All students at some stage during their course will need to submit written work in order to demonstrate their understanding of their course. Regardless of how big or small the assignment, the correct use of grammar is an important consideration for any student. Written assignments are a students chance to demonstrate their skills, understanding and knowledge. It is important that grammar is used correctly.

As a student, you are undergoing professional training, which in many cases is preparing you to enter professional careers so it is important that your work looks professional. At its very least your work needs to be of the same professional standard professionals working in that field would be expected to use. Your work must be credible.

The whole point of written communication is to convey a message. If the reader fully understands what you have written, then you as a writer have done your job. How much attention you need to pay to grammar will depend on who the writing is intended for and why you are writing it. In this day and age of text messaging and email-speak, grammar is even more important as it is not something every person needs to use every time they write. Your best friend most likely speaks the language of text, so emails to them about social things can be very informal and abbreviated. While your friends may know exactly what you mean by C U @ 8, it is not appropriate language for an assignment. A written assignment is generally marked by someone who does not know you personally and can not clarify any details before grading your work. Grammar needs to be more formal in assignments in the same way your behaviour is more formal when meeting people for the first time or when you are speaking to someone in an official capacity.

Poor grammar is the equivalent of ‘dumbing down’ your work. As a result of poor grammar, you may appear to know less about a topic that you actually do. If your grammar and spelling is bad enough it may even introduce confusion to your writing and distort the meaning of your work. The resulting lower marks may not represent your knowledge completely.

Correct grammar, accurate word usage, punctuation and spelling all add up to the correct use of English and are all important considerations for your written work.

So what exactly is grammar? It is far more than starting a sentence with a capital letter and ending it with a full stop. Grammar can be defined a “the study of the way the sentences of a language are constructed; morphology and syntax.’ A less formal definition of grammar is that it is a set of conventions or ‘good manners’ for a group written words. Or more simply, the rules of written language.

At the very heart of grammar is sentences. A sentence is a complete idea. It is made up of a topic (subject) that does something (verb). A sentence is not complete if one is missing. Even short sentences can be complete e.g. John danced. is a complete sentence in which a subject (John) is doing something (dancing).

Important considerations for written work

Paragraphs

Does each paragraph contain a single developed idea? If you wish to introduce a new idea or topic you generally need to start a new paragraph

Paragraphs

1. Does each paragraph contain a single developed idea? If you wish to introduce a new idea or topic you generally need to start a new paragraph
2. Are the paragraphs a reasonable length?

Sentences

1. Are the sentences too long?
2. Are the sentences complete?
3. Are the sentences different lengths?

Spelling

1. Have you spelt all words correctly (do not rely purely on spellcheck – use a dictionary)?
2. Do not use any slang or casual expressions
3. Avoid any padding words that are not necessary.

Common grammatical mistakes to look out for are

1. Incomplete sentences – incomplete sentences has nothing to do with length, full stops or sentences. A sentence is incomplete when it does not contain a complete idea. Commonly incomplete sentences are lacking an action verb.
2. Run on sentences – these occur when writers have attempted to join two sentences together unsuccessfully. The best way to fix this is to not join the sentences – leave them as two. Alternatively there are many conjunctions that will successfully join sentences together – and, but, or
3. Conflicting tenses = all elements of the sentence must be occurring in the same tense (past, present or future)
4. Omitting apostrophes or putting them in the wrong spot – e.g. ‘you’re’ and ‘your’ mean two different things

There are many, many books available that explain all the various complex grammatical rules that govern the written English language. We recommend that students have access to a grammar rule book and dictionary when writing assignments. Your local bookshop or library should be able to assist you find reference materials suitable to your needs.

Further Reading

Emerson, L 2005, Writing Guidelines for Business Students; Thomson Dunmore Press, Melbourne.

Emerson, L 2005 Writing Guidelines for Social Science Students; Thomson Dunmore Press, Melbourne

Betts, K., Farquharson, K., & Seitz, A. Writing Essays and Resharch Reports in the Social Sciences: Thomson Social Science

Adams, P.; Openshaw, R., & Trembath, V 2006, Score More Essential Academic Skills for Tertiary Education; Thomson Dunmore Press, Melbourne

Thomson Education Direct, 2005, Successful Studying; Thomson Education Direct, Sydney