The Seven "Usual" Rules (1-3)

[Hypiereon]

The Seven “Usual” Rules of Writing in English. (Great for a 7 part lesson plan series.)

These “usual” rules are written to help the early language learner and were written specifically by me, even though some of the contents may be well-known. I did not copy them from anywhere else, and were, at the time, original with me. Thus, teachers who read rule number one will understand this rule immediately not so much as a rule of grammar, but one of common sense that must be taught. For these rules are not hard and fast, and have exceptions. In fact, a lot of English grammar rules have exceptions, but it was not my plan to explore them all or in any great detail.

The Seven “Usual” Rules deal specifically with formal writing for the early learner of English as a Foreign Language, and was born out of the most common mistakes I saw my students making. These rules were written to help them avoid their most common mistakes, and pass the essay portions of exams with a guide that would be easy to understand and remember. In fact, I actually lost this set of rules when my other computer fried, and I sent text messages to 5 former students from more than four years ago that are still in the area. Three of them remembered all the rules, and the other two remembered the first three quickly, and the latter rules they remembered later as they had more time to think about it. All of them would readily attest to their usefulness in helping them become better writers in general.

1. Single subjects are usually followed by verbs that have an “s” on the end, and plural verbs are usually followed by verbs that have no “s” on the end.
This is nearly always true with past and present verbs tenses.
Example: Singular Subject + verb with “s”
The boy is running. The boy runs home.
Plural Subject + verb without an “s”
The boys are running. The boys run home.
Exception – Future Tense. The boy will run home. The boys will run home.
This is a great little rule of thumb that makes subjects and verbs suddenly easy to remember, and though it is not true all of the time, following this rule will correct a great number of errors very early in the writing process.
Exception – using “you”. “You are going to answer the question.” The reason for this exception is rather simple to explain; “you” has a double use as a singular and plural subject. It can be confusing, and is partly the reason for rule number 3.


2. Do not begin a sentence with “And”, “But”, “For” “Nor” or “Because.”
It is not that this is unusual in literature, spoken English, or even in every-day writing, but it should not be used in formal writing. Besides, starting a sentence with “Because” invites so many more problems of creating a proper sentence structure without ending up with a fragment. The easiest way to correct a sentence beginning with a conjunction is simply to drop the conjunction and capitalize the first letter of the next word.
Example: “I like peanuts. But sometimes I prefer to eat chocolate.” This can be easily corrected to: “I like peanuts. Sometimes I prefer to eat chocolate.”
“Keep it simple” should be the rule here, and thus it makes number 2 on the “Usual Rules” list.


3. Do not use the word “You” or “We."
Do not address your audience directly as in “You know . . . “ “We can see that . . . “ – it is an assumption on the part of the writer to know what the audience is seeing, what they know, and what they are thinking, and this line of thinking is definitely not good for formal writing to an audience the writer does not know.
Example: “I love peanuts. You should try them! They are great!” What if the person has an allergy? What if they have taken a vow or something against eating peanuts? What if they hate the taste? This line of thinking assumes the reader has never tried peanuts before, assumes they will want to try them, and assumes they will like them when they do. This is just bad writing. It is great for conversation, bad for essays.