College essays that made a difference - Princeton Review 2010
Grammar and form
Essay fundamentals
You should strive to make your college application clear, concise, candid, structurally sound, and 100 percent grammatically accurate.
Clarity and conciseness are achieved through a lot of reading, rereading, and rewriting. Without question, repeated critical revision by yourself and by others is the surest way to trim, tune, and improve your prose.
As candor cannot be impressed after the fact, your writing should be sincere from the outset. Let’s be frank: You’re probably pretty smart. You can probably fake candor if absolutely necessary, but don’t. For one thing, it involves a lot more work. Moreover, no matter how good your insincere essay may be, we’re confident that the honest and authentic one you write will be even better.
Structural soundness is the product of a well-crafted outline. Sketch out the general themes of your essay first; worry about filling in the particulars later. Many people like to start by putting ideas onto paper in the form of “bubble outlines”—they’ll write down the names of things that they’re passionate or know a lot about, circle the ones that they really think describe who they are, then connect with lines ideas that complement one another. Others, like movie director Paul Thomas Anderson, start writing lists of things that they like or have done—lists and lists and lists—until an overall theme starts to take shape. If you go about it this way, you have the details of your essay written down even before you decide what your theme will be. The idea is to get thinking, get your thoughts onto paper, then settle down to attack the task of building a formal outline. Pay close attention to the structure of your essay and to the fundamental message it communicates. Make sure you have a thesis statement and a well-conceived narrative. Your essay should flow from beginning to end. Use paragraphs properly and make sure they are in logical order. The sentences within each paragraph should be complete and also flow in logical order.
Grammatical accuracy is key. A thoughtful essay that offers true insight will undoubtedly stand out, but if it is riddled with poor grammar and misspelled words, it will not receive serious consideration. It is critical that you avoid grammatical errors. We can’t stress this enough. Misspellings, awkward constructions, run-on sentences, and misplaced modifiers cast doubt on your efforts. Admissions officers will question the amount of care you put into the essay’s composition. For more information, see the Appendix.
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY
MISPLACED MODIFIER
WHAT’S THE RULE?
A word or phrase that describes something should go right next to the thing it modifies.
BAD GRAMMAR
1. Eaten in Mediterranean countries for centuries, northern Europeans viewed the tomato with suspicion.
2. A former greenskeeper now about to become the Masters champion, tears welled up in my eyes as I hit my last miraculous shot.
GOOD GRAMMAR
1. Eaten in Mediterranean countries for centuries, the tomato was viewed with suspicion by northern Europeans.
2. I was a former greens-keeper who was now about to become the Masters champion; tears welled up in my eyes as I hit my last miraculous shot.
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY
PRONOUNS
WHAT’S THE RULE?
A pronoun must refer unambiguously to a noun and it must agree (singular or plural) with that noun.
BAD GRAMMAR
1. Though brokers are not permitted to know executive access codes, they are widely known.
2. The golden retriever is one of the smartest breeds of dogs but they often have trouble writing essays for college admission.
3. Unfortunately, both candidates for whom I worked sabotaged their own campaigns by taking a contribution from illegal sources.
GOOD GRAMMAR
1. Though brokers are not permitted to know executive access codes, the codes are widely known.
2. The golden retriever is one of the smartest breeds of dogs but it often has trouble writing an essay for college admission.
3. Unfortunately, both candidates for whom I worked sabotaged their own campaigns by taking contributions from illegal sources.
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY
SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT
WHAT’S THE RULE?
The subject must always agree with the verb. Make sure you don’t forget what the subject of a sentence is, and don’t use the object of a preposition as the subject.
BAD GRAMMAR
1. Each of the men involved in the extensive renovations were engineers.
2. Federally imposed restrictions on the ability to use certain information has made life difficult for Martha Stewart.
GOOD GRAMMAR
1. Each of the men involved in the extensive renovations was an engineer.
2. Federally imposed restrictions on the ability to use certain information have made life difficult for Martha Stewart.
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY
PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION
WHAT’S THE RULE?
Words in lists in the same sentence need to be similar in form to the other words in the list.
BAD GRAMMAR
1. The two main goals of the Eisenhower presidency were a reduction of taxes and to increase military strength.
2. To provide a child with the skills necessary for survival in modern life is like guaranteeing their success.
GOOD GRAMMAR
1. The two main goals of the Eisenhower presidency were to reduce taxes and to increase military strength.
2. Providing children with the skills necessary for survival in modern life is like guaranteeing their success.
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY
COMPARISONS
WHAT’S THE RULE?
You can only compare things to exactly the same things.
BAD GRAMMAR
1. The rules of written English are more stringent than spoken English.
2. The considerations that led many colleges to impose admissions quotas in the last few decades are similar to the quotas imposed in the recent past by large businesses.
GOOD GRAMMAR
1. The rules of written English are more stringent than those of spoken English.
2. The considerations that led many colleges to impose admissions quotas in the last few decades are similar to those that led large businesses to impose quotas in the recent past.
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY
PASSIVE/ACTIVE VOICE
WHAT’S THE RULE?
Choose the active voice, in which the subject performs the action.
BAD GRAMMAR
1. The ball was hit by the bat.
2. After months were spent trying to keep justdillpickles.com afloat single-handedly, resignation was chosen by me.
GOOD GRAMMAR
1. The bat hit the ball.
2. After I spent months trying to keep justdillpickles.com afloat single-handedly, I chose to resign.
Things to Remember
Good writing is writing that is easily understood. You want to get your point across, not bury it in words. Don’t talk in circles. Your prose should be clear and direct. If an admissions officer has to struggle to figure out what you are trying to say, you’re in trouble.
Get to the point in three pages. Don’t be long-winded and boring. Admissions officers don’t like long essays. Would you, if you were in their shoes? Be brief. Be focused. If there is a word limit, abide by it.
Buy and read The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr., E. B. White, and Roger Angell. We can’t recommend this highly enough. It is a great investment for any undergrad. Almost every college requires its students to complete a course or two in composition, even students who major in subjects that are not writing-intensive, like chemistry. If you enroll in a major that involves a lot of writing, The Elements of Style will become your best friend. If you decide on a profession that requires you to put pen to paper on a daily basis, you will refer to it forever.
Proofread your essay from beginning to end, proofread it again, then proofread it some more. Read it aloud. Keep in mind, the more time you spend with a piece of your own writing, the less likely you are to spot errors. Ask friends, teachers, siblings—somebody other than yourself—to read your essay and comment on it. Ask them if it reflects your personality and tells a coherent story. If it doesn’t, work on it more. Do not get content ideas from them. Then have an English teacher or another stickler for grammar to make sure your essay is clear, concise, candid, structurally sound, and 100 percent grammatically accurate.