Basic Writing Skills: Clarity, Coherence, and Mechanics
What the questions test
Basic writing items ask you to choose the clearest, most concise, and most logically organized sentence or paragraph. They test sentence combining, transitions, wordiness, parallel structure, and correct mechanics.
Concepts to master
- Conciseness: cut redundant words. "At this point in time" → "now." "Due to the fact that" → "because."
- Clarity: place modifiers next to the word they modify. "She only filed the report" vs. "She filed only the report."
- Parallel structure: items in a list should share grammatical form. "interviewing, documenting, and filing" - not "interviewing, documenting, and to file."
- Transitions: use however for contrast, therefore for result, for example for illustration, meanwhile for time.
- Coherence: sentences should connect logically; each paragraph should have one focus.
- Mechanics: capitalization, spelling, and consistent tense.
Traps to watch
- A grammatically correct sentence that is wordy or awkward.
- Misplaced modifiers ("Walking to the car, the rain began" - the rain wasn't walking).
- A transition that signals the wrong relationship.
- Lists that mix forms (nouns with verbs).
Worked example
Wordy: "In the event that the suspect returns, it is necessary that you should contact the supervisor immediately."
Concise: "If the suspect returns, contact the supervisor immediately."
The revision removes "in the event that," "it is necessary," and "should" while keeping the meaning and the imperative tone.
Rule of thumb: if a word can be removed without changing the meaning, remove it. Then check that modifiers sit next to what they describe.