Quick question about essays... (1 Viewer)

[Cookiez_n_Cream]

My political science tutor is really picky about grammer and how we write essays and i have an essay due in tommorrow about American politics. So, which is the correct way to refer to the president and congress: do we say the President or the president, and the Congress or the congress?

I know it seems trivial but it's the kind of thing that she takes marks off for.

 

[SarahMary]

capitals i think ie the President, the Congress. they're proper nouns

 

[santaslayer]

Also, do not use words like "don't" or "isn't". Write the whole word out.

 

[Ziff]

My political science tutor is really picky about grammar and how we write essays. I have an essay due tomorrow about American politics. So, which is the correct way to refer to the president and congress: do we say the President or the president and the Congress or the congress?

I know it seems trivial but it's the kind of thing for which (preposition at the end of the sentence ) she takes marks off.

 

[Cookiez_n_Cream]

heh, well she's not marking my grammer right now so it doesn't really matter!

thanks for the help ... i had another question, is it Congressional or congressional power? and presidential or Presidential power? also can you say "in some cases defensive wars have been manipulated by presidents" or should it be "in some cases defensive wars have been manipulated by Presidents"

yeah i know i sound dumb but i dont want to lose marks for stupid things like that...

 

[Frigid]

Originally posted by Cookiez_n_Cream
thanks for the help ... i had another question, is it Congressional or congressional power? and presidential or Presidential power? also can you say "in some cases defensive wars have been manipulated by presidents" or should it be "in some cases defensive wars have been manipulated by Presidents"

yeah i know i sound dumb but i dont want to lose marks for stupid things like that...

well, i think it's congressional, because it's an adjective, not the proper noun (likewise i think it's presidential power).

since you are referring to presidents in general, then it would be "manipulated by presidents".

you could probably go to your local bookshop and pickup an english grammar primer or something. it's a shame we don't learn english grammar in schools anymore.

 

[Ziff]

You could always have a look around at a reputable American broadsheet's website and see if you can pull up a few articles where such terms would be used. That's probably your best bet for seeing how it's used.

I agree Frigid, you'd think that English grammar would be the most important thing to learn. None of this sociological bullshit that the 2u and 3u courses have become! It's appalling!

 

[cayte]

Aren't you getting your information from sources which would be using such terms in their context? That would be my first point of reference.

Ziff, you missed one: for which she takes off marks. Splitting the verbal group disrupts the flow of the sentence. How are anal-retentives to survive without the teaching of grammar in schools?

 

[santaslayer]

They're supposedly addressing that problem in primary schools now. My sister got a crapload of grammatical excersises when she was in year six.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Yeah it's pretty ridiculous that we come out of 13 years of schooling and have problems with basic grammer!!

Society these days, geeze!

 

[Cyph]

Not to mention spelling...

 

[santaslayer]

And punctuation problems......

 

[cayte]

GRAMMAR!!!
Get it right.:burn:

 

[cayte]

Almost as pain-inducing as 'your' when meaning 'you're', 'it's' when meaning 'its' and people who say, "I have problems with pronounciation". Yes, yes you do. Grrr.

 

[santaslayer]

Originally posted by cayte
Almost as pain-inducing as 'your' when meaning 'you're', 'it's' when meaning 'its' and people who say, "I have problems with pronounciation". Yes, yes you do. Grrr.

Well actually, to my suprise, I was told that words like "you're" and "it's" is not proper grammar as well. Funny how it is used so frequently.

 

[cayte]

It's not that it's incorrect, it's just a contraction, but it is informal. If you were to write an academic piece including contractions it would not be regarded too highly.

 

[Xayma]

They also do not like things like &(mainly for written essays etc, since it is easier to type "and" instead of "&") and small numbers should also be written out (I think its less then one hundred (100) should be written in words)

 

[cayte]

Yeah, that's an interesting point of contention, the number rule. I was informed that if starting a sentence with a number it ought to be written in words and, yes, if it's short also, but I don't know that there's actually a hard and fast rule about the cut-off point from numerals to words. For instance, I'd be disinclined to write ninety-eight rather than 98 and I wouldn't write two million as 2,000,000. Maybe as 2 million, but even then... Hard to say, depends on the context I guess.

 

[iambored]

Originally posted by cayte
Ziff, you missed one: for which she takes off marks. Splitting the verbal group disrupts the flow of the sentence. How are anal-retentives to survive without the teaching of grammar in schools?

Originally posted by Ziff
I know it seems trivial but it's the kind of thing for which (preposition at the end of the sentence ) she takes marks off.

how do you know those things? i swear senior english is bs and they should replace it with some grammer courses so we can gen our english right like yo uguys above

 

[cayte]

Lol, I agree English is bullshit, but imagine how much more you'd hate it if it were all about grammar. Some oldschool teachers in primary schools still teach grammar independently of the syllabus. I find it really interesting, but few people do. It's kinda dry.