COMMON WRITING ERRORS

by Dr. Sue Slick

 

Spelling and Capitalization

 

  1. Do not capitalize school subject or majors, unless in Resume or Chart.  Exceptions: English, Spanish, etc.
  2. Do not capitalize junior high, high school middle school unless you are writing about a particular middle school. Example John Muir Middle School.

 

Punctuation

1.      Review possessive and plurals.  Apostrophes show ownership.  Example: “parent’s rights” NOT “working with parent’s.” 

Plural possessives use apostrophe after the s.  Singular before the s.

2.  Commas and semicolon:   Watch for however.   NOT: “Students should have choices, however, rules must be respected.” INSTEAD  “Students should have choices; however, rules must be respected.” OR “Students should have choices. However, rules must be respected.”

  1.  Review rules commas in a series.  “Teachers, students, and parents. . .”  (Note:  many new textbooks are showing that the comma after "students" is optional.)

 

Grammatical

 

  1. Check for pronoun agreement:   a student . . . . . his/her   or      students . . . . their. 

            NOT a student  . . . . their.  (One easy to avoid this error is to make the subject  plural.  Students. . . their. If you want to use singular it is acceptable to use s/he.

  1. Use consistent verb tense.  “I conferenced with my cooperating teacher, and I plan lessons daily.”  Avoid past perfect tense.  NOT “I would ask the students. . . “ RATHER “I asked the students.”
  2. Make items in series parallel.  “I reviewed textbooks, planned programs and supervising playgrounds.”

 

Sentence Structure, Sentence Beginnings, Transitions

 

  1. Proofread for sentence fragments and run-together sentences.
  2. Double check to avoid sentences that begin alike.  My teacher. . . My cooperating teacher. . . My teacher. . .  I believe. . . .  I believe.  (Repetition of  “I believe” statements work well in bulleted lists!)
  3. Help your reader with transitions.  Don’t expect them to leap in their thinking or read between the lines.
  4. Be cautious of “it” and “this”  in cases such as “This is why I believe. . . “  -- What is this?
  5. Avoid ending a sentence with a preposition.  NOT  “Students should have a nice room to come to.”  “Student should have a nice room in which to come. :  OR BETTER YET.  “I want to create an environment that help my students feel welcome and safe. “ THIS IS ACTIVE VOICE!!

 

 

 

Voice and Point of View

 

  1. Avoid using “You” – You are the teacher. Be confident in writing such lines as “As I teacher I want to . . . .”
  2. Don’t be afraid to write from the first person point of view!!  USE “I”
  3.  Use active voice.  NOT  “There are twelve students in my class INSTEAD “ I have twelve students in my fourth grade class, six girls and six boys.”

 

 

 

Other Issues When Editing

 

1.  Names of teachers, students.   Use pseudonyms with “case studies.”    You may need permission to use name of cooperating teacher, supervisor in portfolio.

2. Change “a lot” to “a great deal, much or many.”