The Seven "Usual" Rules (4-7)

[Hypiereon]

4. Do not use contractions.
Again, formal writing is the reason, and this rule really helps reduce mistakes students would not usually make if they were not using contractions to begin with. “He don’t” vs. “He do not” gives them a chance to see the error more easily, employ rule number 1, and hopefully catch this mistake before they even write it – a contraction will hide this mistake, and contractions are not usually accepted in normal formal writing. As a bonus, not using contractions increases the total word count which can be an important consideration on some tests.


5. Do not ask a bunch of questions that will be immediately answered in the composition or essay.
Asking a question can be good for creating interest or leading the thought of the reader, but if the writer begins to ask too many questions or answer the questions them self, the result will invariably start a sentence with “Because . . .” (see rule number 2) and end up with a fragment. As well, answering the questions stops the thinking process the writer is trying to create in the reader.
Example: “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to win a million dollars?” This is a good opening question to stimulate thought in the reader, but does not need an answer for the writer to continue on in the essay. However, to keep asking questions is only going to cause the writer to answer unnecessarily, which halts the thought process of the reader, and invites the creation of a fragment.
Example: “What would you buy? Maybe you would buy a new house or a new car. Why? Because you want your friends to be impressed with you.” (ALERT - ALERT - ALERT ! ! !) How can the writer even begin to suggest or assume the desires, future purchases, and motivations of the reader who has yet to even win a million dollars? This is more of a conversational style of writing that does not make good essay writing, even if the writer is careful enough not to break any rules of grammar. Also, as you can see by the example, the writer ended up with a fragment.


6. Do not use “ . . . and so on.” OR “ , etc…” to end a sentence.
Not that the use is WRONG but that is it definitely overused by the new language learner for the following reasons:
A) They do not know what else to write.
B) They are unsure of what else to write.
These are not good reasons. The use of these two forms of grammar as fillers for the end of a sentence are, more accurately, improperly used, though not technically incorrect. The proper use of “etc…” or "…and so on.” is when the information that would normally follow is either well-known or easily predictable and thus unnecessary or too time consuming to mention.
Example: “One, two, three, four, etc…” would be a proper use.
Example: “I like action movies, horror movies, and so on.” would be improper though not technically incorrect. The reader is left to wonder what that “…and so on.” might actually entail. To say “…and so on.” is really to say that that writer has more information to give, but is simply not going to give it. -That is just insulting.- Better would just to be to end the sentence without this form of grammar and move on, or for the writer to actually write out what the “…and so on.” really means. At the very least, it has become overused for students using oral English, and they should understand the proper use of the phrase.

7. Do not use “very like” in a sentence.
In every case I have ever seen, this is a mistake in translation on the part of the language learner, even though the words in that order may be used correctly. It is one of the first mistakes they will make, but can be used as a teaching opportunity.
Example: “I very like to learn English.” This is a transliteration of Chinese word order and it is grammatically wrong.
Example: “This color is very (much) like that color.” Used this way it is grammatically correct even if seldom, if ever, used. It is then not incorrect to use “very like” in that order, but is, in point of fact, so rare that is makes the “Usual Rules” list.