1. © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Chapter Five The Fourth Step in Writing

2. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Step 4 Write Clear, Error-Free Sentences parallelism.Use parallelism. consistent point of view.Use a consistent point of view. specific words.Use specific words. active verbs.Use active verbs. concise words.Use concise words. Vary Vary your sentences. revising sentences: Strategies for revising sentences: :

3. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Use Parallelism balancing By balancing the items in a sentence, you will make the sentence clearer and easier to read. Ex.: My job includes checking inventory, initialing orders, and to call the suppliers. calling

4. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Use a Consistent Point of View: Verbs Use a Consistent Point of View: Verbs verb tenses Do not shift verb tenses unnecessarily. dumped Ex.: Jean punched down the risen dough. Then she dumps it onto the worktable.

5. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Use a Consistent Point of View: Pronouns point of view Do not shift point of view unnecessarily. Ex.: One of the fringe benefits of my job is that you can use a company credit card for gasoline. I

6. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Use Specific Words specific general To be an effective writer, you must use specific words rather than general words. The dog ran down the street. General: The dog ran down the street. The mangy stray loped down Broadway, dodging cars and startled pedestrians. Specific: The mangy stray loped down Broadway, dodging cars and startled pedestrians.

7. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Specific Sentences exact names. 1: Use exact names. (Not “the boy,” but “Vince.”) lively verbs. 2: Use lively verbs. (Not “ate,” but “slurped.”) descriptive words. 3: Use descriptive words. (Not “the car,” but “the rickety old Buick.”) sense descriptions. 4: Use sense descriptions. (“Vince slurped his ice-cold chocolate milkshake while sitting on the squeaking front seat of his rickety old Buick.”)

8. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Use Active Verbs active voice. Prefer the active voice. passive voice. When the subject receives the action, the verb is in the passive voice. The computer was bought by Hakim. active voice. When the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb, the verb is in the active voice. Hakim bought the computer.

9. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Use Concise Words concision. Prefer concision. Wordiness Wordiness -- using more words than necessary -- is often a sign of lazy or careless writing. In this paper,am planning to describe the hobby that Iof In this paper, I am planning to describe the hobby that I enjoy of collecting old comic books. Revision: Revision: I enjoy collecting old comic books.

10. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Vary Your Sentences Effective writing varied interesting. Effective writing is writing that is varied and interesting. Vary your sentences by: second complete thought. 1: Adding a second complete thought. dependent thought. 2: Adding a dependent thought. opening word phrase. 3: Beginning with an opening word or phrase. adjectives or verbs in a series. 4: Placing adjectives or verbs in a series.

11. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Adding a Second Complete Thought simple sentences Transform simple sentences (which can be monotonous) -- Greg worked on the engine. The car still wouldn’t start. compound sentences into compound sentences: Greg worked on the engine, but the car still wouldn’t start.

12. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Adding a Dependent Thought simple sentences Transform simple sentences (which can be monotonous) -- The library was very quiet. I couldn’t concentrate. complex sentences into complex sentences: Although the library was very quiet, I couldn’t concentrate.

13. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Beginning with an Opening Word or Phrase simple sentences...transforms simple sentences (which can be monotonous) -- Paul was concerned about his daughter’s fever. Paul called a doctor. varied sentences into varied sentences: Concerned about his daughter’s fever, Paul called a doctor.

14. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Placing Adjectives or Verbs in a Series simple sentences...transforms simple sentences (which can be monotonous) -- The truck bounced off a guardrail. It sideswiped a tree. It plunged into the ditch. varied sentences into varied sentences: The truck bounced off a guardrail, sideswiped a tree, and plunged into the ditch.

15. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Editing Sentences grammar, punctuation, mechanics, usage spelling. After revising, check for mistakes in grammar, punctuation, mechanics, usage, and spelling. conventions of written English sentence skills. Edit according to the conventions of written English, aka sentence skills.

16. Chapter 5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 8e English Skills with Readings, 6e Proofreading typos careless errors. Check the edited draft of your paper for typos and other other careless errors.