Formal Writing Rules No texting writing. Do not use abbreviations. Do not use symbols. Write “and.” Do not write & or +. Do not use contractions unless in a quote. Do not use first person: “I, me, my, us, we, our.” Do not write “you.” Use capital letters correctly. Make lower case letters half as tall as capital letters. 10. Write S’s that look like S’s. 11. Write out numbers less than 100. 12. Only use exclamation points when quoting someone! 13. Never write a question in an essay, unless you are quoting someone. 14. Write “a lot” or “many,” not “lots.” 15. Do not say what you are going to write. 16. Do not say what you just wrote.