5 Ways to Improve Your Writing

There are some writing mistakes that teachers see over and another time on student essays. If you'll conquer these five writing essentials, you'll make fewer errors and earn higher scores on your essays.

Recognize a Whole Sentence to Avoid Fragments

A complete sentence contains a topic and a predicate. Alissa Zucker, an essay writer, says that subjects and predicates are often made of one word or many words – which is why an entire sentence will be only two words long and an incomplete sentence or fragment could contain dozens of words. Here are some two-word sentences:

Clouds drift.

Rocks roll.

Minnows swim.

Here are some two word fragments:

Your dog.

Little minnows.

I seem.

Complete Subject

The subject is the main character of a sentence: the person, place, or thing that carries out the action. a subject matter might be one noun, like house, pardon, or pillow, for instance. 

A complete subject is formed from the easy subject and every one its modifiers, and it should contain several words, as during this example:

The wiry Little Dog with a white patch on his head ate your food.

The noun dog is that the simple subject, and also the entire phrase (in bold) is that the complete subject.

The predicate is that the part that gives the action and extra information. The verb is that the main a part of a predicate, that the predicate might be one verb like stands, puffs, or plows.

In the sentences below, the topic is in bold and also the predicate is in italics.

 

My dog likes to drink quandary.

Every February is brief.

People who board glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

 Recognize the Parts of Speech

A sentence must have a theme and a verb, as stated above. (The verb is within the predicate.) There are some more parts of speech you must be ready to recognize:

Adjective: modifies a noun.

Adverb: modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.

Pronoun: words like his, her, our that replace a noun.

Preposition: words wish to, on, thereunder link a noun to a different word.

Conjunction: joins clauses or sentences together.

Interjection: a brief exclamation (Oh boy!)

Understand the Difference between a Clause and a Phrase

A phrase could be a group of words that doesn't contain a theme and a predicate. Obviously, a phrase can't be a sentence, because it'll be missing one amongst those two mandatory components! These are phrases:

Behind the house

The giant octopus

Every pebble on the beach

Pulling a wagon

A clause contains an issue and a predicate – so it sometimes works sort of a little sentence within a sentence. A clause that's independent is simply sort of a sentence, because it completes a message.

I visited the shop before I ate.

A clause that's dependent cannot stand alone to complete a transparent message, because it contains a dependent marker like before, after, once, because, or since. There are more words that may function dependent markers. They simply suggest that more information is following.

 

These are dependent clauses. Notice how the dependent marker in italics causes the message to sound incomplete.

Since I visited the shop

Dogs like bones because

After you sign the contract

Remember Comma Rules for Writing

There are many rules for using commas, but some are especially important for crafting a good essay.

Series

I can bring oranges, apples, and bananas.

Two or more adjectives during a row

He had a tiny low, fragile shell in his hand.

I prefer brown, melting marshmallows.

Quoting someone

She said she was “helping someone.”

“I don’t think she was,” he replied.

Introductory word or phrase or interrupting word or phrase

John, put your socks within the hamper.

Sally, for instance, is using blue ink.

Negation

Sally, not the opposite girl, is coming to our party.

I like apples, not oranges.

Separating independent clauses that are connected by a coordinating conjunction

She runs up the Hill, but she rolls down Capitol Hill.

I work on Tuesdays, and I play on Wednesdays.

After a clause that starts a sentence

When I was twelve, I had a horse.

Before we eat, we should always wash our hands.

Recognize Words We Misunderstand

Some words are easily confused with others, and that they are often the explanation for red marks on student papers! Read over this list and confirm you review these and other commonly confused words.

their, there,  and they’re

your and you’re

then and than

to and too

accept and except

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