# Welcome to SMIRK Unit
6 - Grammar

- Apostrophes, commas and hyphens
- Capitals, quotations and tenses
- Numbers, sentences and paragraphs.
- Presenting results
- Pronouns
- Writing with infinitives
- Ending sentences with prepositions
- Spelling
- Tenses and Latin words
- Punctuation
- Back to main index

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Apostrophes, commas
and hyphens

Here are some tips from lecturers in the School of Health and Life Sciences. The EBE Learning Development Centre web pages give more detailed explanations. The University of Hull have some excellent detailed guides to punctuation and grammar.

Apostrophes Do not use an apostrophe to denote ownership except after noun or name. Use in ‘it’s’ only when the meaning is ‘it is’.

Right | Wrong
--- | ---
I like Emma’s hat | I like Emmas hat
Hers is the hat I like | Her’s is the hat I like
I like its colour | I like it’s colour
It’s the colour I like | Its the colour I like

Commas As a general rule, a single sentence that needs more than two commas is too long. Use two shorter sentences instead. Do not use a comma before the word and or the word but. If a sentence seems to need a comma before either of these words, it is too long. When giving a list of items in a sentence, use andinstead of a comma before the last item.

Hyphens and Obliques Never use obliques (/) in text. Do not use hyphens unconventionally.

Right | Wrong
--- | ---
Take his or her father-in-law | Take his/her father-in-law
I value the interactive and perceptual functions of Experiential groups | I value the interactive/perceptual functions of experiential groups
I do not see them any more but am ever ready to do so | I do not see them any-more but Am ever-ready to do so

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Capitals, quotations
and tenses

Capital Letters For proper names (people and places) only. They are best avoided for categories, procedures and professions. For drugs - capitals are necessary only for trade names.

Bad | Better
--- | ---
We know that Physiotherapists treat Cerebral Palsy Patients and like to Videotape them. | We know that Physiotherapists treat patients with Cerebral Palsy and like to videotape them.

Quotation marks or inverted commas If quoting direct spoken speech use double ones, if quoting the written word use single ones. For example

- “Buzz off!” he said.
- The phrase ‘buzz off’ in the rehabilitation unit’s grammar guidelines is offensive.

Starting a Sentence Do not start a sentence with ‘And’ or ‘But’ and if at all possible avoid starting with ‘Thus’, ‘Therefore’, or ‘However’.

Tenses Keep to the same tense - do not hop abut between past and present. Always use the past tense to describe observations and methods.

Avoid Split Infinitives

Right | Wrong
--- | ---
Bravely to go (or, to go bravely) where none has been before. | To bravely go where none has been before.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Numbers, sentences
and paragraphs

Singles and Plurals Remember that a singular noun uses a singular verb. ‘None’, ‘Team’, ‘Group’, ‘Committee’ and so on are singular nouns. ‘Data’, ‘Children’ and so on are plural nouns.

Right | Wrong
--- | ---
None of the onions is mouldy | None of the onions are mouldy
The data suggest that onions keep well | The data suggests that onions keep well.
The team of therapists was late. | The team of therapist were late

Numbers Numbers from zero to ten in the text should always be spelled out. Numbers above ten can be written as numerals. For example 85 except when they start a sentence, when they must be spelled out.

Right | Wrong
--- | ---
Thirty-five per cent were pink and one was mushroom-coloured but had 15 mauve speckles. | 35% were pink and 1 was mushroom-coloured but had fifteen mauve speckles.

Sentences Every sentence must have at least one verb in it.

‘The results of all these observations in Fig 1.’ Is a phrase.
‘The results of all these observations are shown in Fig 1.’ Is a sentence.

Paragraphs Use separate paragraphs for different topics or for defined steps in a description or argument. Direct (quoted) speech always has to start a new paragraph but indirect speech (in single quotes) does not.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Presenting results

Avoid the Passive Case

Clumsy | Better
--- | ---
The subjects were woken by a noise emitted by the clock. | The clock emitted a noise that woke the subject.

Despite what has just been said, the passive case is conventionally used to describe a sequence of procedures performed by the author.

Wrong | Right
--- | ---
I have put the results in figure two | The results are shown in figure two
I manipulated the subject’s foot | The subject’s foot was manipulated by the observer.

Only Only is a tricky word. Always think about it. Look at these sentences:
Only doctors firmly talk to patients.
Doctors only firmly talk to patients.
Doctors firmly only talk to patients.
Doctors firmly talk only to patients.

They all mean different things!

Tables and Graphs Tables must have a title printed either immediately above or immediately below them in the text. Diagrams, pictures, graphs, and charts are all referred to as figures and need a title and a legend which must describe the substance of the figure. Axes on graphs must always be labeled and units given.

Presenting Results When presenting results, it is not enough to say ‘Table 1 shows the results’ and leave the reader to sort them out for himself or herself. The principal results must be written out again in the text. The purpose of tables is to provide a summary of all the results for reference purposes. Assume the reader is reasonably intelligent but has no knowledge of your subject.

And finally…

Remember that language is a very precise tool. For example, Unique means - it is the only one, so things cannot be very unique or rather unique but they can be almost unique. Significant has a least two meanings in scientific work - one is a statistical meaning (in which case the probability taken as significant must be specified) while the other simply means important, or having a definite effect. Beware of claiming that a treatment has had a significant effect despite the fact that the evidence has not achieved statistical significance.

Get someone else to read your draft for ambiguities. Lastly, if it is still confusing, try finding an electronic site with information about grammar, preferably a British site as American sites will have different grammatical and spelling conventions.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Pronouns

Many writers use “this” or “it” wherever they sense that flow is needed. This can create confusion. Most of the time when you use “this” or “it” you are actually referring to a specific noun or verb that is nearby, or to an idea that has just been implied if not explicitly stated. To avoid confusion, name whatever the “this” refers to immediately after it (for example, “this phenomenon,” “this principle,” “this variation”). For example:

> The burial by thrusting is believed to occur rapidly. This assumption, however, is difficult to test.

Here, “this assumption” clarifies that a belief is being described rather than the burial by thrusting or its rapid occurrence.

Commonly, “it is” is overused as a sentence beginning.

> “It is this water that could become . . .” is better written as “This water could become . . . .”

When the use of “it” is vague or unnecessary, try to simply eliminate the word. The same principle applies to pronouns such as “that” and “these”: Do not overuse them, and when you do, be sure that the reader can easily tell which words or ideas being referred to.

Care also needs to be taken with pronouns (words such as he, she, it, they, them, this) to make sure that it is clear as to what or whom the pronoun is referring to. Here is an example:

> After modifications the machine was more difficult to set up but fewer bottlenecks occurred, productivity increased and material wastage became negligible. This played an important role in the current financial status of the company.

It is not clear what the word this refers to – is it the reduction in waste material or the productivity increase? The sentences can be revised to clarify this:

> After modifications the machine was more difficult to set up but fewer bottlenecks occurred, productivity increased and material wastage became negligible. These modifications played an important role in the current financial status of the company.

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SMIRK- Grammar by Vince Ricci: CIEE, Joe Schall: Penn State University, Glynis Perkin: Loughborough University, edited by Marion Kelt: GCU is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.slideshare.net/tokyovince/introduction-to-technical-writing-4305074 http://www.slideshare.net/engCETL/technical-report-writing-handout https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c1_p15.html.

# Writing with infinitives

A split infinitive is a phrase in which one or more words are placed between the word “to” and its accompanying verb. “To boldly go” is a split infinitive because “boldly” is interrupting the more basic pattern “to go". For many writers, “have worked diligently” is more acceptable than “have diligently worked,” in that the verb “have worked” is not interrupted. Also, work in itself cannot be “diligent,” and the phrasing “have diligently worked” could imply otherwise. Now consider this sentence:

> The plastic contains a catalyst that causes it to completely and naturally disappear in a few months.

A revised version of the sentence would bring together the two words in question:

> The plastic contains a catalyst that causes it to disappear completely and naturally in a few months.

Now, “completely and naturally” is more obviously describing the intact phrase, “to disappear.” As in this case, usually the words that split an infinitive can go outside the infinitive or be omitted altogether.

Split infinitives do appear in writing, and many writers find them acceptable as long as they are infrequent and that they do not disturb either sense or sound. For example:

> It is comforting to finally understand differential equations.

If you split infinitives, don't do it often, - some academics might view them as unacceptable style.

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SMIRK- Grammar by Vince Ricci: CIEE, Joe Schall: Penn State University, Glynis Perkin: Loughborough University, edited by Marion Kelt: GCU is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.slideshare.net/tokyovince/introduction-to-technical-writing-4305074 http://www.slideshare.net/engCETL/technical-report-writing-handout https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c1_p15.html.

# Ending sentences with
prepositions

Prepositions - small connecting words such as at, about, to, under - are used to clarify relationships between other words, especially between verbs and the receivers of the verb’s action. We have all heard warnings against ending sentences with prepositions, but there is no hard and fast rule.

As a matter of style, ending a sentence with a preposition can give undue stress to the preposition, leaving the reader with the feeling that the sentence has ended weakly (For example, “He wasn’t sure which sample to look at.”). If a sentence ending with a proposition sounds weak to you, revise it by moving or eliminating the preposition, but do not defy meaning or the natural word order.

However, sometimes it is just inconvenient and illogical not to end a perfectly understandable and strong sentence with a preposition. You can even cite two authorities on language:

- Shakespeare’s Henry V includes the line, “Who servest thou under?”
- Winston Churchill, to demonstrate the inconvenience when the so-called rule is followed, is reported to have put his feelings on the matter thus: "This is the sort of English up with which I will not put".

So there.

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SMIRK- Grammar by Vince Ricci: CIEE, Joe Schall: Penn State University, Glynis Perkin: Loughborough University, edited by Marion Kelt: GCU is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.slideshare.net/tokyovince/introduction-to-technical-writing-4305074 http://www.slideshare.net/engCETL/technical-report-writing-handout https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c1_p15.html.

# Spelling

Spell checkers are extremely helpful but not infallible, especially with typing errors. Consider the words now and not in the following two sentences:

- The results are now presented in detail.
- The results are not presented in detail.

These two sentences have very different meanings and a spell checker would not find anything wrong with either of them. Some frequently misspelt words are listed below:

accessible | liaison | personnel | recommend
benefited | necessary | possession | relevant
gauge | occasion | receive | sincerely

There are also words with similar spellings but different meanings that are frequently confused. For example:

compliment and complement | principal and principle
lose and loose | stationary and stationery
personnel and personal | where and were

And words that sound the same but have different meanings such as:

band and banned | their and there
for and four | to, too and two
sight, site and cite | whether, weather and wether (a castrated ram!).

A sensible idea is to have a dictionary nearby. It is best not to use your auto correct function as unrecognised technical words and proper names may be altered to words that your word processor knows.

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SMIRK- Grammar by Vince Ricci: CIEE, Joe Schall: Penn State University, Glynis Perkin: Loughborough University, edited by Marion Kelt: GCU is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.slideshare.net/tokyovince/introduction-to-technical-writing-4305074 http://www.slideshare.net/engCETL/technical-report-writing-handout https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c1_p15.html.

# Tenses and Latin words

Remember not to rely on the grammar checker in your word processor!

Tenses Often authors change tense part way through a sentence when there has not been a change in the time frame for the actions that are taking place

- Incorrect - The machine contains many components that worked in unison.
- Correct - The machine contains many components that work in unison.

However, the following sentence is correct as the students are currently enjoying a facility which they have already built.

> Correct - The students are enjoying their new union bar which they built themselves.

Latin words The singular and plural forms of Latin words often present difficulties. In particular, the Latin word data which is plural (the singular is datum) often causes controversy as, through popular usage, it is now acknowledged as a singular collective noun. Historically, the correct use of data would have been:

> The data are...

Nowadays it is often written as,

> The data is ...

If in doubt, you can either use the historically correct form (your lecturer may be a keen Latin scholar), or just ask your lecturer or editor which they prefer.

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SMIRK- Grammar by Vince Ricci: CIEE, Joe Schall: Penn State University, Glynis Perkin: Loughborough University, edited by Marion Kelt: GCU is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.slideshare.net/tokyovince/introduction-to-technical-writing-4305074 http://www.slideshare.net/engCETL/technical-report-writing-handout https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c1_p15.html.

# Punctuation

Punctuation can radically alter the meaning of a sentence so it is essential that commas are placed in the correct position. Consider the following:

1. The buffet offered a wide variety of sandwiches. I had ham and mustard, peanut butter, jam and beef.
2. The buffet offered a wide variety of sandwiches. I had ham and mustard, peanut butter, jam, and beef.

Example 1. suggests that there was a sandwich consisting of jam and beef whereas it is clear from the second example that these were different sandwiches.

1. On Monday we walked, skied and drank mulled wine.
2. On Monday we walked, skied, and drank mulled wine.

Example 1. implies that we drank mulled wine while we were actually skiing.

The semicolon (;) and the colon (:) are different punctuation marks which are not interchangeable. A semicolon may be used to link two closely related sentences whereas a colon may be used to show that a list or example follows. Here are some examples:

> Technical report writing is an important skill to develop; it will be used during undergraduate studies and undoubtedly be required after graduation.

> For this workshop you will receive the following materials: Technical Report Writing Handout (Kelt, 2011), Writing Reports study advice sheet (Glasgow Caledonian University, 2013) and a suggested reading list.

Take care not to write fragments, that is, incomplete sentences that do not tell the reader anything. However, long sentences are not only difficult to understand, they are also more difficult to write correctly. Long sentences most often contain incorrect use of pronouns, tense changes and punctuation errors. Too many very short sentences may result in stilted text that does not flow. It is best to aim for medium length sentences interspersed with occasional short sentences to add impact to what you are telling the reader.

Remember to check the guidelines for your piece of writing - either on GCULearn or the journal's instructions for authors. further help is available from your Learning Development Centre.

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SMIRK- Grammar by Vince Ricci: CIEE, Joe Schall: Penn State University, Glynis Perkin: Loughborough University, edited by Marion Kelt: GCU is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.slideshare.net/tokyovince/introduction-to-technical-writing-4305074 http://www.slideshare.net/engCETL/technical-report-writing-handout https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c1_p15.html.