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FUMBLERULES - intentional mistakes that call attention to the rule.

1.  No sentence fragments.

2.  One word sentence? Eliminate.

3.  Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.4.  A writer must not shift your point of view.

5.  Do not put statements in the negative form.

6.  The adverb always follows the verb.

7.  Make an allout effort to hyphenate when necessary but not when un-

necessary.

8.  Don’t use Capital letters without good REASON.

9.  It behooves thee to avoid archaisms.

10. Reserve the apostrophe for it’s proper use and omit when its not needed.

11. Write all adverbial forms correct.

12. In their writing, everyone should make sure that their pronouns agree withits antecedent.

13. Use the semicolon properly, use it between complete but related thoughts;

and not between an independent clause and a mere phrase.

14. Don’t use no double negatives.

15. When a dependent clause precedes an independent clause put a comma after

the dependent clause.

16. If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: Resist hyperbole.

17. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

18. In articles books memos and stuff like that we use commas to keep thingsapart to avoid confusion ambiguity and misunderstanding.

19. But, don’t use, commas, which are not, necessary.

20. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.

21. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.

22. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

23. Also, avoid aimless, awkward or affected alliteration.

24. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

25. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.

26. The passive voice should never be used.

27. Writing carefully, dangling participles should be avoided.

28. Don’t overuse exclamation points!!!

29. Never use a long word when a diminutive alternative will suffice.

30. The rigid rule of “i before e except after c” raises spelling to a sceince.

31. Proofread carefully to see if you any word out.

32. Proofread again to see if you left any leter out.

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33. Proofread a third time to check for any any double entry.

34. If you reread your work, you will find that on rereading a great deal of 

repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

35. Use parallel structure when you write and in speaking.

36. Eschew dialect, de-accession euphemisms, zap onomatopoeia, boycott

eponyms and ixnay on colloquial stuff.

37. Resist new verb forms that have snuck into the language.

38. Of all the rules about indefinite pronouns, none is useful.

39. Better to walk through the valley of the shadow of death than to string

prepositional phrases.

40. You should just avoid confusing readers with misplaced modifiers.

41. One will have not needed the future perfect tense in one’s entire life.

42. Place the pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences – such

as those of ten or more words to their antecedents.

43. Remember to never split an infinitive.44. Take the bull by the hand and don’t mix metaphors.

45. Don’t verb nouns.

46. Always pick on the correct idiom.

47. If this were subjective, I’m in the wrong mood.

48. Also, too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies again and again.

49. Forgetting the prefix is done only by the couth.

50. If in doubt, consult the dictionery to make sure that your spelling is correck.

51. Avoid cliché like the plague – they’re old hat.

52. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.

53. Understatement is always best.

54. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

55. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

56. Between you and I, case is important.

57. In formal writin’, don’t use contraction & avoid ampersands & abbrev., etc.

58. Because all people make hasty generalizations, avoid making them.

59. Be more or less specific.

60. Who needs rhetorical questions?

61. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos. Use available English

equivalents quid pro quo.62. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate

quotations. Tell me what you know.”

63. This advice bears repeating: “Always place commas and periods inside

quotation marks”. 

64. In point of fact, in the final analysis, eventually at some later point in time

you will come to the realization that clutter gets in the way of your message.

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65. Hear is the time to here. Right write and avoid the common pitfall of 

interchanging homonyms in a sentence.

66. In addition, it’s to bad that some writers fail too learn the difference between

the preposition to and the adverb too.

67. Better deafening silence than utter oxymoron. Only wise fools use them.

68. Refrain from antagonizing people, you stupid jerk!

70.Watch your numbering.

71.Last but not least, always finish what you