Key to Paper Comments

Dr. Campbell
Key to Comments
Go to "Commonly Confused Words"

For a more complete explanation of these comments, see Diana Hacker's Rules for Writers (http://dianahacker.com/rules/index.html) or Andrea Lunsford's St. Martin's Handbook (http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/smhandbook/default.asp). Some of the links here lead to Lunsford's handbook. You may want to print a copy of these rules for future reference.

____Ap. Apostrophe use. Use apostrophes to indicate possessive forms. For example, the coat belonging to Bob would be "Bob's coat," not "Bobs coat." A toy belonging to two sisters would be "the sisters' toy" and not "the sister's toy"; the latter form would apply if you were discussing only one sister.

Apostrophes are used only rarely to form plurals. NOT "The company's held a joint picnic" but "The companies held a joint picnic."
Although decades used to be written using the apostrophe (the 1920's), currently the correct practice is to omit the apostrophe: the 1920s.
The same holds true for most plurals of abbreviations that used to have apostrophes: CDs, DVDs, TVs, URLs.
According to the Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.), "To avoid confusion, lowercase letters and abbreviations with two or more interior periods or with both capital and lowercase letters form the plural with an apostrophe and an s" (7.16). Example: M.A.'s and Ph.D.'s or MAs and PhD's (both are correct); x's and y's, p's and q's.

____Agr. Agreement. This notation may refer to subject-verb agreement or noun-pronoun agreement.

____As/like: "Like" is a preposition; it can be used only with nouns. My love is like a red, red rose. "As" is a conjunction; it is used with clauses (containing a subject and a verb). The readers felt as if they were watching a play.

____Block quotation. Quotations comprising more than 4 lines of text are usually set off as block quotations. Here are a few hints for using block quotations:

Indent the text 10 spaces from the left margin (in Word, hit the Increase Indent button twice).
Do not single-space the quotation.
Block quotations are usually introduced with a full sentence with a colon before the quotation.
Do not use quotation marks around the quotation. The fact that it is set apart from the text shows that it is a quotation.
In MLA format, put the citation information (Smith 123) after the period at the end of the quotation.
Block quotations are usually used within paragraphs; it is not necessary to start a new paragraph after using a block quotation.
Most important: use only as much of the quotation as you need. The reader will expect to see an analysis of the passage that is about the same length as the passage itself.

____Choppy. The notation "choppy" indicates a group of sentences that may be grammatically correct but that seem to have no relationship to each other. Each sentence does not relate closely to the previous sentence, and the effect is that of a paragraph that seems to stop and start with each sentence. Choppy sentences can be combined to vary the sentence pattern. Also, transitions can help to make choppy sentences flow more smoothly in the paragraph.

____Colon. Colons are used to introduce lists, quotations, and final appositives. They typically are used like this: general statement or idea: more specific statement, idea, or example.

Example: She liked three things: bats, snakes, and toads. In this sentence, the phrase "three things" is the general part of the equation; the phrase "bats, snakes, and toads" constitutes the specific part.
Example: John F. Kennedy inspired a generation with these words: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." In this example, "these words" is the general part of the equation, which is followed (after the colon) by the specific quotation that relates to it.
A good test for a colon is to see whether you can substitute a period for a colon; if not--that is, if the colon does not occur after a full sentence--then the colon should not be used either. NOT Three things he liked are: bats, snakes, and toads but Three things he liked are bats, snakes, and toads.
Colons are used after "as follows" but never after "such as."

____Commas between two parts of a compound sentence. A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, so, yet), and it requires a comma before the coordinating conjunction.

Example: She thought that The DaVinci Code was nonsense, but he believed its claims.

Note that two items in other kinds of compounds do not require commas.

Example: NOT She walked into the water, and waded across the creek BUT She walked into the water and waded across the creek OR She walked into the water, and she waded across the creek.
Example: NOT Students wanted to do their research, and to increase their understanding BUT Students wanted to do their research and to increase their understanding.

____Commas after introductory clauses and phrases. Use commas after introductory clauses and phrases to prevent confusion. Example: NOT After eating the girl went to her room but After eating, the girl went to her room .

____Commas after items in a series. A comma should be used after each of the items in a series of three or more. Example: He liked bats, snakes, and toads. Don't use a comma if there are only two items.

____CS. Comma Splice.

A comma splice occurs when two sentences are joined only with a comma: We went to the movies, however, they stayed home . Comma splices can be corrected in four ways:

By breaking the sentences into two using a period ("We went to the movies. They stayed home);
By using a coordinating conjunction ( and, or, but, for, so, yet )
By using a subordinating conjunction such as "because";
Or by using a semicolon to separate the parts ("We went to the movies; however, they stayed home").

____Cosmic opening. The term "cosmic opening" refers to an introductory sentence that is far too general for the content of the paper. The "cosmic opening" begins somewhere in the dawn of time before moving on to the real subject of the paper: "Throughout history, many people have experienced problems in their lives" or "As long as human civilizations have existed, scapegoats have existed in human society." Although the opening sentence of a paper may be somewhat more general than what follows, it should not be as general as these statements.

____DM. Dangling modifier. Dangling modifiers occur when subjects are left out of sentences. For example, in "Driving through the woods, a bear stopped our car" the "we" that should be the subject has been left out. What remains suggests that the bear is driving the car. A better sentence would be as follows: "While we were driving through the woods, a bear stopped our car."

____Dropped Quotation. A dropped quotation is a quotation inserted into the text without a signal phrase, as in the following example: The Swede feared for his life. "You are all out to get me." Note how the quotation in this example is "dropped" into the paragraph so that the reader is unsure who is speaking. Instead, dropped quotations must be integrated grammatically into the text through the use of a signal phrase. Example: The Swede showed that he feared for his life when he cried, "You are all out to get me." OR The Swede feared for his life: "You are all out to get me."

_____Ellipsis. An ellipsis, which is indicated by three spaced dots (. . . ), shows that something has been omitted from the middle of a quotation. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, ellipses are typically not used at the beginning or end of a quotation (see 11.57 ff) unless the quotation begins "with a capitalized word (such as a proper name) that did not appear at the beginning of a sentence in the original" (11.65).

_____Fact, Opinion, Belief, Theory. People are often confused about the differences among these concepts, and the words are often misused.

A fact is an idea generally acknowledged to be true by rational people. It is based on evidence and logic.
A belief is an idea widely held by a group of people; its truth is evident to them but not to others outside the group. A particular group may call its belief a "fact," but that does not make it so. A belief may be treated as a fact by those within the group, but those outside the group may not agree.
An opinion is an idea held by an individual. People often use the term "theory" to describe their opinions, but individual theories are not subject to the same rigorous testing as scientific theory; "theory" in this individual sense has a very different meaning from "scientific theory."
An assertion, which is often used in writing, is an arguable idea similar to an opinion, but it must be supported by evidence.
A generalization is a statement of a conclusion that seems to be based on certain evidence, but generalizations, like assertions, must be supported with evidence.
A scientific theory is an idea generally acknowledged by rational people to be the best explanation of a natural phenomenon. It is based on physical evidence, the accumulated results of scientific research, and the known laws of science (e.g., the law of conservation of matter). A scientific theory is testable and based on evidence; it is not merely an opinion.

____Fragment. A fragment is an incomplete sentence: "We went to the beach. A nice place to be on a hot day." The second part of the quotation is a fragment. Fragments need to be corrected by adding a subject or verb where needed, or by joining the fragment to the preceding sentence.

____Fused/Run-on. A fused sentence occurs when two separate sentences are punctuated as a single sentence: We went to the movies they stayed home. Fused sentences are like comma splices except that they do not have a comma where the two sentences are joined. They can be corrected in the same four ways:

1. With a coordinating conjunction (We went to the movies, and they stayed home)
2. With a semicolon (We went to the movies; they stayed home)
3. With a period (We went to the movies. They stayed home)
4. With a subordinating conjunction (When we went to the movies, they stayed home).

____Hyphen. Hyphens should be used in the following ways:

In certain nouns with prefixes: self-esteem, all-American, ex-husband, and so forth.
In compound adjectives used before nouns. Example: rain-soaked roof; rose-colored glasses.
In numbers: twenty-five, forty-seven.

____Indefinite use of "you" and "it." Avoid sentences that use an indefinite "you."

Example: "In the fourteenth century, you had to struggle to survive." Revision: "In the fourteenth century, a person had to struggle simply to survive" or "In the fourteenth century, people struggled to survive."
Example: "In the book, it says that half of all children died before the age of five."
Revision: "Jones's book The Middle Ages states that half of all children died before the age of five."

____Intensifiers. The overuse of intensifiers such as "so" or "very" (and, in punctuation, the exclamation point), may be a signal that the paper is relying on emphatic statements ("It was very cold!") rather than providing evidence of the assertion. If you find a pattern of these in your paper, reread the paper and ask yourself whether the case you're making could be supported more effectively.

_____Diction. Informal level of diction. Weblog posts, personal literature journals, and other informal venues are places to try out your ideas and opinions using informal language; reaction papers might be another place for informal language. Formal papers use assertions and evidence to prove their points. Simply stating something like "I think Emily Dickinson was crazy" does not constitute evidence; it is an opinion (see Fact, Opinion, Belief, Theory above).

_____ I think/I feel/I believe. These can almost always be omitted. It's your paper; of course you think/believe/feel the statement that follows these words.

____Italics/underlining. Use italics or underlining to indicate the titles of books, movies, newspapers, magazines, and other materials that are a volume in themselves. Use quotation marks to indicate titles of works that are enclosed in a volume: short stories, essays, articles, poems. Do not underline, italicize, or put quotation marks around your own title.

____Mixed sentences. A mixed sentence occurs when the subject and predicate of a sentence don't match.

For example, " When I bake cookies relaxes me " could really be two different sentences: "Baking cookies relaxes me" or "When I bake cookies, I relax" .
A second kind of mixed sentence is more subtle: "The change in population grew slowly." Here, the change doesn't grow slowly; the population does.
A third kind of mixed sentence uses the linking verb is : An example of this is when the Swede laughs . This could be reworded as A good example occurs when the Swede laughs or A good example of this is the Swede's laughter at Johnnie's fate.
A fourth kind is as follows: The reason he was late is because he overslept. Since "because" isn't a noun, it can't be placed after the linking verb "is." The sentence could be rephrased in two ways:

The reason he was late is that he overslept.
He was late because he overslept.

____MLA. MLA format requires the author's name and page number for parenthetical references. For first citations, the title is also incorporated into the signal phrase , or phrase introducing the quotation. Example: In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," the townspeople view Miss Emily as "a tradition, a duty, and a care, a sort of hereditary obligation on the town" (267). If the author's name does not occur in the signal phrase, it should appear in the parenthetical reference: The townspeople viewed Miss Emily as "a tradition, a duty, and a care" (Faulkner 267). Note that there is no comma between the author's name and the page number. Also note that the period follows the closing parenthesis rather than being placed inside the quotation marks.

____NC. No comma is needed between two parts of a compound construction. For example, no comma is needed between the two verbs in this sentence: In "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne depicts the stranger as representing the devil, and portrays him as being a part of us.

____NCSV. No comma is necessary between subject and verb. NOT The house in the middle of the block, was painted purple. BUT The house in the middle of the block was painted purple.

____Noun-pronoun agreement. Although "they" and "their" are often used informally in speech to refer to singular nouns, using "they" or "their" to refer to a singular noun is incorrect, since these are plural forms. Pronouns should agree in number with the noun to which they refer.

NOT "A student knows that they should study to get good grades" but "A student knows that he or she should study to get good grades" or, even better, "Students know that they should study hard to get good grades."
NOT "A student works hard to earn their grades" but "A student works hard to earn his or her grades" or "Students work hard to earn their grades."
Generally, use a singular pronoun when the antecedent is an indefinite pronoun ( someone, each, everyone, anyone ). Example: NOT " Each student got their books" BUT "Each student got his or her books" OR (better) "All the students got their books."

____Pronoun Reference. Vague pronoun reference occurs when the antecedent of the pronoun isn't clear.

Example: "Caitlin told Julie that she was a terrible soccer player." Who's the bad player, Caitlin or Julie?
Example: Jason had not drawn a map for the forty-mile hike, which disturbed us. What's disturbing here--the hike, or the lack of a route? Revised: Jason had not drawn a map for the forty-mile hike, a lack of planning that disturbed us.

____Restrictive and nonrestrictive elements . (See also this link.)Nonrestrictive clauses and phrases are "extra information"; if they are removed, the meaning of the sentence remains the same.

Nonrestrictive elements should be set off with commas.Example: There are, however, some differences between the two men. In this example, the word however , a conjunctive adverb, is "extra information" for the sentence, although it implies a contradiction or qualification of what has gone before.
Transitional expressions such as however , in fact , and similar phrases should be set off with commas. Example: The Magna Carta, which was signed in 1215, is a distant ancestor of our Bill of Rights. The phrase "which was signed in 1215" could be omitted without changing the basic meaning of the sentence.
On the other hand, restrictive clauses and phrases would change the meaning of the sentence if removed. Example: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. or The car which I purchased last summer has a flat tire. Restrictive elements are not set off with commas.
The pronoun "that" always signals a restrictive element.
One common misuse of nonrestrictive commas involves the titles of literary works. For example, the commas around the title here suggest that it is extra information and that James Joyce only wrote one story: "In his story, "Araby," James Joyce writes of a young boy's initiation." The correct sentence should read as follows: "In his story "Araby," James Joyce tells the story of a young boy's initiation."

____Quotation Marks. Quotation marks are used when another person's words are used, and their placement varies according to the sentence.

With periods and commas. With the exception of MLA citation format, quotation marks are placed OUTSIDE periods and commas. Example: James said, "We must grant the artist his donnée."
With semicolons and colons. Quotation marks go INSIDE semicolons and colons. Example: Howells promoted the "smiling aspects of life"; he also encouraged writers to look at the "real grasshopper."
With exclamation points and question marks. Quotation marks may go INSIDE or OUTSIDE exclamation points and question marks.

Example: Did Sherman once say, "War is all hell"?
Example: Hitler once asked, "Is Paris burning?"

Quotations within an already existing quotation are marked with single quotation marks.

____Semi. Semicolons separate sentence parts of equal grammatical rank, such as independent clauses or phrases in a series in which the individual items contain commas..

Example: We wanted to leave; however, they wanted to stay.
Example: He had collected the following: thirty-two fountain pens, each with its own case; forty bottles of ink; a shaker of sand, which he did not need to use since the ink was of the quick-drying kind; and a green paper desk blotter.

Semicolons should not be used to separate main clauses from dependent clauses or phrases. NOT We went to the beach; a nice place to be on a hot day, since the part after the semicolon would be considered a fragment, but We went to the beach, a nice place to be on a hot day.

____S/V AGR (subject-verb agreement) indicates a singular verb with a plural subject or vice versa. Be sure to use the appropriate verb with singular and plural subjects. NOT Source information from the library provide additional information. BUT Source information from the library provides additional information.

____Thesis. A thesis statement defines the scope and purpose of the paper. It needs to meet three criteria:

It must be arguable rather than a statement of fact.
It must be limited enough so that the paper develops in some depth.
It must be unified so that the paper does not stray from the topic.

Statements such as "In this essay I will discuss " or "I will compare two stories" are unnecessary, since mentioning the stories in the introduction already tells the reader this.

____Title. Titles should be marked with italics (underlining) or quotation marks, depending on the work being discussed.

Titles of works that appear within a volume, such as short stories, poems, and essays, should be placed in quotation marks: "Araby," "The Prophecy," "Dulce et Decorum Est."
Titles of works that are a volume in themselves, such as books, magazines, newspapers, plays, and movies, should be set off with underlining or italics: Hamlet, Death of a Salesman .
Your own title should neither be underlined nor placed in quotation marks.

____Who, whom. "Who" is the subject case form, like "I" or "he," which are also in the subject case. "Whom" is the object case, like "me" or "him." Use "who" if you can rephrase your sentence or clause using "I" or "he" and "whom" if you would use "him" or "me." For example, in the question "Who/whom wore my WSU sweatshirt?" you'd answer the question with "He (not "him") wore it." You'd therefore use "Who," as in "Who wore my WSU sweatshirt?" In the sentence "The person (who, whom) accompanied us to the beach," which would you say: "He" or "him" accompanied us to the beach? Since you'd say "he," use the subject case, "who": "The person who accompanied us to the beach."

____WW=Wrong word. The "WW" symbol indicates a word that may be correctly spelled but is incorrectly used. It may mean that a preposition is being used in nonstandard ways ("we rode on the car" instead of "we rode in the car") or it may mean that the word used does not fit the meaning or context of the sentence.

____Wordy. Wordy sentences are those that use more words than they need in order to get their point across. Some wordy sentences use nouns made from verbs (nominalizations): He made a declaration instead of He declared . Others use excess clauses or phrases: The book that was blue instead of The blue book . Still other wordy sentences may use certain phrases: Due to the fact that instead of Since or Because .