academic-english

Academic English

Overview

Reference rules for academic writing style and grammar: when to use which construction, and a concrete before/after example for each. One rule per file under rules/, so a fix pulls in just the one relevant file instead of the whole set.

Style rules informed by Brandeis University's Writing Program handouts (https://www.brandeis.edu/writing-program/) and, for dashes-rules and sentence-patterns, UNC-Chapel Hill's Writing Center (https://writingcenter.unc.edu/), rewritten from scratch as original reference material — same teaching points, none of the original wording or example sentences.

When to use

Reach for a specific rule file below whenever prose being written or edited has one of these issues. Read only the file(s) that match — don't load the whole set for a single fix.

Rules

Rule	Use when
active-and-passive-voice	Deciding whether a sentence should emphasize the actor or the action/recipient
active-verbs-for-discussing-ideas	"Says" or "talks about" is doing too much work describing what a source argues
articles	a/an/the is missing, wrong, or awkwardly placed
comma-rules	General comma placement (conjunctions, introductory elements, series, nonessential clauses)
concision	A sentence is padded with filler words, redundant pairs, or over-explained obvious points
dashes-rules	Choosing between a hyphen, an em dash, or a comma for emphasis/interruption
dummy-subjects	A sentence opens with "there is/are" or "it is/was" and could use a more vivid verb
end-stop-punctuation-fragments	A sentence fragment, or unclear period/comma-splice boundaries
first-person	Deciding whether "I"/"we" is appropriate for this discipline and context
four-types-unnecessary-words	Nominalizations, infinitive padding, or circumlocutions
general-rules-of-style-humanities	Formatting a dialogue quote, integrating an in-text citation, or italics-vs-quotes for a title
improving-writing-style	Choppy sentences, no sentence-length variation, or weak transitions
misused-words	A commonly confused word pair (affect/effect, allude/elude, etc.) might be wrong
parallelism	A list or comparison uses mismatched grammatical forms
passive-to-active-conversion	A passive sentence needs converting to active — the mechanical how-to, not the when/why
prepositions	Preposition choice is off, or a prepositional phrase is misplaced
run-on-sentences	A fused sentence, comma splice, or conjunction pileup
semicolon-rules	Deciding between a semicolon, a comma+conjunction, or two sentences
sentence-patterns	A paragraph needs more structural variety (simple/compound/complex/compound-complex)
stitching-words	Sentences don't flow into each other, or key terms shift unexplained
style	General clarity/texture pass — cutting clutter, varying length, reading it aloud
subordinate-clauses	Comma placement around a clause that isn't the sentence's main point
verb-tenses-general	General-purpose tense guidance not specific to a discipline
verb-tenses-literature	Discussing a literary work or its author (present vs. past tense conventions)
verb-tenses-science	Reporting methods, prior work, or standing facts in a science paper
word-choice	Vague filler, phrasal verbs, clichés, or jargon where a plain precise word would work
word-choice-connotation-and-pronouns	Two near-synonyms carry different connotations, or a pronoun's antecedent is ambiguous