3 Ways to Make Your Academic and Business Documents Professional Weve all been thereyour teacher or boss assigns

you a writing project and tells you to make sure that the grammar, punctuation, and formatting are correct. If youre like most people, you have a mini panic attack as you wonder exactly how to achieve that injunction. Coming up with a brilliant idea for the paper or project wasis hard enough; now you have to somehow remember all that English stuff you learned in school, too? Most people learned about punctuation and grammar in elementary, junior high, and high school, but the rules didnt stick, so now they try to punctuate intuitivelyfor example, throwing in an apostrophe here, a couple of commas thereand often doing it wrong. And hey, I dont blame them! Not everyone has the time or inclination to pay attention to these seemingly nitpicky rules. Luckily for you, I just so happen to be one of those crazy people known as editors who actually make it their business to know exactly how to use a semicolon, whether its correct to use lay or lie in a particular sentence, and where to add a subheading in a document. So dont worry come up with your great idea and Illthis paper will help you create a polished final project that you can hand in with confidence.
Commented [CS1]: What audience is this paper for? Is it just for academic and businessoriented authors in general? Commented [CS2]: This whole paper is justified, but Word doesnt do very well at justifying paragraphs. If youre going to post this paper somewhere, I would suggest putting it into InDesign first, where you can have more control over the spacing. Commented [CS3]: I love this sentence. Very personable and well-worded.

Grammar
English has a lot of grammar rules, and it can be really hard to keep track of them all! However, there are some common mistakes writers make that can be easily remedied. Fixing these problems in your document will make your work much clearer, and your audience wont be distracted by any incorrect wording. Subject-Verb Agreement Here are some quick and easy rules to rememberabout subject-verb agreement:

1. A prepositional phrase or other words between the subject and verb do not affect subjectverb agreement. In the examples below, I have put the prepositional phrases or the words between the subject and verb in brackets. The subjects and verbs are in boldface. Right: The cookies [on the kitchen table] were tempting me when I got home. Wrong: The cookies [on the kitchen table] was tempting me when I got home. Right: Craig, [who has a lot of friends], is really handsome. Wrong: Craig, [who has a lot of friends], are really handsome. You want to pay close attention to the subjects and verbs of your sentences, temporarily ignoring the words around them. Lets say the subject of your sentence is a singular noun, and there is a prepositional phrase separating that subject from its verb. If the prepositional phrase ends in a noun that takes a plural verb, it can be hard to know which type of verb to choose. Thats why its useful to cut out, in your mind, the prepositional phrase or other words separating the noun from the verb. Then, its easy to tell whether the verb should be plural or singular. 2. Indefinite pronouns almost all take singular verbs. Pronouns rename or refer back to nouns. Most indefinite pronouns are singular, some are plural, and a few can be either, depending on the context. Refer to this list and youll know which pronouns are which! Ssingular pronouns: any, anybody, anything, each, either, everyone, everything, neither, no one, nothing, one, some, someone, somebody, something Pplural pronouns: both, many, few, several Ccan be both: none, all, more, most
Commented [CS6]: I think readers will be confused about how these words can go either way, so it might be better to give an example of one of these going either way instead of the example with neither (or we could include both examples). Commented [CS5]: It would probably be better to give at least one example that is difficult (most people wouldnt mess up the verb tense in these two sentences). Something like The list of activities was posted on the door. For the second example, it would probably be better to says along with his friends since no one is going to use are when the friends arent even included in the observation (as is the case in the example here). Commented [CS4]: In the paragraph above, it says the subjects and verbs are in boldface, so maybe we shouldnt bold these words because it might confuse the reader.

Wrong: Neither of the movies are worth seeing. Right: Neither of the movies is worth seeing. 3. When using either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, not/but, the verb agrees with the part of the subject closest to the verb. Right: Neither the girls nor Brad was there. Right: Not only the truck but also the cars were washed. 4. Search for the subject when using the words there is and there are or when you writinge an inverted sentence. Right: There are, in my point of view, no good restaurants in this state. Right: In the box was tasty candy. [Candy was in the box.] 5. When you use linking verbs (is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been), the verb agrees with the subject and not withrather than any other nouns in the sentence. Right: My favorite source of entertainment is reading books and watching plays. Right: Latin, country swing, and folk are my favorite types of dance. He, She, and They In the past, the pronoun he was used to apply to everyone. For example, Each student should make sure that he pays the fee on time,. would refer to both males and females. Nowadays, though, most people prefer that writers use inclusive languagehe or she rather than just he. The problem comes in when you use the plural pronoun they with a singular subject and write something like, Every person told me that they were going to come. This type of construction is considered ungrammatical because the subject and its pronoun dont agree in tense, so make sure to write, Every person told me that he or she is going to come. Who and Whom
Commented [CS10]: What is the problem? Using inclusive language? Violating inclusive language? Commented [CS8]: Very good examples. :) Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Commented [CS9]: It might be better to include an incorrect example here instead, to clarify for readers what other nouns might try to steal the floor. Commented [CS7]: Before, the correct example was listed first, so we need to choose an order to stick with consistently.

The more complicated way to figure out whether who or whom should be usedis right in a given context is to remember that you use who when youre referring to the person doing the action and whom when youre referring to the person being acted on. But heres an easier way to know whether its right to use who or whom: Take the sentence, such as Whoever is coming to the party should bring a side dish and ask yourself, Who is going to bring the side dish? Then answer, He is going to bring the side dish. If you can say that he is the one doing the action, the correct pronoun to use is who. But if you have a sentence like Give this mon ey to whoever comes to the door, ask the question againWho am I giving the money to? and answer I am giving it to him. If the answer is him, you should use the pronoun whom, thereby making the sentence, Give this money to whomever comes to the door. Note: This shortcut uses the words he and him rather than she and her because both him and whom end with m. Simple, right? I or Me Im guessing that, at some time in your life, youve innocently said something like, Me and Sam are going to get lunch only to be told, Its Sam and I! This type of correction often causes leads people to overcorrect themselves and use I when me is actually correct. To figure out the right usageway to use the words, all you have to do is remove the other person youre talking about in the sentence. For example, takeing the previous sentence once again (Me and Sam are going to get lunch) and delete Sam from the equation. Me is going to get lunch sounds really strange, right? From this you know that, in this situation, you need to use I. But in the sentence, My mom gave presents to my sister and I, if you remove your sister, you get My mom gave presents to I. That too is odd. Therefore, in this context it is right to say My mom gave presents to my sister and me.

Pronoun Reference and Agreement To keep people from getting confused when they read your writing, make sure that your pronouns clearly refer to agree with their antecedents, or the nouns they are referring to. Wrong: Fred and George went to his friends house. Right: Fred and George went to Freds friends house. The correct sentenceis sounds awkward, but its always better to be clear. To remove the awkward wording, Yyou can also rephrase the sentence in other ways, like Fred and George went to a friends house or Fred and George went to Rons house. Also, again make sure that your pronouns agree with their antecedents in number and gender. Wrong: Each employee should wash their hands. Right: Each employee should wash his or her hands.

Punctuation
Commas Commas might seem simple, but there are actually a lot of rules for themthe Chicago Manual of Style lists thirty-seven! Dont worry; we wont go through all of them here, but Ill give you the most important basics to remember. 1. Run-on Sentences A comma should not be used between two complete sentences. For example, this sentence is punctuated incorrectly: The kids went to school yesterday, I went to the store. However, it would be correct to put either a period or a semicolon between the two sentences.
Commented [CS11]: Again, this is a mistake that most people wouldnt make because the sentences are so obviously different, so the reader might have trouble understanding the point. Instead, consider replacing this example with a more difficult example: The kids were loud going to school yesterday, they kept yelling in the car, or something else like that. Formatted: List Paragraph

2. Commas iIn a Series

Use a comma between each item in a list. It is also a good idea to put a comma before the word and when you end the list. Doing so will leave no doubt in your readers minds which items are separate from each other. Examples: I bought shoes, a suit, and a tie and Chris was eating, Maris was doing homework, and Bob was dancing and singing. 3. RNonrestrictive Clauses Use commas to set off information in a sentence that is nonrestrictive,; or, in other words, information that is not necessary to have in order for the sentence to be understood. On the other hand, dont use commas to set off restrictive, or necessary, information. For example, this sentence has restrictive information: Ask the man in the green shirt to help us, and this sentence has nonrestrictive information set off by a comma: My wife gave me this shirt, which is green. 4. Parenthetical Elements Use paired commas to set off descriptive or explanatory information in a sentence if you only want there to be a slight pause when the information is read (you can use em dashes to set it off the information if you want to more emphasisze it more). For example, It was in the 1930s when Margaret Mitchell, a Southern woman, had Gone With the Wind published. 5. Independent Clauses When two independent clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, or, for, nor, but, yet, or so), put a comma before the conjunction unless the clauses are short and closely connected. Examples: I ran to catch up to her, but she was already long gone, and It hurt but I managed. 6. Dependent Clauses
Commented [CS15]: Is this a real quote? If not, consider rewording to something like, It wasnt until the 1930s that Margaret Mitchell, a Southern woman, published Gone With the Wind. Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Commented [CS16]: I dont agree with this example. I think it needs the comma, especially for contrasting information like this. Usually the comma is only omitted with the conjunction and. For example, I cried and Marie screamed. Commented [CS13]: Why is that restrictive? The reader may not understand. (e.g. The listener wouldnt be able to identify the man without the restrictive clause.) Commented [CS14]: We might want to come up with another pair of examples since this one is worded awkwardly. Commented [CS12]: I like this example haha.

A dependent clause that comes before the main clause in a sentence should be followed by a comma: Whether or not you come, the show must go on. But if the dependent clause follows the main clause, and if the dependent clause is restrictive, then dont use a comma to separate the dependent clauseit shouldnt have a comma after itfrom the main clause: I will do as you ask if you pay me well. However, if the dependent clause is parenthetical (refer to number four above), it should be followed preceded by a comma: Shell be there, though shell be sulking. Its up to you to decide whether the information in the dependent clause is necessary/restrictive or parenthetical. Apostrophes 1. Possessive 2. Missing Letters or Numerals 3. Plurals Hyphens and Dashes 1. When to use Hyphens 2. Em Dashes 3. En Dashes Colons and Semicolons 1. Uses of the semicolon a. Between two independent clauses without a conjunction b. Before a conjunction c. In a complex series 2. Uses of the colon
Commented [CS18]: This construction will be confusing for the reader. Lets just choose one of these words (probably restrictive since the word parenthetical is being used instead of unnecessary). Commented [CS19]: Okay, I think the material youve covered so far includes some of the really important things. If you want to shorten this paper, I would take out the section on hyphens and dashes, since those are used less often than apostrophes and especially semicolons in an academic paper. You may even be able to take out the section on apostrophes since those rules arent too confusing. But colons and semicolons are often misused and it would be good to include that section in your paper. Commented [CS17]: In the other examples, the point being explained isnt italicized, so lets either italicize all of them or just not italicize this one.

a. Introduces an element or series of elements that illustrateing or amplifying what preceded the colon; introduces speech or quotations b. Between independent clauses it can be used like a semicolon c. Use after a complete sentence when introducing a series or list and with as follows and other introductory phrases
Commented [CS20]: Make sure to remind them that what precedes the colon must be a complete sentence (e.g. This includes: cats, dogs, and birds, is incorrect). Commented [CS21]: Yes, but remind them that this can only be done if the second clause illustrates or amplifies what came before. A good test is to read the first clause and say that is, and then read the second clause. If saying that is works with the clauses, then the colon is probably used correctly. Commented [CS22]: Maybe talk about this first because this is the most well-known use of a colon. You can also establish here that a colon can only ever be used if the first clause is a complete sentence. Commented [CS23]: I think you shouldnt talk about layout and should just take formatting out of the introduction. After all, formatting isnt part of that English stuff you learned in school.

Layout