Rules of parellelism

Unskillful writers do not always follow the rules of parallelism. They are worried that if they repeat clauses and phrases of the same kind, their writing will be monotonous. That is not true. Of course, you are not supposed to fill your paragraphs with the same kind of sentence patterns. You must still strive to ensure that structures used within the sentence are parallel in structure.

So, for example, if you are creating a list, make sure that all items in the list have the same grammatical property. You can’t create a list consisting of nouns and adjectives. You have to choose either adjectives or nouns.

Incorrect: I like Cathie because she is beautiful, kind and intelligence. (Here we use two adjectives and one noun.)
Correct: I like Cathie because she is beautiful, kind and intelligent. (Here we use three adjectives.)
Correct: I admire Cathie for her beauty, intelligence and kindness. (Here we use three nouns.)

Incorrect: Formerly, science subjects were taught by the textbook method, while now the laboratory method is used.
Correct: Formerly, science subjects were taught by the textbook method; now they are taught by the laboratory method.

By this principle, if an article or a preposition applies to all the items in a list, it should be used only before the first item. Or you can repeat it before each item.

Incorrect: The robin sings in summer, winter, spring and in autumn.
Correct: The robin sings in summer, winter, spring and autumn.
Correct: The robin sings in summer, in winter, in spring and in autumn.

Rules for writing numbers

While writing numbers, sometimes we use figures or digits and sometimes we write out the number in words. Here is a quick overview of the rules for writing numbers.

Small numbers

Numbers smaller than ten should be spelled out.

• Two birds were sitting on a branch. (NOT ‘2 birds were sitting on a branch.’)

Two-word numbers should be expressed in figures. Examples are: 24, 32, 56 etc.

• I got only 35 marks in English. (More natural than I got only thirty-five marks in English.)

One-word numbers can be spelled out. Examples are: eleven, thirteen, twenty, thirty etc.

When writing large number we often use commas.

• There are 746,372 voters in this constituency.

The period is used as a decimal separator. Example: 10.5

The International Systems of Units (SI) does not recommend the use of commas or periods.
SI recommends that a space should be used to separate groups of three digits.

• He earns $1 500 000 a year.

You cannot begin a sentence with a numeral.

• Write ‘Twenty years ago…’ (NOT 20 years ago…)

Sometimes you will have to change the structure of the sentence to remove the numeral from the beginning.

• Write ‘They sold 400,000 copies on the first day’ instead of ‘400,000 copies were sold on the first day.’

Centuries should be spelled out.

• In the nineteenth century

But some writers also use a combination of numbers and letters. Example: 19th century

Percentages

In a less formal style, you can use the symbol %. In formal writing, you should spell the percentage out.

• She got 96% marks. (Informal)
• She got 96 percent marks. (Formal)

The rules of capitalization

The rules of capitalization in English can be quite confusing. Most students understand that they should begin a sentence with a capital letter. They also understand that proper nouns (e.g. Mark, Mary) should be capitalized.

However, the most common mistakes occur with national adjectives and the names of languages.

If you find the rules of capitalization confusing, this article will be helpful to you.

• Capitalize ‘I’
• Capitalize the names of countries. Examples: Japan, America, Russia
• Capitalize national nouns and adjectives. Examples: Chinese, Russian, French, British
• Capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence or question.
• Capitalize proper nouns (i.e. the names of people). Examples: John, Mary, Annie
• Do not capitalize common nouns. Examples: boy, tree, flower, butterfly
• Capitalize the names of institutions, organizations etc.
• Capitalize the names of festivals. Examples: Id, Diwali, Easter, Christmas

Study the examples given below.

• He went to university.

University is a common noun and hence we do not capitalize it.

• He went to Oxford University. (NOT He went to oxford university.)

The names of universities, organizations, institutions, mountains, deserts and rivers are capitalized. Note that when you write the name of a university or an organization, all words in the name begin with capital letters.

Examples

• British Broadcasting Corporation (NOT British broadcasting corporation)
• United Nations Organization (NOT United nations organization)

Notes
In British English, the article ‘the’ is not normally used before the names of universities, public buildings or organizations. However, in American English, ‘the’ is more often used in such cases.

• He studied at the Harvard University. (US)

Correct the mistakes in the following sentences.

1. He introduced me to mary, his wife.

2. I don’t understand french, but I can speak a little spanish.

3. They went skiing in the alps.

4. She bought a new Car for her birthday.

5. Peter comes from new england.









































Answers

1. He introduced me to Mary, his wife.

2. I don’t understand French, but I can speak a little Spanish.

3. They went skiing in the Alps.

4. She bought a new car for her birthday.

5. Peter comes from New England.

Mixed constructions

A sentence must have two parts – the subject and the predicate.

The subject is what the sentence is about and the predicate is what we are going to say about the subject.

If the sentence is to make complete sense, we have to put the two parts together in reasonable ways.

Problems with the adverb clause
When we write a sentence the subject normally goes at the beginning. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule.

Consider the following sentence.

• Sweet are the uses of adversity.

Here the real subject ‘the uses of adversity’ goes at the end of the sentence which begins with an adjective. But as we have already said, this is an exception rather than the rule and we most often begin simple sentences with subjects.

A simple sentence has just one clause. A complex sentence, on the other hand, may have two or more clauses (one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses).

A complex sentence can begin with a subordinate adverb clause.

But note that an adverb clause can’t act as a noun; it can’t be a subject. It can merely modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb in the main clause.

A prepositional phrase, too, cannot act as the subject of an independent clause. It can begin a sentence, but it can’t act as the subject.

Study the examples given below.

• Incorrect: In his attempt to win the election broke several rules about pre-poll publicity.
• Correct: In his attempt to win the election, the candidate broke several rules about pre-poll publicity.
• Correct: The candidate’s attempt to win the election broke several rules about pre-poll publicity.

In the incorrect sentence given above, a prepositional phrase was used in the place of a subject.

A clause needs just one subject, but sometimes we incorrectly write sentences which actually have two subjects in a situation that calls for just one.

• Incorrect: The new automated answering machine we began to use it in the fall.
• Correct: We began to use the new automated answering machine in the fall.

Sentences: simple and compound

There are mainly three kinds of sentences in English: simple, complex and compound.

Simple sentence
A simple sentence consists of just one clause. Examples are given below.

• The dog barks.
• The kettle boils.
• Birds live in nests.
• The boys are singing.

In its simplest form, a simple sentence consists of a subject and a verb.

We can add more meaning to the sentence by including qualifiers, objects, complements etc.

• Sitting on a branch, the monkey gibbered.
• The little girl was carrying a basket on her head.

Compound sentence
A compound sentence is made up of two or more independent clauses.

• The boys sang and the girls danced.

This compound sentence consists of two simple clauses connected by the coordinating conjunction and.

Another example is given below.

• Men may come and men may go, but I go on forever.

This compound sentence consists of three independent clauses.

We make compound sentences by joining independent clauses with the help of coordinating conjunctions.

More examples of compound sentences are given below.

• You may watch TV or you can go out to play.
• You should either sit quietly or go out.
• The old man could neither see nor hear.
• He took the test several times but he couldn't pass.
• He is famous, yet he is very humble.
• She was angry, still she kept her cool.
• The thieves not only robbed the man of his possessions, but also inflicted injuries on him.

Notes

The words however, therefore and nevertheless are not conjunctions. They cannot be used to connect two independent clauses.

• My car broke down on the way; therefore, I hired a taxi. (NOT My car broke down on the way, therefore I hired a taxi.)
• He lost all his money; nevertheless, he is cheerful.

Two independent clauses need to be connected with a coordinating conjunction or separated with a full stop or a semicolon.