3 Basic Grammar Rules for Academic Writing

Rule #1. Use Proper Punctuation

We assume that you already know the basic rule that you should write complete sentences that have subjects and verbs, and ensure that you start each new sentence with a capital letter. Apart from that, using appropriate punctuation is one of the vital rules you should follow when writing academic papers. The most frequently used options are commas, full stops, dashes, and colons. The crucial point to keep in mind is that you should always strive to write concise and clear sentences. The general rule is that you should tend to keep sentences as short as possible. With that in mind, you should use appropriate punctuation.

Here are some tips that can help in the process of using punctuation marks:

● When using commas, pay attention whether you could split the sentence into two shorter ones instead of dividing it with a comma.

● Aim to avoid question and exclamation marks in an academic assignment. Although you may find room for one or two question marks, exclamations have acounter-effect as they make you over-excited, and you should keep a serious tone.

● Minimize the use of dashes – that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t utilize them at all, but try to limit their use.

● Colons can be useful to optimize the structure of your assignment. You can place them before lists or long quotations.

Rule #2. Use Passive Voice

Whenever you have the opportunity, you should stick to using active voice. That is the rule for all types of writing, including academic assignments. The reason is that it is difficult for the reader to read a lot of passive sentences, which is why experts suggest avoiding them. Additionally, it may affect the power that your sentences have. Keep in mind that it may be necessary to use passive voice here and there, especially in academic assignments. However, you should aim to keep them under 10% of the total number of sentences included. You can find online counters that will help you to know how many times you used passive voice in an assignment.

Rule #3. Use the Right Words

While your priority should be to keep sentences clear and concise, you are writing anacademic-level assignment. That means there should be room for professional terms and a serious tone. Using the right words will show the reader that you have a good understanding of the topic and know how to use advanced terms. Please note that you shouldn’t use any slang words because they sound unprofessional and diminish the overall quality of your task. For the same reason, you should try to avoid shortening the negations and pronouns. That means you should use “it is” instead of “it’s” and “should not” instead of “shouldn’t.” While we are on the topic, let’s mention the importance of proper spelling.

A single letter may completely change the word meaning. Here are some common examples to avoid making the same mistakes:

● Effect and affect – you affect a certain action for it to produce the desired effect.

● Fewer and less – you use the former for numbers and the latter for quantity.There are fewer students than the last year and less work than before.

● Their and there – their marks possession while there is an indication of place.

Why Should You Consider Hiring a Writing Service?

Writing might not be your strong point, and you may have some problems with writing clear and concise sentences. It is not easy to ensure that your grammar is flawless, and your content flow is optimal. That is why you may consider asking a professional writing service for help. Professional writers are capable of completing an academic task in a short timeframe, which is why you can consider hiring them if you have limited time to submit your work. It takes a lot of efforts to write a good academic assignment. Apart from ensuring thatyou stay relevant and on topic, you also need to confirm that spelling and grammar are flawless. We mentioned some basic grammar rules in this article with the purpose of helping you to optimize your work properly. We hope that you will consider them useful.

In case you still need writing help, you can always hire a professional writer to do the job for you while you take care of other tasks.