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Avoiding Common Writing Errors
Last revised
Friday, 3/28/08
Adapted from advice created by Sue Slick
Spelling & Capitalization
- Don't capitalize school subject or majors, unless in resume or chart.
- Languages are always capitalized, e.g., English, Spanish, etc.
- Don't capitalize school type (e.g., elementary, junior high, high school) unless you are writing about a particular middle school (e.g., Plover-Whiting Elementary School).
Punctuation
- Review possessive and plurals. Apostrophes show ownership. With a plural the apostrophe is after the s.
- Good: one parent's rights
- Good: many parents' rights
- Bad: working with parent’s
- Only use a semicolon if each part of the sentence could be a complete sentence by itself.
- Good: I thought she was sad; actually, she was just tired.
- Bad: I thought she was sad; actually, just tired.
- Be careful with "however".
- Good: Students should have choices. However, rules must be respected.
- Good: Students should have choices; however, rules must be respected.
- Bad: Students should have choices, however, rules must be respected.
- Use comma in a list, including before the last item
- Good: teachers, students, and parents
Grammar
- Check for pronoun agreement
- Good: a student wanted to share his/her idea
- Bad: a student wanted to share their idea
- You can avoid this problem by using plurals
- Example: students wanted to share their ideas
- Use consistent verb tense.
- Good: I talked with my cooperating teacher, and I planned lessons.
- Bad: I talked with my cooperating teacher, and I plan lessons.
- Bad: I talked with my cooperating teacher, and I would plan lessons.
- Make items in series parallel
- Good: I reviewed textbooks, planned programs and supervised recess.
- Bad: I reviewed textbooks, plan programs and supervising recess.
Structure, Sentence Beginnings, & Transitions
- Start with a clear, separate introduction. End with a clear, separate conclusion.
- Proofread for sentence fragments and run-on sentences.
- Double check to avoid sentences that begin alike.
- e.g., My teacher... My cooperating teacher... My teacher...
- e.g., I believe... I believe... I believe...
- Help your reader with transitions. Don’t expect them to leap in their thinking or read between the lines.
- Be careful with words like it, this, and who. Your reader may not know what you're talking about, especially if you're writing about several ideas or things.
Voice & Point of View
- You are a teacher. Use “I” language. Be careful about using “You” language.
- Good: In my classroom, I am going to...
- Good: As a teacher, I am going to...
- Bad: As a teacher, you should...
- Good: I will try to learn my students' names.
- Bad: Teachers should try to learn their students' names.
- Use direct construction.
- Good: I have twelve students in my class.
- Bad: There are twelve students in my class.”
- Be thrifty with phrases like "I believe," I think," and "In my opinion." Your name is at the top: I know these are your ideas.
Other Issues When Editing
- You will almost always use pseudonyms for teachers and students, to protect their privacy.
- Be careful with certainty and absolutes
- Good: I will always try to be funny.
- Bad: I will always be funny.
- Good: Most students usually don't want to do homework.
- Bad: All students never want to do homework.
- Be careful with creating new metaphors for learning. It's usually better to use familiar phrases than to invent new phrases, since new phrases can be confusing
- Good: The new lesson helped the students learn better.
- Bad: The new lesson helped the students fill up more of their potential.
- Be careful with effect and affect
- Replace:
- a lot with very much or many