1. LP 12 – Final Essay Editing Steps
LT – I will improve and complete the final draft of my plaque/essay.
SC – I will know I have hit the LT when I have used advice from my peers and editing steps from Mr. Q’s powerpoint to complete my final draft.

2. Final Editing and Revising Advice
Please review the next couple of slides – then go through your essay and try to edit and revise the essay so that you use more Active than Passive voice (see next slide) and so that you use the RIGHT WORDS!

3. Active vs. Passive Voice - Use verbs that have energy!
Example 1
Passive Voice - The boy(subject) was hit by the ball (object).
Active Voice – The ball (subject) hit the boy (object).
Example 2
Passive Voice – When the bomb was dropped by the plane, the explosion was felt by families nearby.
Active Voice – When the plane dropped the bomb, nearby families felt the explosion.
Practice –
Passive Voice – The students were surprised by Mr. Quesinberry’s fancy dance moves.
Active Voice
How to fix it:
Go through your essay and find all of the versions of “to be” verbs: is, are, was, were, be, being, been.
Rephrase the sentence so that you only have the main verb – take out the “to be” verb.
Flip the object of the sentence around so that it is the subject of the sentence, and then the subject becomes the object.

4. USE THE RIGHT WORDS – look through your essay and change the following words:
Get, Gets, Got, Gotten – use a better verb…
**Usually ‘get’ means one of the following verbs instead: fetch, understand, obtain, take, acquire, receive, gain, experience, suffer, contract
Their, There, or They’re
Their is possessive; There relates to location; They’re is a contraction meaning ‘they are’.
Avoid “meta-discourse” or “self talk” when you describe what you are going to do in your writing – do not do the following:
This paragraph will be about…
In this paragraph, I will tell you about….
Your vs. You’re
Your is possessive – That is your cup. You’re is a contraction meaning “you are”.
Do not use: gonna, a lot, wanna or other slang words…if you are not sure it is slang…look it up.
Its vs. It’s
Its is possessive – The cat had its paw on the table. It’s is a contraction meaning “it is”.

5. Avoid Using Contractions
A contraction is when you combine two words into one. Below is a list of contractions – revise your work to turn them back into the two original words that make them up:
Don’t = do not They’re = they are
Won’t = will not We’re = we are
Couldn’t = could not
Wouldn’t = would not
Can’t = can not
Aren’t = are not
You’re = you are