The number of rules of English grammar and other writing topics
governing correctness is far more than we can teach students before
high school graduation.
Unless we define which rules
we mean when we tell students to use "good English,"
we're setting ourselves and our students up for failure.
Before employers or
colleges consider
them competent writers
students have to know and use 24 rules in their writing. They
are not all actually rules of English
grammar. Some are actually rules for correct spelling and
correct punctuation.
Below, broken down into three categories of writing mechanics,
is a list of 24 essential practices students must routinely follow
in their written work. They incorporate a beginning writers' list
of essential rules of English grammar.
7 essentials of correct spelling
1. Start sentences
with capital letters.
2. Capitalize the first letters of proper nouns.
3. Don't use texting abbreviations (like u r instead
of you are) unless you are sending a cell phone text message
to a close friend or family member.
4. The sure way to get a reputation for bad spelling is to confuse
homonyms such as its/its or their/their/they're.
Identify homonyms you misuse.
Learn to correct your writing to eliminate those errors.
5. Learn to spell correctly the words you use regularly,
whether they are one-syllable words or long, technical terms.
6. Don't capitalize common nouns.
7. Don't use abbreviations without first writing the term
out in full unless the abbreviation is listed in general dictionaries.
11 essentials of correct grammar
1. Write in full
sentences. Don't write sentence fragments or fuse two sentences
without using a conjunction or punctuation.
2. Make subjects agree
with their verbs.
3. Make pronouns agree with their antecedents.
4. Make pronouns refer to the last previously mentioned
noun of the same person and number.
5. Be sure a modifier refers to something within its sentence.
6. Make modifiers cuddle up to the words they modify.
7. Keep your verbs in the same time (tense) unless the
time frame you are discussing changes.
8. Maintain a single pronoun perspective. Don't, for example,
refer to singular subjects with plural pronouns.
9. Identify the verb endings that you use regularly and
get wrong. Memorize the correct endings. Keep a good reference handy
for the verbs you don't use regularly but get wrong.
10. Set your grammar check to search for the errors you
make; then use grammar check on all your writing.
11. Write shorter sentences
for clarity, especially when using electronic communications.
6 essentials of correct punctuation
1. Punctuate according to
the grammar of the sentence, not by the sound of the sentence.
2. Commas are separators. Don't join two sentences (main
clauses) with commas.
3. Put a comma before a conjunction that joins the sentences
in a compound sentence,
4. Put a comma after an
introductory element in a sentence to separate it from the
sentence.
5. Set off restrictive elements — those not essential
to the meaning of the sentence— with commas.
6. Put closing punctuation at the ends of sentences.
Good English usage is idiomatic
I deliberately omitted correct
usage from the list of English grammar rules. What is good
usage depends largely on the situation. Usage is idiomatic,
not rule driven. People learn it hearing and reading rather than
by studying rules.
A student with poor usage needs to hear native speakers, read widely,
and consult a dictionary or reference guide to idioms when in doubt
as the meaning of a word or phrase.
Regularly applying these 24 rules of English grammar, punctuation,
and spelling is adequate to give most writers a reputation for
using good English.
