writing conventions
Rules for prose
Writing conventions are the established rules and practices that govern written language, including spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar.
These conventions vary somewhat across contexts—academic writing follows stricter conventions than casual texting, and British conventions differ from American ones in predictable ways.
Writers learn conventions through education and reading, though many bend or break them deliberately for stylistic effect.
The essay lost points for ignoring basic writing conventions.
- commasPunctuation for pauses
- Oxford commaFinal list separator
- semicolonsMarks joining related sentences
- marginsEdges of a page
- periodsSpans of time
headings · subject-verb agreement · active voice · pronoun usage · colons · font styles · sentence fragments · clauses · citations · block quotes · abbreviations · word order · apostrophes · journalistic style · poetic meter · capitalization rules · bullet points · quotation marks
- writing skillshandwriting, spelling, words, letters, style guides
- language usageusage, spelling, punctuation, grammar, diction
writing conventionsfree writing
Uncensored, continuous prose generation
stream of consciousness · artistic freedom · experimental writing · automatic writing · rule-breaking
writing conventionspersonal voice
One's distinctive expressive manner
writing conventionsdisorganization
Absence of systematic arrangement
formlessness · incoherence · disorder · randomness · illiteracy
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