Study Guide for Writing Module
Your first midterm exam will contain question on all the following items. To prepare for
the English portions of the first midterm exam, read this list carefully and look up anything you're not clear on.
On-campus students: I will not necessarily review these things in class;
please ask in class about anything you're not clear on.
If you have a question, it is very likely you are not the only one. Here's a list of the specific things you need to know for Midterm 1 and all essay-writing for this class.
For review and selftests, see here.
Also look here for information on
possessives.
For review and selftests, see here.
Errors
in pronoun-antecedent agreement For more information and selftests, see here.
Errors
in subject-verb agreement For more information and selftests, see here.
Run-on
sentences
For more information and selftests, see here.
Sentence
fragments
For more information and selftests, see here.
Danglers (aka "misplaced modifiers")
O'Conner has a whole chapter on danglers. Read it; it's a hoot! See here for another
excellent explanation, and do the Self Test on
Danglers.
Wordy,
fat, redundant sentences Most students need work on this! See Writing Concisely (explanation
and selftests).
Avoiding passive voice See Active and Passive Voice
(explanation and selftest).
Parallel
construction See Parallelism (explanation and
selftest).
Problems in punctuation of dialog
Many students like to write their papers in dialog form. I like
dialogs, too. They're more fun for both of us. BUT -- please don't attempt a dialog
unless you can punctuate it
correctly! In particular,
note carefully the correct punctuation of direct address (when one
character
addresses another by name or by words such as "man," "dude," or "girl"). There's
an important difference between "I know Jane" and "I know, Jane"; and between
"I know that girl" and "I know that, girl." Because serious ambiguities can
result from this kind of carelessness, you must use commas to separate
the direct address word from the rest of the text, even when there is no apparent
ambiguity. When the direct address word is embedded within a sentence, you
need
two commas, one before and one after: for example, "We all recognize,
Lisa, that you are unusually intelligent."
do / due ("The paper is due Friday. I know you can do it!")
know / no ("You're kidding! No way! You don't know this?")
posses (more than one posse, as in "We'll round up a posse, Sheriff")
possess (have)
sole / soul ("Now that I'm dying, my sole concern is the fate of my soul!")
udder / utter (Look this one up if you don't get it: it's too funny!)
waver / waiver
your / you’re
The following words occur commonly in philosophy papers.
Spell these words correctly!
accommodate
For comprehensive review, do the General Self Test on
English Grammar and Spelling.
Click for
comprehensive online writing
help (a really good site)
comprehensive reviews of English grammar,
with explanations and self-tests
1 Incorrect use of
apostrophe 2 Missing apostrophe 3 Singular-plural mismatch 4 Run-on sentence 5 Sentence fragment 6 Spelling error 7 Use parallel construction 8 Sentence or ¶ too long 9 Referent of pronoun or pointer
not clear 10 Wordy, “fat,” redundant 11 Capitalization error 12 Word order confusing 13 Punctuation error 14 Quote marks beginning and end 15 Avoid dictionary definitions; philosophical usage is
often different from ordinary language. If you MUST use a dictionary, at least use a philosophical dictionary! 16 Underline or italicize book titles. 17
No space before punctuation; space after. 18
Bad word break 19
Must have a space before an open quote, but no space after one. 20 Direct quotes
require quotation marks and citations. 21
This is an odd (and perhaps unintentionally humorous) choice of words, evoking
irrelevant associations or mental images. 22 Active voice would be clearer and more vigorous here. 23 Don’t say someone “feels” when you mean “thinks” or
“believes” or “argues”. 24 I know what you mean, but this is not a standard
English word or idiom. 25 Sloppy imprecise word choice 30 Biographical information about the author is usually
not relevant to evaluation of philosophical argument. Students often include it
as “padding”. But soundness of argument depends only on correct logic and facts. 31
Speculations about psychological influence of author’s childhood, background,
etc., are usually not relevant to evaluation of philosophical argument. 32 HUH? Vague. This is either “word salad” (I haven’t a
clue), or I can think of more than one thing this could mean. Ask me if you
can’t imagine why I found it unclear. 33
It is more respectable among scholars to cite from the original text if
available, rather than a commentator’s introduction or paraphrase. Also, citing
a commentator’s paraphrase or introduction does not demonstrate the required
familiarity with assigned reading. 34 This quote does not seem related to what comes before
or after it. 35 Quote is out of context. The author is arguing against this view. (Did you read all the pages?) 36 You need to explain this more fully. 37 So? I don’t see the relevance of this to the paper. 38 To a philosopher this would be a perfectly reasonable
question! 39 For maximum clarity, use grammatical statements — not questions — to state
premises and conclusion of an argument. 40 This seems a great deal of fuss over nothing much. No
one disputes your claim. 41 A claim isn’t more true just because it’s strongly felt or believed. 42 You don’t need to be so tentative here. 43 Watch the weasel words. 44 Your account of this argument is oversimplified and/or
distorted. (Perhaps you do not yet fully understand it.) Remember the principle
of charity. 45 This reads like a first draft. Organization needs work.
46 I don’t see the analogy here. 47 I don’t see how this follows. 48 I see alternatives besides the ones mentioned. 49 This seems overstated. 50 Why? This is a conclusion. You need to support it. 51 Avoid vague relational claims. More specific statement
of the connection is needed here. 52 This seems simply untrue. 60 Your words? Please be prepared to show me your sources.
61 Your paper does not demonstrate sufficient familiarity
with lecture content and/or the assigned reading. 62 Your paper doesn’t show sufficient argument and
counter-argument. 63 A paper must be more than a string of quotes or a
“quote-quilt”.
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