More on writing style

1
More on writing style Lapses in grammar,
punctuation etc.

• Things to look for
• Incorrect pronoun reference
• Tenses (present, past, mixed)
• Misplaced commas
• Misused semicolons and colons
• Apostrophe crises
• Missing hyphens
• Other stuff

2
More on writing style Lapses in grammar,
punctuation etc.

• Incorrect pronoun references
• Scientists have problems assuring that the viral
  vectors apply themselves to the correct cells.
  When implanted, they tend to migrate throughout
  the body and miss targeted cells more often than
  not.
• (from http//www.writing.eng.vt.edu/exercises/gram
  mar2.htmls4 )
• What does they refer to?
• Scientists
• Viral vectors
• Correct cells
• Do you see the problem???

3
More on writing style Lapses in grammar,
punctuation etc.

• Doris told Shirley that she was getting fat.
• Which one is getting fat?
• A strange car followed us closely, and he kept
  blinking his lights at us.
• Who or what kept blinking the light at us?
• Who is this mysterious he?
• It says in today's paper that the newest shipment
  of cars from Detroit, Michigan, seems to include
  outright imitations of European models.
• It???

4
More on writing style Lapses in grammar,
punctuation etc.

• Any graduate student, if they are interested, may
  attend the lecture.
• student--singular theyplural
• Rules
• http//uwf.edu/writelab/reviews/pronounreference2.
  cfm

5
More on writing styleChapter 4 Lapses in
grammar, punctuation etc.

• Tenses
• The results indicate that individuals of high
  hypnotic susceptibility recalled twice as many
  items as individuals of low hypnotic
  susceptibility however, they make three times as
  many errors.
• Tenses differ in sentence (bad).
• Using mixed tenses in a sentences can be
  confusing, so beware!

6
More on writing styleChapter 4 Lapses in
grammar, punctuation etc.

• Your friend, the comma
• The comma is a valuable, useful punctuation
  device because it separates the structural
  elements of sentences into manageable segments.
  (from http//owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/gramm
  ar/g_comma.html)
• http//cctc2.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm
• I believe in the breath rule of commas - you
  use a comma where you would take a breath.
• As in http//www.stpt.usf.edu/pms/comma.html

7
More on writing styleChapter 4 Lapses in
grammar, punctuation etc.

• The colon and semicolon
• Rememberall punctuation is designed
  (evolved!!!) to aid the flow of a sentence and
  increase its clarity!
• http//www.stpt.usf.edu/pms/colon.html ? colons
• http//www.stpt.usf.edu/pms/semicolon.html ?
  semicolons

8
More on writing styleChapter 4 Lapses in
grammar, punctuation etc.

• The poor, pathetic apostrophe
• The apostrophe is in trouble (or we are)!
• http//www.wilbers.com/apostrophes.htm
• http//www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/
• http//www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_508998.html
• http//www.io.com/hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/gram1.h
  tmlapost

9
More on writing styleChapter 4 Lapses in
grammar, punctuation etc.

• The equally poor, pathetic hyphen (in my
  opinion!)
• Americans and hyphens do not mix ?
• And yetwe use hyphens in Meteorology!!!

10
More on writing styleChapter 4 Lapses in
grammar, punctuation etc.

• Baroclinically-unstable disturbance
• High-frequency noise
• Quasi-biennial oscillation
• Long-lasting drought
• Year-to-year
• Non-uniform
• Global-scale motions

11
More on writing styleChapter 4 Lapses in
grammar, punctuation etc.

• When do we use the hyphen?
• http//www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutsp
  elling/hyphen