The passive voice – Passive verbs, those in “to be” form tend to weaken sentences compared to active verbs. You can’t always avoid them, especially if you don’t know who did (or will do) something.
Example: “Your landscape plan determines how you want your lawn and garden to be designed.”
In this case, if the document isn’t specifically addressed to the do-it-yourselfer, the passive voice is a shortcut around whether the reader will handle the details him or herself or choose a professional.
Otherwise, knowledge of who will tackle the task yields a more direct revision: “Your landscape plan determines how you want to design your lawn and garden.”
Prepositions at the end of sentences – “With,” “for,” “on,” and “to” are among the prepositions some grammarians suggest you shouldn’t park at the end of sentences. But if you rearrange them, your sentences will sometimes sound awkward.
Example: “Which street are you on?” vs. “On which street are you?”
Conjunctions at the beginning of sentences – When I was in elementary school, my teachers advised me not to start my sentences with because, but, also, and, or other conjunctions; despite the formality, it was a way to make students work harder to word their sentences. To me, it’s fine if the sentences you start with those conjunctions aren’t merely fragments.
Example: “And vanilla ice cream.”
Better edit: “And I love vanilla ice cream.”
Split infinitives – The phrase Captain Kirk (William Shatner) says during the Star Trek TV series opening credits before the theme starts is a classic example: “To boldly go where no one has gone before.” (a la Grammar Girl.) Essentially, it’s the placement of an adverb — in this case, boldly, before a verb form (to go; the infinitive) — instead of after it, where some grammarians believe adverbs traditionally belong. Sometimes, it just doesn’t sound right to position adverbs properly, and we split infinitives to clarify what we mean.
Use of the second person – Depending on their audience, not everyone writes in a formal, grammatically correct tone. It’s more personal and direct to refer to you as you, instead of the more distant phrase the reader.
Quotes
English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment, and education — sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across the street. ~ E.B. White
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs. ~ Jack Lynch
Comments? Suggestions? Need help with your writing? Feel free to contact me.
Michelle Troutman
classywriting.com
