The Writing Process

Writing is a process. What does this mean? Writing an academic paper or writing a poem--or
anything else for that matter--should not be thought of as a "one shot deal." Writing a paper or a
poem should be understood as a process of discovery; uncovering, like an archeologist, one's own
ideas and thought process about a subject. In order to do such discovery work, writing must be
done in stages. There must be room for a brainstorming or invention stage at the beginning of
your writing, just as there should be time and energy allocated for revising--or rethinking and
editing toward the end of the process.
The handouts provided on this site are designed to encourage you in this process--from invention
to revising and editing. As writing teachers we all know that writing can at times be frightening.
Doing your writing in stages can alleviate the fear and trepidation that all too often accompanies
the act of composition. As a writer, remember that you are in control of your own creation--be
courageous! Play with your writing and try new things; the more you do this, the more you will
see your own talent as both a thinker and writer.
GETTING STARTED
How to generate ideas
There are several ways of beginning to plan and think about an essay you need to write in
response to an assignment.
The very first task for you to do is to explore the assignment by asking some questions.
1. What am I being asked to do?
2. What is the purpose of the assignment?
3. Am I being asked to argue a position? Or am I being asked to analyze or describe.
The words the professor chooses indicates the organizational direction.
4. You can use the journalists six questionsthe five Ws and an H to help you generate
specific ideas: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
5. Will I have to do research? Or do I simply need to rely on the texts used in class?
6. Ask yourself: Is there one topic that interests me more than another? It is always better
to choose a topic that interests you. The essay will be enjoyable to write and that passion
will enable you to work harder and will result in a better paper.
PREWRITING

Once youve thought about your paper, and have a general direction in which you want to go,
you are now ready to start generating additional ideas.
Brainstorming: This can be done alone or in a group. If alone, write your topic on the top
of the page and write short phrases as quickly as you can. Dont stop for ten or fifteen
minutes. Write whatever comes to mind. Youll have a chance to go back and take a look at
what youve written. At this point, all ideas are valid. You can also give yourself a goal: you
need to write at least 15 words or phrases. Youll be pleasantly surprised by the number of
ideas you have generated.
If you are a part of a group, then one person is in charge of writing down all the ideas that are
suggested by the members of the group.
When finished, read your list and circle the most promising idea.
You are now ready to go onto Freewriting and Clustering
Freewriting:
Freewriting is similar to brainstorming. You write for a period of time without editing your
ideas. Write down whatever comes to mind about your topic. In freewriting though, you
write sentences. Dont be concerned about grammar, paragraphing, or coherence. Just let
ideas flow. Keep writing until you have completed a page. If you get stuck, keep writing, use
a phrase like I cant think of anything, my mind is empty, or Im stuck until other ideas
enter.
You can freewrite if you have a topic and you can freewrite if you dont have a topic, and you
can freewrite any time during the writing of your essay.
Clustering: This is a way or organizing the ideas you have generated through brainstorming
and freewriting. Read through the items in your brainstorming list or read the page of
freewriting. Group related ideas. There are several ways of doing this: Here are two:
1. You can number similar ideas.
2. If you have colored markers, you can color similar ideas with the same
color.
Be aware that not all the items on your list will fit into a cluster, or that you will use all of your
items. You will see, however, that clustering from your prewriting activities is a powerful tool in
organizing your paper and in generating ideas for it.
Clustering (sometimes called mapping) can also be used to generate ideas: This technique is
particularly useful for visual learners. You may be able to generate enough material to write your
essay. Here is how you use clustering to generate ideas (see Peter Elbow and Pat Belanoff
clustering handout) In the middle of a blank piece of paper, write a word or phrase from your
assignment, and around it write all the ideas that pop into your head. Place those ideas that seem
crucial to your idea closer than those that do not.
Once you write one idea down, others will come.

Sitting down to write your paper

You are now ready to write your paper. Keep the following in mind as you begin.

Find the most comfortable spot

Try to write in the same place
Establish a ritual
Change locations if youre not producing
Reduce distractions
Exhaust your excuses
Write at the best time for you
Write on a schedule

Also, see Sondra Perl's Composing Guidelines

These writing guidelines will help you discover more of what is on your mind and
almost on your mind. If they seem artificial, think of them as "exercises." But they
are exercises that will help you to perform certain subtle but crucial mental
operations that most skilled and experienced writers do naturally:

Continue writing, even when you don't know where you're going.

Periodically pause and ask, "What's this all about?"

Periodically check what you have written against your internal sense of
where you're going or what you wanted to say--your "felt sense."

Your teacher may guide you through the Perl guidelines in class. If it feels too
mechanical to follow them in a group setting, remember that the goal is to teach you
a procedure you can use on your own. But we can teach it best by giving you a taste
of it in practice--which means trying it out in class. It's hard to learn the guidelines
alone because your old writing habits are so strong.
After some practice with each of the directives or questions that follow, you'll be
able to sense how to distribute your time yourself.
1. Find a way to get comfortable. Shake out your hands, take a deep
breath, settle into your chair. Close your eyes if you'd like to; relax. Find
a way to be quietly and comfortably aware of your inner state.
2. Ask yourself, "What's going on with me right now? Is there anything in
the way of my writing today?" When you hear yourself answering, take a
minute to jot down a list of any distractions or impediments that come to
mind.
3. Now ask yourself, "What's on my mind? Of all the things I know about,
what might I like to write about now?" When you hear yourself
answering, jot down what comes. Maybe you get one thing, maybe a
list. If you feel totally blocked, you may write down "Nothing." Even this
can be taken further by asking yourself, "What is this `Nothing' all

about?"
4. Ask yourself, "Now that I have a list--long or short--is there anything
else I've left out, any other piece I'm overlooking, maybe even a word I
like, something else I might want to write about sometime that I can
add to this list?" Add anything that comes to mind.
5. Whether you have one definite idea or a whole list of things, look over
what you have and ask, "What here draws my attention right now? What
could I begin to write about, even if I'm not certain where it will lead?"
Take the idea, word, or item and put it at the top of a new page. (Save
the first page for another time.)
6. Now--taking a deep breath and settling comfortably into your chair--ask
yourself, "What are all the associations and parts I know about this
topic? What can I say about it now?" Spend as long as you need writing
down these responses. Perhaps it will be a sustained piece of freewriting
or stream of consciousness, or perhaps separate bits, a long list, or
notes to yourself.
7. Now having written for a while, interrupt yourself, set aside all the
writing you've done, and take a fresh look at this topic or issue. Grab
hold of the whole topic--not the bits and pieces--and ask yourself, "What
makes this topic interesting to me? What's important about this that I
haven't said yet? What's the heart of this issue?" Wait quietly for a word,
image, or phrase to arise from your "felt sense" of the topic. Write
whatever comes. (For more on "felt sense," see "Ruminations and
Theory" at the end of this unit.)
8. Take this word or image and use it. Ask yourself, "What's this all about?
Describe the feeling, image, or word. As you write, let the "felt sense"
deepen. Where do you feel that "felt sense"? In your head, stomach,
forearms? Where in your body does it seem centered? Continue to ask
yourself, "Is this right? Am I getting closer? Am I saying it?" See if you
can feel when you're on the right track. See if you can feel the shift or
click inside when you get close, "Oh yes, this says it."
9. If you're at a dead end, you can ask yourself, "What makes this topic so
hard for me?" or "What's so difficult about this?" Again pause and see if
a word, image, or phrase comes to you that captures this difficulty in a
fresh way--and if it will lead you to some more writing.
10. When you find yourself stopping, ask, "What's missing? what hasn't yet
gotten down on paper?" and again look to your "felt sense" for a word or
an image. Write what comes to mind.
11. When again you find yourself stopping, ask yourself, "Where is this
leading? What's the point I'm trying to make?" Again write down
whatever comes to mind.
12. Once you feel you're near or at the end, ask yourself, "Does this feel
complete?" Look to your "felt sense," your gut reaction, even to your
body, for the answer. Again write down whatever answer comes to you.

If the answer is "No," pause and ask yourself, "What's missing?" and
continue writing.

About the Perl Guidelines

These guidelines sometimes work differently for different people--and even
differently for you on different occasions. The main thing to remember is that they
are meant for you to use on your own, flexibly, in your own way. There is nothing
sacred about the exact format or wording. They are not meant to be a straitjacket. To
help you in adapting them to your own needs, here is a list of what are probably the
four pivotal moments:

Relax, stretch, clear your mind, try to attend quietly to what's inside-and note any distractions or feelings that may be preventing you from
writing.

Start with a list of things you could write about. Often we can't find what
we really want to write about till the third or fourth item--or not till that
subtle after--question, "Is there something else I might have forgotten?"

As you are writing, periodically pause and look to that felt sense
somewhere inside you--that feeling, image, or word that somehow
represents what you are trying to get at--and ask whether your writing
is really getting at it. This comparing or checking back ("Is this it?") will
often lead to a productive "shift" in your mind ("Oh now I see what it is I
want to say").

Finally, toward the end, ask, "What's this all about? Where does this
writing seem to be trying to go?" And especially ask, "What's missing?
What haven't I written about?"

The specific details of the procedure are much less important than the charitable,
supportive, and generative spirit behind the whole thing.
On Felt Sense
Felt sense may seem a vague concept, but we get new leverage in our writing if we
realize that there is always something there "in mind" before we have words for it.
In one sense, of course, we don't know something till we have it in words. But in
another sense we do indeed know quite a lot, and it's a question of learning to tap it
better.
So what is it that's in mind before we find words? Is it some set of words that's
farther inside our heads-fainter or in smaller print? If so, what lies behind them to
guide or produce them? Behind our words, then, inevitably, some nonverbal feeling
or "sense."
You can easily prove this mysterious phenomenon to yourself by asking yourself
after you've been writing a while, the crucial question: "Is this what I've been

wanting to say?" What's interesting is that we can almost always give an answer.
Then we need to ask this: "What is the basis for our answer--for our being able to
say, 'Yes, this really is what I was wanting to say,' or 'No, that's not it,' or 'Sort of,
but not quite'?" We haven't got words for what's in mind, but we have something
against which we can match the words we've used to see whether they are adequate
to our intention. We know what we want to say well enough to realize that we have
or haven't said it.
"Felt sense" is what Eugene Gendlin has named this internal awareness that we call
on. And his point--which we too want to emphasize--is that we can learn to call on
it better. (It may seem odd or unfashionable to suggest that our felt sense of what
we're writing about might be located in a part the body. But many people experience
what's "in mind" not just "in the head" but also--as they say--in the "gut.")
The crucial operation in the Perl process is when you pause and attend to that felt
sense--pause and say, "What's my feeling for what I'm getting at" (or "What's my
image or word?"). You then ask yourself, "Have I said it?" The most productive
situation, ironically, is when you answer, "No." For in that moment of experiencing
a mismatch or nonfit between your words and your felt sense, you tend to
experience a click or shift that moves you closer to knowing this thing that you can't
yet say. In short, pausing, checking, and saying "No" usually lead you to better
words.
One reason people don't pause and check their words against their felt sense often
enough is that they get too discouraged at the negative answer. They think that the
question is a test and that the negative answer means they've failed the test. ("Again
I've proved that I'm no good at finding words!") They don't realize that if you ask
the question of yourself in the right way--in a charitable and constructive
spirit--"No" is the better answer: it can always lead you to a better understanding of
what you are trying to get at.
Remember, however, that when we urge you to attend more to your felt sense and
then pause and check your words against it, we're not saying that thing that perhaps
you've heard too often: "Stop! What is your thesis?" It's not, "What is your thesis?"
but rather "What is the physical feeling or image you have that somehow stands for
what you're wanting to say?" You haven't got a thesis yet--haven't got the right
words yet--but you do have a genuinely available feeling for what you're trying to
get at. If you check any trial set of words against that feeling, you can tell whether
or not they are what you were trying to say.
PROCESS JOURNAL QUESTIONS
What happened in using the Perl process? In particular:

When finding or choosing your original topic?

When pausing to sum up in a phrase or image or to get
yourself focused back on your chosen topic?

When seeking your "felt sense" and checking your writing

against it?

What happened in using the open-ended process? In particular:

When finding or choosing the idea you started with?

When summing up or finding a center of gravity?
What about the overall path or progression? Where did it
take you?

What did you notice about the difference between doing these process in class and
at home? In what ways did the teacher's prompts help? get in the way?
So much of this week's writing is private. How (if at all) did this affect what you
wrote and how you wrote?
What did you learn about your writing? language? thinking? And what did you
learn about writing, language, and thinking in general by comparing your
experience with that of your classmates?

THESIS
Introduction
Every paper you write needs to have a reason for writing it. Whether you chose the topic or
whether you were given a topic on which to write, you need to put your own spin it.
What does this mean? This means that you need to take the topic and narrow its focus until you
have a controlling idea: what you are attempting to do in this paper. What point to you intend to
make or what attitude do you have about your topic?
Usually, this idea is expressed in a sentence called the thesis sentence, and frequently readers of
academic papers look for this sentence at the end of your introductory paragraph(s).
The thesis expresses not only the scope of your paper, but hints at the style of paper you will
write: a comparison, an argument, a cause and effect.
Here are the functions of a thesis statement:
It narrows your topic to a single, central idea
It names the topic and asserts something specific or significant about it
It conveys your purpose
It often provides a concise preview of how you will arrange your ideas in the essay (Little Brown
Handbook p. 17)

Asking questions as a way to discover your thesis

One way of beginning to work on writing an effective thesis is to ask questions.
Write your topic on the top of the page and ask five questions.
Some of the questions you ask might be about what you want to know about your topic that you
dont know already.
For example, you are asked to select a Civil War topic on which to write a paper.
You select the final major battle of the war.
What questions could you ask?
What theses can you come up with from which to write a focused essay?
After you write these questions, try to write them as statements. These questions and statement
will provide you with a working thesis: you should now have a focus and you can turn your
attention to gathering materials to answer your question and prove your statement.
Revising your Thesis
Once you have written a working thesis, you can continue working on it as you write your paper
or even after you have finished your paper. After writing your paper, you want to review your
thesis to make sure that your paper reflects the thesis. This is a good time to revise your thesis if
it no longer fulfills the requirements.
Here is a checklist for revising your thesis.

Does the statement make a concise assertion about your topic?

Is the assertion limited to only one idea?
Is the assertion specific and significant?
Does the statement at least imply your purpose?
Is the statement unified so that the parts relate to each other?

Courtesy of Beth Fonfrias, Writing Consultant

Resources for organizing paper: Paradigm Online Writing Assistant
PARAGRAPHING: ORGANIZING AND DEVELOPING YOUR ESSAY
Paragraphs are the building blocks of your essay. Once you have chosen a topic and a thesis, you
need to begin writing the body of your paper.
A good way to begin is to organize your thoughts in an informal outline. Heres how.

Start by writing your thesis. Here is a sample thesis:

The Vietnam War altered the lives of a generation of Americans.
Or you could write that
The effects of the Vietnam War are still being felt thirty years later.
These sentences contain a topic and a controlling idea, and would make ideal topic sentences in
an essay about the Vietnam War.
Cats is a topic. However, Cats make better pets than dogs is an argument, and enables you to
have a controlling idea for your essay.
DEVELOPING YOUR IDEAS
Each topic sentence is a promise to the reader of what the paragraph contains. You will notice
that the best topic sentences are those that contain a controlling idea. What does this mean?
Develop each paragraph with supporting evidence, including examples, information from
sources, or analysis of the topic. How can you determine if you have provided sufficient
information to complete the promise of your topic sentence? You can determine this by asking
yourself some questions. Have I included specific information and detail? Do these relate and
support my topic sentence? Do I have to get additional information to fill in any gaps?
USING TRANSITIONS
In your paragraph, use appropriate transitions that link ideas and will make your paragraphs more
coherent.
Here is a list of possible transitional words and phrases.
CONCLUDING SENTENCE
In addition to a topic sentence, each paragraph should have a closing or concluding sentence.
This sentence should summarize the main idea of your paragraph, using different wording that
your topic sentence, of course.
METHODS OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT
Chronological Order: Start with an event and move forward in time.
Spatial Order: In this type of paragraph development, you can use geographical location, north to
south, east to west, to organize your paragraphs.
General to Particular: You begin with a general statement and you provide details and specifics.
Process Paragraph: You describe how something works: how an object is made or directions to
follow.

PARAGRAPH LENGTH
Because a paragraph should contain one may idea, you may find that your paragraph is getting
too long, taking up one page, for example. Or you may find that your paragraph is too
short, just two sentences long. One way to deal with a paragraph that is too long is to
rewrite the topic sentence, so that you can divide your paragraph or you can divide your
paragraph at a logical dividing point and connect the two together with an appropriate
transitional work or phrase. If too short, rethink your topic sentence, and write an more
encompassing sentence that will get you to the right length. You should note that most
paragraphs are between three and nine sentences. Try to stay within that range, but as
always there are times for short paragraphs as well as there are times for longer ones.
Writing Workshop 5--Editing and Revising
Now that your first draft is down on paper, you are ready for the next
step, revision. Remember that revision is just part of the continuing
process of changing your paper as you go along. As you wrote your first
draft, you probably found yourself taking off with new ideas that caused
you to adjust your thesis statement to accommodate them. Now that you have
reached the end of the first draft, it is crucial to reevaluate it as a
whole.
Like anything that is difficult, it takes time. Good writers often write
three or four drafts before they are satisfied.
Here are some tips for this revision stage of your work:
Put the first draft aside for awhile before beginning the revision
process. Whether you do so for a few hours or a day or two, the time away
will allow you to distance yourself from the material, so you can look at
it with a fresh eye.
Work from a word processed draft. It's easier to read than one that
is handwritten, and the type formalizes it and allows you to look at your
own paper more objectively.
Take advantage of opportunities your teacher provides for getting
feedback such as one on one conferences or peer critiques.
Remember when you receive feedback that you are the writer. As you
listen, it is your job to decide which suggestions are helpful and which
are not. Try not to become overwhelmed as you take in suggestions from
others. As with anything else, as you become more experienced with the
process, it will become easier.
Don't become defensive about negative criticism. Analyze whether you
think it is accurate, and, if it is, change your writing accordingly. Good
writers don't let their egos get in the way of their hearing and acting on
constructive suggestions.

Take first things first. Address essay and paragraph structure before
worrying about spelling and grammar issues.
Among the strategies you can follow for your first draft revision are
using a checklist, using an outline or receiving a peer critique.
Revising with a checklist
A general checklist applicable to all patterns of writng is helpful,
but more helpful, if you have written an argumentative paper, would be an
argument checklist, or, if you have written a comparison/contrast paper, a
comparison/contrast checklist.
General checklist for revision
Thesis statement. Does it specifically set the direction of your paper,
perhaps even indicating its organization? Does the body of your essay
directly relate to it? If not, do you need to eliminate an irrelevant
paragraph? On the other hand, do you need to accommodate new information
in the body of your paper by changing the focus of your thesis statement?
Body. Do the body paragraphs follow one another logically and coherently?
Are they each well developed? Perhaps you need to add more details and
examples to make your ideas clear. Does each paragraph follow a particular
pattern of development? Do the points you make in these paragraphs support
your thesis?
Introduction. Is it attention getting? Does it flow naturally into your
thesis statement?
Conclusion. Does it reinforce your thesis?
Sentences. Are they varied in length and structure? Can you combine some?
Can you delete any? Should you move any to a different place?
Title. It has to spark interest, hook your reader. It needs to signal the
essence of your paper. It should reflect your purpose and tone.'
Revising with an outline
If you created an informal or formal outline before you began writing
your first draft, refer to it again at this time to make sure you covered
in your paper the major and minor points of your outline. If you left out
any points, make sure that you did so deliberately. Certainly, you can
change your mind about pursuing a point, but make sure that you do so for a
good reason. Perhaps you no longer think it is relevant to your thesis or
perhaps developing it would make your paper too long. On the other hand,
if you just forgot it, you need to go back and include it in your essay.
If you did not create an outline earlier, you can check your essay's

structure by creating a review outline now. An outline can show you

whether you have followed the pattern of development you have chosen. It
can also make clear the relationship between your thesis statement and body
paragraphs.
Revising with a peer critique
On your own, you can ask a friend to read your essay and evaluate it
or your teacher may formally set up a peer critiquing session in her class.
Professionals in the real world use this feedback technique as they
draft assignments all of the time. It's easy to become too invested in our
own words and having someone objective looking over what we have done,
reminding us that we have gotten off the subject or need more examples to
make an idea clearer is extremely helpful.
Guidelines for Peer Critiques
Be positive and tactful. Everyone's ego is at stake when you are
evaluating his or her writing: be mindful of this and find positive as well
as negative aspects of the paper to comment on.
Be specific. Don't just say, "It's good. I like it." Offer concrete
suggestions for improvement regarding how to change elements like the
thesis statement, the introduction or the paper's development.
Be attentive. It helps to read the paper out loud to discover its positive
and negative aspects. Take the time to this and concentrate on it from
beginning to end. If you are doing an oral critique, ask questions, listen
to the answers, and explain your impressions of the paper. Write down your
comments if possible either on a form or in the margins of the paper.
First things first. Don't worry about mechanics with the first draft.
Concentrate on the larger issues such as the effectiveness of the thesis
statement, the development of the support, and the overall organization of
the paper.
Courtesy of Cynthia McDonald, Writing Consultant

Peer Editing: Serving as a Reader

Begin your work as a peer editor by approaching your fellow
writer's work in a friendly way. Remember, you aren't out to
pass judgment on a peer's effort. Your purpose is to give
honest, intelligent appreciation that helps the writer become

aware of the essay's strong points, not only its weak ones. When
you find fault, you can do so by making impartial observations-statements that can benefit the writer. A judgmental way to
criticize might be "This paper is confused. It keeps saying the
same thing over and over again." But a more useful comment might
be more specific: "Paragraph five makes the same point as
paragraphs two and three" (which observation suggests that two of
the three paragraphs might be eliminated).
Your job isn't merely to notice misspelled words or misused
semi-colons (although it could become a part of the process).
Your job is more extensive and should address larger issues:
to what the writer is driving at, to the sequence of ideas,
to the apparent truth or falsehood of the observations, to the
quantity and quality of the evidence, to the coherence or unity
of the paper as a whole.
The following checklist offers a variety of questions to
guide you as a peer editor. Not all these points apply to every
piece of writing, but many of them will be helpful in assisting
the writer.
INITIAL QUESTIONS
What is my reaction to this paper? What is the writer trying to tell me?
What does he or she most want me to learn?
What are this paper's greatest strengths? Does it have any major weaknesses?

QUESTIONS ON MEANING
Do I understand everything? Is there any information missing from this draft that I still
need to know? Is what this paper tells me worth saying, or does it only dwell on the
obvious? Does it tell me anything I didn't know before?
Is the writer trying to cover too much territory?
Too little?
Does any point need to be more fully explained or illustrated?

Noun-Pronoun Agreement
Another common error in student writing is noun-pronoun agreement. A pronoun is a word that
substitutes for a noun, pronoun or a noun phrase in a sentence. A noun and its substituting
pronoun must agree in number. For example, a singular noun must be joined to a singular
pronoun in a sentence:
The young girl sits on the bench. She is selling honey-nut peanuts. The boys are going to the
movies. It is a sure bet that they will buy popcorn there.
Sometimes, it may be difficult to determine whether a noun is singular or plural. This is
especially the case when the noun refers to a group. For example, the army is singular. The
correct pronoun to substitute for this word is, therefore, it. The word group is also singular and
should carry the pronoun it. Check in the dictionary if you have questions about whether a
word is plural or singular.
A good way of checking your writing for this error is to underline all the subjects/nouns and
circle all the verbs in your paper. After doing so, substitute a pronoun for the subject of each
sentence and then check to make sure the accompanying pronoun agrees in number with the
subject. For example: My little sister drives me crazy by blasting the radio every morning. If she
doesnt stop it soon, Ill smash it to smithereens!
The army marched through the marsh; it finally stopped at a small town some fifty
miles inland.

Another issue involved in pronoun usage is errors in case: whether the pronoun is in the subject
or object position in the sentence. If a noun is the subject of the sentence, the substituting
pronoun must also be in the subject form: Take a sample phone call: "Hello, I"m calling for Patty
Laduke?" "This is she." The response, "this is her" would be incorrect because her designates
the object form of the pronoun. Similarly, if the noun is an obect in the sentence, the substituting
pronoun must be in an object also. Him/Her/Them is appropriate when the noun or noun phrase is
the object of the sentence. "The coach wanted the baseball players to stop rough-housing." He
forced them to do twenty push-ups as punishment."
Subject-verb agreement

One of the most common errors in student writing concerns issues of subject-verb agreement. A
noun and its verb must agree in number. For example, a singular noun must be joined to a
singular verb in a sentence:
The young girl sits on the bench. The young boys sit on the bench.

Occasionally, this agreement is counterintuitive as in the example cited above. The third person
singular verb in the present tense usually ends with an s even though it is singular in number.
Conjugate any regular verb in the present tense and you will find this to be true:

First person singular, I walk

First person plural, we walk

Second person singular, you walk

Third person singular, he/she it walks

Third person plural, they walk

Unfortunately, frequently the third person singular s is omitted in student writing, so that a
sentence like the following is not uncommonly found in student papers: My little sister watch
three hours of t.v. every morning.

A good way of checking your writing for this error is to underline all the subjects/nouns and
circle all the verbs in your paper. After doing so, substitute a pronoun for the subject of each
sentence and then check to make sure the accompanying verb agrees in number with the subject.
For example: My little sister [she] watches t.v. every morning.

The boys [they] sit on the bench.

The t.v. [it] frequently breaks down.

Tense

In your writing, make sure to remain consistent in tense throughout your paper. If you are
writing in the past tense, make sure that all of your verbs remain in the past tense throughout your
composition. Again, a good way to check this is to circle all the verbs in your paper and see if
there are any shifts in tense that occur.
Make sure to check for missed ed endings in past tense verbs!
Courtesy, Jennifer Rich

Punctuation and Capitalization: Using the Comma

Commas are used to separate certain words, phrases, and clauses within sentences.
1. Commas separate three or more items in a series. It is optional to use a comma before
the last item, but it is generally safer to use it.
Frank played baseball, hockey, and football in high school.
2. A comma separates two or more adjectives in a row if the adjectives can switch
positions without changing the meaning.
The sunny, cool day was perfect for lying in the dark green grass.
Note: Notice there is no comma between dark and green because these adjectives cannot
switch positions: The grass is not green and dark; it is dark green.
3. Commas separate two or more items in an address or date.
My new address is 4604 Linden Court, San Diego, California 92213. I hope you will call
me on December 15.
Note: The following are considered one item:
(1) a street address,
(2) a post office address,
(3) a state and zip code,

(4) a month and the date of the month.

4. A comma separates the salutation (greeting) from the message in an informal letter and
the closing from the signature in all letters.
Dear Alice,
Yours truly,
5. A comma separates a tag question from the rest of a sentence.
You locked the car, didn't you?
6. A comma followed by coordinate conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so) separates
two independent clauses.
Ron wore cowboy boots, and Jeff wore tennis shoes.
7. A comma separates a dependent clause from an independent clause when the dependent
clause appears before the independent clause.
When the meeting was over, the refreshment committee served coffee and cake before
everyone went home.
Note: No comma is needed when a dependent clause appears after an independent clause.
That's why there is no comma between cake and before.
8. A comma sets off an introductory phrase of three or more words coming BEFORE the
subject of a sentence.
On my way to school, I met three of my classmates coming out of the subway.
9. Commas set off a transitional word or phrase from the rest of the sentence.
Consequently, we were all late to class.
We did, however, arrive in time for the fire drill.
10. Commas set off a word or words that rename the noun or pronoun that appears before
them.
Jack Trimble, my best friend, is an accountant.
Alice decided to call Mike, a man she had met at the laundromat.
Note: If the renaming is necessary for clearness, do not use commas. (Jane's brother Terry
has a new Mazda RX-7.)

11. Commas set off words and expressions that are inserted into a sentence but do not add
any essential information.
Texans, as you know, are often the subject of jokes.
Eddie will, in spite of my wishes, travel to Russia.
Mr. Galloway, who lives next door, collects antique cars.
12. Commas set off the name of someone being spoken to directly.
Mary, will you answer the telephone?
Note: DO NOT USE COMMAS THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THESE COMMA
RULES.

College Writing Competency

The writing competency requirement is meant to insure that students have the skills necessary for
the written assignments in college courses. Adequate competency, which must be demonstrated
by the end of the sophomore
year, is defined as skills at the level required to earn a C in ENC 2085: College Writing. The
majority of students take the College Writing course in order to attain this competency. Students
may however apply for exemption from ENc 2085 by submitting at least three papers for review
to the Writing Program before the end of their sophomore year. At least two of these papers
should demonstrate bibliographic research, and it is preferred that at least one of them has been
written at Manhattanville. The writing of all incoming students is evaluated at levels
corresponding Preceptorial Writing Workshop, the Writing Tutorial and ENC 2085. Those
freshmen need additional writing help will be automatically registered for the Preceptorial
Writing Workshop and/or Writing Tutorial and continue in the writing sequence until they earn a
C or better in College Writing. Those who place at 2085 are encouraged, though not required, to
take this course in their first semester; they must however have taken it by the end of their
Sophomore year, or have successfully applied for exemption .
Students entering the College with a year or more of transfer credit are expected to demonstrate
the competency by the end of their second semester at Manhattanville. Failure to satisfy the
writing competency on time can result in an academic dismissal

from the College. Library Skills Students must take a one-credit Library and Information
Sciences course. This is usually done in conjunction with ENC 2085. Students who achieve
above a set score on the standardized bibliographic skills test administered in the first class of the
course may be exempted from this requirement and are allowed to withdraw from the course.
Linguistics 471: Grammar Engineering

Preparation for Lab 3

Determine whether your language has overt case, that is, whether the nouns (and/or
dependents of nouns, such as determiners and adjectives) take different forms depending
on the grammatical function of the NP (subject, object). If so, collect information on the
relevant forms given the words in your lexicon:
o Which case is used for subjects? (Bearing in mind that subjects of transitive and
intransitive verbs might be treated differently, i.e., you might be looking at an
ergative language.)
o Which case is used for objects?
o Do any of the verbs in your lexicon require a different case on subject or object
than the general pattern?
o How is case expressed morphologically?
o Does the form of the case morpheme depend on which noun (or determiner or
adjective) it attaches to? Find the applicable forms for the nouns in your lexicon.
Determine whether your language has agreement. Consider person, number, gender, case,
and definiteness, and consider subject-verb and determiner-noun agreement. If you don't
find anything there, also consider adjective-noun agreement (but if you have plenty to do
with det-n and subj-verb, don't worry about the adjectives!). If your language has
agreement, collect appropriate paradigms, again focusing on the vocabulary you already
have.
If your language has no overt case and little if any agreement, collect information on
modification:
o Find three adjectives, and determine where they appear within a noun phrase.
o Find three adverbs, and determine where they appear within a sentence. (Different
adverbs might have different distributions.)