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8: Writing Basics - What Makes a Good Sentence?

  • Page ID
    12091
    • Jenifer Kurtz

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    • 8.1: Sentence Writing
      Imagine you are reading a book for school. You need to find important details that you can use for an assignment. However, when you begin to read, you notice that the book has very little punctuation.
    • 8.2: Subject-verb Agreement
      In the workplace, you want to present a professional image. Your outfit or suit says something about you when meeting face-to-face, and your writing represents you in your absence. Grammatical mistakes in your writing or even in speaking make a negative impression on coworkers, clients, and potential employers.
    • 8.3: Verb Tense
      Suppose you must give an oral presentation about what you did last summer. How do you make it clear that you are talking about the past and not about the present or the future? Using the correct verb tense can help you do this.
    • 8.4: Capitalization
      Text messages, casual e-mails, and instant messages often ignore the rules of capitalization. In fact, it can seem unnecessary to capitalize in these contexts. In other, more formal forms of communication, however, knowing the basic rules of capitalization and using capitalization correctly gives the reader the impression that you choose your words carefully and care about the ideas you are conveying.
    • 8.5: Pronouns
      If there were no pronouns, all types of writing would be quite tedious to read. We would soon be frustrated by reading sentences like Bob said that Bob was tired or Christina told the class that Christina received an A.
    • 8.6: Adjectives and Adverbs
      Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words that bring your writing to life.
    • 8.7: Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
      A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that clarifies or describes another word, phrase, or clause. Sometimes writers use modifiers incorrectly, leading to strange and unintentionally humorous sentences. The two common types of modifier errors are called misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers.


    This page titled 8: Writing Basics - What Makes a Good Sentence? is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jenifer Kurtz via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.