Mechanics CHAPTER 4
HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS

49
She has a hard time pronouncing s’s.
My street address contains three
5’s.
He packed a week’s worth of clothing.
The project was the result of a year’s worth of work.
7. Show possession in the last word when using names of organizations and busi-
nesses, in hyphenated words, and in joint ownership:
Sam and Janet’s graduation was three months ago.
I went to visit my
great-grandfather’s alma mater.
The Future Farmers of America’s meeting was moved to Monday.
8. Apostrophes form contractions by taking the place of the missing letter or num-
ber. Do not use contractions in highly formal written presentations.
Poor form:
We’re going out of town next week.
Good form:
We are going out of town next week.
Poor form:
She’s going to write the next proposal.
Good form:
She is going to write the next proposal.
Poor form:
My supervisor was in the class of ’89.
Good form:
My supervisor was in the class of 1989.
ITS VERSUS IT’S
Unlike most possessives, its does not contain an apostrophe. The word it’s is

ates a
run-on sentence. To correct a comma splice, you can either:
■
replace the comma with a period, forming two sentences
■
replace the comma with a semicolon
■
join the two clauses with a conjunction such as and, because,or so
Comma splice:
Our school received an award, we raised the most money for
the local charity.
Corrected sentence:
Our school received an award. We raised the most
money for the local charity.
OR
Our school received an award; we raised the most money for the local charity.
OR
Our school received an award because we raised the most money for the local
charity.
Serial Comma
A serial comma is the one used last in a list of items, after the word and. For instance, in the
following example, the comma after
apples is the serial comma:
At the store, I bought bananas, apples, and oranges.
The lack of a serial comma can cause confusion. In the sentence,
Cindy, Ann, and Sally
were hired to work in the college counselor’s office
, the message is straightforward. But if the
serial comma is dropped, it could be understood as Cindy being told that Ann and Sally
were hired.

My teacher wasn’t in class today: he had to fly to Houston to pres-
ent a paper.
Colons have the effect of sounding authoritative. They present information more con-
fidently and forcefully than if the sentence were divided in two other types of punctuation
marks. Consider the following:
My teacher wasn’t in class today: he had to fly to Houston to present a paper.
My teacher wasn’t in class today. He had to fly to Houston to present a paper.
The first example, with the colon, has the tone that conveys,“I know why this happened,
and I am going to tell you.” It sounds more authoritative. This can be effective in your essay,
but because you never want to appear pompous, it should be used sparingly.
THE SEMICOLON
Semicolons (;) may be used in two ways: to separate independent clauses,and to separate the items
in a list when those items contain commas.
HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS

CHAPTER 4 Mechanics
52
■
Use semicolons to separate independent clauses.
Case:
Use a semicolon to separate independent clauses joined without a
conjunction.
Example:
Four people worked on the project; only one received credit for it.
Case:
Use a semicolon to separate independent clauses that contain com-
mas, even if the clauses are joined by a conjunction.
Example:
The strays were malnourished, dirty, and ill; but Liz had a weak-
ness for kittens, so she adopted them all.

HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS

53

F
OR
Y
OUR
R
EVIEW
■
Pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions are the most challenging parts
of speech, accounting for a majority of usage errors. Learn the common errors
to eliminate them from your writing.
■
A dangling participle is a phrase or clause, using a verb ending in -ing that
does not refer to the subject of the sentence it modifies. A misplaced modifier
is a word or phrase that describes something, but is in the wrong place in the
sentence. Both create ambiguity and can change the meaning of a sentence.
■
Nouns and verbs must agree in number, meaning a singular noun takes a sin-
gular verb, and a plural noun takes a plural verb.
■
The active voice is not only clearer and more direct, but it conveys your mean-
ing more easily. Use it instead of the passive voice whenever possible.
■
Avoid the two most common mistakes at the sentence level: sentence frag-
ments and run-on sentences. Be certain each sentence contains one complete
thought.
■