The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: An Easy-to-Use Guide with Clear Rules, Real-World Examples, and Reproducible Quizzes The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: An Easy-to-Use Guide with Clear Rules, Real-World Examples, and Reproducible Quizzes Paperback eTextbook Spiral-bound

Be Specific

Use concrete rather than vague language. This is especially important when offering a description or providing details.

Write in Active Voice

Use active voice whenever possible. Active voice means the subject is performing the verb. Passive voice means the subject receives the action.

Name Names

Avoid overusing there is, there are, it is, it was, etc.

Stay Positive

To avoid confusion (and pompousness), don't use two negatives to make a positive without good reason.

Pay Attention to Form

Use consistent grammatical form when offering several ideas. This is called parallel construction.

Give a Good Description

Place descriptive words and phrases as close as is practical to the words they modify.

Put Things in Order

Word order is important. If you start a sentence with an incomplete phrase or clause, it must be followed closely by the person or thing it describes. Furthermore, that person or thing is always the main subject of the sentence. Breaking this rule results in the dreaded, all-too-common dangling modifier, or dangler.

Watch Out for Fragments

A sentence fragment is usually an oversight, or a bad a idea. It occurs when you have only a phrase or dependent clause but are missing an independent clause.

Punctuate Your Dialogue

When writing dialogue, indent each new line, enclose it in quotation marks, and attribute it to the speaker. Once the speakers are established, their attributions may be dropped until needed again for clarity. Each change in speaker also begins a new line.

If a speaker's dialogue continues beyond one paragraph, an opening quotation mark is placed at the start of each new line. The closing quotation mark appears at the end of the dialogue.