PROOFREADING, REVISING, & EDITING SKILLS SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES A DAY PROOFREADING, REVISING, & EDITING SKILLS SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES ADAY Brady Smith ® NEW YORK Copyright © 2003 LearningExpress, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Smith, Brady. Proofreading, revising, and editing skills : success in 20 minutes a day / Brady Smith.—1st ed. p. cm. ISBN 1-57685-466-3 1. Report writing—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Proofreading—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Editing—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title. LB1047.3.S55 2003 808'.02—dc21 2002013959 Printed in the United States of America 987654321 First Edition ISBN 1-57685-466-3 For more information or to place an order, contact LearningExpress at: 55 Broadway 8th Floor New York, NY 10006 Or visit us at: www.learnatest.com About the Author Brady Smith teaches English at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in the Bronx, New York. His work has been pre- viously published in textbooks, and this is his first complete book. He would like to dedicate this book to Julie, Gillian, and Isabel, with love. Contents INTRODUCTION How to Use This Book ix PRETEST 1 LESSON 1 Understanding the Writing Process 13 LESSON 2 Writing Sentences 21 LESSON 3 Avoiding Awkward Sentences 33 LESSON 4 Creating Sentence Variety 41 LESSON 5 Shaping Paragraphs 49 LESSON 6 Using Transitions 57 LESSON 7 Establishing a Writing Style 63 LESSON 8 Turning Passive Verbs into Active Verbs 75 LESSON 9 Making Sure Subjects and Verbs Agree 83 LESSON 10 Making Sure Nouns and Pronouns Agree 91 LESSON 11 Using Modifiers 99 LESSON 12 Checking Capitalization and Spelling 109 LESSON 13 Punctuating Sentences 121 LESSON 14 Using Commas 127 LESSON 15 Using Semicolons and Colons 137 LESSON 16 Using Apostrophes in Plurals and Possessives 143 LESSON 17 Using Quotation Marks 147 LESSON 18 Using Hyphens, Dashes, and Ellipses 153 vii LESSON 19 Checking for Commonly Confused Words and Clichés 161 LESSON 20 Putting It All Together 169 POST-TEST 179 APPENDIX A Proofreading Symbols 189 APPENDIX B Additional Resources 191 viii How to Use This Book ince you are reading this right now, let us assume you have at least one draft of your writing that you want to proofread, revise, and edit in order to present a well-written and clear fin- Sished piece. As all good writers know, a first draft needs to be cleaned up, trimmed down, and organized. This book is designed to help you do just that—in 20 short lessons in just 20 minutes a day. This book stands alone as a teaching tool. You can pick it up and learn a new skill at any point during the writing process. Whether you are prewriting, drafting, editing, revising, or working on a final copy, this book will become a useful reference guide. You may find it helpful to turn to this book as you finish differ- ent sections of your writing because it can help you correct as you write. Or you can read the lessons in this book and then go back to your own piece of writing—just to reinforce important writing skills. No matter which method you choose, you will accomplish what you set out to do: master the skills you need to proof- read, revise, and edit your writing. Proofreading, Revising, and Editing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day begins with a discussion about the steps to create a piece of writing, and then gives you the coaching you will need to correct any errors you find in your work. It walks you through the revision process by showing you how to transform your sentences from awkward and choppy sentence fragments and run-ons to clear, concise expressions. It shows ix –HOW TO USE THIS BOOK– you how to organize paragraphs and how to use tran- If you are job hunting, perhaps you need to sitions skillfully. You will also learn the fundamental revise a draft of a cover letter.. This piece of writing is rules of noun/pronoun agreement as well as sub- the first impression your employer will have of you, so ject/verb agreement. When you are finished with this it’s important to submit your best effort. Perhaps you book, you will find that your writing has improved, are working on an essay for school. Your teacher’s has style and detail, and is free of cluttered sentences assessment of your abilities will certainly improve if and common errors. you turn in a composition that shows thoughtful revi- Some writers think that once a word has been sion, attention to detail, and an understanding of written, it is sacred. Successful writers know that grammatical rules. change is an important part of the writing process. Like your ideal final draft, Proofreading, Revising, Early drafts that may seem finished can most likely be and Editing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day has no improved. Since writing is a process, you have to be filler or fluff. It is a book for people who want to learn willing to change, rearrange, and discard material to the editorial skills needed to revise a piece of writing achieve a well-crafted final product. Very few writers without doing a lot of busy work. Each lesson intro- create the perfect draft on the first try. Most writers duces a skill or concept and offers exercises to practice will tell you that writing the first draft is only the what you have learned. beginning and that the majority of the work comes Though each lesson is designed to be completed after the initial drafting process. You need to look very in about 20 minutes, the pace at which you approach closely at your writing, examine it sentence by sen- the lessons is up to you. After each lesson, you may tence, and fine-tune it to produce excellence. want to stop and revise your own writing, or you may Your writing is a reflection of you. The proof- want to read several lessons in one sitting and then reading, revising, and editing processes provide a mirror revise your work. No matter how you use this book, in which you can examine your writing. Before your you can be sure that your final drafts will improve. writing goes public, you must iron out the transitions Start by taking the pretest to see what you already between ideas and make sure your paragraphs are struc- know and what you need to learn about proofreading, tured correctly. You need to clean up your writing and revising, and editing. After you have completed the les- pick out the unnecessary auxiliary verbs from your sen- sons, you can take the post-test to see how much you tences, perfect your tone, and polish your verbs. Your have learned. In the appendices, you will find a list of efforts will show. proofreading marks to use as you write, as well as a list Even if you are not currently working on a piece of additional resources if you find you need a little of writing that you need to hand in, present to an audi- extra help. ence, or send to a client, this book will teach you the If you apply what you have learned in this book, skills that will improve your everyday writing. Each you will find that your writing gets positive attention. skill outlined in this book is an important part of a Teachers, employers, friends, and relatives will all good writer’s “toolbox.” While you will not use every notice your improvement. It is certain, though, that tool for each piece of writing, you will have them ready you will be the most satisfied of all. when you need to apply them. x PROOFREADING, REVISING, & EDITING SKILLS SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES A DAY Pretest efore you begin the lessons in this book, it is a good idea to see how much you already know about proofreading, revising, and editing and what you need to learn. This pretest is designed Bto ask you some basic questions so you can evaluate your needs. Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses can help you focus on the skills that need improvement. The questions in this pretest do not cover all the topics discussed in each lesson, so even if you can answer every single question in this pretest correctly, there are still many strategies you can learn in order to master the finer points of grammar and style. On the other hand, if there are many questions on the pretest that puzzle you, or if you find that you do not get a good percentage of answers correct, don’t worry. This book is designed to take you through the entire proofreading, editing, and revising process, step-by-step. Each lesson is designed to take 20 minutes, although those of you who score well on the pretest might move more quickly. If your score is lower than you would like it to be, you may want to devote a little more than 20 minutes of practice each day so that you can enhance your skills. Whatever the case, continue with these lessons daily to keep the concepts fresh in your mind, and then apply them to your writing. An answer sheet is provided for you at the beginning of the pretest. You may mark your answers there, or, if you prefer, circle the correct answer right in the book. If you do not own this book, number a sheet of 1 –PRETEST– paper from 1–50 and write your answers there.