You don't have to be an English whiz to write effective police reports - or to be an effective instructor. This is the third of three PowerPoints offering practical tips for solving common writing problems.

1. Teaching Report Writing:
“But I’m Not an English
Teacher!”
Part Three
by Jean Reynolds,
Ph.D.

2. These tips are for instructors and
administrators who want to help
officers with their writing.

3. Let’s deal with pronouns first.
Many writers have
difficulty with
expressions like
“John and I,” “him
and me,” and “Susan
and her.”

4. There’s an easy way to get these words
right every time: Just shorten the
sentence.

5. Take a look at this sentence:
Watson told John and I about the
missing money.
Should it be “John and me?”
Just shorten the sentence, and you’ll
have your answer.

6. Watson told I about the missing money. X
Watson told me about the missing money.

Watson told John and me about the
missing money. 

7. Let’s try a few more:
Karen and me met with the bank
manager.
Me met with the bank manager. X
I met with the bank manager. 
Karen and I met with the bank
manager. 

8. Him and I searched the basement.
Him searched the basement. X
He searched the basement. 
I searched the basement. 
He and I searched the basement. 

9. Sometimes you’ll need to make a
sentence longer to hear the correct
answer.
Comparison
sentences work
this way.

10. Try this one: Linda scored higher on the
test than me.

11. Linda scored higher on the test than me
did. X
Linda scored higher on the test than I
did. ✔
Linda scored higher on the test than I. ✔
(Did you notice the spelling of than?)

12. Now try this one: Sgt. Corelli arrived
earlier than him.

13. Sgt. Corelli arrived earlier than him did.
X
Sgt. Corelli arrived earlier than he did.
✔
Sgt. Corelli arrived earlier than he. ✔
(Again: Did you notice the spelling of
than?)

14. You should start most sentences with a
person, place or thing.
This is also good
police practice
because you’ll always
have a written record
of who did what.

15. Now let’s look at the word his.
his
It’s an interesting
word because it’s
possessive—but his
doesn’t have an
apostrophe.

16. Now let’s look at sentence structure.
You can avoid most
sentence mistakes by
keeping your
sentences simple.

17. But some writers are puzzled when they come
across other possessive words that never have
apostrophes.
That money is his.
That money is hers.
That money is ours.
That money is yours.
That money is theirs.
No apostrophes!

18. This “shorten the sentence” trick will
work in many sentences with pronouns:
I, me, he, she,
him, her, we, us,
they, them

19. If you think about his, you’ll never make a
mistake with a possessive pronoun.
That money is his.
That money is hers.
That money is ours.
That money is yours.
That money is theirs.
No apostrophes!

20. Then is a time word: I unlocked the door, and
then I went inside.
Many people never
think about a similar
word used for
comparisons: than.
He’s been on the
force longer than I
have.

21. What about the possessive of it?
The same principle applies: Think about his.
No apostrophe.
Joe hurt his foot.
The dog hurt its foot.

22. The coat lost one
of its buttons.
The club is seeing
a decline in its
membership.
his
its

23. But what is the
contraction of
it is?
Easy: it’s.
I like to
pretend that
the apostrophe
is a tiny “i.”

24. I think it’s going to
rain this evening.
I think itis going to
rain this evening.

25. Here’s one more hint: NEVER put an
apostrophe after it: its’
There are only two correct forms:
The dog hurt its
foot.
I think it’s going to
rain this evening.
its (possessive, like
his)
it’s (contraction of
itis)

26. Let’s look at a few
more of these
troublesome words.
Passed is an action.
(Notice the –ed ending.)
His car passed mine
and turned left on
Hamilton Avenue.

27. Past refers to
time.
Although he had a
drinking problem
in the past, he’s
been sober for five
years.

28. To refers to direction or purpose.
We’re opening a
youth center to
provide a safe
place for teens to
have fun.

29. Too means excess. (Think of a couple of
extra o’s: tooooo much.)
I ate too much at
lunch and started
feeling sleepy.

30. Additionally, too can mean also.
I drive a Nissan;
Harris has one
too.

31. Where refers to a place:
I can’t remember where I laid my
wallet.
Where did you live before you moved to
Rosedale?
(Notice the word here inside: where.)

32. Were is a verb (action).
While we were
talking to Mrs.
Clemons, her
husband returned
home from work.

33. And here’s one more troublesome word:
a lot.
It’s always two
words, never one.

34. Most of these
words are so
ordinary and
familiar that some
writers never
notice them.

35. How can students
train their brains
to stop and think
about them every
time?

36. The answer is repetition.

37. Give the class a list of troublesome
words to practice writing from memory
for a quiz the following week.

38. a lot
his, hers, ours, yours,
theirs
it’s, its
lose, loose
passed, past
than, then
there, their, they’re
to, too, two
were, where
woman, women
your, you’re

39. When students spend time practicing
these words…
…they’ll also
develop the habit
of stopping to
think when they
use them in
sentences.
Result? Success!