<p> COMMON MISTAKES ON SUBMISSIONS AT TRINITY</p><p>Below are correctives to the most common grammar and style mistakes I find in Trinity submissions. The circled numbers that I have placed in the margin of your paper correlate with the numbered items below. Please review the examples I have provided or review the cited portions in Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations in order to avoid these mistakes in future lessons.</p><p>Problems with Commas and Semicolons</p><p>1. Use a comma with the next-to-the-last item in a series of three or more items: Turabian 3.68.</p><p>2. Place commas and periods within quotation marks, but place other punctuation marks outside of quotation marks: Turabian 5.17.</p><p>3. Use the semicolon for (a) separating independent clauses within a compound sentence that does not have a coordinating conjunction or (b) separating lengthy items in a series where commas are used already within the items themselves: Turabian 3.84-3.87.</p><p>4. In a compound sentence with two independent clauses, separate the independent clauses by either a semicolon or a comma + “and.” In a compound sentence with more than two independent clauses, separate all the clauses by a semicolon except for the last one, which should be separated by a comma + “and.” For example:</p><p>INCORRECT: My mother went to Washington and a tour guide took her through the Smithsonian Institute. [Here there are two independent clauses; that is, each part of the sentence could stand alone as a separate sentence.]</p><p>CORRECT: My mother went to Washington, and a tour guide took her through the Smithsonian Institute.</p><p>INCORRECT: My mother went to Washington, she visited the Smithsonian Institute and she saw the President.</p><p>CORRECT: My mother went to Washington; she visited the Smithsonian Institute, and she saw the President.</p><p>5. Use a colon (:) to introduce clarifying clauses, phrases, or lists: Turabian 3.88-3.90.</p><p>INCORRECT: James decided to spend his day doing these chores; washing his car, paying his bills, and washing his clothes.</p><p>CORRECT: James decided to spend his day doing these chores: washing his car, paying his bills, and washing his clothes.</p><p>1 Problems with Pronouns</p><p>6. Make sure pronouns and their antecedents match in number, gender, and person. For example:</p><p>INCORRECT: Anxiety will not be overcome if a counselee refuses to apply Matthew 6:25-34 to their life. [Here the pronoun “their” does not match its antecedent “counselee” in number.]</p><p>CORRECT: Anxiety will not be overcome if counselees refuse to apply Matthew 6:25- 34 to their lives.</p><p>7. To avoid “gender-biased language,” wherever appropriate, use collective nouns (“humanity,” or “people”) and/or plural pronouns (“they,” “them,” “their,” etc.). Avoid use of “he/she” or “s/he.” Also avoid exclusive use of either “he” or “she.”</p><p>8. Use personal pronouns consistently within a sentence or paragraph. For example:</p><p>INCORRECT: Biblical counselors must be careful to use passages of Scripture appropriately. You must “rightly divide” the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2:15). [Here the first sentence is written in the third person, and the second sentence is written in the second person.]</p><p>CORRECT: Biblical counselors must be careful to use passages of Scripture appropriately. They must “rightly divide” the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2:15).</p><p>Problems with Quotations</p><p>9. Use block quotations for quotes that will be over 4 lines of text. (NOTE: This differs from Turabian’s suggestion.) </p><p>10. Do not use quotation marks to open or close block quotations. Single-space block quotations: Turabian 5.30-5.34.</p><p>11. Use single quotation marks only within double quotation marks (signifying a quote within a quote): Turabian 5.11. Students trained in the British system of punctuation and spelling must use that system consistently.</p><p>Problems with Formatting</p><p>12. Reserve the use of Latin phrases (“e.g.,” “etc.,” “i.e.,” and so on) for parenthetical comments or footnotes (or endnotes): Turabian 2.23; 2.26.</p><p>13. Use a double space between lines within the body of the paper and between separate bibliographic entries. Use a single space between lines within footnotes and within bibliographic entries: Turabian 14.36; 14.39.</p><p>14. In bibliographies indent the second and subsequent lines 5 spaces: Turabian 14.39.</p><p>15. Format headings and subheadings consistently throughout the paper: Turabian 1.37.</p><p>2 16. Use two double-spaces between previous text and a new heading or subheading and one double-space between a heading or subheading and subsequent text.</p><p>17. Do not allow subheadings to “hang” at the bottom of a page without at least two lines of supporting text underneath them.</p><p>18. Format citations and bibliographies consistently throughout the paper: Turabian 11.1-11.68.</p><p>19. Biblical book titles should be spelled out.</p><p>20. Use parallel construction of items in lists or series. For example:1</p><p>INCORRECT: The participants were told to make themselves comfortable, to read the instructions, and that they should ask about anything they did not understand. [Here the first two items in the series are infinitive phrases and the last one is a dependent clause introduced by a relative pronoun.]</p><p>CORRECT: The participants were told to make themselves comfortable, to read the instructions, and to ask about anything they did not understand.</p><p>21. Capitalize “Scripture” and “Bible.” Do not capitalize “biblical,” “scriptural,” “pastor” (unless it’s used with a particular name, e.g., “Pastor Mark” or “Pastor Smith”), “biblical counseling,” or “biblical counselor.”</p><p>22. When you delete a portion of quoted material (a word, phrase, or sentence), you show that with an ellipsis, which is created by spacing three periods in place of the deleted material (period- space-period-space-period). An ellipsis does not replace the period of the sentence before it (so you would type period-space-period-space-period-space-period). See Turabian 5.18-5.28.</p><p>1 This particular example comes from Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed (Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association, 2001), 60.</p><p>3</p>