Revising

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Revising Proofreading
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• Editing
• Revising
• Proofreading

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• When to edit?

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• Macro
• Micro

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• Is each paragraph focused on only one subtopic?
• Does intro forecast the document?
• Are there enough examples, illustrations, and
  details?
• Is every sentence precise, concise, and elegant?
• Is the text 100 grammatically and mechanically
  correct?

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Top Grammatical Errors

• Each and any word ending in body, one, or
  thing, always takes a singular verb and pronoun
• Everybody is required to bring his or her book to
  every class.
• Make sure modifiers arent dangling or misplaced
• Beating its wings at an extraordinary frequency,
  the student studied the hummingbird.

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Top Grammatical Errors

• Use apostrophes to indicate possession
• The boys locker (singular)
• The boys lockers (plural)
• Be wary with gerunds (-ing words)
• Please listen to Johns singing. (before ing
  word)
• She was greatly impressed by his (not him)
  dancing.
• Henry is the boy sitting over there. (not boys)
• Add an s with most names ending in s
• Joness pocketbook
• With Plurals
• The Smiths home.
• The two princesses prerogatives.

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Top Grammatical Errors

• Put a comma after an introductory element
• This morning, I saw a man in a yellow hat.
• Every day, teachers call the roll.
• Put a comma and a conjunction in a compound
  sentence
• Bill searched for firewood, and Jack combed the
  beach.

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Style Tips

• Avoid long sentence openers.
• For example, before we can actually get to this
  point of this sentence, we must read an annoying
  opener.
• Avoid long gaps between subject and verb.
• The man, who as you will remember was mentioned
  in the previous paragraph, and who we also
  mentioned in the first chapter, wore a yellow
  hat.
• Dont tack on too many dependent clauses.
• The man left the building, which was a very nice
  building located on a tall hill, which was the
  hill where a major battle was fought.

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More Editing Tips

• Avoid the reason is because type sentences
• The reason for my lateness is because my alarm
  didnt go off.
• Avoid empty starts with having or being
• Being a frequent visitor to St. Paul, I knew my
  way around the city.
• Avoid the Byit sentence
• By having a computer, it makes editing a breeze.
• Avoid vague it and this
• The clerk lost my ticket and caused me to miss my
  plane. It/This greatly annoyed me.

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Ack, More Editing Tips

• Avoid ending on a preposition or linking verb
• Thats not the meal I paid for.
• Just tell me what the problem is.
• Avoid overusing there is and it is as
  openers
• There is a penguin dancing on that iceberg.
• It is not our intention to make you anxious.
• Avoid due to and as for because or since
• The problem is due to faulty wiring.
• The paper received an A as I had taken it to the
  Write Place for review.

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• Avoid overusing passive voice
• The wrench was used by the man to tighten the
  bolts, which had been loosened by the vibrations
  of the machine. The machine was then calibrated
  by the operator
• Strive for parallelism
• Always check your oil, coolant, headlights, tire
  pressure, and how much gas you got in your car
  before embarking on a long journey.
• Avoid repetitiveness
• The bus will arrive at five. Since the bus will
  arrive at five, we must leave shortly.

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Section Headings

• Break up technical documents into smaller
  sections whenever possible.
• Make section headings precise, consistent, and
  useful!
• Summarize
• The document in the first section.
• Each section in the first sentence.
• The sections purpose, application, outcome,
  goal, or rule in the last sentence.

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• Avoid a lot of (use many/much)
• The project had a lot of problems.
• A lot of people dont follow this rule.
• Avoid switching pronouns
• The magician should first procure a top hat.
  Then, you should find a rabbit.
• Avoid go and and used to
• You should not go and push the red button.
• She used to be a hiring manager before she got
  promoted.

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Revising Strategies

• Always read over the entire sentence and
  paragraph when you change any part of it.
• Be wary of commonly confused words
• Affect/Effect
• Their/Theyre/There
• Weather/Whether
• Amount/Number
• Between/Among, Which/What
• Its/Its
• Ensure/Insure

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Revising Tips

• Slowly read the text aloud, carefully enunciating
  each syllable.
• If it sounds bad, change it!
• Constantly ask yourself
• Is my point getting across clearly?
• Could this sentence confuse the reader?
• Do I have enough reasons or examples?
• Am I respecting my reader?

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Proofreading Tips

• Let it sit.
• Dont work off the screen!
• Read it aloud!
• Break it up.
• Read backwards.
• Dont speed read--Force yourself to see each word
  on the page!

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Exercises

1. Its true that proofreading will effect your grade
   in a positive way.
2. If you wish to affectively prepare for the test,
   be sure to go and study the third chapter.
3. A large amount of students used to be in this
   class.
4. The question is, is weather youre decision was
   right for the company?
5. The reason I received an A is because I took the
   time to proofread.