Professor Mongar
Fall 2003
Formal Writing Cheat Sheet for Beginning English Composition Writers
The list below represents shortcuts to clearer, more concise writing in English. These rules don’t represent all the rules
for writing formal English compositions but I expect you to use these to improve your writing skills over the semester.
They will prepare you to later absorb the more complicated aspects of writing we won’t be addressing in this beginning
writing class. This approach to editing will require you to do a line-by-line edit of your work.
1. Run-on Sentences
If a sentence is longer than eight to ten words—STOP!
a. Are there too many ideas in one sentence?
b. Can you separate them to make two or three sentences?
c. Have you used the correct conjunctions?
Strategy—read it out loud to someone. Do you run out of breath? Does it make sense to you or
your listener?
2. Sentence Fragments and Conjunctions
If you begin a sentence with “and” or “but,” or “because”—STOP!
a. Never use “and” or “because” to begin a sentence.
b. Make sure if you use “but,” that it begins a new, complete thought that can stand
on its own.
c. Make sure that the sentence you begin with “but,” isn’t completing the last
sentence.
Strategy—tab your grammar book on the section that discusses independent clauses, dependent
clauses and conjunctions.
3. Order of words in the sentence
Strategy—Read it out loud to someone and see if it makes sense to them. Use the Microsoft Word
Grammarcheck
4. Verbs
When you have more than two verbs in a sentence—STOP!
a. Evaluate the tenses.
b. Write simply and use as few verbs as possible.
c. Use the simple present and the simple past tense as much as possible until your
skills improve.
d. Avoid the present progressive tense—i.e. “I am eating an apple,” becomes “I eat
an apple.”
e. Avoid using “to be.” i.e. “I am going to be late,” becomes, “I will be late.”
Strategy—tab your grammar book on the section that shows different tenses. Use your Microsoft
Word Grammarcheck
5. Verb Tense Shifts
If your verbs shift from past to present, etc.—STOP!
a. Make sure the verbs agree and are consistent throughout the essay.
Strategy—same as above
6. Possessives
Each time you want to show possession, i.e. “…the dog of Mr. Suarez,” or “…the mother
of Jorge,”—STOP!
Professor Mongar
Fall 2003
a. Change it to show possession in the English form “…Mr. Suarez’s dog,” or
“Jorge’s mother.”
b. Check for possessive pronoun and subject agreement (his/her, his/hers, its,
their/theirs, our/ours)
Strategy—tab your grammar book on the section that discusses possessives.
7. Pronouns, nouns,subjects
When you see pronouns and nouns in your essay—STOP!
a. Check for verb/subject agreement
b. Check for subject/pronoun agreement
c. Check for (singular/plural) pronoun & nouns/verb agreement
d. Make sure you haven’t left out the subject in a sentence.
Strategy—tab all these topics in your grammar book.
8. Paragraph breaks
Strategy—treat each new idea as a paragraph.
9. Capitalization, Punctuation, Spelling
Strategy—tab your grammar book re: capitalization and punctuation. Work with a dictionary and
a grammar book close by and use Microsoft Word Grammarcheck and Spellcheck. Remember
sometimes the computer is wrong so review your composition several times.
10. Vague Diction
If you find non-specific words like “bad,” “good,” or “thing,” in your essay
STOP!
a. Use details to help the reader understand what specifically you are referring to.
Strategy—imagine your reader knows absolutely nothing about what you are writing about.
11. Contractions
If you have any contractions in your essay—STOP
a. Don’t use contractions in formal writing.
12. Evidence—Supporting your Statements
When you make a statement of fact or opinion —STOP!
a. Make references to the texts and/or questions asked as soon as possible so the
reader knows what your are referring to. i.e. “In Joyce Chang’s essay…,” or “ In
Virgil Suarez’s memoir…”
b. When asked to make an analogy, refer to what you are comparing, “Like Suarez,
I was also permanently marked physically by an accident.”
c. Use details to explain your opinion, your experience, etc. Don’t just say you had
an experience similar to Suarez’s, explain what happened and why it was similar
d. Give evidence to support your statements in the form of examples from the text
or examples from the lecture. i.e. (According to Suarez, English sounded like the
“bark of mad dogs.”) Use quotes around his words. Or—According to Professor
Mongar, Suarez’s experience didn’t permanently mark him emotionally as he is
now a very successful academic and author. You don’t have to use quotes if you
paraphrase. Paraphrasing is writing a summary of the information in your own words.
Strategy—Imagine your audience/reader knows nothing about what you are writing about.
Professor Mongar
Fall 2003
13. Addressing the Audience & Personal References
If you see the word “you,” “we,” “us” in your essay—STOP!
a. Don’t address your audience directly in formal writing.
b. Only use “I think,” or “I feel” if you were asked to give a personal response.
14. Stating the Obvious
It is unnecessary to state the obvious. Don’t inform the audience “I am going to
write about Virgil Suarez’s memoir, ‘No Nocturne for the Ravaged,’” or
“In conclusion…,” for instance.
15. READ the required texts when assigned. Make notes in the margins and look up
vocabulary in the dictionary and ask questions. You cannot comment on ideas and
questions you have not thought over. Consider these questions as you read:
a. What kind of writing is this?
b. What does this essay/memoir/poem mean?
c. Why did the author use this title?
d. Why did the author write this?
e. Who is the author writing to—who is the audience?
f. How does this relate to my own life or my experiences?
g. What specifically did I like about the piece and what didn’t I like?
16. Use editing resources.
a. Write with a dictionary, thesaurus and your grammar text next to you.
b. Use a word processor and the spellcheck/grammarcheck. Back up your work.
c. Read it out loud to a peer then edit for smoothness.
d. Have others read it and give feedback.
e. Do further readings if necessary.
f. Consult with the professor for help.
g. Rewrite it several times.
17. Documentation
Documentation in any writing requires reference to its source otherwise it is plagiarism.
In this beginning writing class we will be using only one form. The source (author, book,
etc.) must be mentioned in the text. You will use either quotes or paraphrasing. You will
attach any Internet material to your final draft.
18. Formatting
Follow all formatting requirements as outlined in the core assignment.