How to Write Great Essays

Be a specific reference to a noun
It should be obvious to your reader to which noun the pronoun refers.
Incorrect:
Kim spends all his time reading and playing soccer, but it isn’t
good for him.
(What isn’t good for him? Reading, playing soccer, or both?)
Correct:_Kim_spends_all_his_time_reading_and_playing_soccer._Too_much_soc-_cer_isn’t_good_for_him;_he_should_play_some_basketball,_too._Incorrect'>Correct:
Kim spends all his time reading and playing soccer. Too much soc-
cer isn’t good for him; he should play some basketball, too.
Incorrect:
It has been years since 
they
spent money on new textbooks.
Who is they?
Correct:
It has been years since the school board spent money on new
textbooks.
Incorrect:
I went on the trip with Emily and Nancy, and we took her
laptop.
(Whose laptop?)
Correct:
I went on the trip with Emily and Nancy, and we took Nancy’s
laptop.
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Mechanics
CHAPTER 4 
HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS
41
ADJECTIVES
Adjectives describe or modify nouns or pronouns. Adjectives add information by describ-
ing people, places, or things in a sentence. These words, more than any others, make your
essay a unique piece. Use them to describe people, objects, and situations to make the reader
understand your point of view and see things the way you have seen them. Too few adjec-
tives will make a personal statement a boring play-by-play that doesn’t tell the reader any-
thing about the writer.
ADVERBS
Adverbs, which describe verbs, are easily spotted because most of them end in 
-ly
, such as
slowly, quickly, abruptly
. However, the adverb that causes the most errors is not a typical
-ly
form.
Well
is commonly confused with its adjective counterpart,
good
. As an adjective,
good
is
used to describe nouns. In the following sentence,
good
describes the noun 
pasta: 
The pasta
you made last night was 
good
. In the following sentence,
good
describes the verb 
played
, which
is incorrect: I played 
good
in the basketball game. The correct word to use in such instances
is the adverb 
well
. Written correctly, the sentence would read, “I played 
well
in the basket-
ball game.”
PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions are connecting words that link a noun or pronoun to another word in a sen-
tence. They are often used to show a relationship of space or time.
Examples
The box
on
your desk is your birthday present.
The holiday that follows immediately 
after
your birthday is Valentine’s Day.
The first sentence uses the preposition 
on
to describe the spatial relationship between
the 
box
and the 
desk.
The second sentence uses the preposition 
after
to describe the time
relationship between 
holiday
and 
birthday. On your desk
and 
after your birthday
are prepo-
sitional phrases.