expressions may help clarify a spoken message. These are also unavailable in written communications .

Written communication must be more precise and accurate to convey the intended meaning. Writing mechanics standardize how written language is presented to clarify the intent and content.

What Are Writing Mechanics?

Writing mechanics are the elements and conventions governing written language. Writing mechanics include punctuation, spelling, logical presentation, and correct word choice.

Writing mechanics are taught in school, usually under the subject of grammar. Teachers focus on assisting students with written language, as most have well-established spoken language skills by the time they reach primary school.

Why Is Punctuation Important?

Punctuation is important as it replaces the emotions conveyed by facial expressions, tone of voice, and gestures. It also organizes information into discrete units that are more understandable. In spoken language, pauses help with information organization.

Why Does Capitalization Affect Meaning?

Capitalization allows our eye to automatically screen for important information such as subject and location. Capitalization makes a difference in meaning by indicating proper nouns.

Some words, known as capitonyms, are two words that are the same, but their meaning differs because one has a capital letter. Here are some examples:

• China (country) and china (porcelain)
• March (month) and march (walking)
• August (month or a name) and august (adjective)

Capitalization shows the beginning of a new sentence, which enables the words to make sense. A capital letter with a full stop tells the reader to take a breath.

You might also like: Does Grammar Matter Anymore?

Exclamation Marks, Question Marks, And Full Stops Meaning

Exclamation marks are one of the few tools in writing mechanics that help the writer express emotion . They are written at the termination of a sentence to express strong emotions such as surprise, anger, or excitement.

Questions are usually indicated by intonation in spoken communication. Sometimes question words such as what, who, or where are omitted, and the intonation alone show s that the speaker is asking a question.

Written language cannot show intonation, so all questions are marked with a question mark instead of a full stop.

Full stops, exclamation and question marks indicate the end of the sentence and are critical in allowing the reader to understand the text.

Commas Make A Difference In Meaning

Commas are critical in allowing the reader to understand the sentence correctly. Confusions easily occur when there are no commas.

“Let’s eat Jane” is a very different meaning to “Let’s eat, Jane.”

All Punctuation Clarifies Meaning

All punctuation clarifies the meaning, giving more information about the words. Colons, hyphens, semi-colons, and speech marks supply the reader with details not included in the words.

Paragraphs are sometimes referred to as conventions, and other teachers include them in punctuation. Paragraphs indicate a shift in the topic or the direction of the message. They signal to the reader that a change is coming, even if it is a slight one.

A chapter shows a completely new topic of discussion. It is used in novels to show a change in perspective or location. Many writers skillfully use chapters to build tension and lead readers to continue reading.

Spelling Is Important For Written Communication   

Spelling is the basic tool for combining letters to make words that have meaning. Having the ability to spell allows a person to communicate through writing.

Poor spelling skills severely hamper a writer’s ability to communicate effectively in a written format. One only has to consider the trials suffered by people with dyslexia to understand why spelling is such a critical element in writing.

The writer must use the vowels and consonants correctly to convey meaning. Consider these words, which all have a different meaning based on a change in only one letter:

Skilled readers use word closure to make sense of misspelled words, but it places a lot more pressure on the reader, and the meaning may be misunderstood. In some cases, readers may be unable to understand the message or understand it incorrectly. 

Choosing The Correct Word Affects Meaning

Choosing the correct word is sometimes interlinked with spelling. For example, it is vital to know which of the following word to choose:

• To, too, two
• You’re, you
• Where, were, we’re
• Their, there, they’re
• Effect, affect

During spoken communication, the conversational participants can immediately ask for and give clarification. Writers have one chance to communicate their message. They must choose the most appropriate word.

The following sentences show the change in meaning by changing one word:

• The man walked across the street.
• The man strolled across the street.
• The man rushed across the street.
• The man dawdled across the street.
• The man stumbled across the street.

Changing the verb gives us more information that changes the meaning subtly but importantly. If this were an eyewitness account of a road accident, the verb chosen would provide critical information that may affect the outcome of the investigation.

Also try: Does Grammar Include Spelling And Meaning?

Logical Presentation Affects The Meaning

One of the mechanics of writing is presenting information in a logical order. This element affects the reader’s grasp of the message the writer wishes to convey. It can be as important as spelling.

Readers expect the writer to convey information sequentially and logically ; confusion reigns when this does not happen.

An example of an illogical instruction for medicine:

Inhale two puffs, shake vigorously. The patient may use the medication and then wonder what should shake vigorously.

Do not use if cloudy. This instruction may have people looking to the skies to determine if it is safe to use the medicine.

Writing mechanics are as important as grammar in written language. They make sense of the words and give additional information. It is important to choose the correct punctuation, spelling, logic, and words, as there is only one chance to convey the meaning in written communication.

You might like: Do Native Speakers Make Grammar Mistakes?

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Essay Writing Contest Mechanics

Essay Writing Contest (English Month Competition). Essay Writing Contest is a writing competition where student essayists compose argumentative essays that have substance and that adhere to the conventions of the written discourse.

• Student essayists shall write an argumentative essay on a topic/photo related to English language and communication.
• Essays shall follow the five (5)- paragraph structure — introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Essays shall be written on the spot for two (2) hours.
• Topics/photos shall be given three (3) days ahead.
• Upon submission of the results to the committee, judges’ decision shall be considered final and irrevocable.
• Only three (3) student speakers shall be awarded as Champion, 1st Runner-Up, and 2nd Runner-Up.
• Originality and Communication (40%) . Essay should be original and clearly communicate student essayist’s arguments on a given topic or theme in a logical and concise manner.
• Content (40%) . Essay should contain sufficient and sound evidence to support arguments and claims.
• Writing Mechanics (20%).  Essay should observe proper conventions of writing such as grammar, punctuations, capitalizations, and others.

Other English Month Competitions

Communication-in-Photo Contest (Mechanics) . Communication-in-Photo Contest is a photography competition that aims to integrate student photographer’s understanding of the communication process in the digital age into the art of photography.

Declamation Contest (Mechanics) . Declamation Contest is a public speaking event that showcases student declaimers’ communication prowess in interpreting a literary piece, thereby providing the audience with a direct experience of the craft.

E-Poetry: Poetry Beyond Text (Mechanics) . E-Poetry: Poetry Beyond Text is a digital poetry composition and presentation contest that captures the literary prowess of student poets in the light of digital media.

Extemporaneous Speech (Mechanics) . Extemporaneous Speech is a public speaking competition that requires student speakers to deliver a limited-preparation speech with special focus on substance, organization of ideas and information, and confident delivery.

Flash Fiction Writing Contest (Mechanics) . Flash Fiction Writing challenges student writers to frame a self-contained story in a few hundreds of words that can entertain, intrigue, and satisfy a reader in a tornado effect.

Speech Choir (Mechanics) . Speech Choir or verse choir brings out the beauty of harmony and unison, hence providing speakers and listeners alike with an experience that is both exciting and intense in the interpretation of a literary piece.

Statement Shirt Competition (Mechanics) . Statement Shirt Competition showcases student artists’ creativity and wit in designing a shirt that communicates their knowledge and insights into the functions, importance, and challenges of communication in English in the digital age.

Flash Fiction Writing (English Month Competition). Flash Fiction Writing challenges student writers to frame a self-contained story in a…

Sample Invitation Letter for an Essay Writing Contest Judge (Content) Our school, AcadShare State University-Manila, will hold its annual…

Declamation Contest (English Month Competition). Declamation Contest is a public speaking event that showcases student declaimers’ communication prowess in…

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ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION Mechanics and Rules

• The Board of judges shall provide topic of the essay at the venue of the competition.
• The contestants shall be given two (2) hours to develop the composition.
• The contestants shall be provided with a pen and a long bondpaper marked with the assigned number duly signed by the contest master. They are prohibited to write their names and the University they are representing.
• No printed materials, electronic gadgets, or storage devices shall be utilized.
• The contestants are prohibited to wear their university uniform or any symbol/s (e.g. ID lanyard) that mark distinction of their respective university.
• Each contestant shall be assigned a number.
• The result of the contest shall be posted on the tally board immediately after the judges have finished rating the contestants’ manuscripts.
• The judges’ decision is final.

CRITERIA FOR JUDGING

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*Adapted from PASUC Guidelines and modified by the host university.

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AI Prompt Engineering Isn’t the Future

• Oguz A. Acar

Asking the perfect question is less important than really understanding the problem you’re trying to solve.

Despite the buzz surrounding it, the prominence of prompt engineering may be fleeting. A more enduring and adaptable skill will keep enabling us to harness the potential of generative AI? It is called problem formulation — the ability to identify, analyze, and delineate problems.

Prompt engineering has taken the generative AI world by storm. The job, which entails optimizing textual input to effectively communicate with large language models, has been hailed by World Economic Forum as the number one “job of the future” while Open AI CEO Sam Altman characterized it as an “amazingly high-leveraged skill.” Social media brims with a new wave of influencers showcasing “magic prompts” and pledging amazing outcomes.

• Oguz A. Acar is a Chair in Marketing at King’s Business School, King’s College London.

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NPR editor Uri Berliner resigns with blast at new CEO

David Folkenflik

Uri Berliner resigned from NPR on Wednesday saying he could not work under the new CEO Katherine Maher. He cautioned that he did not support calls to defund NPR. Uri Berliner hide caption

Uri Berliner resigned from NPR on Wednesday saying he could not work under the new CEO Katherine Maher. He cautioned that he did not support calls to defund NPR.

NPR senior business editor Uri Berliner resigned this morning, citing the response of the network's chief executive to his outside essay accusing NPR of losing the public's trust.

"I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years," Berliner wrote in an email to CEO Katherine Maher. "I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism. But I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cite in my Free Press essay."

NPR and Maher declined to comment on his resignation.

The Free Press, an online site embraced by journalists who believe that the mainstream media has become too liberal, published Berliner's piece last Tuesday. In it, he argued that NPR's coverage has increasingly reflected a rigid progressive ideology. And he argued that the network's quest for greater diversity in its workforce — a priority under prior chief executive John Lansing – has not been accompanied by a diversity of viewpoints presented in NPR shows, podcasts or online coverage.

Later that same day, NPR pushed back against Berliner's critique.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff . "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

Yet Berliner's commentary has been embraced by conservative and partisan Republican critics of the network, including former President Donald Trump and the activist Christopher Rufo.

Rufo is posting a parade of old social media posts from Maher, who took over NPR last month. In two examples, she called Trump a racist and also seemed to minimize the effects of rioting in 2020. Rufo is using those to rally public pressure for Maher's ouster, as he did for former Harvard University President Claudine Gay .

Others have used the moment to call for the elimination of federal funding for NPR – less than one percent of its roughly $300 million annual budget – and local public radio stations, which derive more of their funding from the government.

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

Berliner reiterated in his resignation letter that he does not support such calls.

In a brief interview, he condemned a statement Maher issued Friday in which she suggested that he had questioned "whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity." She called that "profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning."

Berliner subsequently exchanged emails with Maher, but she did not address those comments.

"It's been building up," Berliner said of his decision to resign, "and it became clear it was on today."

For publishing his essay in The Free Press and appearing on its podcast, NPR had suspended Berliner for five days without pay. Its formal rebuke noted he had done work outside NPR without its permission, as is required, and shared proprietary information.

(Disclosure: Like Berliner, I am part of NPR's Business Desk. He has edited many of my past stories. But he did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Earlier in the day, Berliner forwarded to NPR editors and other colleagues a note saying he had "never questioned" their integrity and had been trying to raise these issues within the newsroom for more than seven years.

What followed was an email he had sent to newsroom leaders after Trump's 2016 win. He wrote then: "Primarily for the sake of our journalism, we can't align ourselves with a tribe. So we don't exist in a cocoon that blinds us to the views and experience of tens of millions of our fellow citizens."

Berliner's critique has inspired anger and dismay within the network. Some colleagues said they could no longer trust him after he chose to publicize such concerns rather than pursue them as part of ongoing newsroom debates, as is customary. Many signed a letter to Maher and Edith Chapin, NPR's chief news executive. They asked for clarity on, among other things, how Berliner's essay and the resulting public controversy would affect news coverage.

Yet some colleagues privately said Berliner's critique carried some truth. Chapin also announced monthly reviews of the network's coverage for fairness and diversity - including diversity of viewpoint.

She said in a text message earlier this week that that initiative had been discussed long before Berliner's essay, but "Now seemed [the] time to deliver if we were going to do it."

She added, "Healthy discussion is something we need more of."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

• Katherine Maher
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Guest Essay

It’s Time to End the Quiet Cruelty of Property Taxes

By Andrew W. Kahrl

Dr. Kahrl is a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Virginia and the author of “The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America.”

Property taxes, the lifeblood of local governments and school districts, are among the most powerful and stealthy engines of racism and wealth inequality our nation has ever produced. And while the Biden administration has offered many solutions for making the tax code fairer, it has yet to effectively tackle a problem that has resulted not only in the extraordinary overtaxation of Black and Latino homeowners but also in the worsening of disparities between wealthy and poorer communities. Fixing these problems requires nothing short of a fundamental re-examination of how taxes are distributed.

In theory, the property tax would seem to be an eminently fair one: The higher the value of your property, the more you pay. The problem with this system is that the tax is administered by local officials who enjoy a remarkable degree of autonomy and that tax rates are typically based on the collective wealth of a given community. This results in wealthy communities enjoying lower effective tax rates while generating more tax revenues; at the same time, poorer ones are forced to tax property at higher effective rates while generating less in return. As such, property assessments have been manipulated throughout our nation’s history to ensure that valuable property is taxed the least relative to its worth and that the wealthiest places will always have more resources than poorer ones.

Black people have paid the heaviest cost. Since they began acquiring property after emancipation, African Americans have been overtaxed by local governments. By the early 1900s, an acre of Black-owned land was valued, for tax purposes, higher than an acre of white-owned land in most of Virginia’s counties, according to my calculations, despite being worth about half as much. And for all the taxes Black people paid, they got little to nothing in return. Where Black neighborhoods began, paved streets, sidewalks and water and sewer lines often ended. Black taxpayers helped to pay for the better-resourced schools white children attended. Even as white supremacists treated “colored” schools as another of the white man’s burdens, the truth was that throughout the Jim Crow era, Black taxpayers subsidized white education.

Freedom from these kleptocratic regimes drove millions of African Americans to move to Northern and Midwestern states in the Great Migration from 1915 to 1970, but they were unable to escape racist assessments, which encompassed both the undervaluation of their property for sales purposes and the overvaluation of their property for taxation purposes. During those years, the nation’s real estate industry made white-owned property in white neighborhoods worth more because it was white. Since local tax revenue was tied to local real estate markets, newly formed suburbs had a fiscal incentive to exclude Black people, and cities had even more reason to keep Black people confined to urban ghettos.

As the postwar metropolis became a patchwork of local governments, each with its own tax base, the fiscal rationale for segregation intensified. Cities were fiscally incentivized to cater to the interests of white homeowners and provide better services for white neighborhoods, especially as middle-class white people began streaming into the suburbs, taking their tax dollars with them.

One way to cater to wealthy and white homeowners’ interests is to intentionally conduct property assessments less often. The city of Boston did not conduct a citywide property reassessment between 1946 and 1977. Over that time, the values of properties in Black neighborhoods increased slowly when compared with the values in white neighborhoods or even fell, which led to property owners’ paying relatively more in taxes than their homes were worth. At the same time, owners of properties in white neighborhoods got an increasingly good tax deal as their neighborhoods increased in value.

As was the case in other American cities, Boston’s decision most likely derived from the fear that any updates would hasten the exodus of white homeowners and businesses to the suburbs. By the 1960s, assessments on residential properties in Boston’s poor neighborhoods were up to one and a half times as great as their actual values, while assessments in the city’s more affluent neighborhoods were, on average, 40 percent of market value.

Jersey City, N.J., did not conduct a citywide real estate reassessment between 1988 and 2018 as part of a larger strategy for promoting high-end real estate development. During that time, real estate prices along the city’s waterfront soared but their owners’ tax bills remained relatively steady. By 2015, a home in one of the city’s Black and Latino neighborhoods worth $175,000 received the same tax bill as a home in the city’s downtown worth $530,000.

These are hardly exceptions. Numerous studies conducted during those years found that assessments in predominantly Black neighborhoods of U.S. cities were grossly higher relative to value than those in white areas.

These problems persist. A recent report by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy found that property assessments were regressive (meaning lower-valued properties were assessed higher relative to value than higher-valued ones) in 97.7 percent of U.S. counties. Black-owned homes and properties in Black neighborhoods continue to be devalued on the open market, making this regressive tax, in effect, a racist tax.

The overtaxation of Black homes and neighborhoods is also a symptom of a much larger problem in America’s federated fiscal structure. By design, this system produces winners and losers: localities with ample resources to provide the goods and services that we as a nation have entrusted to local governments and others that struggle to keep the lights on, the streets paved, the schools open and drinking water safe . Worse yet, it compels any fiscally disadvantaged locality seeking to improve its fortunes to do so by showering businesses and corporations with tax breaks and subsidies while cutting services and shifting tax burdens onto the poor and disadvantaged. A local tax on local real estate places Black people and cities with large Black populations at a permanent disadvantage. More than that, it gives middle-class white people strong incentives to preserve their relative advantages, fueling the zero-sum politics that keep Americans divided, accelerates the upward redistribution of wealth and impoverishes us all.

There are technical solutions. One, which requires local governments to adopt more accurate assessment models and regularly update assessment rolls, can help make property taxes fairer. But none of the proposed reforms being discussed can be applied nationally because local tax policies are the prerogative of the states and, often, local governments themselves. Given the variety and complexity of state and local property tax laws and procedures and how much local governments continue to rely on tax reductions and tax shifting to attract and retain certain people and businesses, we cannot expect them to fix these problems on their own.

The best way to make local property taxes fairer and more equitable is to make them less important. The federal government can do this by reinvesting in our cities, counties and school districts through a federal fiscal equity program, like those found in other advanced federated nations. Canada, Germany and Australia, among others, direct federal funds to lower units of government with lower capacities to raise revenue.

And what better way to pay for the program than to tap our wealthiest, who have benefited from our unjust taxation scheme for so long? President Biden is calling for a 25 percent tax on the incomes and annual increases in the values of the holdings of people claiming more than $100 million in assets, but we could accomplish far more by enacting a wealth tax on the 1 percent. Even a modest 4 percent wealth tax on people whose total assets exceed $50 million could generate upward of $400 billion in additional annual revenue, which should be more than enough to ensure that the needs of every city, county and public school system in America are met. By ensuring that localities have the resources they need, we can counteract the unequal outcomes and rank injustices that our current system generates.

Andrew W. Kahrl is a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Virginia and the author of “ The Black Tax : 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America.”

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