Sentence Structure & Formation

1. Keep your sentences as clear and simple as possible. Vary them in length and structure to keep the interest of your readers alive. 2. Avoid writing phrases that add nothing to the meaning of a sentence. Either reduce them to single words, or omit them altogether. 3. The first sentence of a paragraph should be a topic sentence, introducing the main idea of the paragraph. 4. The supporting sentences of a paragraph (the second sentence onwards) should explain or support the idea expressed in the topic sentence (first sentence). 5. Write transitional paragraphs when switching between two closely related topics, beginning with the old topic and ending with the new. 6. The closing sentence is the last sentence in a paragraph. It should restate the main idea of the paragraph. But remember do not repeat the topic sentence; if the idea is the same, then rephrase it. Try and make your closing sentence a clincher, leaving your reader thinking about it. 7. Bring coherence to your paragraph in order to make it easily understandable to the reader. Do this by: Arranging sentences in a logical order. Relating all sentences to each other. Forming parallel grammatical structure. 8. Use preposition wisely to link nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.

Articles & Conjunctions

Articles
The three articles a, an, the are a kind of adjective. The is called the definite article because it usually precedes a specific or previously mentioned noun; a, and an are called indefinite articles because they are used to refer to something in a less specific manner (an unspecified count noun). These words are also listed among the noun markers or determiners because they are almost invariably followed by a noun (or something else acting as a noun). 1. The is used with specific nouns. The is required when the noun it refers to represents something that is one of a kind. 2. The is required when the noun it refers to represents something in the abstract. 3. The is required when the noun it refers to represents something named earlier in the text. 4. First and subsequent reference: When we first refer to something in written text, we often use an indefinite article to modify it.

5. Generic reference: We can refer to something in a generic way by caution using any of the three articles. We can do the same thing by omitting the article altogether. 6. Proper nouns: We use the definite article with certain kinds of proper nouns. 7. Abstract nouns: Abstract nounsthe names of things that are not tangibleare sometimes used with articles, sometimes not. 8. Zero articles: Several kinds of nouns never use articles. We do not use articles with the names of languages, sports, or actions.

Conjunctions
1. Unlike adverbs, conjunctions do not modify: they are used solely for the purpose of connecting. 2. A conjunction is a linking word, connecting words, word groups, sentences, or sentence groups. 3. Conjunctions have two principal divisions: Coordinate: joining words, word groups, etc., of the same rank. Subordinate: joining a subordinate or dependent clause to a principal or independent clause.

Active & Passive

An Active sentence in the simple present tense has the following structure: Subject + first form of the verb + object A passive sentence in the simple present tense has the following structure: Object of the active sentence + is/am/are + past participle form of the verb + by + subject of the active sentence The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb. Therefore, sentences which do not have an object cannot be changed into the passive.

Punctuation
1. Use commas to separate independent clauses in a sentence. 2. Use commas after introductory words, phrases, or clauses that come before the main clause. Introductory words that should be followed by a comma are: yes, however, and well. 3. Use a pair of commas to separate an aside from the main body of the sentence. 4. Do not use commas to separate essential elements of the sentence. 5. Use commas if they prevent confusion. 6. The primary use of a period is to end a sentence. Its second important use is for abbreviations. 7. A colon should be used after a complete statement in order to introduce one or more directly related ideas, such as a series of directions, a list, or a quotation or other comment illustrating or explaining the statement. 8. Use a semicolon to join related independent clauses in compound sentences.

9. The semicolon is also used to separate items in a series if the elements of the series already include commas. 10. Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun. 11. Dont use the hyphen when the noun comes first. 12. Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex- (meaning former), self-, and all-; with the suffix -elect; between a prefix and a capitalized word; and with figures or letters.