1. WRITING TIPS

2. NUMBERS Spell out all numbers that are three words or less:
Five, twenty, fifty-four
= 5, 20, 54

3. ABBREVIATIONS Don’t abbreviate in an essay. Junior (not Jr.)
With (not w/)
And (not &)
Years (not yrs.)
High School (not HS)

4. CAPITAL LETTERS Begin all sentences with a capital letter:
One of my goals is to become a doctor.
All proper nouns should be capitalized:
The school I attend is Santiago High School.
The pronoun “I” is always capitalized:
My mom asked if I wanted to join her.

5. CONTRACTIONS Don’t forget the apostrophe! I am = I’m - do not = don’t
Cannot = can’t -has not = hasn’t
Who is = who’s -will not = won’t
They are = they’re -I will = I’ll
We are = we’re - You are = you’re

6. AVOID THESE… Gonna – should be “going to” Wanna – should be “want to”
I am going to help her with her work.
Wanna – should be “want to”
Do you want to go to the movies with me?
Cause – should be “because”
- Clare was mad because she lost.

7. THERE, THEIR, THEY’RE There – Adverb – at that place
I have not been there in a long time.
Their – Possessive – belonging to them
Their apartment has a view of the river.
They’re – Contraction – they are
- They’re reading a book together.

8. To, Too, Two To – preposition - place
Please return these books to the class.
Too – adverb – also; more than enough
You are too young to drive.
Two – adjective – number
- I will graduate in two years.

9. PUNCTUATION Be sure to use punctuation at the end of each sentence!
Avoid run-on sentences
Use commas and semi-colons when needed.

10. FORMAL WRITING (ESSAYS)
Avoid slang
Don’t write as if in a conversation (avoid “Well,”)
Don’t tell me what you’re going to tell me (“My introduction is…”)
Indent each new paragraph (no spaces between paragraphs)
A lot (two words) – synonyms????

11. FIX THIS TEXT:
Hello my name is Sally i am a sophomore at santiago h.s. & i dont like it Well i have a brother 2 sisters a dog and a mom and dad and we all live in the same house and we also take vacations together. I have alot of interests & im going too tell you about my interesting life in this essay.