8.3 Tenses

Make sure that you only write in one tense at a time. It is easy to get this mixed up if you are using a conditional case or reporting speech. As with everything else, look at what you are writing carefully. Make sure you are clear what you want to say and that it cannot be read in a different way. Write about ethnographic facts in past tense (unless you really do mean ‘right now’) and theoretical generalizations in present tense. (See page 10.)

8.4 Pronouns

A pronoun always refers to the most recent plausible noun. This is called the law of antecedents. It works like this:

The cat dropped the mouse. It ran away.

This says that the mouse ran away, not the cat. However a gendered pronoun will match up with the most recent gendered noun, or proper name.

The girl dropped the mouse. She ran away.

In this case it is the girl who runs away. Technically, of course, it might be a female mouse. However, we are not told the mouse’s gender, so the girl is the most likely candidate for ‘she’.

Pronouns can get out of hand when there are too many of them in a sentence, especially if this sentence contains an indefinite pronoun or two, such as ‘it’ and ‘this’. For example, what does this mean?

It is useful to note that Hamlet’s indecision about killing his uncle takes more time than it should, but this doesn’t mean that it is morally wrong, and this might be the case because he gets to think about it first.

Is it Hamlet’s indecision or the killing of his uncle that may or may not be wrong? What might be the case? Who gets to think about it first: Hamlet or his uncle? A student who writes a sentence like this may have an idea in their own head what they mean, but they have not exactly made their point clear. On the whole, you should avoid starting sentences with ‘it’ and ‘this’ whenever possible, and be aware that pronouns later in a sentence may be misread if not clearly attached to an earlier noun. There is no law against using a noun or name twice in a sentence if it helps clarify the point. Always strike out pointless phrases such as ‘it is useful to note that’. Write shorter sentences.

9. Spelling

There is no short cut to good spelling. You just have to learn what each word in the language

looks like. However, there is one simple thing you can do which will help: buy a dictionary. A

good dictionary will be the most useful book you buy during your time at university, so do not

grudge the money for it. Get into the habit of taking your dictionary (and this booklet) with you

when you are writing, and look up words you are unsure about. This will not just help with

your spelling. Make sure that you also read and understand the definition of the words you

use. It is easy to get similar words confused. Using a dictionary rather than the spell check

on your PC can help you avoid some embarrassing errors.

Microsoft spell check is a useful function, and can help you spot typing errors that

your eye might otherwise miss. However, it is not foolproof. It will not notice the difference

between their and there, or it and is, or allusive and elusive. It will clear anything in its own

dictionary, without checking to see if this word belongs in your sentence. If you rely on it too

heavily, you can end up with sentences like this:

During this scene, the ghost of Hamlet’s father can be seen hoovering in the background.

and

In Paradise Lost, Satan rallies the fallen angles.

Do not automatically accept any corrections that the spell check suggests. Be especially

careful with names. A fourth-year English student recently submitted an essay where the names of the characters Hagar and Ishmael had been changed throughout to ‘Haggard’ and

‘Fishmeal’. How we laughed…

Always read through your essay carefully after you have printed it out. You will notice mistakes that you did not pick up on screen. If there are only a few of these, your marker will not mind if you correct these by hand. It is better to show that you have read through your work than to present a pristine text full of errors. If you find a lot of mistakes, go back and print out the essay again. Remember that the ability to produce a clean, polished text is an important skill in its own right. It is worth spending time and effort on this. Not only will good spelling earn you extra marks for each essay during your time as a student; this is a skill that will also be useful in the workplace later on.