What is a Colon Needed For? A colon (:) is a punctuation mark used to start any kind of enumeration or lists. It is also used in titles and subtitles of books, business or formal letters, to distinguish hours from…
Writing Guides - Page 5
AcademicHelp.net has a database of free guides on writing academic papers to provide you with guidelines, tips, and hints while writing any paper.
Past Simple Tense
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 the past. At times, the speaker may not tell the specific time, but he or…
Past Perfect Tense
What is It? The past perfect is had + a verb in passive voice (past particle). When to Use? Cases Examples *Show how something happened before another action in the past. 1. I had never seen such a beautiful desert…
Future Perfect Continuous Tense
What is It? Uses will have been + a verb in the present tense (present particle) or am/is/are + going to have been + a verb in the present tense (present particle) to show how much time it will take…
Future Continuous Tense
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 or to describe something that has been scheduled. When to Use? Cases Examples * When…
Using Semicolons
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 Use a Semicolon: 1. To combine two sentences that have no conjunction (but, yet….). Example:…
How to Use Commas
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 get confused about what a certain text means. When to Use a Comma 1. Separating…
Proper Use of Dashes
There are two types of dashes: the en dash ( – ) and em dash ( — ). When to Use the En Dash: 1. To show periods of time. Example: I will be in Poland from the 23rd-25th of…
Subordinate Clauses
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 a complete sentence that contains a subject, a verb, and conveys a complete thought (or…
How to Avoid Mistakes
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, misspelling something is writing a word down incorrectly. Misspelling can happen due to different reasons,…
Information Sources
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 the necessity of presenting quotations, citing references properly, and other bothersome work. However, when making…
Quotation Marks
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 name. e.g. “Whoa, guys, did you launch a hurricane here?” Jim asked when he entered…
How to Write Vague or Detailed
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 clearly describing key points, such an author would use generalizations, avoid specifics and concrete naming,…
Writing an Argument
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 form of facts, statistical data, references to credible sources, logical constructions, and so on. The…
Rules for Capitalization
What is Capitalization? To capitalize a word in the English language means to begin it with a capital letter. In the English language, there are many rules regarding capitalization. When is Capitalization Needed? 1. The first word in a sentence…
Varieties of Sentences
Why is Sentence Variety Important? One of the commonly ignored factors that influence the quality and comprehensibility of an essay is sentence variety. Many writers, especially amateurs, do not pay proper attention to how their writing sounds in general; as…
Rules of Punctuation
Period (.) End a sentence. Example: I love you more now. Question Mark (?) – End a sentence and show a question/inquiry. Example: Have you been there before? Exclamation Point (!) – End a sentence and show excitement or emphasis.…
Tone in Writing
What is a Tone of an Essay? A tone of an essay is the way it sounds to a reader in general. In most cases, the tone depends on the purpose of your paper; for example, if you criticize something,…
Word Order in English Sentences
Word Order in Positive Sentences The basic rule of English syntax for positive sentences is that between a subject and an object of a sentence there should be a verb (or a predicate). Simply put, English sentences have the following…
Fragmented Sentences
How to Recognize a Fragment? A fragment is a sequence of words that begins with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark: usually a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark. However, there is a significant difference…