Tips on Essay Grammar, Style, and Punctuation
Many students have troubles using semi-colons and commas. If you find yourself among those learners, and the rules about semi-colons and commas do not mean much to you, then try this method. Take your time to read one of some sentences aloud, then hear where you would take a breath and would naturally pause. If it is a short pause, then you most likely need a comma. If it is a longer pause, however, not the one for which you would need a period, perhaps you need a semi-colon. Those sentence or words that follow a semi-colon should be able to stand on its own. All these steps can make your essay grammar free of mistakes.
It is very important to choose the right punctuation in the paper. The reason is that correct essay grammar will make the sentence readable.
When you are working on the structure of your assignment, you have to make sure that it is clear and concise. Do not forget to conduct a grammar check as well. You have to be certain that your sentences are smooth and you do not overuse punctuation signs. Sentences should be easy to read. Your reader should not gasp for breath after reading a long and unpunctuated sentence. Please, keep in mind that you are responsible for your readers’ emotions.
Make sure that you check the use of hyphens and dashes. When there is a clause in your paper, it is appropriate to use the longer dash, which is called an m-dash. (In case you do not have m-dash function on your laptop/computer, there is an option of indicating it with two hyphens.) Also, make sure that you remember the rule that the sentence parts preceding and following the dashes make sense even if you remove the bracket and the dashes. (There are many sentences’ examples, when a sentence is readable with or without a clause that is inside the dashes). All the above discussed essay grammar check issues should be carefully examined.
In case you want to dramatically emphasize a part of the sentence, the m-dash can be used in place of a colon; you may look at the example: “The wall in her room was filled with pictures of people she loved dearly—her mom, her grandmother, and an aunt.” The m-dash can also be used to add to a sentence a surprising element: “The pictures of her family were displayed on her wall; there were photographs of her parents, siblings, and grandparents,—and the Muffin, their Yorkshire terrier.” M-dash is usually used to distinguish different sentence parts, while hyphens join the words together; the examples of hyphens are: sister-in-law, broken-hearted, and two-thirds. Make sure to use those signs appropriately and perform an essay check.
Remember that when using abbreviations, you need to explain them, unless you feel confident that an average intelligent reader will easily identify the acronym—like when a certain acronym is more commonly used than the words it stands for. (For example, there is no need to write out all the words for abbreviations, such as ESP, CEO, NATO, or AIDS). Please, always remember about the audience of the essay you are working on; though, readers who are professional in a particular discipline may not be willing or need to have the terms spelled out for them. For such readers, spelling and grammar check are of huge importance as well.