When writing papers, please make a habit of using your handbook of English usage (and it you don't have one, please acquire one). One brief version of handbook advice is found in:

"Rools Journalists Live By"*

 

  1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
  2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
  3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
  4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
  5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
  6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
  7. Be more or less specific.
  8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
  9. Also, too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
  10. No sentence fragments.
  11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
  12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
  13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
  14. One should never generalize.
  15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
  16. Don't use no double negatives.
  17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
  18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
  19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
  20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
  21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary.
  22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
  23. Kill all exclamation points!!!
  24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
  25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earthshaking ideas.
  26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
  27. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
  28. Puns are for children; not groan readers.
  29. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
  30. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
  31. Who need rhetorical questions?
  32. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. And finally…
  33. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

 

*Source: Michael R. Fancher's column, "Inside the Times," in the October 25, 1998, Seattle Times. He acquired it from an editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic. That editor, in turn, got it from a staff member who received it from an email….. Some intelligent person, somewhere, wrote it.