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中国有句俗语说：“没有规矩，不成方圆。”写作亦是如此。一篇好的文章必定是一篇书写规范的文章。

I is here to teach you about writing and editing.

Can you identify what's wrong with that sentence? You can have the best idea in the world, but if you don't bother to use correct conventions in your work, most people won't read past the first page, or listen past the first few minutes.

What Are Conventions?

So what are conventions exactly? Conventions are basic rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, which you should apply to your writing. Conventions can include a wide variety of different things, from capitalization to indentation.

The brown foks sed hee dyxliced mi bloo shoo altho!we never paented itt bloo?

If you're like the normal reader, you're probably having difficulty deciphering2) what that sentence says. Is it in code? Actually, the sentence is just not using conventions. It should say, "The brown fox said he disliked my blue shoe, although we never painted it blue." Without conventions, our writing would be chaotic3), unorganized, and hard to understand. Our writing is the mark we leave on the world—and we want to make sure that it's a mark people can understand. That's why it's important that you master using correct conventions in your writing.

Conventions Checklist

You can start by using this "Conventions Checklist." Ask yourself questions, like:

* Do I have a title?

* Is my writing divided into paragraphs?

* Do I have periods at the end of all of my sentences?

* Have I eliminated4) fragments?

* Do I have capitals at the beginning of all of my sentences and each of my proper nouns?

* Are the titles of books or movies in italics5) (if typed) or underlined (if handwritten)?

* Have I put dialogue in quotation marks?

* Have I put punctuation after conjunctions6) that connect a compound sentence?

* Do my tenses match?

* Is my spelling correct?

* Am I using words correctly?

A Clear Title

Let's begin by going through a few of these, starting with "Do I have a title?" Just as you might be leery7) of ordering a meal with no name because you wouldn't know what you'd be in for, a reader might be reluctant to read a piece without a title. Also, remember not to mislead your readers with an unclear title. If you're writing an article about the history of snails, don't call it "Rover the Dog."

Paragraphs

Once you've figured out your title, move on to paragraphs and ask yourself, "Is my writing divided into paragraphs?" Some of you might be wondering why paragraphs are so important. If you have ever stood in front of a giant, towering mountain with jagged8) cliffs and fearsome chasms9) and realized that you were about to climb that mountain, you know what it feels like to see a giant block of text with no paragraph breaks. To make your writing less intimidating10) and easier to understand, include paragraph breaks.

Complete Sentences

Have you ever seen a sentence like "Ran across the field of flowers" and then wondered what happened to the rest of the sentence? If you have, then you must have encountered something called a fragment. A fragment is an incomplete sentence. Be sure to ask yourself "Have I eliminated fragments?" If you aren't sure if you've written a complete sentence, check to make sure you have a subject (noun) and an action (verb). For instance, a sentence like "The badger chewed a toy" includes both a subject (noun—badger) and an action (verb—chew).

Capitalization and Italicization

Check to make sure you have CAPITAL LETTERS at the beginning of every proper noun, and at the beginning of every sentence. When you begin a new sentence, be sure to capitalize. Also, when using proper nouns (like I), always capitalize.

Be sure to italicize or underline the titles of books or movies. This is important because it indicates to readers that a phrase is actually a book or movie title.

Appropriate Punctuation Marks

Periods serve a similar purpose as paragraphs—they divide writing into bite-sized pieces. So ask yourself, "Do I have periods at the end of every sentence?" and check to make sure that you do. Using periods at the end of sentences is not only a rule—it will also help make your writing more understandable and clear to readers.

Sure, when someone speaks, you don't see quotation marks around their mouth. But that's no excuse not to use quotes around dialogue in your article or story. Quotes are important because they show the reader when someone is speaking. To make your writing easier to read, put dialogue in quotation marks and indent when a new person begins speaking.

This question can be a little harder: "Have I put punctuation after conjunctions that connect a compound sentence?" Basically, conjunctions are the "connecting words" in a passage of writing. They are used to link sentences, clauses, phrases, or words. Some typically used conjunctions are "and," "but," "yet," "or," and "nor." When writing a compound sentence, put a comma before the conjunction that joins the two parts of the sentence. An example of putting a comma before a conjunction would be: "I was covered in elephant dung, so I showered before attending the ball."

Matching Tenses

Do you have the power to be in the past, present, and future at the same time? I didn't think so. In our writing, we want to use matching tenses and stick with one tense—past, present, or future. Here are some examples of past tense: I walked, I ran, and I said. If you're using present tense, you would write them as I walk, I run, and I say. In future tense, you could write, I will walk, I will run, and I will say. Using matching tenses is important, so that you don't confuse your readers.

Correct Word-Spelling

If you're like most people, you've probably misspelled a few things in your life, and that's okay. But when we look for mistakes in conventions in writing, we want to make sure that we are spelling words correctly. We can use resources like online/word processor based spell checks and dictionaries to check our spelling. Using correct spelling makes your writing clearer and easier to understand.

Homophonic11) Words

Finally, I would like to speak about another topic related to words—using correct word choice. Often, we can confuse words that sound the same but have different meanings. For example: "there" and "their," "where" and "wear," and "hear" and "here." When we misuse words, our readers grow confused, and they could have difficulty understanding what we are trying to say.

Conventions are an essential part of any story, essay, or other piece of writing. Without them, our writing—and our world—would be very different. In your writing, remember that using correct conventions can help you earn respect from your readers. Writing is our mark on the world—and it's up to us to make sure that it's something we can be proud of.

Vocabulary

1. convention [kEn5venFEn] n. 常例，惯例；(行为的)准则

2. decipher [dI5saIfE(r)] vt. 解释(古代文字、难以理解的事物等)；辨认(潦草的字迹等)

3. chaotic [keI5CtIk] adj. 混乱的，紊乱的；杂乱的

4. eliminate [I5lImIneIt] vt. 排除，消除；根除

5. italic [I5tAlIk] n. [常作~s] 斜体；斜体字(或字母、数码等)

6. conjunction [kEn5dVQNkFEn] n. 【语】连(接)词

7. leery [5lIErI] adj. 猜疑的；迟疑的；留神的

8. jagged [5dVA^Id] adj. 有深缺口的；凹凸不平的

9. chasm [5kAzEm] n. 峡谷；深渊

10. intimidating [In5tImIdeItIN] adj. 令人气馁的

11. homophonic [7hCmEu5fCnIk] adj. 同音异义的；同形异义的

一起写故事

亲爱的读者朋友们，你是否也曾因为自己写作中“层出不穷”的不规范用法而困扰不已？参考文中Adora提供的“Convention Checklist”，逐项检查，然后将你最规范的一篇英语写作寄来和读者一起分享吧！请将你的英文作品于3月20号之前发至：teens@staff.neworiental.org或北京市海淀区海淀中街6号新东方大厦750室《新东方英语·中学生》编辑部(邮编：100080)

隔期Adora会对大家的故事进行点评，本刊将择优刊登，获选文章作者将收到价值19.8元的《美语脱口秀》一本。赶快来参与吧！