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APA Style
Grammar
Verbs
 Use active rather than passive voice, select
tense and mood carefully
 Poor: The survey was conducted in a
controlled setting.
 Better: We conducted the survey in a
controlled setting.
 Poor: The experiment was designed by
Simpson (2001).
 Better: Simpson (2001) designed the
experiment.
Verbs
 Passive voice is acceptable in expository writing and
when you want to focus on the recipient of the action.
 Use past tense to express action that occurred in the
past (e.g. another researcher’s work, reporting results)
 Use present perfect tense (has + verb) to express a
past action that did not occur in a specific time in the
past or that is still continuing to the present.
 “Since that time, investigators from several studies
have used this method.”
Verbs
 Use subjunctive tense to describe conditions
that are contrary to fact or improbable
 Incorrect: If the experiment was not designed
this way, the participants’ performances would
suffer.
 Correct: If the experiment were not designed
this way, the participants’ performances would
suffer.
 Use would with care. Do not use would to
hedge. Example: it would appear that vs. it
appears that
Agreement of Subject and
Verb
 Verb must agree in number (singular vs. plural) with its
subject
 The plural form of some nouns of foreign origin (e.g.
data, phenomena) may appear to be singular when
they are plural.
 Collective nouns can be singular or plural. If action is
on a group as a whole, it is singular. If action is on the
members of a group, it is plural.
 None can be singular or plural. When the noun
following is single, use singular; when the noun
following is plural, use plural. If you mean “not one”,
use not one.
Agreement of Subject and
Verb
 When subject is composed of singular
and plural noun joined by or or nor, the
verb agrees with the noun that is closer.
 If the number of the subject changes,
retain the verb in each clause.
 Example: The positions in the sequence
were changed, and the test was rerun.
Pronouns
 Pronouns replace nouns. Should refer clearly
to antecedent and agree with antecedent in
number and gender.
 Use neuter pronouns to refer to animals unless
animals have been named.
 Pronouns can be subjects or objects of verbs
or prepositions. Use who as the subject of a
verb and whom as an object of a verb or
preposition.
 If you can use he or she, who is correct. If you
can use him or her, whom is correct.
Misplaced and Dangling
Modifiers and Use of Adverbs
 An adjective or adverb must clearly refer to the
word it modifies
 Misplaced modifiers illogically modify a word.
Place adjective or adverb as close as possible
to the word it modifies.
 Unclear: The investigator tested the
participants using this procedure.
 Clear: The investigator tested the participants
who were using this procedure.
 Clear: Using this procedure, the investigator
tested the participants.
Misplaced and Dangling
Modifiers and Use of Adverbs
 Place the word only next to the word or phrase it
modifies.
 Dangling modifiers have no referent in the sentence.
Can be avoided by using active tense.
 Adverbs can be introductory or transitional words. Try
to avoid importantly and interestingly. It is more
appropriate to use important and interesting instead.
 Hopefully means “in a hopeful manner” or “full of hope.”
It does not mean “I hope” or “it is hoped.”
Relative Pronouns and
Subordinate Conjunctions
 Relative pronouns: who, whom, that,
which
 Subordinate conjunctions: since, while,
although
 Introduce an element that is subordinate
to the main clause of the sentence and
reflect the relationship of the subordinate
element into the main clause.
Relative Pronouns
 That vs. which
 That clauses are essential to the meaning of
the sentence. Which merely adds further
information.
 Which clauses are set off with commas
 The animals that performed well in the first
experiment were used in the second
experiment.
 The animals, which performed well in the first
experiment, were not proficient in the second
experiment.
Subordinate Conjunctions
 While and since – both of these words have
temporal and non-temporal meanings. APA
suggests using them only when their temporal
meanings are implied.
 While and although – Use while to link events
occurring simultaneously; otherwise, use
although, whereas, and, or but
 Since and because – Since is more precise
when referring to time, otherwise use because
Parallel Construction
 Present parallel ideas in parallel form
 With coordinating conjunctions used in
pairs, place the first conjunction
immediately before the first part of the
parallelism