General Writing Guides - Page 2

What is It? It shows unfinished actions in the past―such that have begun before now, and are still in process at the moment of speaking.…

What is It? The future tense is needed to show that certain events are just about to happen. When to Use? Cases: * When a…

What is It? It is used to show that in the past, a speaker thought about something that would happen in future. It does not…

What is It? Uses will have + a verb in the past tense (part particle) or am/is/are + going to have + a verb in…

What is It? An article is a type of adjective that is always used together with a noun and carries information about it. Articles are…

Supporting evidence is one of the most crucial components of academic writing. Evidence is what makes your claims credible; it is important to support each…

What is a Colon Needed For? A colon (:) is a punctuation mark used to start any kind of enumeration or lists. It is also…

What is It? The past simple tense is used to express the notion that an action began and was completed at a certain time in…

What is It? The past perfect is had + a verb in passive voice (past particle). When to Use? Cases Examples *Show how something happened…

What is It? Uses will have been + a verb in the present tense (present particle) or am/is/are + going to have been + a…

What is It? Using will/won’t + be + verb (present particle) when you want to say an action will be in progress in the future…

The general rule with semicolons: before and after a semicolon, there needs to be independent clauses, or phrases that could be complete sentences. When to…

The general rule for commas is that we use them to make reading more understandable by separating parts of a sentence so that readers don’t…

There are two types of dashes: the en dash ( – ) and em dash ( — ). When to Use the En Dash: 1.…

What’s the Difference Between Independent and Subordinate Clauses? English sentences can exist in the form of both independent and subordinate clauses. An independent clause is…

What is a Misspelling? Mistakes are a regular part of academic writing. In its turn, one of the most common mistakes is misspelling. Simply put,…

Every essay should be supported with specific facts and evidence—this is one of the main rules of academic writing. Respectively, students should keep in mind…

Why Do We Need Quotation Marks? Quotation marks are needed to mark a phrase or sentence as a quotation, direct speech, or literal title or…

What is Vague Writing? Vague writing stems from writers that have the inability to express exactly what they want to say. Instead of directly and…

What is an Argument? An argument is a claim that one uses to support a thesis statement. Arguments can be inserted in text in the…