Bookmark

Sign up or login to use the bookmarking feature.

10 Editing and Proofreading

Page
071
from
Write Ahead

Editing and Proofreading Chapter Opener

Start-Up Activity

Ask students to raise their hands if they ever wear glasses. Ask those who raise their hands if they've ever gone to a movie only to realize their glasses are dirty and they can't see things the way they would like. Ask them what it's like to wear glasses in the rain. Get them to volunteer stories about losing their glasses, or losing a lens from one side, or breaking their glasses, and the frustration that followed. Point out that the whole reason for glasses is to look through them and focus on something else. When the lenses themselves are dirty or water-speckled or broken or lost, the person can no longer focus on anything else and instead focuses on the glasses.

Then tell your students that writing works the same way. The words and sentences and paragraphs are suppose to focus the reader's attention on ideas. But when the writing is filled with errors in spelling, punctuation, usage, and mechanics, readers stop looking at the ideas and start focusing on the writing itself. The purpose of editing is to clean and polish the words on the page so that readers can look through them to see what the writer is actually thinking.

Think About It

“You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

—Mark Twain

You are viewing: 10 Editing and Proofreading

09 Group Advising
11 Creating Clear Sentences

Select your writing standard type:

State Standards Covered in This Chapter

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.1

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.2

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.2.C

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.3

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.4

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.6

Page 072 from Write Ahead

Correcting Common Errors

This page presents two little curved punctuation marks (commas and apostrophes) that cause all kinds of problems. You'll note that the Proofreader's Guide section on commas spans six pages (pages 467–472), which is three times as many as all of the end punctuation put together. Many of us were taught to put a comma wherever you would naturally pause when speaking. That's a good starting point, but students need to move beyond it to understand the specific rules. Well-placed commas make ideas clear. Poorly placed commas make ideas confused.

The first two rules deal with commas used to join sentences. Show your students this example:

Rob spoke to Aidan and Gabe wrote to Eli.

The first time you read that sentence, you think Rob spoke to Aidan and Gabe, but then you hit the verb "wrote" and realize that "Gabe" isn't a direct object but instead a new subject. You have to read the sentence again to understand the meaning, and anytime a reader has to reread, the writer has failed. Help your students see that one little comma makes the ideas clear.

Rob spoke to Aidan, and Gabe wrote to Eli.

Whenever students join two simple sentences into a compound sentence, they need a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, or yet) or a semicolon. If they leave out the comma (as above), they have a comma error. If they leave out the coordinating conjunction, they have a comma splice, and if they leave out both, they have a run-on sentence.

Rob spoke to Aidan, Gabe wrote to Eli. (comma splice)

Rob spoke to Aidan Gabe wrote to Eli. (run-on sentence)

Help your students see that these comma problems lead to unclear ideas and difficult reading. (When students understand the why of a grammar rule, they are more likely to remember the rule.) Learning this one rule can help students avoid three different types of sentence errors.

For the third rule, show students these two examples:

I want to thank my parents, Cher and Bono.

The sandwiches include bacon and tomato, peanut butter and jelly and ham and cheese.

In the first example, is the writer thanking two people (Cher and Bono, his parents) or four people (Cher, Bono, and his parents)? The ideas are unclear without the series comma after "Cher." In the second example, do the sandwiches include "peanut butter and jelly and ham" or "jelly and ham and cheese"? The ideas are unclear without the series comma:

I want to thank my parents, Cher, and Bono.

The sandwiches include bacon and tomato, peanut butter and jelly, and ham and cheese.

The final rule on this page deals with apostrophes to show possession. This rule covers more than just its and it's. It also covers whose and who's, their and they're, and your and you're—a whole class of misused words. If students learn this one rule, they can avoid all of those issues: Do not use an apostrophe to show possession with pronouns.

Related Minilesson:

Select your writing standard type:

State Standard Reference:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Page 073 from Write Ahead

Correcting Common Errors (Cont.)

The rules on this page focus on apostrophes and commas (again) and agreement.

Rule 5 addresses apostrophes with nouns (not pronouns) to show possession. To show ownership, students should add an 's to singular nouns and just an ' to plural nouns that end in s.

Rule 6 deals with agreement between pronouns and their antecedents. Pronouns need to have the same number (singular or plural), gender (male, female, neuter, or indeterminate), and person (first, second, or third) as the word that they refer to or replace.

Rule 7 addresses the use of commas after introductory clauses and long phrases. Help your students realize that, once again, the comma helps readers know where the subject of a new sentence is. Provide them this example.

After I invited John Robert canceled the party.

The reader first thinks "John Robert" is one name rather than two. The reader has to go back and reread to puzzle out the meaning. Adding a comma helps the reader know that "John" is the direct object of the verb "invited" in the introductory clause, and "Robert" is the subject of a new idea. Correct punctuation makes ideas clear.

After I invited John, Robert canceled the party.

Rule 8 deals with subject-verb agreement. In the present tense, a singular subject needs a singular verb, and a plural subject needs a plural verb. Most often, plural subject end in s and plural verbs do not, and singular subjects do not end in s but singular verbs do. So, the rule of thumb is "Have one s between the subject and verb." Instead of "writers writes" or "writer write," you have "writers write" or "writer writes."

Related Minilesson:

Select your writing standard type:

State Standard Reference:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Page 074 from Write Ahead

Editing in Action

Lead your students through the corrections on this page. Point out that the first, third, and fifth corrections address the issues they learned about on the previous two pages. The second and fourth corrections relate to other issues covered in the Proofreader's Guide, specifically on pages 494–500 and 501–518.

Select your writing standard type:

State Standard Reference:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Page 075 from Write Ahead

Editing and Proofreading Checklist

Have students return to this page whenever they are editing or proofreading their writing. Download and distribute the checklist to help guide their work. Point out that many items on the checklist include a page reference where students can find more information in the Proofreader's Guide of Write Ahead.

Downloads:

Select your writing standard type:

State Standard Reference:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site