Writing · Writing: Research, Forms and Conventions

Grammar for Academic Precision: Agreement, Tense, Mood, Modifiers and Concision

3.4About 75 minutes

Learning goals

I can make subjects and verbs agree in long academic sentences with intervening phrases, inversions and tricky subjects.
I can use tense conventions for writing about texts, history and research consistently.
I can use the subjunctive mood and conditional sentences correctly.
I can fix dangling and squinting modifiers in academic sentences.
I can make my prose concise by reducing nominalizations, expletive constructions and redundancy, and calibrate certainty with hedges and boosters.

Words to know

intervening phrase
Words between a subject and its verb that can mislead you about agreement.

subjunctive mood
A verb form for wishes, hypotheticals and demands: If I were you; We recommend that she attend.

conditional sentence
A sentence with an if clause and a result clause, showing a real or imagined condition.

dangling modifier
A modifying phrase with no clear word in the sentence to modify.

squinting modifier
A modifier placed so it could belong to the words before or after it.

nominalization
Turning a verb or adjective into a noun: decide → make a decision.

expletive construction
A sentence opening such as There is or It is that delays the real subject.

hedge
A word that limits certainty, such as may, suggests, likely.

booster
A word that increases certainty, such as clearly, demonstrates, undoubtedly.

Correct is not the same as precise

Using close reading, the novel's ending, which critics have been in disagreement about, are clearly proving that there is ambivalence on the part of the author. Count the problems: a dangling modifier (the novel did not use close reading), an agreement error (ending... are), an overconfident verb (clearly proving) and a lot of padding. The idea underneath is good: Close reading shows that the novel's disputed ending reveals the author's ambivalence.

The curriculum asks you to use grammar conventions correctly and appropriately to communicate your intended meaning clearly and effectively (3.4). At Grade 12, that means grammar for academic precision: getting the hard cases right in long sentences, choosing tenses and moods that match academic conventions, and saying exactly what you mean in as few words as it takes.

Remember from earlier grades

In Grade 10 (ENG2D) you practised subject-verb and pronoun agreement, consistent tense, the literary present and misplaced and dangling modifiers. In Grade 11 (ENG3U) you worked on clauses, coordination and subordination, parallelism, fragments and run-ons, pronoun case, reported speech, and active and passive voice. This lesson takes those rules into the long sentences of academic writing.

1. Agreement in long sentences

Skip the phrases in between. Find the true subject: The portrayal of the characters' many struggles is convincing. Cover the phrase and read The portrayal is.
Inverted sentences: the subject comes after the verb. Among the novel's strengths are its dialogue and pacing.
There is / there are: the verb agrees with what follows. There are three reasons.
Either... or / neither... nor: the verb agrees with the nearer subject. Neither the narrator nor her sisters are reliable.
Each, every, either, neither (alone) are singular in formal writing: Each of the critics argues...
One of the... who/that: traditionally the verb agrees with the plural noun: She is one of the critics who argue that... (many critics argue it; she is one of them). If the meaning is the only one, use singular: She is the only one of the critics who argues it.
Titles and named works are singular: The Marrow Thieves is set in a future Canada.
Collective nouns (committee, audience) are usually singular in Canadian usage when acting as one.

The plural struggles sits right before the verb and tempts you to write are. The true subject is portrayal, which is singular.

2. Tense conventions in academic writing

Texts: present tense (the literary present). The narrator returns to the river. Events that happen earlier in the plot than the moment you are discussing take the present perfect or past: She returns to the river where her brother drowned.
Authors' arguments: present. Okafor argues... (MLA convention, Lesson 4).
Completed studies and historical events: past. Lee surveyed 120 students and found...; The novel was published in 2017.
Biography: past. The author grew up in northern Ontario.

The common error is drifting: telling the plot in the past for a paragraph, then switching to the present. Decide what each sentence is about (the text, the argument, the event) and choose the tense that convention gives it.

3. Mood: the subjunctive and conditionals

The subjunctive survives in a few formal patterns that markers notice:

Contrary-to-fact statements use were for all persons: If the narrator were reliable, the ending would be simple. He acts as if he were in charge.
Demands, recommendations and requirements after that use the base form of the verb: The committee recommends that the board adopt the plan. It is essential that every student submit a proposal. (Not adopts or submits.)

Conditional sentences need matching verb forms:

Real or likely: If the evidence holds*, the thesis* stands.
Imagined present: If she left the town, she would lose her history.
Imagined past: If she had left the town, she would have lost her history. A common error is If she would have left*...; the if* clause never takes would have.

4. Modifiers in academic sentences

Dangling modifiers often appear with research verbs: Using a survey, the results showed... (the results did not use a survey). Fix by naming the doer: Using a survey, the researchers found... or The survey results showed...
Squinting modifiers could belong to either side: Students who read critically often write stronger essays. Do they often read critically, or often write stronger essays? Move the word: Students who often read critically... or ...critically write stronger essays more often.
Limiting words (only, just, almost, even) go directly before what they limit: The critic only discusses the ending (she does nothing but discuss it) vs The critic discusses only the ending (and no other part).

5. Concision and calibrated certainty

Academic writing is often wordy in predictable ways. Fix these first:

Nominalizations: verbs buried in nouns. make a decision → decide; provide an explanation of → explain; is an indication of → indicates; conduct an examination of → examine.
Expletive constructions: There are many critics who argue → Many critics argue; It is clear that the ending is open → The ending is open (or prove it).
Redundancy: past history, final conclusion, each and every, the reason why is because, in my personal opinion.
Stacked prepositional phrases: the analysis of the portrayal of the role of women in the novel → the novel's portrayal of women's roles.

Then calibrate certainty. Hedges (may, might, suggests, appears, likely) are not weakness; they are honesty about the strength of evidence. Boosters (clearly, demonstrates, proves, undoubtedly) need strong evidence behind them. Literary interpretations are usually argued and suggested, rarely proved. Too many hedges make you sound unsure; too many boosters make you sound careless.

Removing the expletive (There are... who), two nominalizations (made the argument, is an indication of) and a stacked phrase cuts 22 words to 11 with no loss of meaning. Bar lengths are drawn to the same scale.

Choose the verb that matches how strong your evidence is. A single passage suggests; a pattern across the whole novel may show.

Worked example

Let's edit a paragraph for academic precision

Draft: Using close reading, the opening chapters, which there has been much debate about, reveals that the narrator acted as if she was a stranger. If she would have stayed in the city, she would have been safe. There are many critics who make the argument that this proves undoubtedly that she is one of the characters who is running from her past.

Dangling modifier: the chapters did not use close reading. Close reading of the opening chapters...
Agreement: the subject is chapters (plural): reveal, not reveals. Also remove the awkward which there has been much debate about: the much-debated opening chapters.
Tense and mood: the literary present (acts), and the subjunctive were in an as if clause: the narrator acts as if she were a stranger.
Conditional: no would have in the if clause: If she had stayed in the city, she would have been safe.
Expletive and nominalization: There are many critics who make the argument that → Many critics argue that.
Calibrated certainty: a critical argument cannot prove undoubtedly: use suggests.
One of the... who: she is one of several characters who are running: one of the characters who are running from their pasts.

Close reading of the much-debated opening chapters reveals that the narrator acts as if she were a stranger. If she had stayed in the city, she would have been safe. Many critics argue that this suggests she is one of the characters who are running from their pasts. (Shorter, correct and more honest about certainty.)

Hands-on activity

Put a paragraph on a concision diet

You need: a body paragraph from a recent essay (about 150 to 200 words), a word processor with a word count, a highlighter or text colour.

Note the starting word count.
Use Find to search for tion, ment, ance and ence. For each noun, ask: is there a verb hiding inside? Replace where it helps.
Search for There is, There are, It is at the start of sentences. Rewrite each to start with the real subject.
Highlight every subject and verb pair in your two longest sentences. Do they agree?
Check every tense: present for the text and arguments, past for history and studies.
Circle every hedge and booster. Does each match the strength of your evidence?
Note the final word count and the percentage you cut. Many writers cut 15 to 25 per cent without losing any meaning.

What to look for: no meaning lost; fewer nominalizations and expletives; correct agreement and tense; certainty that fits the evidence.

Just for fun

Nominalization is the process by which the performance of an action undergoes a transformation into the form of a noun. In other words: it turns verbs into nouns. (The first sentence has 20 words; the plain version, it turns verbs into nouns, has 5.)

Your turn

Choose: The list of required readings (is / are) on the course website.

Choose: Among the novel's themes (is / are) memory and loss.

Correct: If I was the author, I would change the ending.

Correct: The teacher requires that each student submits a proposal.

Fix the dangling modifier: After reading three critics, the ending seemed less hopeful.

Make concise: It is important to note that there are a number of reasons why the ending is ambiguous.

Which tense? In 2017, the novel ___ (win / won) a major award, and in it the characters ___ (travel / travelled) north.

More practice: warm-up

Is each singular or plural in formal writing?

Turn the nominalization into a verb: make an assessment of.

Name two hedges.

Correct the conditional: If he would have known, he would have stayed.

What tense does MLA use for what an author argues?

More practice: on your own

Choose and explain: Neither the critic nor the students (agree / agrees) with the reading.

Rewrite to remove the squinting modifier: Writers who revise frequently improve their work.

Explain the difference: The critic only discusses the ending vs The critic discusses only the ending.

Revise for concision: The author makes use of imagery in order to provide an illustration of the isolation that the character experiences.

A student writes The passage proves beyond doubt that the narrator is lying. The evidence is one ambiguous line. Revise.

Challenge

Write one sentence each that correctly uses: (a) the subjunctive after recommend; (b) an imagined-past conditional; (c) one of the... who with a plural verb.

Explain why academic writers hedge, and why too much hedging is also a problem.

Revise this 36-word sentence to under 20 words without losing meaning: It is evident that there are a number of different ways in which the decision of the narrator to return home can be interpreted by readers, and these interpretations are a reflection of their own experiences.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which sentence has correct subject-verb agreement?

Which uses the subjunctive correctly?

Which conditional is correct?

Which sentence has a dangling modifier?

Which is the most concise version?

Which tense choice follows academic conventions?

A single ambiguous passage is your only evidence. Which verb is most appropriate?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: at Grade 12, grammar (expectation 3.4) is about precision in long academic sentences: agreement when phrases separate subject and verb, the tense conventions for writing about texts, arguments and history, the subjunctive (if I were, recommend that she attend), modifiers, concision, and words that match certainty to evidence.

How to help: ask your teen to read one long sentence from their essay aloud and point to its subject and verb. If you hear There are many... who or It is important to note that, challenge them to start the sentence with the real subject. Celebrate a lower word count that says the same thing.

Common difficulties:

Verbs agreeing with the nearest noun instead of the subject.
Telling the plot in the past tense, or switching tenses mid-paragraph.
If I would have... in conditional sentences.
Dangling modifiers with research verbs (Using a survey, the results...).
Overclaiming (proves, undoubtedly) about interpretations.

The narrator and passages in the examples are invented for practice.