Index

Example

First person pronouns to refer to the author(s) (I and we)

e.g., “I will approach this issue in a roundabout way.”

Unattended anaphoric pronouns (this, these, that, those, it) that can refer to antecedents of varying length

e.g., “This is his raw material.”

Split infinitives an infinitive that has an adverb between to and the verb stem

e.g., “The president proceeded to sharply admonish the reporters.”

Sentence initial conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs

e.g., “And I will blame her if she fails in these ways.”

Sentence final preposition

e.g., “A student should not be taught more than he can think about.”

Listing expressions (“and so on”, “etc.”, “and so forth” used when ending a list)

e.g., “These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD players, etc.”

Second person pronouns/determiners to refer to the reader (you and your)

e.g., “Suppose you are sitting at a computer terminal which assigns you role R.”

Contractions

e.g., “Export figures won't improve until the economy is stronger.”

Direct questions

e.g., “What can be done to lower costs?”

Exclamations

e.g., “This is not the case!”