1. Grammar Must Haves Parallel Structure and Other Key Writing Notes
ENG 101--Monday
K. Thompson
Source: PURDUE OWL

2. Consistent Word endings
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and kayaking.
-ed
Mary hiked, swam, and kayaked. -S
Mary hikes, swims, and kayaks.

3. With Infinitives Mary likes to hike, to swim, and to kayak.
Mary likes to hike, swim, and kayak.

4. Do not mix forms
Not Parallel: The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurate ly, and in a detailed manner.
Parallel: The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and thoroughly.

5. Practice
Not Parallel: The teacher said that he was a poor student because he waits until the last minute to study for the exam, completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and his motivation was low.

6. A possible correction
Parallel: The teacher said that he was a poor student because he waited until the last minute to study for the exam, completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and lacked motivation.

7. Clauses
A parallel structure that begins with clauses must keep on with clauses. Changing to another pattern or changing the voice of the verb (from active to passive or vice versa) will break the parallelism.
Example:
Not Parallel: The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that they should not eat too much, and to do some warm-up exercises before the game.
Parallel: The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that they should not eat too much, and that they should do some warm-up exercises before the game.
— or —
Parallel: The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, not eat too much, and do some warm-up exercises before the game.

8. Lists after colons
Not Parallel: The dictionary can be used to find these: word meanings, pronunciations, correct spellings, and looking up irregular verbs.
Parallel: The dictionary can be used to find these: word meanings, pronunciations, correct spellings, and irregular verbs.

9. How to Punctuate Titles
Italics
Novels
Whole websites
Entire Publications
Textbook
Quotation Marks
Essays
Page from a website
Chapter in a book

10. Who, Whom, That Who = he/they Whom = him/them
Reverse the question into a statement or change the order of the wording to form a statement into which you substitute “he” or “him”
Choose “he” or “him”
Replace with “who” or “whom”

11. 1. Who/Whom are you going to invite to the party?
2. I am wondering who/whom is going to do the dishes.
3. He doesn’t know who/whom the boss of the company is.
4. I know the man who/whom won the contest.
5. I know exactly who/whom I’m going to support in the upcoming election.

12. Who, Whom, That
“That” is reserved for non-humans.

13. Bias
prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair
In argumentative writing, we want to eliminate bias by using neutral language and by presenting all viewpoints fairly.
The tone of a writer’s language can help to eliminate bias.

14. Thesis Statements Establish a focus for an essay
Can be revised along the way
Are helpful when revising
Should be used as a guide when checking topic sentences and paragraph content within an essay

15. Affect vs. Effect (Test Bonus!)
Affect—verb
Effect—noun
Affect with an a means "to influence," as in, The arrows affected Aardvark, or The rain affected Amy's hairdo. Affect can also mean, roughly, "to act in a way that you don't feel," as in, She affected an air of superiority.
Effect has a lot of subtle meanings as a noun, but to me the meaning "a result" seems to be at the core of all the definitions. For example, you can say, "The effect was eye-popping," or "The sound effects were amazing," or "The rain had no effect on Amy's hairdo."