Revision Checklist

After you finish brainstorming, try to work on a first draft. After, you write your first draft, you will want to begin the revision process. Remember the following tips:

*Take a break from your draft- set it aside for a few hours or even a day.

·

·   *Read the draft aloud, and listen to what you have written.

·   *Imagine yourself as one of your readers, does your writing interest you?

·   *Get feedback from a friend, a classmate or a colleague.

·   *Get help from a tutor at your college writing center or lab.

Sentence Structure

Sentence structure is a very important, even critical part of essay writing, or really any writing. However, often when people first begin writing, their sentence structure is awkward and/or incorrect. What this means is that many of the sentences in their essay do not follow typical grammatical rules, or that words are being used incorrectly, or that too many words or ideas are being pushed into one sentence.

A basic sentence in English has a subject, a verb and maybe a prepositional phrase.

 Example: I (subject) went (verb) to the store (prepositional phrase).

When you have more than two subjects and two verbs, what you typically have is a run on sentence.

 Example: I went to the store and then I went to the park because yesterday and it was a nice day to go to the park and play with friends, but the pool is a good place to swim also and all of my friends hang out at the pool in the summertime because it is fun.

This sentence is way too long and needs either a period or a semi-colon. You do not want to get to far away from this basic sentence structure, unless you really know how to write well. So always remember your subject and verb, and then remember to add in your period shortly after!

Grammar and Vocabulary Journaling

Grammar and Vocabulary Entries are worth 10 points each

Vocabulary

Every week you will be required to define at least five words that you do not know, that you encounter in the articles that you read. Provide the definition and use it in a sentence. You get a point for every vocabulary word correctly defined.

Sentence Structure

Every week you will rewrite at least two sentences that I have identified as awkward from one of your formal writing assignments. You must write the awkward sentence, identify what is wrong with it, and then rewrite it correctly.

Example: Awkard: Who I’m is? Correction: Who am I?
Awkward: If you like it, then you should’ve put a ring on it.
Correction: If you like me, then you should have put a ring on my finger.

Parts of Speech (POS)

Additionally, after you identify and rewrite two awkward sentences you will need to select two parts of speech. Identify each POS and explain what it’s role is in the sentence.

Example: a verb provides action, an adject describes a noun, a noun is asubject (the person or thing that is doing something) or an object (the person of thing that something is being done to.) A proposition typically provides a location or introduces a dependent clause.

Problematic Sentences

The run-on sentence – Two or more complete sentences joined together with the conjunction “and.” We do this all the time when we speak. Because we are not required to punctuate our speech, we are often confused by the need to punctuate in writing. But the need to punctuate, and especially the need to end sentences, is always there in writing. Because if we don’t properly punctuate and end our sentences, then all of the words start running together and meaning is lost.

The sentence fragment– A phrase without a subject or a verb. A sentence fragment is something along the lines of: “Gone now.” of “Not up in here.” Once again, we talk like this all the time, but it is not appropriate to write like this. In writing, you must always have a subject and a predicate. Example: “John is gone now.” or “It can not happen, up in here.”

The sentence with incorrect commas usage. Most new writers don’t place commas where they should go: ex Finally you’ve made me happy. (There should be a comma after finally.) And place them where they shouldn’t be. Ex: I love you so much, and you’re my best friend too! (Here a comma has been used where a period should be. That sentence was actually a run-on sentence

Awkward Sentences

Awkward sentences are the worst! Sentences are awkward for a number of reasons, but the primary reason for them, in my opinion, is that writers do not understand the parts of speech, and the parts of a sentence and how every part of speech has it’s place in a sentence. Once you understand that every sentence has a subject and a verb, and you can identify the subject and the verb, you can take all of the extra junk and crap out of the sentence and turn an awkward sentence into a perfectly useful sentence. But, in order to do that, you must understand the parts of speech. Check out below the list of reasons sentences can be awkward:

1. the sentence is awkward because words were used incorrectly.
2. the sentence is awkward because it has to many ideas jammed into it.
3. the sentence is awkward because it has too many unnecessary words in it.
4. the sentence is awkward because words are missing.
5. the sentence is awkward because it’s a fragment, there is no subject or no verb.
6. the sentence is awkward because it is a run-on, there are two subjects and two verbs.
7. the sentence is awkward because words or ideas are repeated.
8. the sentence is awkward because meaning is lost. (the reader has no idea what is being stated)
9. the sentence is awkward because there is too much informal or colloquial language being used.
10. the sentence is awkward because there is a preposition at the end of a sentence or prepositions are being used in an odd way.
11. the sentence is awkward because there are problems with verb conjugation.

Keep this list in mind when you work on correcting the awkward sentences.

Sentence Structure

Parts of Speech and Sentence Structure

Why is it so important to learn the parts of speech, and the parts of a sentence?

Learning the parts of speech is important because it is absolutely critical to sentence structure. In order to write a well-constructed sentence, you must understand which parts of speech are critical to the sentence and where these parts should go. If you don’t understand these simple rules, you will probably write sentences that will have one, or more of the following problems:

 

1. It will be a run-on sentence – Two or more complete sentences joined together with the conjunction “and.” We do this all the time when we speak. Because we are not required to punctuate our speech, we are often confused by the need to punctuate in writing. But the need to punctuate, and especially the need to end sentences, is always there in writing. Because if we don’t properly punctuate and end our sentences, then all of the words start running together and meaning is lost.

 

2. It will be a sentence fragment– A phrase without a subject or a verb. A sentence fragment is something along the lines of: “Gone now.” of “Not up in here.” Once again, we talk like this all the time, but it is not appropriate to write like this. In writing, you must always have a subject and a predicate. Example: “John is gone now.” or “It can not happen, up in here.”

 

3. Commas will be incorrectly used. Most new writers don’t place commas where they should go: ex Finally you’ve made me happy. (There should be a comma after finally.) And place them where they shouldn’t be. Ex: I love you so much, and you’re my best friend too! (Here a comma has been used where a period should be. That sentence was actually a run-on sentence

 

4. Sentences will be awkward. Awkward sentences are the worst! Sentences are awkward for a number of reasons, but the primary reason for them, in my opinion, is that writers do not understand the parts of speech, and the parts of a sentence and how every part of speech has it’s place in a sentence. Once you understand that every sentence has a subject and a verb, and you can identify the subject and the verb, you can take all of the extra junk and crap out of the sentence and turn an awkward sentence into a perfectly useful sentence. But, in order to do that, you must understand the parts of speech. Check out below the list of reasons sentences can be awkward:

 

1. the sentence is awkward because words were used incorrectly.
2. the sentence is awkward because it has to many ideas jammed into it.
3. the sentence is awkward because it has too many unnecessary words in it.
4. the sentence is awkward because words are missing.
5. the sentence is awkward because it’s a fragment, there is no subject or no verb.
6. the sentence is awkward because it is a run-on, there are two subjects and two verbs.
7. the sentence is awkward because words or ideas are repeated.
8. the sentence is awkward because meaning is lost. (the reader has no idea what is being stated)
9. the sentence is awkward because there is too much informal or colloquial language being used.
10. the sentence is awkward because there is a preposition at the end of a sentence or prepositions are being used in an odd way.
11. the sentence is awkward because there are problems with verb conjugation.

Keep this list in mind when you work on correcting the awkward sentences. Next, we’re moving on to punctuation! These are the marks that let readers know when the sentence is over, and when it’s not!