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General Rules & Expletives

STYLE. General Rules & Expletives. Rules for Strong Writing. Vigorous writing is concise! Style guidelines for formal, scholarly literary analysis essays ensure vigorous, concise writing. Use third person pronouns. Avoid 1 st person pronouns (unless part of a quoted passage)

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General Rules & Expletives

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  1. STYLE General Rules & Expletives

  2. Rules for Strong Writing • Vigorous writing is concise! • Style guidelines for formal, scholarly literary analysis essays ensure vigorous, concise writing. • Use third person pronouns. • Avoid 1st person pronouns (unless part of a quoted passage) • NO!I think that birds of prey represent Macbeth. • YES! Birds of prey represent Macbeth. • Avoid 2nd person pronouns (you, your, etc.) • Remember: your essay is about the work of literature—not about you or me!

  3. More Rules for Strong Writing • Use formal diction • No slang or informal language • No contractions • No “air quotes” around your own “coined” words or phrases, either. • Follow any demonstrative pronoun (this, that, these, those) with its antecedent. • NO: This is a logical fallacy. • YES: This conclusion presents a logical fallacy.

  4. More Rules for Strong Writing • Use specific, active verbs—POWER verbs! • Choose verbs that say precisely what you need them to say. • Avoid expletives. • There or It + a form of the verb to be • Use active voiceconstructions. • Subjects perform the actions of the verbs

  5. Expletives • Definition: filler words; take up unnecessary space • Formula: There or Itfollowed by a form of the verb to be(be, is, am, are, was, were, been, being) • Ex. There are, there were, there was, there will be, there has been, etc. • Ex. It is, it was, it will be, it has been, etc. • Often appear at the beginnings of sentences—Watch out!

  6. Revising Expletives Example: There were thirty students in my room. • Find the real subject and place at the beginning of the clause. Revision: Thirty students were in my room. Problem: A form of the verb “to be” is still the main verb—still shows nothing specific—only says they existed there. • Rid the sentence of its main “to be” verb (can use forms of “to be” as auxiliaries/helping verbs)Surgery: Thirty students in my room.

  7. Removing Expletives Surgery: Thirty students in my room. • Fill in the blank! Replace the main to be verb with an action verb that says specifically what you want to communicate. Use POWER VERBS!

  8. Expletive Revision • There was thunder in the distance. • To Revise— • Find the true subject of the sentence: thunder • Give it a specific action verb. • The thunder _________________ . • rumbled, roared, ended, rattled, whispered, clashed, banged, rolled, erupted, etc. • * “There was” covers all of the above but says none of them specifically!*

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