2. Other problems occur with the style or level of vocabulary for a word Henceforth formal and old-fashioned b. Among versus amongst: The first is American English, the second is Queen's English 5. GRAMMAR Grammatical rules are arbitrary but you have to conform. There is no negotiation. Durkhiem said: Language is the perfect example of how society merces us without laws There are also areas where the rules are not so strict bi your writing will be much better if you follow them a. Use active verbs. It's simpler and clearer. Passives are often weasely Active and transitive(meaning it has a direct object) verbs are just punchier b. Also, avoid turning verbs into nouns. Academics love to do this i. For example: Instead of getting a job you talk about"state of c. When you say, the boy walked down the block" you want to keep it that simple. Dont say, " The boy was the one who walked down the block d. Throwing in lots of prepositions gums up the flow of writing e. Forms of words are important. People often mix up"lay "and"lie". Lay is used in everyday speech but in formal writing, lie is still correct i. Individuals“lie”down What you do to something is"lay " is down. But in formal writing you have to use"lie f. The use of articles is completely arbitrary in every day language. Even in this class you' ll see examples of this with anthropological terms If you talk about the Nuer society-we think about a society of people who study the Nuer ii. But if you say Nuer society, or Nuer culture, we know that you fer to the ni ple g. With punctuation, especially commas, there are some areas of choice For example, both of th are correct.2. Other problems occur with the style or level of vocabulary for a word: a. Henceforth: very formal and old-fashioned b. Among versus amongst: The first is American English, the second is Queen’s English 5. GRAMMAR Grammatical rules are arbitrary but you have to conform. There is no negotiation. Durkhiem said: Language is the perfect example of how society coerces us without laws. There are also areas where the rules are not so strict, but your writing will be much better if you follow them. a. Use active verbs. It’s simpler and clearer. Passives are often weasely. Active and transitive (meaning it has a direct object) verbs are just punchier. b. Also, avoid turning verbs into nouns. Academics love to do this. i. For example: Instead of getting a job you talk about “state of employment” c. When you say, “the boy walked down the block” you want to keep it that simple. Don’t say, “The boy was the one who walked down the block.” d. Throwing in lots of prepositions gums up the flow of writing. e. Forms of words are important. People often mix up “lay” and “lie”. Lay is used in everyday speech but in formal writing, lie is still correct. i. Individuals “lie” down ii. What you do to something is “lay” is down. But in formal writing you have to use “lie” f. The use of articles is completely arbitrary in every day language. Even in this class you’ll see examples of this with anthropological terms. i. If you talk about the Nuer society – we think about a society of people who study the Nuer. ii. But if you say Nuer society, or Nuer culture, we know that you refer to the Nuer people. g. With punctuation, especially commas, there are some areas of choice. For example, both of these are correct: