Advanced Writing Cheat Sheet (Page 4 of 4) in pdf

Ex. The fans cheered their idol.

5. Use a plural pronoun to refer to two or more antecedents that are joined by and.

Ex. Helen Wills and Babe Ruth were noted for their athletic skills.

6. Five indefinite pronouns are always plural: several, few, both many, and others. A plural pronoun is used to refer to a

plural indefinite pronoun.

Ex. Both of the boys babysat their brother.

7. Five indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural depending on how they are used in a sentence: all, none, most,

some.

Ex. Most of the paragraph was typed after it was proofread. [singular]

Parallelism

Parallelism: Writing with parallelism involves using similar sentence structures to express ideas that are similar in content.

You can use parallelism to balance or contrast related ideas.

Not Parallel:

The doctor saw the boy, named the illness, and she gave a pill.

Parallel: The doctor saw the boy, named the illness, and gave a pill.

Not Parallel:

She asked where the fire was and the cause of it.

Parallel: She asked where the fire was and what caused it.

Quote Integration

Rule 1: Context Lead-in – Incorporate quotes into your writing by providing context

Explain who says it (if dialogue), when the quote takes place, and what is happening

Example: Head of the court, King Arthur, wants the Green Knight to feel welcome, he requests the Green Knight to “get

down from [his] horse and join us for dinner” (line 36).

Transition (For example, + when/while/because/even though + information + quote

Example: After no other members of his court stepped up to the duel from the Green Knight, the chivalrous King Arthur

“decided now to draw near” (line 104).

Rule 2: Keep quotations as short as possible. Three words can impact the reader quite successfully. Use ellipses () to

reduce unnecessary words before, during, or after a quotation.

Example: As the Green Knight raised his axe to strike Sir Gawain for the first time, Sir Gawain “cast a side glance

… and his shoulders jerked away” (lines 257-259).

Example: Disgraced by his actions in the duel, Sir Gawain “shrank away in shame … and flung the sash at the

Green Knight” (lines 364-369).

Rule 3: At times, in order to make the quotation make sense or sound better, you may need to add or replace a word or two or

change forms of words within the quotations. Use brackets [ ].

Example: Whether angry or embarrassed, King Arthur draws his sword when “[The Green Knight] laughed so loud that

the lord was distressed” (line 99).

Example: Confident and patient, “[The Green Knight] stood before [King Arthur], in stature higher by a head or

more than any man here in the house (lines 114-115).

Rule 4: When quoting passages already in quotation marks (dialogue) replace the double quotations with single quotation marks

(apostrophe key) and then put the entire passage within double quotes.

Example: Standing aside Guinevere, Gawain exclaims to the King, “’let this game be mine’” (line 124).

Example: Putting his court before himself, Sir Gawain states “’let it fall to me’” (line 141).

Advanced Writing Cheat Sheet Page 4