Please follow the instructions below as you review and revise your composition.
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If one letter has been underlined, go to section A.
If one word has been underlined, go to section B.
If a group of words has been underlined, go to section C.
Don't be discouraged if you have more difficulty correcting problems in section C than those in sections A and B. This is to be expected. While this process may seem long and arduous at times, it should help you become a better proof-reader. This process is intended to help you prepare compositions that haven't been corrected also. Before turning in your first draft, you should always ask yourself if you've checked meanings of words and phrases, and you should always check adjective-noun agreement as well as subject-verb agreement.
A) Correcting a single letter (or a part of a word)
Follow these steps in order to diagnose the problem. In order to find the solution, please refer to your textbook, a good dictionary, or a reliable Web-based resource.
1) Is this simply a typo?
2) Is agreement for grammatical gender and number correct?
For example, perhaps this is an adjective in the masculine form even though it's modifying a noun that is feminine. Another possibility is that you've forgotten or added a plural marker that either should or shouldn't be there. Remember that agreement between nouns and adjectives deals with grammatical gender and number.
3) Is this the correct ending for the verb form that you should be using? Perhaps you've added an 's' or forgotten an 's' or some other letter that actually changes
B) Correcting a single word
Follow these steps in order to diagnose the problem. In order to find the solution, please refer to your textbook, a good dictionary, or a reliable Web-based resource.
1) What does this word mean, and how is it supposed to be used (based on a text you've read, your textbook, or examples in a good dictionary)?
If the meaning is wrong, this is the wrong choice, and you need to find which word would be used in this particular context. Perhaps you've used a word that looks like something in English yet it doesn't mean the same thing in another language. Such words are false cognates or false friends (as they are sometimes called). In other cases, it might just be that you thought a particular word meant one thing, but it actually means another. Remember that prepositions are very tricky in any language. They often do not translate directly.
2) Is this a verb?
If so, you need to check first to see if you have the correct mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, etc.) and the correct tense (present, past, etc.). If the mood and tense are correct, you might have simply used the wrong form of the verb. Did you mix a first-person subject with a second-person verb? Or is it some other combination of a mismatched grouping of the subject and verb?
3) Is this an extra word?
Check to see if this word is actually supposed to be part of the structure. This is often the case with prepositions, but it can occur with other parts of speech. For example, in the English sentence "I like tea" there is no article (a, an, the) before the noun tea. However, in French the masculine, singular article le is needed because that is how this type of structure is used (J'aime le thé [literally: I like the tea]). Of course the opposite can be true: sometimes there is an extra word in English that would not be used in the same structure in French.
C) Correcting a group of words
Follow these steps in order to diagnose the problem. In order to find the solution, please refer to your textbook, a good dictionary, or a reliable Web-based resource.
1) Is the order of the words correct?
Remember that some languages express the same or similar concepts with different word order. An example with a form of to miss someone/something in English would be: I miss my dog. However, in French, for example, it would be the equivalent of saying My dog misses me (Mon chien me manque.), even though it actually means that I am the one who is missing my dog. It just happens to be different syntax (word order). Even if it is not a problem with entirely different word order or structure, you need to check the order of the words because in many languages the order helps establish the relationships between the subject, the verb, and the objects of the verb and any additional prepositional phrases that add information about the verb/verb phrase.
2) Is the sentence too long and rambling?
A group of words could be underlined to indicate that you've constructed a sentence that has too much information and could be divided into smaller sentences.
3) Is this the correct phrase or group of words?
Check the meaning of the phrase to see if it has the right elements/components, then check the meaning. There are certain fixed expressions or phrases composed of two or more words, and these expressions often have a meaning that would be different if you were to use one or more of these words separately, in a different context. In other words, the entire meaning could change.