Tag: grammar

Don’t start sentences with an “-ing” word

Melanie RimmerLeave a comment
A blue plate, smashed to fragments
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Sentence fragments are incomplete sentences, like these:

  • And a cup of coffee.
  • A long time ago.
  • Showing that teenagers have undeveloped prefrontal cortexes.

You can make these into complete sentences by adding in the missing part:

  • I’d like an all-day breakfast, please, and a cup of coffee.
  • A long time ago, there was an old woodcutter.
  • Jay Giedd conducted a study showing that teenagers have undeveloped prefrontal cortexes.

The last example is a very common type of sentence fragment seen in essays. Starting a complete grammatical sentence with an -ing word is possible, but it’s more often a red flag that a sentence fragment is coming. If you find yourself starting a sentence with an “-ing” word, ask yourself whether it’s a sentence fragment, and how to turn it into a complete sentence.

There’s a more detailed explanation of what makes something a complete grammatical sentence, what makes a sentence fragment, and how to fix them here: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sentence-fragment/

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The Open University is a proper noun

Melanie RimmerLeave a comment
A modern-looking university building made of concrete, plate glass, and brick
Robert Hooke building at Open University Campus in Milton Keynes by Chmee2 licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

The Open University is a proper noun. “Proper” in this sense is like “property” – it means “belonging to someone or something”. A proper noun is the official name of someone or something.

Proper nouns should almost always be capitalised. It would be wrong to write the open university, if you meant the British university based in Milton Keynes.

People’s names are proper nouns. You should write:

  • Melanie Rimmer, not melanie rimmer
  • Donald Duck, not donald duck
  • Jean Piaget, not jean piaget

And so on.

Place names are also proper nouns:

  • Milton Keynes, not milton keynes
  • City Road, not city road (if you mean the road in Cardiff called City Road)

Business names are also proper nouns:

  • The Macintosh Centre, not the macintosh centre
  • Taste Buds Café, not taste buds café

There are a few exceptions; for example the feminist bell hooks chose to write her name in lower case to honour her grandmother. The business eBay starts with a lower case letter. But the general rule is always capitalise proper nouns.