English Writing Manual
Second Edition
David Barker
English Writing Manual Second Edition
By David Barker
© BTB Press, 2014
Published by BTB Press (www.btbpress.com)
Japanese editing by Tomoyo Horiguchi & Mutsumi Kawasaki
Design and layout by Paul Lewis
This book may not be copied or reproduced in any form without permission from the
publisher.
ISBN 978-4-905088-48-6
Table of Contents
English Writing Manual
LLayout 4
1
Capital Letters 8
2
What Is a Sentence? 10
3
Simple Sentences 12
4
And, But, & Or in Simple Sentences 14
5a Compound Sentences (1) 16
5b Compound Sentences (2) 18
6
Because and So 20
7
Complex Sentences 22
8
Subject-Verb Agreement 24
9
Tense Agreement 26
10 Singular and Plural Nouns 28
CChecklist 30
英語ライティングマニュアル
L 1 2 3 4 5a
5b
6 7 8 9 10
C 2 レイアウト大文字の使い方センテンスとは？単文単文と接続詞重文と接続詞（1）
重文と接続詞（2） becauseとsoの使い方複文主語と動詞の一致時制の一致名詞の使い方チェックリスト 32
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
English Writing Manual 3
Layout
When you write an English composition, you must make sure that the layout is correct.
(Layout means how the writing looks on the paper.) Look at the example below, and
read the key points on the next page.
2) The title of your composition should be in the center of the page. The first letter of
each word in the title should be capitalized. Small words like a, the, and as are not
capitalized unless they are the first word, but pronouns are capitalized.
2
1
3
4
5
6
L
1) Write your name in Roman letters in the top right-hand corner of your paper. Write
your student number below your name.
A Perfect Day
Choosing a Present
My Journey to School
Describing My Room
3) Skip one line under the title before you start writing.
4) The first line of a new paragraph should be indented about one centimeter.
5) Write so that the bottoms of your letters touch the lines of the paper. Do not let
your writing float above or sink below the lines.
7
6) Your writing should be double-spaced. Skip one line after each line you write.
7) Do not start a new line after a period. Keep writing until you reach the end of the
line, and then continue on the next line.
9
8
8) Leave a margin of about two centimeters at the left of the page. Use your eyes to
judge this. Do not draw a line down the page. The model compositions in this book
are written without margins to leave enough space for you to write notes, but your
own writing on loose-leaf paper should have margins.
9) The margin on the right of the page should be about the same as the margin on the
left, but it is okay for the end of each line to be in a slightly different position.
10
4 English Writing Manual
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L
10)Write the number of words in your composition at the bottom of the page.
English Writing Manual 5
L
Practice
Look at the composition below. The English is correct, but there are a number of
problems with the layout. Check the rules explained on the previous page, and rewrite
the composition with correct layout on the opposite page.
English Writing Manual
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L
L
L
6 English Writing Manual
English Writing Manual 7
1
1
Capital Letters
The use of capital letters is very important in English. It is difficult to learn all the rules
because there are so many of them, but here are some key points that you need to
remember.
1) The first letter of a new sentence must always be capitalized.
2) The names of people and places are always capitalized.
( John Smith, Professor Davies, Tokyo Station)
Practice
Missing capitals
These sentences have been written without any capital letters. Rewrite each one on the
line below, and use capital letters where appropriate.
Example: my mother and i went shopping at the mall yesterday.
My mother and I went shopping at the mall yesterday.
3) The names of days, months, and public holidays are capitalized.
( Monday, March, Christmas, Halloween, Labor Day)
1) my name is taro, and my brother's name is jiro.
4) The names of the seasons are not capitalized.
( summer, winter)
2) my house is close to osaka station.
5) The names of countries, nationalities, and languages are always capitalized.
( Japan, Chinese, French)
6) The names of subjects in school or university are not capitalized unless they are
also the names of languages.
( mathematics, social studies, English, physical education [but see 11 below])
7) I is always capitalized, but you, his, her, our, and theirs are not capitalized unless
they are the first word in a sentence.
8) For names of singers and bands, only the first letter of each word should be
capitalized.
✘ DREAMS COME TRUE
✔Dreams Come True
9) The names of rivers are written like this: the Shinano River, the river Shinano.
10)Directions such as north and south are not capitalized unless they are part of a place
name.
( the north of Japan, South Dakota)
11)Acronyms are capitalized.
( the USA, the UK, USJ, PE [ physical education ])
3) next monday is valentine’s day.
4) my friend is from korea, but she can speak japanese.
5) my father and i like southern all stars.
Correct the mistakes
These sentences contain mistakes. Rewrite each sentence correctly on the line below.
Example: I live in tokyo.
I live in Tokyo.
6) My favorite group is EXILE.
7) I like Math and English the best.
8) Keiko often goes to karaoke with Her sister.
9) It is very cold in Hokkaido in the Winter.
10)Takayama is in the North of Gifu Prefecture.
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English Writing Manual 9
1
2
2
What Is a Sentence?
English sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a period ( . ), a question mark
( ? ), or an exclamation point ( ! ).
An English sentence must have a subject and a verb, and it must express a complete
thought. (Commands like Stop and Don’t worry are special cases. They are sentences
even though the subject you is not written.)
Practice
Is it a sentence?
Mark numbers that are sentences with ✔ and those that are not with ✘. If you put ✘,
write “No subject,” “No verb,” or “Not a complete thought” on the line below.
Example: When I am happy. (
✘
)
If what you write does not satisfy all of these points, it will not be a sentence. A group
of words that has a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought is called
a clause (if you go, when they return, etc.).
Learners of English often write incomplete sentences. A common mistake is the use of
for example.
2) Because the weather was nice, we went swimming. (
We visited many cities. For example, Paris and Rome.
The part that begins with For example is not a sentence because it does not have a subject
or a verb. To make this a sentence, you would have to repeat the subject and verb from
the previous sentence.
For example, we went to Paris and Rome.
English sentences must also express a complete thought. Look at the example below.
I decided to go home. Because I was tired.
The part that starts with because is not a sentence because it has no meaning by itself. In
order to give it meaning, it should be joined to the previous sentence.
I decided to go home because I was tired.
You can read more about how to use because on p. 26.
Not a complete thought. 1) It hurts! (
)
)
3) My new classmate from Mie. (
)
4) Is very handsome? (
)
5) Because they are friends. (
)
Correct the mistakes
Numbers 6 to 10 below all contain mistakes. Identify the mistakes and correct them.
Example: We visited many European countries. For example, Spain and France.
We visited many European countries. For example, we visited Spain and France.
6) I like animals. For example, dogs and cats.
7) I stayed home. Because I was tired.
8) it was sunny yesterday.
9) What do you want to do in the future.
10)My father very busy because of his job.
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2
English Writing Manual 11
2
C
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
❏❏
Checklist
Your name and student number are written in the top right-hand corner of
the page.
The title is in the center of the page and has capital letters for all of the
main words.
C
Practice
This composition contains ten mistakes. Find them using the checklist on the opposite
page. Go through the items one by one. When you finish, compare your answers with
your partner’s answers. You do not need to correct the mistakes; just find them.
One line has been skipped below the title.
The first line of the paragraph is indented.
Equal margins have been left on both sides of the paper.
The writing is double-spaced.
Every sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period ( . ),
a question mark ( ? ), or an exclamation point ( ! ).
Commas (
, ) and periods ( . ) look very different.
English Writing Manual
English Writing Manual
C
Every sentence has a subject and a verb.
Every sentence expresses a complete thought.
C
No sentence starts with and, but, or, or so.
Every place that needs a comma has a comma.
There are no unnecessary commas. (Check because clauses.)
All verbs agree with their subjects.
All verbs are in the correct tense.
The singular and plural forms of nouns are used correctly.
All singular countable nouns have a determiner.
Letters that should be capitalized are capitalized; letters that should not be
capitalized are not.
There is a good balance of simple, compound, and complex sentences.
There are no spelling mistakes.
30 English Writing Manual
English Writing Manual 31
レイアウト
英語のレポートを書くときは、
レイアウトが間違っていると不合格になることがあります。
「レイアウト」
と
は、
ページの見た目のことです。下記の例をよく見てから、次のページのキーポイントを読みましょう。
2) タイトルはページの中央に書き、単語の始まりは大文字にします。
ただし、
タイトルの最初と最後
にくる場合を除いて、前置詞や冠詞は小文字にします。代名詞は大文字で始めます。
2
A Perfect Day
Choosing a Present
My Journey to School
Describing My Room
1
3
4
5
3) タイトルの下は１行空けます。
4) １行目の先頭の単語を１センチほど字下げします。
6
L
1) 名前はローマ字でページの右上に書きます。学籍番号はその下に書くこと。
5) 文字は罫線にしっかり沿って書きます。文字が線の上に浮いたり、下に沈んだりしないこと。
6) 文章は１行おきに書きます。
7
7) ピリオドの後は改行をしません。
そのままその行の終わりまで書き続けてから、次の行に進みます。
8) ページの左側には２センチほどの余白を空けます。鉛筆で線を引かず、
目測で判断すること。
（本
書では、皆さんが自分の例文を書くスペースを残すために、
パラグラフの余白を空けていません
が、
ルーズリーフなどに書く場合は、必ず余白を空けること）
9) 右側の余白は、
できるだけ左側の余白と合わせます。
ただし、行によって多少のずれがあっても
かまいません。
9
8
10)ページの下部に単語数を書きます。
10
32 English Writing Manual
英語ライティングマニュアル
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L
English Writing Manual 33
L
大文字の使い方
英語では大文字・小文字の区別は重要です。誤った大文字の使用は減点の対象となります。
すべての
ルールを覚えるのは難しいですが、
ここでは基本的なルールを紹介します。
1) センテンスの最初の文字は必ず大文字で始めます。
2) 人・場所の名前は、必ず大文字です。
( John Smith, Professor Davies, Tokyo Station)
3) 曜日・月・祭日の名前は大文字にします。
( Monday, March, Christmas, Halloween, Labor Day)
4) 季節の名前はすべて小文字です。
( summer, winter)
5) 国・国籍・言語は大文字にします。
( Japan, Chinese, French)
6) 学校の科目名はすべて小文字です。
ただし、言語の名前だけは大文字で始めます。
( mathematics, social studies, English, physical education [11を参照])
1
7) I は必ず大文字ですが、you、his、her、our、theirs などはすべて小文字です。
8) バンドや歌手名の場合は頭文字だけを大文字にします。
DREAMS COME TRUE
Dreams Come True
9) 川の名前には表記の仕方が２つあります。
( the Shinano River, the river Shinano)
10)南・北などの方位は原則として小文字ですが、
地名の一部として用いられる場合は、
大文字にし
ます。
( the north of Japan, South Dakota)
11)頭字語は大文字にします。
2
センテンスとは？
英語のセンテンスは大文字で書き始め、
ピリオド
（ . ）、疑問符（ ? ）、
または感嘆符（ ! ）
で書き終え
ます。
センテンスには、必ず主語と動詞が必要です。
さらに、意味が完結していなければなりません。
この2
つのポイントを満たしていないものは、
センテンスとは言えません。
ただし、Stop! や Don’t worry.
などの命令文は例外です。命令文は、主語がなくても、
センテンスとして認められます。主語と動詞が
あっても、意味が完結していない不完全な部分は
「節」
と呼ばれ、
センテンスではありません。(if you
go、when they return など)
上記の2つのポイントを満たしていない、不完全な文章を誤って書くことが多くあります。
よくある間違い
は for example と because を使う場合です。
We visited many cities. For example, Paris and Rome.
上の例の For example から始まる部分には主語も動詞もないので、
これではセンテンスとは言えま
せん。正しく直すには、主語と動詞を加える必要があります。
For example, we went to Paris and Rome.
2
さらに、英語のセンテンスは意味が完結していなければいけません。
I decided to go home. Because I was tired.
because から始まる節は、意味が不完全なので、
センテンスとして認められません。正しく直すには、
前のセンテンスからそのまま続けて書きます。
I decided to go home because I was tired.
because の使い方は p. 60 で詳しく説明しています。
( the USA, the UK, USJ, PE [ physical education ] )
34 English Writing Manual
英語ライティングマニュアル
英語ライティングマニュアル
1
English Writing Manual 35
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