Writing

When to use possessive apostrophes and close quotation marks

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Here is something that my students struggle with all the time: possessive apostrophes and where in the world should they close a quotation mark. Let’s take them one at a time.

Possessive apostrophes are used to show someone or something owns something. They are not used when you want to show more than one of something.

Here is a case in point (or two): All of our workers will get an employees’ bonus. This means that everyone at the company is getting a bonus.

The next example is one employee getting a bonus: John was the only person to receive an employee’s bonus.

The next example has more than one employee, but no bonus: Employees are not going to get a bonus.

The next topic about where to end your quotation mark is relatively easy to figure out. Your in-text citation is NOT part of the quote. Only the quote is part of the quote, so end the quotation mark after the quote is finished.

(BTW, both APA and MLA formatting requires that you cite either the page or paragraph number with a direct quote.  That means, if there are no page numbers, you literally have to count the paragraphs that the article has and list the correct paragraph number. In a paper I once wrote, I had to count to paragraph number 100 and something, but it had to be done.

Hope this helps! If you have any questions, just post them as a reply to this posting and I will be happy to answer.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Parenthetic expressions and commas

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

i just wanted to clarify something. It has to do with the use of vocative commas. Vocative commas are used when you are separating a person’s name from the rest of the sentence, such as the following:

John, it’s good to see you.

You would use the vocative comma instead of writing: John it’s good to see you.

You also need to use a comma with parenthetic expressions. An example of this is a follows:

It is my opinion, and I travel once a month, that flying beats driving.

Please note that, if you use one comma in the sentence, you must use both. Sometimes students don’t use any when writing parenthetic expressions and that can be confusing at best.

Hope this helps!

Dr. Sheri

Oxford commas revisited

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Oxford commas are great at preventing misunderstanding. One of my students sent me a news report on a court case filed on behalf of some workers who thought they deserved overtime. The issue? The lack of an Oxford comma.

So, what is one, you might ask? An Oxford comma is used between the last item in a list of things and the second-to-the-last item. Here are some examples of when they are used and when they are left out:

I love my parents, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck. (Your parents are a couple of ducks, which automatically makes you quackers.) To verify that you are talking about three separate individuals, use an Oxford comma: I love my parents, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck.

I want to leave my 3 million dollars to my children: Child A, Child B and Child C. Child A gets 1 1/2 million; Child B and Child C split the other 1 1/2 million dollars. With the Oxford comma, the sentence reads: I want to leave my 3 million dollars to Child A, Child B, and Child C. Everyone gets one million and all are happy. [Note to my children: I named you with regular names, but sadly do not have 3 million dollars to leave you. Enjoy your names, ’cause there isn’t much else to get!]

I hope this helps!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Parenthetic expressions

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today, let’s visit the world of parenthetic expressions. This is, when you are writing, a brief pause in the middle of a sentence to add some additional information. It also applies to speaking, but I wanted to give you an example of what I was talking about right up front.

Sometimes it is hard to decide if you need the commas, but, if you have one comma, you must include the second one.

For example, you would not say the following:

This is, when you are writing a brief pause in the middle of a sentence to add some more information.

This looks like someone is just putting a comma after a verb. My students do this frequently; it is incorrect.

Here is the same sentence with no commas:

This is when you are writing a brief pause in the middle of a sentence to add some more information.

See how fast that gets confusing? Therefore, when you have a parenthetic expression, use two commas. Keep me happy.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Introductory phrases used to excess are tedious

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog covers the overuse of introductory phrases. These little jewels  can add excitement to your writing but having too many of them is….dreadful.  Here are some examples:

Throughout this time, I have been abcezy.

Along with my entire family, I have done thus and such.

With this steady rhythm, it is possible to …..

With this unique workforce, I find that….

There were 15 sentences in the student’s first three paragraphs of the paper and 11 of them started with either an introductory word or phrase. That is way too many.

To combat this, flip the sentence. Oops- that was an introductory phrase. It could be written without the phrase as:

Flip the sentence in order to combat this.

I don’t mean that you cannot ever write them, but use them like salt: sparingly. I have other blogs on this topic, if you are still struggling with the idea.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Single Nouns Should Not Double-Date

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Let me share with you a couple of very common mistakes I see when grading students’ essays: the use of a single noun with a plural pronoun and the use of possessive apostrophes when they only mean to use a plural noun.

Folks, where were you when your teachers told you about this in writing class? Here’s the politically incorrect idea here: If you have a single noun (student) and want to use a pronoun with it, you need to use a single pronoun (his or her). Do not use the word “they.” That is a plural pronoun and should be utilized when you are writing about  more than one student (students). Here are some examples of what I mean:

“A student should make sure their homework is done on time.” Nope.

“A student should make sure his or her homework is done on time.” Yep.

“Students should make sure their homework is done on time.” Yep.

Yes, I know that today some folks talk about “zim” and “zer” but those are, in my humble opinion, still single. They should not double-date.

The other issue is when a student means to have more than one noun but uses a possessive apostrophe with the noun. For example, he or she might write the following:

“In that situation, all fee’s could be waived.” Nope. [That was from a senior in college, by the way.] This student MIGHT have meant “In that situation, all fee is could be waived.”  Since there was nothing that the word “fees” was possessing, I have to assume that the individual meant “fee is” but it just doesn’t work with the rest of that sentence. Double nope.

What the student meant to write was the following:

“All fees could be waived.” Yep.

Hope this helps! Have a superb day!

Dr. Sheri

Do not be weary in doing school

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

This is the time of the semester when some students are pretty worn out, if they are taking an 8-week course.

You’ve made it through the first four weeks, but the end really does not seem in sight yet. There is probably a boatload of assignments yet to be done, and they are probably the most heavily-weighted of the term.

How will you make it? Well, here are some tips. First, plan backwards. When is something due? Once you figure out that a huge research paper is due in four weeks, you need to back things up so that you are not writing the paper at midnight the night before it is due, having just started the research at 6 pm. Here’s how that will work:

Let’s pretend that today is the 1st.

The paper is due on the 30th, so you want to have your final draft completely done and waiting to be turned in two days before that. That is the 28th. (This allows you to read over it once more and print it out well ahead of the deadline. One more tip: re-read the instructions, so that you are absolutely certain that you have done everything called for. Do not leave anything out!)

You need to have your rough draft of the paper due the week before, so that you can polish and proofread. That will be the 21st.

It will probably take you two weeks to get your research done and the writing finished, so that means that you would need to start the research on the 7th.

In order to start the research on the 7th, you need to know what you will write about. Take one day to decide. That makes it the 6th.

You may need to get your instructor’s approval so allow at least two days for that. That translates to the 4th.

You need to make sure that you understand the instructions completely, so read them over twice and then sleep on it. That makes it the 3rd.

Read the instructions again and ask the professor to clarify anything you didn’t understand. It may take two days to get an answer, so that makes it the 1st.

Today is the 1st. Get to work!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Thou Shalt not Write a Fragment

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog is about sentence fragments. They can be the bane of your existence, if you let them. Here are some examples from papers I received on both the undergraduate and graduate levels just this past week:

Input, process and output

One being having little to no human interaction

Also, somewhat unfair if others with the same pay don’t have to work such hours.

In this arena, information, advertising, and entertainment.

Let’s take them one at a time. First, “input, process and output.” How could anyone even think those three nouns and an article make up a worthwhile sentence? I’m sorry but those words did not make any sense even when they were surrounded by other sentences. I believe what the author was trying to say was the following: “One must input information, process it, and evaluate the output.”

Next, we can look at “one being having little to no human interaction.” Now this is obviously something to do with interpersonal communication, so it is easier to figure out. It could be re-written as the following: “There are several difficulties with the development of our personalities, one of which is having little to no human interaction.”

The next fragment could become something like this: “Also, it is somewhat unfair to make some individuals work long hours while others making the same pay do not.”

Finally, we could write: “In this arena, the most important things to consider are information, advertising, and entertainment.”

It doesn’t pay to be stingy with your words; use them to give your sentences subjects and verbs. This will lead to a better grade and will prevent your instructor from sitting there scratching his or her head.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Redundancy can be very redundant or how not to write a college essay

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

I received a college essay from a student recently who, basically, said the same thing over and over, again and again, redundantly. Like I just did there.

Folks, you need to have more than one line of text in your essays or they get…..boring. In this case, he wrote one line as his introduction paragraph. (Please note: introductions need to be more than one line.)

His second paragraph began and ended with the same line and without much in between.

Guess how his third paragraph started? Yep. The same line, yet again. Ditto on the end of the third paragraph and the beginning and end of the fourth paragraph.

Wanna take a shot at what the one-sentence concluding paragraph contained? You guessed it. (Please note that conclusions, like introductions,  should also be more than one sentence.)

I hope this helps with your plans to write an essay. I haven’t said much, but have hopefully said a lot herein!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Weird wording to avoid

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

You have all written essays, if you have made it through high school. But what is it with folks who fail to proofread their documents before submitting them? Why do all that work and then drop the ball at the last minute? Case in point:

I recently got assignments in a junior/senior level college class that contained the following sentences:

“When I come to a formation and some soldiers are in one set of uniform but the others are in a different set.” Where are you going with that sentence? What happened? How about writing: “It is difficult when soldiers in a formation are not wearing the same set of uniforms .” Please tell me why that is a problem, unless you are all supposed to wear the same thing at the same time. Matching is nice, especially if it is required.

What about this one: “Then between the UVA and SARC receiving the report.”  Huh? Come again? I’m sorry. I can’t fix it because I have no clue what you were trying to say here, even when I read it in context.

Or: “I would ask the victim if him/she is safe?” Stick to something like “I would ask the victim if he or she was safe.”

Or: “The IT department and myself were speaking over the phone.”  How about: “I was speaking on the phone with the IT department.”

Or: “There are deliveries several times a week from being made different stores that has to be labeled and stored.” Let’s try: “The deliveries, which are received frequently from different stores, must be labeled and stored.”  By the way, you have subject/verb disagreement with “deliveries……was.”

Or: “The employee is not believing of the decisions that are being made.” Let’s go with: “Employees do not trust the decisions being made.”

I hope this helps. By the way, I had to proofread my own blog because I had some typos that the computer did not pick up. A word can be a perfectly good word but it can still be wrong, depending on the context.

Best,

Dr. Sheri