Correct Usage and

Mechanics of Style
The subject of a sentence must agree with the verb in
number.

Rules in subject-verb
relationships
• Compound subjects joined by and take a plural verb
• Exemption: when both subjects refer to a single entity
• The manager and the employee prefer not to talk about their
personal differences.
• The manager and owner of the store does not wish to
discuss the matter with his employee. (the same person)
• Bread and butter is my favorite breakfast. (combo meal; you
don’t eat butter alone for breakfast)

Rule 1
• Singular subjects joined by or or nor take singular verbs
• Either Sarah or Mabel is held accountable for the incident.
• Neither Henry nor Erick is present in class.

Rule 2
• Plural subjects joined by or or nor take plural verbs
• Either the business owners or the workers are about to give
in to the agreement.
• Neither the teachers nor the students like the new school
policy.

Rule 3
• If the subject joined by or or nor differ in number, the
verb agrees with the subject nearest to it.
• Either my boyfriend or my friends know my deepest secret.
• Neither my friends nor my boyfriend knows my deepest
secret.

Rule 4
• A singular subject followed by words or phrases such as
in addition to, together with, as well as, along with, and
coupled with takes a singular verb
• Honor, along with excellence, is considered an important
virtue in the university.
• Tiffany, as well as Marlie and Daisy, is moving to a new
city.

The underlined portions are modifiers, not subjects. They are not parts of the
main clause. They therefore are technically not doing the verb. “Along with
excellence” modifies the verb “is considered” (with what is honor considered
an important virtue?)

Rule 5
• Indefinite pronouns such as everyone, everybody,
everything, each, either, neither, one, no one, somebody,
little and much are always singular.
• Either of them is bound to get wasted.
• Every student, teacher and parent is required to come to the
PTA meeting.
• Neither of them is interested at all.

Rule 6
• Plural nouns of amount and distance, when they are used
as singular units of measurement, take singular verbs.
• Three years is all I need to get to my goal.
• A hundred miles is a fairly long drive.
• Three thousand pesos is a good compensation.

Rule 7
• The number always takes a singular verb; a number
always takes a plural verb
• The number of escaped criminals is worrying.
• A number of students rallied for their rights.

The number pertains to numerical data. In the first sentence, the author is not
worried about the criminals themselves. It’s the numerical fact that worries them.

A number pertains to the plural subjects themselves (similar to the word some).
The second sentence does not talk about a numerical data. It talks about the
students.

Rule 9
• Avoid Dangling modifiers
• Modifier – A modifier describes, clarifies or gives more
detail about a concept.
• Dangling modifiers – A dangling modifier is a word or
phrase that seems to modify a word it cannot possibly
modify; it may also be a modifier that has nothing to
modify at all.
• To fix a dangling modifier, you can revise either the
modifier or the independent clause it precedes.

Rule 10
• Not wanting to disappoint my teacher for my absence, an
excuse letter was given to her.
Error: It appears in the sentence that an excuse letter did not
want to disappoint her teacher.
Revision: Not wanting to disappoint my teacher for my absence,
I gave her an excuse letter.

• While walking to the grocery store, a dog chased me.

Error: It seems that it was the dog who was walking to the
grocery store.
Revision: While I was walking to the grocery store, a dog chased
me.

Rule 10
• After connecting lead A to pin 1 of the second tube, the other
lead (B) is connected to pin 2.
Error: No word modified. Who connects the lead to pin 1 and
pin 2?
Revision: After connecting lead A to pin 1 of the second tube,
the technician connects lead (B) to pin 2.
• To start the motor, the gas tank must be checked first.
Revision: To start the motor, the driver must check the gas tank
first.
• After drying for three days under the sun, the laborer again
sprays the concrete with water.
Revision: After drying the concrete for three days under the sun,
the laborer again sprays it with water.

Rule 10
• Observe parallelism
• Use equal grammatical units (words, sentences, phrases and
clauses) when combining subjects, objects, verbs, adverbial
modifiers, clauses and/or sentences
• For a more organized series of items
• To establish a sense of balance and equality in your
sentences

Rule 11
This is what a nonparallel structure looks like:

At the grocery store, I bought ,

, and .

At the grocery store, I bought meat (word - apple),

vegetables (word - apple), and I decided to add fruits
(clause - banana).
This is what a parallel structure looks like:

At the grocery store, I bought ,

, and .

At the grocery store, I bought meat (word - apple),

vegetables (word - apple), and fruits (word - apple).
Ex: The proposal was accurate and can be easily read.
Accurate – word
Can be easily read – clause
Revision: The proposal was accurate and readable.

Ex: Research is tedious, but it has many rewards.

Tedious – word
It has many rewards – clause
Revision: Research is tedious but rewarding.

Rule 11
Ex: Abused children commonly exhibit the following
symptoms: withdrawal from society, restlessness in sleep,
and they are depressed in daily activities.
withdrawal from society – noun phrase
restlessness in sleep – noun phrase
they are depressed in daily activities – clause
Revision: Abused children commonly exhibit the following
symptoms: withdrawal from society, restlessness in sleep,
and depression in daily activities.

Rule 11
Ex: I was worried that the driver would drive fast, that the
road will be too slippery, and that we will be stopped by the
traffic police.
• The driver would drive fast – active voice
• The road will be too slippery – active voice
• We will be stopped by the traffic police – passive voice
Revision: I was worried that the driver would drive fast,
that the road will be too slippery, and that the traffic police
will stop us.

Rule 11
Basic Principles for Clear and Effective
Research Writing
Use a vocabulary level appropriate for your reader.

• A sonnet is a verse composed of 14 lines of iambic

pentameter. (A sonnet is a poem with 14 lines showing in
each line five pairs of unaccented and accented syllables.)
• A homozygote is a zygote that has a homologous gamete.
(A homozygote is a cell derived from the union of parent
cells that have similar number of chromosomes.)

Tip1
If you are not certain that your reader will understand a
technical term, use the term accompanied by a more
common synonym or definition.

• Lobotomy, the surgical incision into a lobe, is a common

practice in medicine.
• Many people are interested in horoscopy, the reading of a
person’s future based on astrological signs.

Tip 2
Write clear and short sentences.

• General rule: one sentence per thought

• If the sentence is quite long:
• Make the ideas conceptually related.
• Sequence the ideas logically.
• Make the main ideas easy to find.
• Put the subject and the verb as close as possible to
each other.
• Use commas to attach modifiers to the main clause.
• Use active voice.

Tip 3
Ex: The classification of the respondents and their
characterization were accomplished by the consideration of
their participation in the community activities in the
population and their contribution to the upland
development, also within the population.

Revision: The researcher classified and characterized the

respondents based on their community work and
contribution to upland development.

Tip 3
Eliminate waste words.
• To avoid redundancy
• To be more concise

A greater number of - more

In the presence of - with
In the absence of - without
It is possible that – might/possibly
As a consequence – because

Tip 4
End result – result
Based on the fact that – based, because

Ex: He was able to get in the house through the use of a

special device.
Revision: He was able to get in the house by using a special
device.
Ex: She was of the opinion that the president is an effective
leader.
Revision: She believed that the president is an effective
leader.

Tip 4
Omit the phrase or words in time, quantity, or dimension
when they are already expressed or can be assumed to avoid
needless repetitions.

• The report describes the results of the experiment done during

the period from June 2007 to May 2008.
• The report describes the results of the experiment done from
June 2007 to May 2008.

• The Waste Disposal Committee calls a meeting from time to

time when needed.
• The Waste Disposal Committee calls a meeting when needed.

Tip 5
• The poster is 2 by 2 feet in size.
• The poster is 2 by 2 feet.

• I need a time of 30 minutes to think this through.

• I need 30 minutes to think this through.

Tip 5
Prefer active voice over passive voice sentence
constructions (as much as possible, since thesis
methodologies go the passive route)

• A hectare of forest area was planted to Benguet pines by

foresters for growth and survival response experiment.
This experiment was done in 2007.
• Foresters planted Benguet pines to a hecture of forest area
for growth and survival response experiment. They did
the experiment in 2007.

Tip 6
Be mindful of who, that, and which. When with there is
statements, these words are often wasted.

• There were three plots which received treatments.

• Three plots received treatments.

• There are five steps that must be done for this

experiment.
• Five steps must be done for this experiment.

Tip 7
Avoid nominalization

Note: Nominalization is the use of is the use of a word (which is

not a noun) as a noun.

• Varieties must have tolerance for environment stresses.

• Varieties must tolerate environment stresses.

• The paper focuses on the estimation of yield distribution.

• The paper estimates yield distribution.

• Figure 1 includes a listing of the advantages of

cardiovascular training.
• Figure 1 lists the advantages of cardiovascular training.

Tip 8