APA style and citations for dummies - Joe Giampalmi 2021

Shining the spotlight on the stars of the show: action verbs
Creating a foundation: the principal parts of speech, structure, and usage
Earning applause: APA writing for the academic audience

In this chapter

Writing with action verbs and specific nouns

Losing half your voice

Building ideas at the foundation level

Reducing confusing usage

My obsession with language began as an elementary school student, learning grammar lyrics to a famous college fight song:

1. Pronouns and nouns, we meet face to face,

2. Person, number, gender, and case.

3. A diagram we know is work,

4. From which we will never shirk.

My passion for language continued through John Mooney’s English class at St. James High School, where I developed proficiencies such as ten basic rules for the comma, nine classifications of pronouns, eight varieties of nouns, seven uses of the colon, six characteristics of clauses, and five properties of verbs.

Through high school my obsession continued. I was fascinated with grammar fundamentals and diagrams, visual displays of sentences. I would never shirk learning grammar or creating images of sentences. My passion with grammar continues today as I adjust to changes of rules that have existed for centuries.

This chapter helps you capitalize on key parts of speech to add vigor to your writing, become sociable with disagreeable nouns and pronouns, and apply usage strategies to navigate potholes and pitfalls of written communication.

Shining the spotlight on the stars of the show: action verbs

Every college semester, I ask my writing students to name the eight parts of speech. In two decades, only one student successfully responded — her mother was an English teacher. Most students named two: verb and noun.

Fortunately, no studies correlate knowledge of parts of speech with writing success, and English teachers appear to be among the few educated people who can name and explain them. Also, the fact that so many people understand verbs confirms American novelist Ernest Hemingway’s emphasis on action verbs as writers’ primary part of speech. Action verbs are what’s happening. APA highlights the verb properties of voice, number (agreement), and tense, and I clarify what you need to know in the following sections.

Using your voice

When writing, you need to lose half your voice, the passive half. Verb voice identifies the subject as the performer of the action (active voice) or receiver of the action (passive voice). College writing departments recommend almost exclusive use of active voice. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., publisher of this book, clarifies their position: “Avoid using passive voice.” APA warns that “many writers overuse the passive voice.” You’re probably not a vocalist, but take this voice lesson.

· Active voice: Mariah prepared a margherita pizza.

· Passive voice: A margherita pizza was prepared by Mariah.

The active voice example shows Mariah as the performer of the action. She prepared the margherita pizza — everyone enjoyed it. The passive voice example shows pizza as the receiver of the action. Passive voice verbs usually include a form of the verb to be: am, is, are, was, were, be, and been.

Action verbs, the oxygen of written communication, breathe life into your sentences and paragraphs. Professional writers’ best advice to academic writers is to write with active verbs. Hemingway’s World War I romance novel A Farewell to Arms exemplifies the use of active verbs.

Show verbs

American poet Edgar Allan Poe allegedly advised writers to believe half of what they see and none of what they hear; in other words, he wanted writers to use verbs that show action rather than tell action. In The Raven, he avoids telling readers he was tired and heard a noise, preferring to show them action by writing,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping …

Here are some examples that tell the action and show the action:

· Telling action (avoid): Scientists were happy after Curiosity’s landing on Mars.

· Showing action (prefer): Scientists cheered Curiosity’s landing on Mars.

· Telling: The dog was angry.

· Showing: The dog snapped.

· Telling: The customer was displeased with the salesperson.

· Showing: The customer shouted at the salesperson.

· Telling: The baby was tired.

· Showing: The baby napped.

Neuroscientists discovered that active verbs “light up” the brain. Using functional imaging studies, they showed that brain activity is heightened when you read active verbs.

When you read from the perspective of the writer, identify the writer’s successful use of active voice and action verbs.

Concise verbs

Successful writers practice word economy by saying more with less and using concise verbs. Avoid multi-word verbs and eliminate unnecessary words in your action ideas. Frequently, a verb idea with three or more words can be reduced as such:

· Multi-word verb: Congress made an objection to proposed legislation.

· Concise verb: Congress objected to proposed legislation.

The verb phrase made an objection contains two action ideas (made and objected). The verb objected includes the meaning of making.

· Multi-word verb: The board decided to approve new marching band uniforms.

· Concise verb: The board approved new marching band uniforms.

· Multi-word verb: The committee arrived at a conclusion that uniforms were essential.

· Concise verb: The committee concluded that uniforms were essential.

Being in agreement

People respectfully disagree, but verbs aren’t as polite as people. Verbs dislike disagreement and stubbornly insist on agreeing with their subjects. Subjects and verbs agree in number (singular or plural). Agreement proficiencies require the understanding of singular and plural when phrases are positioned between the subject and verb, and recognition of number ambiguity of some nouns:

The first two hurricanes of the year were less damaging than predicted.

Hurricanes (the plural subject) requires agreement with the plural verb were. Avoid identifying the singular year (which is the object of the preposition of) as the subject.

The phone, including the service plan and upgrades, was above Carson’s budget.

The singular subject (phone) requires a singular verb (was). Avoid identifying the subject as upgrades, which is part of the phrase including the service plan.

Examples of prepositions and prepositional phrases include from the south, of unknown origin, at the meeting, in the research, with accessories, after the meeting, and during January. Be sure to identify the subject as the performer of the action, not the object of the preposition.

Sentences beginning with there and here position the subject after the verb:

There are few valid excuses for missing class.

Guidelines for subject-verb agreement include

· Two or more subjects joined by and require a plural verb.

Blueberries and bananas are my favorite cereal toppings.

· Two or more subjects joined by or require a singular verb.

Running or cycling is my favorite outdoor exercise.

· Some nouns appear plural in form, but require singular verbs: mathematics, physics, news, measles, and civics.

Mathematics is my third-favorite subject.

Measles was declared eliminated in 2000.

· Some collective nouns are singular or plural, depending on their use, as in the following examples.

Singular: The orchestra is meeting for rehearsal at 6 a.m.

Plural: The orchestra are asked to store instruments in music lockers.

Singular: The family was committed to volunteer for flood victims.

Plural: The family were each committed to different projects.

Focusing on tense

College students experience many stresses in their lives; verb tense shouldn’t be one of them. Tense simply refers to the time an action takes place: present, past, or future. APA recommends verb tenses for specific sections of papers that follow the APA documentation style.

· Research components completed in the past require past tense.

Review of literature: Winn (2020) reviewed causes of declining attendance in Major League Baseball.

Methodology: Athletes completed extensive conditioning prior to participating in cognitive activities.

Survey results: The survey revealed weaknesses in the instrument.

· Research components referencing past research require present tense.

Discussion and implications: College athletes earn better grades while participating in their sports.

Conclusion and projections: Research shows that students living on campus earn better grades.