EDITING AND PROOFREADING WRITER’S WORKSHOP DAY 2 EDITING AND PROOFREADING

EDITING SENTENCES 1. IS EACH SENTENCE COMPLETE? DOES IT HAVE SOMEONE OR SOMETHING (THE SUBJECT) PERFORMING SOME SORT OF ACTION OR EXPRESSING A STATE OF BEING (THE VERB)? UNDERLINE THE SUBJECT AND VERB IN EACH SENTENCE.

PASSIVE VOICE ACTIVE VOICE: SUBJECT PERFORMS THE ACTION STATED BY THE VERB. EX: HARRY ATE SIX SHRIMP AT DINNER. IN PASSIVE VOICE SENTENCES, THE SUBJECT IS ACTED UPON BY THE VERB. EX: AT DINNER, SIX SHRIMP WERE EATEN BY HARRY. LOOK FOR SENTENCES WHERE YOU USE PASSIVE VOICE AND EDIT THEM OUT!

TRANSITIONS ARE YOUR SENTENCES VARIED? IF THEY ALL START WITH THE SUBJECT (ABIGAIL) OR WORDS SUCH AS “IT” AND “THERE” MAKE SOME VARIATIONS. MAKE SURE THAT COMMAS AND SEMICOLONS ARE USED CORRECTLY. IF YOU ARE UNSURE, ASK ME OR A CLASSMATE.

EDITING WORDS USE HAYAKAWA’S LEVELS OF ABSTRACTION. REMEMBER: LEVEL ONE GETS IT DONE! HIGHLIGHT GENERAL WORDS (SUCH AS VERY) AND VAGUE WORDS AND MAKE THEM MORE ACTIVE. EX: WHY SAY ”SHE COMPETED IN A RACE,” WHEN YOU CAN SAY “SHE RAN THE 4X200 RELAY”? CHECK YOUR ANTECEDENTS: “HE”, “THEY”, “IT”, “THESE” ETC. WILL YOUR READERS KNOW WHOM YOU ARE REFERING TO?

EDITING WORDS HIGHLIGHT YOUR USAGE OF THE VERB FORMS “BE” AND “DO.” CUT THEIR USAGE IN HALF. THIS WILL MAKE YOUR WRITING MORE ACTIVE. PRESENT TENSE: DO YOU USE THE PRESENT TENSE OR SWITCH TENSES? “SHE SAYS”, IS MORE ACCURATE AND ALIVE THAN “SHE SAID”.