1. Composition corrections The Telephone Call

2. Vocabulary Use accurate words. If you can’t find a suitable word, think of a simple way to rephrase your sentence. E.g. David had little friends. E.g. He throw vulgar at me.

3. Vocabulary Some possible answers: David had few friends. David did not have many friends He shouted/spewed/hurled vulgarities at him

4. A lot, A bit, Awhile Note that ‘alot’ and ‘abit’ is incorrect! I have a lot of money. I have a bit of money left. However, ‘awhile’ is a single word. E.g. Please hold for awhile.

5. ‘Then’ and ‘Than’ ‘Then’ – to indicate a break in time E.g. I paused for a moment, then I answered the phone ‘Than’ – to indicate a comparison E.g. He is so much smarter than Timothy.

6. Grammar Use an apostrophe ( ’ ) to indicate possession! E.g. That is David friend (This is incorrect!) Correct answer: That is David’s friend. E.g. I answered my parents phone. (This is incorrect!) Correct answer: I answered my parents’ phone.

7. Dialogue punctuation Try to punctuate the following dialogue. She said Let’s go to the park No let’s go swimming instead Jane suggested *(Note that you need to begin a new paragraph whenever you change a speaker)

8. Use of pronouns When possible, after you have introduced the subject, use a pronoun to replace it so that it does not become repetitive. Examples of pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, they, we, him, her

9. Use of pronouns (E.g.) E.g. My father called me. My father(He) said to go to the hospital immediately so I told my father(him)I would leave the house once I had changed. (Replace repeated nouns with pronouns when necessary)

10. Articles: ‘a’, ‘an’ ‘An’ usually appears when the noun after it begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) *sometimes if the ‘h’ is silent in the next word, you may use ‘an’ as well. Example: a / an hour? a / an house?

11. Me and my friends? Usually, you place yourself last to indicate modesty and humility. E.g. My friends and I E.g. Jake, Sally, Mandy and I

12. Tenses Did not/ Should not/ Would not/ Could not _____________ (present tense) E.g. He did not like her. To _____________ (present tense) E.g. He liked to eat ice-cream.

13. Part 3: Writing Styles/Tips

14. Handwriting and cancellations Do not scribble! If the marker is unable to read what you are writing, you will be penalising yourself unnecessary with spelling and other mistakes. If you need to cancel, draw a line ACROSS the word and write above it.

15. Do not scribble!

16. Overkill of conjunctions e.g. He went to the store and took a drink from the refrigerator and went to the cashier and paid for the drink then he walked out of the store and went home then he realised he could not find his keys then he realised he had left them with his father then he called his father and asked him if his keys were with him. Learn to break it down into simpler, shorter sentences

17. CODA A coda is supposed to be embedded in your story and not as a paragraph on its own. Do NOT end an essay with the Coda of this story is… A coda is something that a reader will be able to understand from your story.

18. Example: Watch the clip and try to guess the coda.

19. Do not confuse your characters Try not to have too many characters in your story. Try to introduce your characters at the beginning and not randomly halfway through your essay. Try giving them names to avoid confusion.

20. Examples of confusion I saw two men fighting. That man threw a punch at the other man and the other man fell down. The other man kicked at the man and the man dodged his kick and countered with a ‘Chokeslam’ on the other man. THIS IS SO CONFUSING!!!!

21. Examples of confusion Samuel walked into the room. It was quiet and creepy. I never felt more afraid as I took a deep breath of the lingering stale air. HOW DID SAMUEL BECOME ‘I’?

22. Dialogue Punctuation What does this punctuation mean: THERE IS NO SUCH PUNCTUATION MARK IN ENGLISH WRITING!!!

23. Which punctuation mark do I use then? Use the STRONGER punctuation mark when this scenario happens. E.g. “Are you mad!” she shouted in disbelief. E.g. “Are you mad? He’ll hear us!” she whispered.

24. How to do your corrections

25. Corrections If it is a spelling error, write the word TEN times. If it is any other errors, write out the whole sentence.

26. Abbreviations If you see a ‘T’, it means tenses errors. Your errors would usually be: a) Failure to use past tense b) to ___________ (present tense) c) did not/ should not/could not/ would not _________ (present tense)

27. Abbreviations If you see a ‘SV’, it will mean there is a Subject-Verb agreement error. E.g. The tables was blue. Answer should be the tables were blue or the table was blue. Basic rules: E.g. The verb ‘like’ I like You like He/She/It likes They like We like Nobody likes Everybody likes (common error) *Hint: When checking your work, check for both tenses as well as subject- agreement.

28. Expressions Expressions means that your meaning is unclear. You will need to rephrase your sentence to make sense. E.g. He and I were like real brothers forever until he or I will die for each other. Ans: We were as close as brothers and would die for each other.