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Gerunds as subjects

Gerunds are the -ing form of a verb. Creating a gerund requires the base form of a verb such as walk and an -ing added to the base. Examples of gerunds are walking, thinking, seeing, liking, writing, traveling, and working.

Simple sentence: I enjoy walking to work.
Gerund as subject: Walking to work is enjoyment for me.

Simple sentence: I plan to study this weekend.
Gerund as subject: Studying this weekend is my plan.

Here’s an example of a piece of writing:
It was an interesting situation. Everyone entered the room after dinner. No one said anything. Each person looked at each other person. The room was silent. Everyone felt very awkward.

The writing becomes stronger and more interesting when another kind of sentence structures such as gerunds are used.

Everyone entering the room after dinner was an interesting situation. No one said anything. Looking at each other and not saying anything was what everyone was doing. The room was silent, and everyone felt very awkward.

Style manuals

What is a style manual? A style manual is a punctuation, spelling, citation, format, and acronym guide. A number of style manuals are regularly published.

The one we most often use at Aaron is The Chicago Manual of Style. Like other style manuals, the Chicago is a book of rules. One of the primary reasons to use a style manual is consistency. When you are rewriting a document, the paragraph format needs to be the same on each page. That is, if you use a block style- no indentations, it is incorrect to switch to an indented style.

Other than consistency, knowing the commonly used language patterns is also important. For example, when you use numbers in a text, the Chicago standard is to spell out numbers from one through ninety-nine rather than use figures such as 1 to 99. However, when using numbers in a series, the Chicago uses figures. For example:

Twenty-seven people attended the conference. Seven were from Japan, 3 from Norway, 8 from Denmark, 2 from Israel, and 7 from Canada.

Note that the first word of the second sentence is spelled out and not in figures because it begins the sentence.

In addition to Chicago, other professional organizations publish style manuals. The American Management Association publishes a style manual for business writing, the Modern Language Association for English and Humanities writing, and the American Psychological Association for psychological writing.

Euphemisms

Euphemisms rename ideas and situations that we want to avoid naming and discussing. Euphemisms are words that we can use to discuss unpleasant things. Somehow unpleasantness is reduced through the use of euphemisms. Euphemisms may also help avoid conversational awkwardnesses. Below is a list of words and their euphemisms:

Topic Euphemism
Beggar Homeless person
Crippled Physically challenged
Death insurance Life insurance
Died Passed away
False teeth Dentures
Mentally retarded Special child
Toilet Bathroom, ladies room, gents room
Unemployed Between jobs

In writing, we often use euphemisms both to avoid some words and be more sensitive. Here are some examples:

1. My grandmother passed away eight years ago.
2. My son is a special child.
3. Market Street is full of homeless people.
4. Excuse me, but where do I find the ladies’ room?
5. Life insurance quarterly payment: $327.92.

Using euphemisms is necessary and appropriate. At the same time, however, knowing the true meaning of euphemisms is important.

1. Sentence length

Make sentences short enough to be easily understood. Long sentences become very confusing. Many Japanese sentences need to be separated into two or more English sentences.

2. Reading

It is important to read. We improve our writing through reading. Find good examples of the kind of writing you want to do. Then, read, read, read, and read some more.

3. Paragraph structure

Paragraphs are the building blocks of writing. There are two types: indentation and block. Look at examples in books and newspapers. Imitate them. A paragraph should not be too long or too short. Probably somewhere between four and seven sentences is ideal. See Item #11 below for examples of indentation and block paragraphs.

4. English writing uses single byte characters

Leave the double byte characters for Japanese.

5. Italics for non-English words

Italics are underused. They set items off and make them easy to see such as laws, rules, and committee names. Italics can also be used for stress. If a word is in your dictionary, it generally does not need italics.

Examples:
He had natto for breakfast because it was very healthy.
She had sushi for lunch.

6. Bold is useful for emphasis.

Example:
She said, “Although I know it is healthy, I truly avoid natto for breakfast and for any other meal.”

7. Overuse of quotation marks

Quotation marks are used to express the exact words others have used. We use a quote when we say who we are quoting. A quote may be from a conversation we heard or from an article in a book or newspaper. Laws, rules, or committee names are not quoted. While quotation marks are often overused, italics are often underused.

8. Acronyms

Define your acronyms unless they are commonly known. You don´t need to define the CIA, but you do need to define CEF (Citizens Environmental Foundation).

9. Overuse of capitals

Capitals are normally used for names and organizations, not for emphasis. Too many capitals in a document look awkward.

10. Natural English

Language cannot be grammatically correct if it sounds awkward and unnatural. Grammatical correctness is above and beyond textbook rules. Correctness simply sounds natural. Grammar is too complicated to be limited to a series of rules. Grammar is a living, changing structure, and no number of rules will ever be able to describe all aspects of such a structure.

11. Consistency

Writing consists of a number of accepted practices such as grammar and syntax, levels of formality, specialized vocabulary, and choice of paragraph style. The pattern established at the beginning of a document should continue through the middle and the end.

Example of consistency with an indentation paragraph:

Every morning I wake up when the sun comes up. Some people are night people while others are morning people. I am a morning person, so when I wake up and get up, I am energetic and ready to start my day.

My husband is the opposite. He likes to wake up slowly, drink his two cups of coffee, and have a bowl of rice with natto. After his second cup of coffee, he is usually only half awake.

Example of consistency with a block paragraph:

Every morning I wake up when the sun comes up. Some people are night people while others are morning people. I am a morning person, so when I wake up and get up, I am energetic and ready to start my day.

My husband is the opposite. He likes to wake up slowly, drink his two cups of coffee, and have a bowl of rice with natto. After his second cup of coffee, he is usually only half awake.

12. English sentence structure and Japanese sentence structure

Modeling English writing in Japanese sentence structures does not work well. If you read English and become more familiar with its structure, you´ll notice that English word order is very different from Japanese word order.

13. Spelling

Remember to proofread your document and use the spell-checker.

14. The serial comma

The serial comma is the last comma in a series of commas. It comes before the and. The first example below uses the serial comma and the second does not.

Example 1: I like apples, grapes, and mangos.
Example 2: I like apples, grapes and mangos.

Some writers use the serial comma and others avoid using it. Those who use it believe the last comma makes sentences easier to read. Those who avoid using it think the serial comma is unnecessary. In English writing that overuses the word and, the serial comma can make the writing easier to understand. The best approach is to decide whether or not to use the last comma, and then, be consistent.

15. Dividing words

Although hyphenating words was previously common, these days it is much less common. However, if words are divided, they must be properly hyphenated. If you are not sure how they should be divided, check your dictionary. Remember this when you are putting words into tables. For example, avoid putting t on one line and ables on the next line.

Names, titles, and honorifics

How do you refer to people in English when you write in English? Do you use a title in English such as Mr. President or Your Honor? Not many people are called by titles today in America. Do you use honorifics such as san or sensei when you write in English? Some people think doing so is culturally sensitive or polite. They would say Tanaka-sensei instead of Mr. Tanaka or Professor Tanaka. Remember that we use professor only to refer to teachers employed as professors, the job title of some college and university teachers. Other people would write Mr. Tanaka or Professor Tanaka in English.

There are also people who like to use Japanese honorifics in novels and short stories because they think it adds cultural flavor. What do you think? There may be no correct answer that fits all situations. The only correct answer would be to know why you write what you write and know you have good reasons for doing so.