Sentences should be long enough to be interesting and short enough to avoid being run-on.  This is a difficult balance to achieve, but balance in your writing will lead to emphasis. A sentence is balanced when identical or similar grammatical structure is used to express contrasted ideas. A balanced sentence uses parallel structure and emphasizes the contrast between parts of similar length and movement. Writers should not overuse balance, however, at the expense of appearing artificial.  The following is an example from Hodges, Whitten, & Connolly [Harbrace College Handbook]:

Unbalanced:          To err is human, but to forgive is divine.

Balanced:               To err is human, to forgive divine. --- Pope

In general, short choppy sentences with related elements should be combined into longer units in which the lesser ideas are properly subordinated. Care must be taken to avoid run-on sentences, but impact can be increased with careful sentence construction.  An example from Hodges, Whitten, & Connolly is:

CHOPPY:   He stood there in his buckskin clothes. One felt in him standards and loyalties. One also felt a code. This code is not easily put into words. But this code is instantly felt when two men who live by it come together by chance.

IMPROVED:  As he stood there in his buckskin clothes, one felt in him standards, loyalties, a code which is not easily put into words, but which is instantly felt when two men who live by it come together by chance. --- Willa Cather

More dynamic writing generally can be created using ACTIVE voice in place of PASSIVE voice. A typical example of passive voice is: His grave was dug by his teeth. In the active voice, this might become: He dug his grave with his teeth. Active voice tends to move dialog and composition more rapidly in fiction, and gives clarity and directness to non-fiction text.

Avoid colloquial phrases (unless it is in dialog), such as: "Try and verify," or "Be sure and come early." (The correct language is "Try to verify," and "Be sure to come early."  Know the difference between "their", "there", and "they're". "Their" is a possessive pronoun ("Their houses are white"), "there" is an adverb ("They live there."), and "they're" is a contraction for "They are." A sentence with all three of the words could be: "They're content in their living arrangements over there."

Confused between "fewer" and "less"? Fewer refers especially to numbers ("Fewer than twenty wolves were trapped"). Less refers especially to value, degree, or amount ("The microwave costs less than the oven").         

Confusion also can arise between allude and refer. Allude means "to refer to indirectly." An example is:   "When he mentioned charismatic presidents, we knew that he was alluding to Kennedy and Reagan."   However, refer means "to mention something specifically," as in this example:   "I refer you to the statement by Carl Sagan."           

Another area of confusions is often in the use of "among" or "between."  “Among” always indicates more than two, while "between" implies only two.  One example provided by Hodges, Whitten, & Connolly could be in a discussion involving four siblings, two brothers and two sisters, and the means to pass out an allowance allotment.  Compare the phrase  "The money was divided equally among the children" to the phrase "The money was divided between the sisters."   In the first instance, with four children, the proper choice is "among."  In the second example, with only two sisters, the proper choice is "between."  

The word "between," however, may also be used in certain circumstances to indicate a reciprocal relationship.  An example is "A treaty was concluded between the three nations." In this last example, the group is of three, yet between is appropriate because there is a reciprocal relation between the nations.

Avoid confusing "affect" with "effect."  Affect (a verb) means to influence.  "The unprovoked attack affected the attitude of the Nation."  Effect is both a verb and a noun.  As a verb it means "to bring to pass":  "The quinine effected a cure for malaria."  As a noun, effect means "result":  "The effect of the drug was rapid."

Use double quotation marks to enclose direct quotations and single quotation marks for enclosing a quotation within a quotation:   John said, "I bought a steak at the store."   Compare this to:   John said, "I concur with John Donne's comment, 'No man is an island, entire of itself.'"

Anyone, everyone, someone -- distinguish these words from any one, every one, and some one. The one word "anyone" means "any person, anybody."  Any one (written as two words) means "any single person or thing."  Similarly, everyone means every person, and every one means every single person or thing.  Someone and some one are similarly differentiated.

EXAMPLE: "Anyone will do as an escort" [anybody whatsoever will do as an escort] versus "any one of these emeralds will make a nice setting" [Any individual emerald among many emeralds presented will make a nice setting].

Learn to distinguish between "anti" and "ante". Anti- means "against," as in

anti-Norwegian. Ante- means "before," as in antebellum. The hyphen is used after anti- before capital letters and before "i," as in anti-imperialist.

Abbreviations: In ordinary writing, spell out all titles except Mr., Messrs., Mrs., Mmes., Dr., and St. (saint, not street). Spell out even these titles when not followed by proper names.

   INCORRECT:  The Dr. made his report to the Maj.

   CORRECT:    The doctor (or Dr. Smith) made his report to the major (or Major Brown).

Dialog and new paragraphs are indented five spaces.  It used to be mandated that two spaces follow the end of a sentence and precede the next sentence; however, one space is commonly found now. 

Trademarks should be identified with the ® symbol, and proper nouns should be capitalized.