Download Grammatical Issues - University of Texas: Aerospace Engineering

Goal of writing: You want to write clearly and concisely so that an educated person who may
not be an aerospace engineering can understand you. Simultaneously, direct your writing
intellectually towards your colleagues. Address these two layers of written communication.
Keep your reading audience in mind and write accordingly.
Things to look for and to know:
1) Do not make assumptions about your reader’s knowledge. You must spoon feed readers what
they need to know.
2) Explain abbreviated terms the first time you use them –for example, Aerospace Engineering
(ASE). Afterward this clarification, you may then abbreviate, although perhaps give reminders
of meaning later on. Spelling out meanings will add variety later as well.
3) Explain your assertions. Do not say something is important, necessary, valuable, etc. w/o
saying why it is important, necessary, valuable, etc.
In a similar vein, never say that something “is interesting” in writing. Interestingly good? Bad?
“Interesting” can mean a lot of things. Be specific!
4) Informalities – contractions, colloquial language, ending sentence with prepositions –omit
these entities.
Contractions: incorrect – don’t; correct – do not
Prepositions – words such as to, in, for, about, from should be the last word used in a
sentence or clause
Informal Language (outside of direct quotes) – you wouldn’t say, e.g., that “the
temperature gets up to.” Better is, “The temperature often rises to…”
**Being formal does not mean you have to employ the most fancy, exotic words available in a
thesaurus. Write with a vocabulary level that feels comfortable to you. But do remember that you
are writing formal reports, not emails to friends and informal notes to friends, so avoid slang.
5) Comma usage – especially to separate transitions and proper nouns
Transitions: however, in fact, nevertheless, for example
Correct: “However, the experiment….” Or, “The experiment, however, did….”
Proper nouns: “The University of Texas at Austin, an institution….”
6) Passive voice verbs–any form of “to be.” Examples: is, was, were, had been, will be.
Passive voice often hides the doer of the action. In technical writing, you may
find this voice used frequently. It is accepted. But sometimes you need active voice, if
only for variation of tone. Passive writing says that “information was hidden from
researchers”; active voice states that “a company tried to hide information from
researchers.”
7) Use parallel constructions: with preps, e.g. - to build and to repair. You do not always have
to include the 2nd “to,” but you probably need to do so if the second preposition comes a while
after the first.
Also, make other structures parallel, especially in a series of items: example - “I like biking,
swimming, playing baseball,” not “I like biking, swimming, and to play baseball.”
8) NEVER SPLIT INFINITIVES – this is my grammar pet peeve and a sign of sloppiness. An
infinitive equals “to” plus a verb, NOT “to” plus a noun. No matter how awkward it might seem
not to put the modifier or other word between “to” and the verb, you may not do so EVER!
Rearrange the sentence according so as not to split infinitives, which often obfuscate the
meaning of what you really want to say.
Correct: to write correctly
Incorrect: to correctly write
9) Some basic grammar terms I use when describing sentences or sentence parts:
Clause: group of words with a subject and a verb
Two types of clauses:
Dependent: can not stand alone
Ex. – “As I was watching the television, …”
Independent: makes a complete sentence in and of itself
Ex. – “I ate nachos.”
Phrase: group of words without a subject and verb
Prepositional phrase: at the store
Four types of sentence structures:
Simple – basic, has main subject(s) and verb(s)
Ex. - I ate nachos. Or, “He and I prepared and ate nachos.)
Compound – 2 or more simple sentences joined together by a conjunction and
comma. Conjunction – and, but, or, nor, for, yet
Ex. – He ate nachos, and I ate tacos.
Complex – a sentence with both dependent clause(s) and one independent clause
Ex. – As I was watching the television, I ate nachos.
I ate the nachos, which I prepared with the cheese that I bought today.
Compound Complex – 2 or more independent clauses, each with at least 1 dependent
Ex. – He ate the nachos that he bought earlier, and he ate the tacos that he
bought an hour ago at the restaurant that is next to the mall.
10) Vary use of vocabulary and sentence structures. Watch that you do not begin sentences with
dependent clauses too often. And do not repeat the same verb or nouns or phrases over and over.
Find different ways of expressing your ideas as often as possible.
11) Use of demonstratives (this, that, these, and those) and personal (it, they, we, us, etc.)
pronouns. Readers must have enough information to know antecedents –i.e., the word for which
the pronoun stands- if you use pronouns.
Ex. - “The cars and the people filled the roads and alleys. This did not allow for movement of
traffic.”
What “this” means really does not explain explicitly what you want to say. You want to
say that “This congestion in the streets…” or something that spells out what “this” means.
12) Misplaced (dangling) modifiers, whether they be only a word, a phrase, or a clause
Examples:
“There could have been an error in the cursers after a certain point that was not caught.”
“The call will stand on the field” – Sunday Night Football, ESPN, November 7, 2004.
Particularly Problematic: Participles
A present participle is a verb ending in –ing. This form is called a dangling participle
when the subject of the -ing verb and the subject of the sentence do not agree. An
example is, "Rushing to finish the paper, Bob's printer broke." Here the subject is Bob's
printer, but the printer is not doing the rushing. Better would be, "While Bob was rushing
to finish the paper, his printer broke." (Pay close attention to sentences beginning with
When ——ing.)
One way to tell whether the participle is dangling is to put the phrase with the participle
right after the subject of the sentence: "Bob's printer, rushing to finish the paper, broke"
doesn't sound right.
NOTE: Not all words in -ing are participles: in the sentence "Answering the questions in
chapter four is your next assignment," the word answering functions as a noun, not a
verb. (These nouns in -ing are called gerunds.)
Source: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/d.html#dangling
As a rule, put any modifier as close to what’s modified as possible.
13) Condense writing – look for places where you can combine into one pithy sentence those
ideas which you stated in two sentences.
Ex. – verbose: “De-icing mechanisms were installed to prevent significant amounts of ice
from forming along the span of the wing and tail. When ice forms and accumulates, the resultant
ice formation can cause a considerable disturbance to the flow over the airfoil. The disturbance
can cause surfaces to vibrate and go into oscillations.”
Better: “De-icing mechanisms were installed to prevent significant amounts of ice from forming
along the span of the wing and tail, which causes considerable disturbance to the flow over the
airfoil and leads to vibrations and oscillations of surfaces.
14) Do not create extremely short paragraphs. Shoot for the 10-12 line range.
15) Topic sentences
Topic sentences should set up your paragraph’s use of evidence, and they usually comprise the
first sentence of the paragraph. TS’s are the rudders of the paragraphs and alert the reader to
what will follow.
Two uses for TS’s: topic sentences for paragraphs and for sections. The best TS’s are dynamic.
That is, they explain what the paragraph will say in relation to the overall thrust of the paper.
TS’s often play off the paragraph before and set up the current paragraph’s evidence for your
main argument in the paper. Concluding sentences allow for segue into the next paragraph.
Examples: what’s logically wrong about the TS and what follows? Does the paragraph
reinforce the topic idea?
-In this lab we used a wide variety of tools and equipment that need a little of
explanation. We first started by calculating the undamped natural frequency of the RLC
circuit using the given values of L and C, which were L=0.553 H and C=0.01 μF,
respectively…. (Hint: Does the rest of the paragraph discuss “a wide variety of tools?
The paragraph ought to do so as the TS indicates it will.)
16) No need to write “in my opinion” or similar phrases. You are the writer, so it is all your
opinion.
17) Use “since” to denote time, not in place of “because,” which shows a causal relationship.
18) No need to use the “ize” suffix with many verbs, i.e., “utilize,” for “use” will suffice.
19) Comma usage – be especially careful when setting off transitions and proper nouns, for
example. These types of words require commas.
20) Make spacing between headings and text consistent.
21) In the introduction, tell me significance of your research in relation to previous work in the
field. In the conclusion section, give future recommendations for experiments on your topic. In
these two sections and in the abstract, give the context of your experiment, i.e., why is it
important in engineering and the “real world.” Your report needs context to make people aware
of your work’s significance and want to read about what you have done. Otherwise, readers may
move on and read something else more appealing. (ASE 369K class only)
Abbreviations used in grading:
C = comma missing
ww = wrong word
sp = spelling error
run-on (or, r-o) = run-on sentence (two or more complete sentences not joined properly)
# = number, or singular/plural issues
s/v = subject/verb disagreement
TS = topic sentence
sp. inf. = split infinitive
misplaced mod. = misplaced modifier, could denote adjective (only word) or adjectival/adverbial
phrase or clause that you have misplaced (see below)
prep = preposition
informal = means language used is colloquial or not suitable for formal writing
frag = fragment. In other words, an incomplete sentence – lacks main subject or verb
ex. “In particular, the scattered points in the phase angle plot for the minimum damping
case that varied from the theoretical.” Has a verb, but that verb lies in a dependent clause
describing “case,” so it does not count as a main clause (independent) verb.
___________
word/phrase_| word/phrase : the boxy part means you need to switch words or phrases
¶ = paragraph
sent = sentence
Further consultation/explanation:
www.dictionary.com (Good for the thesaurus, to help you vary vocabulary.)
see link Grammar, usage & style on dictionary.com. At this page, you might try the
following:
Guide to Grammar and Style, by Jack Lynch is helpful. Or,
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. Jane Straus' reference guide and
workbook
Also, the UT library homepage (see “Reference Sites” under “Research Tools”) has some great
dictionaries and thesauruses.
For a more fun read on some common mistakes, see
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Features/Columns/?article=grammarmain
If you happen to find any other wonderful sites, let me know so I can update my paper here.
Also, feel free to notify me of any mistakes in this handout so I may correct them. Thanks!