✅ Essential Grammar and Style Rules for College Writers

Avoid Run-On Sentences

1. Use a period, semicolon, or coordinating conjunction (and, but, so, or) to join independent clauses.

   • ❌ She loves writing she practices every day.

   • ✅ She loves writing. She practices every day.

Avoid Sentence Fragments

2. • Every sentence must have subject and a verb and express a complete thought.

   • ❌ Because he studied all night.

   • ✅ He aced the exam because he studied all night.

Use Parallel Structure

3. 
   

   • Items in a list or series should follow the same grammatical form.

   • ❌ She likes hiking, to swim, and bikes.

   • ✅ She likes hiking, swimming, and biking.

Maintain Subject-Verb Agreement

4. 
   

   • Make sure singular subjects take singular verbs and plural subjects take plural verbs.

   • ❌ The list of ideas are helpful.

   • ✅ The list of ideas is helpful.

Use Commas to Separate Independent Clauses

5. 
   

   • If two complete thoughts are joined with and, but, so, or, place a comma before the conjunction.

   • ✅ He studied hard, and he passed the exam.

Use Commas After Introductory Elements

6. 
   

   • ✅ After the lecture, students asked questions.

Use Em Dashes for Emphasis or Interruption

7. 
   

   • Use — (not a hyphen) to set off or emphasize extra information.

   • ✅ Only one thing matters—effort.

Use Semicolons to Join Closely Related Independent Clauses

8. 
   

   • ✅ She loves philosophy; she reads Nietzsche for fun.

Avoid the Comma Splice

9. 
   

   • Don’t join two complete sentences with just a comma.

   • ❌ He went to the library, he forgot his book.

   • ✅ He went to the library, but he forgot his book.

   • ✅ He went to the library; he forgot his book.

Use Active Voice When Possible

• Active voice is usually clearer and more direct.

• ✅ The student wrote the paper.

• (Passive: The paper was written by the student.)

Avoid Wordiness

• Eliminate unnecessary phrases (e.g., “due to the fact that” → “because”).

Use Transitions for Logical Flow

Words like therefore, however, for example, in contrast, etc., guide the reader through your reasoning.

Use Precise Vocabulary

• Choose the most accurate word for your meaning. Avoid vague words like thing, stuff, or a lot.

Avoid Repetitive Phrasing

• Don’t say the same idea twice in slightly different words unless for stylistic emphasis.

Avoid Contractions

• ✅ Do not, cannot, it is (instead of don’t, can’t, it’s) in formal academic writing.

Use Third Person When Appropriate

Unless the assignment calls for personal reflection, avoid I, we, you.

Italicize Long Works; Use Quotation Marks for Shorter Works

• Books, films, websites → italicized

• Articles, essays, short stories → “in quotation marks”

Use “That” and “Which” Correctly

• Use that for essential info (no comma).

• Use which for non-essential info (with a comma).

• ✅ The book that I borrowed is excellent.

• ✅ The book, which I borrowed from the library, is excellent.