{"id":1219,"date":"2020-03-13T14:45:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T14:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/chapter\/text-correctness-in-writing\/"},"modified":"2020-10-05T14:16:50","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T14:16:50","slug":"text-correctness-in-writing","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/chapter\/text-correctness-in-writing\/","title":{"raw":"Correctness in Writing","rendered":"Correctness in Writing"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Evaluate strategies for recognizing potential grammatical issues in a draft<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Evaluate strategies for recognizing potential punctuation issues in a draft<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In thinking about correctness, it\u2019s important to recognize that some rules are more important than others. <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Essential\u00a0Rules of the English Language<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Joseph Williams helpfully distinguishes three kinds of rules in Williams and Bizup\u2019s <em>Style<\/em>.[footnote]Williams first described invented rules in J.M. Williams, \u201cA Phenomenology of Error,\u201d <em>College Composition and Communication<\/em>, 32, no. 2 (1981): 152-168.[\/footnote]<\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">First, there are rules that are basic to English, such as \u201cthe car\u201d not \u201ccar the.\u201d For example, <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">INCORRECT: I thought whether true claims not. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">CORRECT: I hadn\u2019t thought about whether the claims were true. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If you\u2019ve gotten most of your formal education in English, you probably observe these rules routinely. If your writing has mismatches of number (singular\/plural) or tense, it might be\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">due to haste or carelessness rather than unawareness. Similarly, capitalizing the first word of a sentence and ending with appropriate punctuation are basic rules that most people comply with automatically when writing for a professor or in other formal situations.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-632\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2016\/07\/07155108\/8620544599_8232076a34_z.jpg\" alt=\"Slogan printed on a wall: To break the rules, you must first master them.\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" \/><\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\r\nThe following video features two student tutors from the Writing and Reading Center at Fresno City College. In addition to great guidance about proofreading strategies, they also offer insights about what to expect when\u00a0working with Writing Center tutors.\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/STa5W4gm2qY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Rules of Formality<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Williams\u2019 second category is comprised of rules that distinguish standard written English from the informal variants that people use in their day-to-day lives. Most students with middle-class and non-immigrant backgrounds use informal vernaculars that closely parallel standard written English. Students with working-class or more modest backgrounds or who are members of transnational and multi-lingual communities may use informal variants of English in their everyday lives that are quite different from standard written English. It\u2019s an unfortunate reality of social inequality that such students have to expend more effort than their middle-class English-speaking counterparts to master the standard conventions. It\u2019s not really fair, but at least the mechanics and rules of formal writing are documented and unambiguous. Learning to communicate effectively in different social contexts is part of becoming an educated person. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Some examples: <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">INFORMAL: We ain\u2019t got no more of them cookies. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">FORMAL: We don\u2019t have any more of those cookies. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">INFORMAL: My coat, my phone, and my keys was all lock in the car. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">FORMAL: My coat, my phone, and my keys were all locked in the car. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">INFORMAL: u shd go 2 caf\u00e9 b4 wrk bc coffee <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">FORMAL: You should go the caf\u00e9 before work to get some coffee. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The informal versions are clearly English, and they\u2019re widely understandable to others. The first and second examples contain choices of tense, number, and punctuation that are <\/span><span class=\"s2\">inappropriate in standard written English even though they don\u2019t actually impede communication<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Most students already understand that these first two categories of rules (rules fundamental to English and the rules of standard written English) are obligatory for formal writing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Rules as Folklore<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There is a third category of rules that Williams notes and enthusiastically criticizes; he calls them \u201cinvented rules\u201d because they usually arise from busybody grammarians rather than enduring patterns of customary language use. Some invented rules Williams calls \u201coptions\u201d: those that your reader will notice when you <i>observe <\/i>them and not care if you don\u2019t. Here\u2019s an example of the fabled <\/span><span class=\"s2\">don\u2019t-end-a-sentence-with-a-preposition rule<\/span><span class=\"s1\">: <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">OBSERVING THE RULE: With which concept can we analyze this problem? <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">IGNORING THE RULE: Which concept can we analyze this problem with? <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Some grammarians would claim that only the first version is correct. However, you probably have the (accurate) impression that professional writers are much more likely to choose the second version. This rule does not reflect real-life customary practice, even in standard written English.That\u2019s why Williams calls it an \u201cinvented rule.\u201d Most of your professors are fine with the second version above, the one that ends a sentence with a preposition.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-634\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2016\/07\/07160237\/8029219811_a8044f623e_z-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"A pair of hands holding an open book against a background of blurred printed pages\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/>Williams calls the second sub-category of invented rules \u201cfolklore.\u201d They\u2019re invented rules (like \u201coptions\u201d) in that grammarians think writers should observe them, but, in reality, no one does. Williams gleefully lists instances in which the very grammarians who propose these rules go on to unselfconsciously violate them.[footnote]J.M. Williams, <i>Phenomenology of Error<\/i>[\/footnote]<i><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">You may have heard of these rules, but they\u2019re widely considered absurd. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For example, some grammarians are dismayed that people use \u201cthat\u201d and \u201cwhich\u201d interchangeably, and they argue that writers should use \u201cthat\u201d to indicate restrictive elements and \u201cwhich\u201d to indicate non-restrictive elements. A restrictive element is one that makes a necessary specification about something; a non-restrictive element is one that simply adds extra information. Consider these two examples: <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">Version 1: <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">The party that Alex went to was shut down by the police. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">Version 2: <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">The party which Alex went to was shut down by the police. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For almost all readers, versions 1 and 2 are saying the exact same thing. For the persnickety grammarian, version 1 is specifying the party that <i>Alex <\/i>went to, and not the party that, say, Jordan went to, while version 2 is simply inserting extra information about Alex\u2019s attendance at the party. According to these grammarians, \u201cthat Alex went to\u201d adds critically needed information (restrictive) while \u201cwhich Alex went to\u201d adds bonus information (non-restrictive). <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As Williams and some others explain: <\/span><span class=\"s3\">it\u2019s nonsense<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Professional writers use commas and carefully chosen words to do the job of distinguishing restrictive and non-restrictive elements, and they choose whichever relative pronoun (\u201cthat\u201d or \u201cwhich\u201d) sounds better in context. You could observe the distinction between that and which if you like, but no one would notice. More importantly, observing this invented rule wouldn\u2019t necessarily make your writing any clearer, more concise, or more graceful.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"p1\">One Particular Folklore Rule to Follow<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There is one rule that Williams calls \u201cfolklore\u201d that you probably have to observe in college papers nonetheless: that is, the rule that <\/span><span class=\"s3\">you can\u2019t start sentences with But, And, So, For, or Yet (or other coordinating conjunctions)<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Browsing through assigned read<\/span>ings and articles published in major newspapers and magazines will quickly lead you to texts that violate this so-called rule. Here are two examples:<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">From the front page of the <em>New York Times<\/em> January 7, 2014:[footnote]Peter Eavis, \u201cSteep Penalties Taken in Stride by JPMorgan Chase,\u201d <em>New York Times<\/em>, January 7, 2014, page A1.[\/footnote]\u00a0\u201cBut since the financial crisis, JPMorgan has become so large and profitable that it has been able to weather the government\u2019s legal blitz, which has touched many parts of the bank\u2019s sprawling operations.\u201d And a little further down we see, \u201cYet JPMorgan\u2019s shares are up 28 percent over the last 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">From a news article in <em>Science<\/em>, December 21, 2007:[footnote]<span class=\"s1\">Richard A. Kerr, <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u201cGlobal Warming Coming Home to Roost in the American Midwest,\u201d <\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>Science <\/i>318, no. 5858 (2007): 1859.<\/span>[\/footnote]<span class=\"s1\"> \u00a0<\/span>\u201cAltered winds blew in more warm air from the subtropics only in models in which mid-latitude oceans warmed as observed; apparently, the warmer oceans altered the circulation. And that ocean warming is widely viewed as being driven by the strengthening greenhouse.\u201d<\/p>\r\nWhether or not to start sentences with conjunctions will ultimately come down to a matter of your instructors' preferences.\u00a0Thus, you shouldn\u2019t start sentences with \u201cAnd,\u201d \u201cBut\u201d or other coordinating conjunctions unless you\u2019ve been specifically invited to.\r\n\r\nThere are countless other rules beyond the ones discussed here. The point of these examples is to show that you don\u2019t have to observe every little rule you\u2019ve ever heard of. There are some elements of mechanics that you have to master. These practices will gradually become second nature. It\u2019s sometimes hard to know at the outset which rules are standard, which are options, and which are folklore. With the help of a good handbook and your instructors, you\u2019ll learn them over time.\r\n\r\nThe larger point here is that that observing rules isn\u2019t about traversing a minefield of potential errors; it\u2019s just about learning and adopting the practices appropriate to your audience, which is one of the first rules of writing well.","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Evaluate strategies for recognizing potential grammatical issues in a draft<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate strategies for recognizing potential punctuation issues in a draft<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In thinking about correctness, it\u2019s important to recognize that some rules are more important than others. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Essential\u00a0Rules of the English Language<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Joseph Williams helpfully distinguishes three kinds of rules in Williams and Bizup\u2019s <em>Style<\/em>.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Williams first described invented rules in J.M. Williams, \u201cA Phenomenology of Error,\u201d College Composition and Communication, 32, no. 2 (1981): 152-168.\" id=\"return-footnote-1219-1\" href=\"#footnote-1219-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">First, there are rules that are basic to English, such as \u201cthe car\u201d not \u201ccar the.\u201d For example, <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">INCORRECT: I thought whether true claims not. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">CORRECT: I hadn\u2019t thought about whether the claims were true. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If you\u2019ve gotten most of your formal education in English, you probably observe these rules routinely. If your writing has mismatches of number (singular\/plural) or tense, it might be\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">due to haste or carelessness rather than unawareness. Similarly, capitalizing the first word of a sentence and ending with appropriate punctuation are basic rules that most people comply with automatically when writing for a professor or in other formal situations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-632\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2016\/07\/07155108\/8620544599_8232076a34_z.jpg\" alt=\"Slogan printed on a wall: To break the rules, you must first master them.\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\n<p>The following video features two student tutors from the Writing and Reading Center at Fresno City College. In addition to great guidance about proofreading strategies, they also offer insights about what to expect when\u00a0working with Writing Center tutors.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/STa5W4gm2qY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Rules of Formality<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Williams\u2019 second category is comprised of rules that distinguish standard written English from the informal variants that people use in their day-to-day lives. Most students with middle-class and non-immigrant backgrounds use informal vernaculars that closely parallel standard written English. Students with working-class or more modest backgrounds or who are members of transnational and multi-lingual communities may use informal variants of English in their everyday lives that are quite different from standard written English. It\u2019s an unfortunate reality of social inequality that such students have to expend more effort than their middle-class English-speaking counterparts to master the standard conventions. It\u2019s not really fair, but at least the mechanics and rules of formal writing are documented and unambiguous. Learning to communicate effectively in different social contexts is part of becoming an educated person. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Some examples: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">INFORMAL: We ain\u2019t got no more of them cookies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">FORMAL: We don\u2019t have any more of those cookies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">INFORMAL: My coat, my phone, and my keys was all lock in the car. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">FORMAL: My coat, my phone, and my keys were all locked in the car. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">INFORMAL: u shd go 2 caf\u00e9 b4 wrk bc coffee <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">FORMAL: You should go the caf\u00e9 before work to get some coffee. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The informal versions are clearly English, and they\u2019re widely understandable to others. The first and second examples contain choices of tense, number, and punctuation that are <\/span><span class=\"s2\">inappropriate in standard written English even though they don\u2019t actually impede communication<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Most students already understand that these first two categories of rules (rules fundamental to English and the rules of standard written English) are obligatory for formal writing.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Rules as Folklore<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There is a third category of rules that Williams notes and enthusiastically criticizes; he calls them \u201cinvented rules\u201d because they usually arise from busybody grammarians rather than enduring patterns of customary language use. Some invented rules Williams calls \u201coptions\u201d: those that your reader will notice when you <i>observe <\/i>them and not care if you don\u2019t. Here\u2019s an example of the fabled <\/span><span class=\"s2\">don\u2019t-end-a-sentence-with-a-preposition rule<\/span><span class=\"s1\">: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">OBSERVING THE RULE: With which concept can we analyze this problem? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">IGNORING THE RULE: Which concept can we analyze this problem with? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Some grammarians would claim that only the first version is correct. However, you probably have the (accurate) impression that professional writers are much more likely to choose the second version. This rule does not reflect real-life customary practice, even in standard written English.That\u2019s why Williams calls it an \u201cinvented rule.\u201d Most of your professors are fine with the second version above, the one that ends a sentence with a preposition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-634\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2016\/07\/07160237\/8029219811_a8044f623e_z-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"A pair of hands holding an open book against a background of blurred printed pages\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/>Williams calls the second sub-category of invented rules \u201cfolklore.\u201d They\u2019re invented rules (like \u201coptions\u201d) in that grammarians think writers should observe them, but, in reality, no one does. Williams gleefully lists instances in which the very grammarians who propose these rules go on to unselfconsciously violate them.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"J.M. Williams, Phenomenology of Error\" id=\"return-footnote-1219-2\" href=\"#footnote-1219-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><i><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">You may have heard of these rules, but they\u2019re widely considered absurd. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For example, some grammarians are dismayed that people use \u201cthat\u201d and \u201cwhich\u201d interchangeably, and they argue that writers should use \u201cthat\u201d to indicate restrictive elements and \u201cwhich\u201d to indicate non-restrictive elements. A restrictive element is one that makes a necessary specification about something; a non-restrictive element is one that simply adds extra information. Consider these two examples: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">Version 1: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">The party that Alex went to was shut down by the police. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">Version 2: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\">The party which Alex went to was shut down by the police. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For almost all readers, versions 1 and 2 are saying the exact same thing. For the persnickety grammarian, version 1 is specifying the party that <i>Alex <\/i>went to, and not the party that, say, Jordan went to, while version 2 is simply inserting extra information about Alex\u2019s attendance at the party. According to these grammarians, \u201cthat Alex went to\u201d adds critically needed information (restrictive) while \u201cwhich Alex went to\u201d adds bonus information (non-restrictive). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As Williams and some others explain: <\/span><span class=\"s3\">it\u2019s nonsense<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Professional writers use commas and carefully chosen words to do the job of distinguishing restrictive and non-restrictive elements, and they choose whichever relative pronoun (\u201cthat\u201d or \u201cwhich\u201d) sounds better in context. You could observe the distinction between that and which if you like, but no one would notice. More importantly, observing this invented rule wouldn\u2019t necessarily make your writing any clearer, more concise, or more graceful.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\">One Particular Folklore Rule to Follow<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There is one rule that Williams calls \u201cfolklore\u201d that you probably have to observe in college papers nonetheless: that is, the rule that <\/span><span class=\"s3\">you can\u2019t start sentences with But, And, So, For, or Yet (or other coordinating conjunctions)<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Browsing through assigned read<\/span>ings and articles published in major newspapers and magazines will quickly lead you to texts that violate this so-called rule. Here are two examples:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">From the front page of the <em>New York Times<\/em> January 7, 2014:<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Peter Eavis, \u201cSteep Penalties Taken in Stride by JPMorgan Chase,\u201d New York Times, January 7, 2014, page A1.\" id=\"return-footnote-1219-3\" href=\"#footnote-1219-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0\u201cBut since the financial crisis, JPMorgan has become so large and profitable that it has been able to weather the government\u2019s legal blitz, which has touched many parts of the bank\u2019s sprawling operations.\u201d And a little further down we see, \u201cYet JPMorgan\u2019s shares are up 28 percent over the last 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">From a news article in <em>Science<\/em>, December 21, 2007:<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Richard A. Kerr, \u201cGlobal Warming Coming Home to Roost in the American Midwest,\u201d Science 318, no. 5858 (2007): 1859.\" id=\"return-footnote-1219-4\" href=\"#footnote-1219-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a><span class=\"s1\"> \u00a0<\/span>\u201cAltered winds blew in more warm air from the subtropics only in models in which mid-latitude oceans warmed as observed; apparently, the warmer oceans altered the circulation. And that ocean warming is widely viewed as being driven by the strengthening greenhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whether or not to start sentences with conjunctions will ultimately come down to a matter of your instructors&#8217; preferences.\u00a0Thus, you shouldn\u2019t start sentences with \u201cAnd,\u201d \u201cBut\u201d or other coordinating conjunctions unless you\u2019ve been specifically invited to.<\/p>\n<p>There are countless other rules beyond the ones discussed here. The point of these examples is to show that you don\u2019t have to observe every little rule you\u2019ve ever heard of. There are some elements of mechanics that you have to master. These practices will gradually become second nature. It\u2019s sometimes hard to know at the outset which rules are standard, which are options, and which are folklore. With the help of a good handbook and your instructors, you\u2019ll learn them over time.<\/p>\n<p>The larger point here is that that observing rules isn\u2019t about traversing a minefield of potential errors; it\u2019s just about learning and adopting the practices appropriate to your audience, which is one of the first rules of writing well.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1219\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Revision and Adaptation. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Correctness in Writing. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Amy Guptill. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The College at Brockport, SUNY. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/textbooks.opensuny.org\/writing-in-college-from-competence-to-excellence\/\">http:\/\/textbooks.opensuny.org\/writing-in-college-from-competence-to-excellence\/<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Image of To Break the Rules. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Lefteris Heretakis. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/e8Lxzi\">https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/e8Lxzi<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Image of hands holding book. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Savannah van der Niet. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/devRjk\">https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/devRjk<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives <\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">All rights reserved content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Proofreading. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: FCCTutors. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/STa5W4gm2qY?t=17s\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/STa5W4gm2qY?t=17s<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em>All Rights Reserved<\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Standard YouTube License<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section><hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-1219-1\">Williams first described invented rules in J.M. Williams, \u201cA Phenomenology of Error,\u201d <em>College Composition and Communication<\/em>, 32, no. 2 (1981): 152-168. <a href=\"#return-footnote-1219-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-1219-2\">J.M. Williams, <i>Phenomenology of Error<\/i> <a href=\"#return-footnote-1219-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-1219-3\">Peter Eavis, \u201cSteep Penalties Taken in Stride by JPMorgan Chase,\u201d <em>New York Times<\/em>, January 7, 2014, page A1. <a href=\"#return-footnote-1219-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-1219-4\"><span class=\"s1\">Richard A. Kerr, <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u201cGlobal Warming Coming Home to Roost in the American Midwest,\u201d <\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>Science <\/i>318, no. 5858 (2007): 1859.<\/span> <a href=\"#return-footnote-1219-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":29,"menu_order":31,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Correctness in Writing\",\"author\":\"Amy Guptill\",\"organization\":\"The College at Brockport, SUNY\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/textbooks.opensuny.org\/writing-in-college-from-competence-to-excellence\/\",\"project\":\"Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Image of To Break the Rules\",\"author\":\"Lefteris Heretakis\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/e8Lxzi\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Image of hands holding book\",\"author\":\"Savannah van der Niet\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/devRjk\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-nd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revision and Adaptation\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"copyrighted_video\",\"description\":\"Proofreading\",\"author\":\"FCCTutors\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/STa5W4gm2qY?t=17s\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"arr\",\"license_terms\":\"Standard YouTube License\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"1179fb4a-d8e3-40fe-bf9a-1d837db342dc, 7f8bfbff-86e4-464a-a9aa-00cf3ec1783f, 61a657f5-2c00-43d1-93dd-55c28b5a67fc","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1219","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":773,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1585,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1219\/revisions\/1585"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/773"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1219\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1219"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1219"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}