Guide to Grammar and Style -- B
From the Guide to Grammar and Style by Jack Lynch.
Comments are welcome.
Almost always
useless. Qualifiers such as basically,
essentially, totally, &c. rarely add anything
to a sentence; they're the written equivalent of "Um." See Wasted Words, and read it twice.
Basis.
See On a ----- Basis.
A dreadfully
overused idiom (probably coming from "it being the case that"),
favored by those who want to sound more impressive. Avoid it.
Use because, since, or something similarly
direct.
Between versus Among.
See Among versus Between.
Short quotations
-- say, no more than three or four lines -- usually appear in the
text surrounded by quotation
marks, "like this." Longer direct quotations, though -- and
sometimes shorter quotations of poetry -- should be set off as
block quotations or extracts, thus:
Notice that the quotation is indented on both sides: most word
processors make that easy. Notice, too, that you don't
use quotation marks around a block quotation: the indention (not
"indentation") is enough to indicate it's a quotation. Some house styles prefer block quotations to
be single-spaced, others like them double-spaced; that's not
something to fret about unless you're writing for publication.
Always be sure to include proper citations in block quotations;
the usual route is to put the citation in parentheses
after the closing punctuation in the quotation itself.
Writing is too often
wimpy. Don't be afraid to be blunt. Instead of "There appear to
be indications that the product heretofore referred to may be
lacking substantial qualitative consummation, suggesting it may
be incommensurate with the standards previously established by
this department," try "It's bad" or "It doesn't work." Of course
you should be sensitive to your reader's feelings -- there's no
need to be vicious or crude, and saying "It sucks" won't win you
many friends -- but don't go too far in the opposite direction.
Call 'em as you see 'em.
There's no reason to
use boldface in an academic paper; spend your time writing, not
fiddling with the word processor. See Fonts, Italics, and Titles.
If you use
British spellings, use them consistently. Inconsistent British
spellings are an affectation. (Of course other English-speaking
countries have their own rules, which usually look to us like a
medley of British and American spellings.) Jeremy Smith has
assembled a catalogue of words that have different spellings in
America and Britain.
Arguments over grammar
and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and
as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
Pedantic and vicious debates over knotty matters such as Prepositions at the End, That versus Which, and Split Infinitives may be entertaining to
those who enjoy cockfights, but do little to improve writing.
Know as much as you can about the rules, but strive above all for
clarity and grace. Think always of the effect you'll
have on your audience. Over time
you'll come to trust your ear, which will be disciplined by
reading the best authors and by constant practice at writing.
Contrary to what
your high school English teacher told you, there is no reason not
to begin a sentence with but or and; in fact, these
words often make a sentence more forceful and graceful. They are almost always better
than beginning with however or additionally.
Beginning with but or and does make your writing less formal; -- but worse things could
happen to most writing than becoming less formal.