History 406

There are lots of things that might be said about grammatical correctness, but let me focus on a few of the issues that I think are most important, and appear most frequently in essays. I have included five basic problems that I see recur in student papers:

1. Watch for incomplete sentences.

All sentences must have a main subject and a main verb. Some verbs also require objects. That is a rule we all learned in grade school. But in writing essays, it is sometimes easy to slip into the style that we use when speaking, when we aren't usually concerned with making all of our utterances complete sentences. So watch for some of the following:

* Even the smallest statements should have a main subject and main verb

Incomplete: "In the sixth crusade, the French landed their troops at the mouth of the Nile River not long before the start of the river's annual flood. Not a brilliant tactical move."

Complete: "In the sixth crusade, the French landed their troops at the mouth of the Nile River not long before the start of the river's annual flood. It was not a brilliant tactical move."

* Phrases beginning with words like "although," "because," "since," which cannot stand alone as a sentence.

Incomplete: "The courtly love movement is usually considered as a rejection of medieval Christian teachings about sex and marriage. Although there is often a considerable overlap in ideals between the two."

Complete: "The courtly love movement is usually considered as a rejection of medieval Christian teachings about sex and marriage, although there is often a considerable overlap in ideals between the two."

An alternative would be to replace one of these words with a different word, one that could stand alone to begin a new sentence, such as "Nonetheless," "Still," "Nevertheless," "Yet."

Complete: "The courtly love movement is usually considered as a rejection of medieval Christian teachings about sex and marriage. Yet there is often a considerable overlap in ideals between the two."

* Phrases using the present participle form of the verb alone (verbs ending in -ing) cannot stand alone as the main verb in a sentence (so if that is the only verb in your sentence, it is an incomplete sentence).

Incomplete: "Medieval Christian Spain was divided into a half-dozen separate kingdoms. This lack of unity slowing down the Reconquista."

Complete: "Medieval Christian Spain was divided into a half-dozen separate kingdom, this lack of unity slowing down the Reconquista."

An alternative here would be to replace the present participle with a conjugated verb:

Complete: "Medieval Christian Spain was divided into a half-dozen separate kingdoms. This lack of unity slowed down the Reconquista."

2. Make sure that all of your pronouns refer to a specific noun, and agree in number with that noun. Do not shift between singular and plural or between plural and singular in using pronouns.

Look at the following example:

Jean de Joinville provided an interesting account of the life of King Louis IX of France. In particular, he examined his role as a moral leader, and described how he refused to condemn a man who had been excommunicated by confiscating his lands. He was to be given a chance to exonerate himself.

Now look at this passage made clearer:

Jean de Joinville provided an interesting account of the life of King Louis IX of France. In particular, Joinville examined Louis' role as a moral leader, and described how Louis refused to condemn a man who had been excommunicated by confiscating the man's lands. Such a man was to be given a chance to exonerate himself.

Look at another example:

The king of Aragon first invited the Cluniac order into Spain. He knew that they would bring the wealth of donations and pilgrims with them.

Now look at this passage corrected:

The king of Aragon first invited the Cluniac order into Spain. He knew that it would bring the wealth of donations and pilgrims with them.

Or, you might correct the passage in a different way:

The king of Aragon first invited monks from the Cluniac order into Spain. He knew that they would bring the wealth of donations and pilgrims with them.

Common mistakes of this sort include moving from "Church" to "they," where "they" should be replaced with "it" or better yet "Church" replaced with "Churchmen" or "Church leaders," since the leadership of the Church is usually implied, and moving from "France" or another country to "they," where again "they" should be replaced with "it" or better yet "France" replaced with "the French" or whatever people of whatever nation, since the country is usually used as a way of describing the whole of the people.

Look at one more example:

Women of the upper classes did not have much of a public life in the Middle Ages. She was mostly confined to her home, and allowed to go out-of-doors only if they had to perform certain tasks, although most noblewomen had female servants who probably did those tasks for her.

Now look at this passage corrected:

Women of the upper classes did not have much of a public life in the Middle Ages. They were mostly confined to their homes, and allowed to go out-of-doors only if they had to perform certain tasks, although most noblewomen had female servants who probably did those tasks for them.

Notice that you could put the passage entirely in the singular, and imply that what was true of one woman was true of all of them, but the mention of "most noblewomen" would be difficult to convey using the singular.

Notice also that when you shift the singular to the plural, some of the nouns need to shift also. So "confined to her home" becomes "confined to their homes," since each woman had her own home.

3. Know the difference between "that," "which," "who," and "whom."

"Who" is used to join a noun referring to a person or persons to a phrase that describes that person or those persons. For example, you should say "the women who lived in twelfth-century France." Note that the "women" in that sentence are the ones who are the subject of the verb that follows the word "who": they are the ones who "lived."

If, however, the person or persons being described are not the subject of the verb that follows, but there is another subject for that verb, then "whom" is used. For example, you should say "the men whom Boccaccio described." In this example, "Boccaccio" and not "the men" is the subject of the the verb that follows: it was Boccaccio and not the men who "described."

When referring to a thing or things, "that" is used, regardless of whether the noun is the subject of the verb that follows or not. For example, both "the fleet that landed at Cyprus" and "the fleet that King Louis sailed across the Mediterranean" are both correct.

Do not use "that" to refer to persons, although you can use "that" if the noun being referred to is in fact a thing. For example, "the council of bishops that excommunicated King Philip I," since the "that" refers to "council" and not to "bishops."

Avoid using the word "which," since you can deal with almost all situations by using either "who," "whom," or "that." But if you do want to use "which," you must precede it with a comma, and you must place an additional comma at the end of the phrase begun by the word "which."

For example, you can use "which" as follows:

The decree, which the bishops issued against King Philip II of France, ordered him to repudiate his second wife and return to his first.

But it is just as easy to do the following:

The decree that the bishops issued against King Philip II of France ordered him to repudiate his second wife and return to his first.

4. Look up the precise meaning and correct spelling of words that you are uncertain of or use only infrequently.

Keep a dictionary beside you as you write, or open up an online dictionary when you open up your word file.

Be especially careful if you are using a thesaurus to search for synonyms, that you understand the difference in meanings between the words.

Be careful, too, with the special terminology for this course, that you understand the exact meaning and spelling of new words and names.

Don't confuse adjectives and nouns:

"ecclesiastical" is the adjectival form of the noun "church," and "Muslim" is the name for someone who is a believer in the religion of "Islam," but "Islamic" is the usual adjective used to describe other aspects of the religion (e.g., Islamic law)

Not in particular that some similar words are used with singular nouns, and some words with plural nouns, and some words with more than two nouns:

"less" and "fewer": "less" is used to describe a single thing ("less patience," "less power") while "fewer" is used to describe more than one thing ("fewer children," "fewer ideas")

"number" and "amount": "amount" is used to describe a single thing ("amount of money," "amount of clothing") while "number" is used to describe more than one thing ("number of events," "number of clothes")

"between" and "among": "between" is used to refer only to two things ("between husband and wife") while "among" is used to refer to more than two things ("among family members")

comparatives and superlatives: let me use the example of "latter" (a comparative, ending usually in -er) and "last" (a superlative, ending usually in -est): comparatives like "latter" are used when referring to two things ("a dog and a cat, the latter of which was striped") while superlatives like "last" are used to refer to more than two things ("a dog, a cat, and a porcupine, the last of which seemed hostile to me"); the same goes for any comparatives or superlatives ("greater" and "greatest," "lesser" and "least," etc.)

5. Avoid dangling particles and split infinitives.

These are practices of some debate in grammatical circles, since customs are changing and both are becoming more accepted. Nevertheless, they are something you should be aware of, even if you choose to ignore the lesson.

A dangling participle is a preposition used at the end of a phrase or sentence. Some verbs require a preposition to follow them to make sense -- words such as "refer to," "talk about," and so on. But it is best to avoid placing the preposition right at the end of the sentence. Try to find a way to reword the sentence so that you don't have to end it in this way. Sometimes the only way to do this, a bit awkward in itself, is to find the "that" or "which" at the start of the phrase, and move the preposition to the place immediately preceding it. In such cases, "that" must always be replaced with "which." (This last practice is sometimes a bit awkward.)

For example:

Dangling participle: "When we imagine the Middle Ages, it is often the twelfth century that we think of."

Corrected but awkward: "When we imagine the Middle Ages, it is often the twelfth century of which we think."

Rephrased to avoid both the dangling participle and the awkwardness: "When we imagine the Middle Ages, we often think of the twelfth century."

A split infinitive is when a word or words separate the preposition "to" from its verb in the infinitive form (an infinitive form is one such as "to be," or "to go," or "to write"). Split infinitives can be used for emphasis, but it is best not to overuse them, and best to use them only for particular emphasis of the verb itself.

For example:

Split infinitive: "Its five-year mission: to boldly go where no man has gone before."

Corrected: "Its five-year mission: to go boldly where no man has gone before."

Note: sometimes the word or words separating the infinitive must be placed at some distance from the verb; you must decide where it sounds best to move it, and how that might subtly change the meaning or cadence of the sentence.

Split infinitive: "I have decided to once again write an account of my travels."

Corrected: "I have decided once again to write an account of my travels."

Alternate correction: "I have decided to write an account of my travels once again."

Another possible correction: "Once again, I have decided to write an account of my travels."