Writing Assignments

Content

Paraphrase the entirety of each stanza in its appropriate paragraph. (Do not pick and choose which parts you will discuss.)

If you have numerous corrective comments on your paper, follow the model in the book.

Use transitions to move from paragraph to paragraph.

Come up with a serious title that is more than “The Flea.”

Style

Review “Introducing Quotations” in Perrine’s Literature, pages 16-23, especially Q1, Q2, Q5, Q6.

Discuss literature in the present tense. If you have placed a verb in the past tense when you should have used the present tense, correct it.

Avoid using there in conjunction with any form of to be. This error can usually be corrected by revising to use an action verb in the active voice instead of there _____.

If I have asked the questions “This what?” or “That what?” it is because you have used a general reference pronoun. Do not use this or that to stand for phrases, clauses, sentences, explanations, details, or anything other than specific nouns. This and that are pronouns; like all pronouns they can only stand for a single word.

The words which and it are frequently misused in the same way to stand for more than they can manage.

Example:

WRONG The speaker fabricates elaborate arguments on the spur of the moment, which shows how clever he is.

RIGHT The speaker’s fabrication of elaborate arguments on the spur of the moment shows how clever he is.

RIGHT The speaker demonstrates his cleverness by fabricating elaborate arguments on the spur of the moment.

Do not use contractions in formal writing.

Do not use second-person pronouns in formal writing.

Avoid first-person pronouns in formal writing.

So - So is an overused word. It should never be used as an intensifier except in constructions such as “it was so cold that we could not go outdoors.” In this example, the word that must follow so to complete the comparison. In formal writing, So should never begin a sentence if Therefore could be used just as easily. In this case so is more colloquial than therefore.

very - American writers tend to rely on intensifiers and exaggeration. Avoid using very. Choose an adjective or adverb that carries any necessary intensification in itself. Most of the time, the word you used after very will be sufficient by itself.

really - American writers tend to rely on intensifiers and exaggeration. Never use really as an intensifier. It is appropriate only to spoken language.

Mechanics

Format

Use your word processor’s capabilities to paginate every page of your paper. Correct pagination includes your last name, a space, and the correct number of the page on which it appears.

Correct the paper’s heading to adhere to MLA format. (After this assignment, I will take a letter grade off for each incorrectly done heading. You have no excuse for not knowing how to do it.)

Use your word processor’s capabilities to set all four margins (top, bottom, left, and right) to one inch.

Punctuation

Place a comma after an introductory adverb clause.

Compound sentences require a comma before the coordinate conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) that connects two independent clauses (groups of words that include a subject and a verb and could stand as a complete sentence all by themselves.

Compound sentences joined by a conjunctive adverb (however, consequently, thus, nevertheless, indeed, and the like) require a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb and a comma after it.

Example: The young man wants to seduce the young woman**, but** the young woman refuses him.

For the proper use of commas, periods, semicolons, and colons with quotation marks, see Q11.

Never let the first set of quotation marks (at the beginning of quoted material) hang at the end of a line. Never let the final set of quotation marks (at the end of quoted material) hang at the beginning of a line.

A singular noun usually forms the possessive by adding an apostrophe followed by an s.

Example: the speaker’s purpose, the beloved’s rejection, the stanza’s tone

A plural noun usually forms the possessive by adding an s followed by an apostrophe.

Example: the lovers’ disagreement, the parents’ stand against premarital sex

Usage

Always use the possessive form of a noun or pronoun before a gerund.

Example: WRONG “The Flea” shows Donne reworking the classic seduction poem.

RIGHT “The Flea” shows Donne’s reworking of the classic seduction poem.

The comment “WRONG WORD” near a circled term indicates that you probably have used the correct spelling of a word you did not intend to use. It may also indicate that you have confused one usage with another.

Examples: WRONG The lovers have different views of there future.

RIGHT The lovers have different views of their future.

WRONG The reason the speaker creates these arguments is because he wants the girl.

RIGHT The reason the speaker creates these arguments is that he wants the

the girl.

BETTER The speaker creates these arguments because he wants the girl.

WRONG He acts like they will be killed if she squashes the flea.

RIGHT He acts as if they will be killed if she squashes the flea.

WRONG The speaker uses a fair amount of figures of speech in his defense.

RIGHT The speaker uses a fair number of figures of speech in his defense.

(Use amount to refer to things considered as a whole. Use number to refer to things that can actually be counted.)

In formal or academic writing, though is not a synonym for however. Do not use them interchangeably.

Do not use the constructions “is when” or “is where.”

Example: WRONG The last stanza is where the girl finally rejects the speaker.

RIGHT In the last stanza the girl finally rejects the speaker.

If however merely interrupts the flow of the sentence in its function as a transitional word, simply set it off with commas.

Avoid constructions that involve using “there” to mean something other than “in that place.”