The 10 Tips for effective writing was very insightful, and I don't know how many of them I have been consistently applying. I don't think I'll ever use the last one though; "Organize an old-fashioned spelling bee at your next party." I don't think people would ever come to my home again.
There is an eleven tip that I have often used and it has been very helpful to me. I always try to read my writing out loud. In doing so, I can often catch grammatical mistakes that my brain tends to skip over when reading in my head. It has often been beneficial because I can get a better grasp on how my writing flows.
I was able to find a few grammatical mistakes throughout the week. Nothing too major. One was while I was doing an assignment for another class. I was reading an article on CNN about Donald Trump, and in his lead in the writer said, "Here is a short list of guarantees the Trump has either reversed on or refused to deliver." Maybe people really are referring to Donald as 'The Trump' now. I'd believe it.
The next one is small, but I'm going to include it. In an article by Bleacher Report, they said, "But there is no longer the same cosmic urgency for James to scale that mountain—the core of his legacy is secure." As much as possible, we should likely try to avoid starting a sentence with the word 'but.' Obviously exceptions can be made, but in this sentence the word but can easily be removed.
The last is an example of using a Passive Voice. In an article written about NBA Superstars with the most on the line, the writer said, "How he handles that next step up the ladder could be the difference between the Spurs challenging the Golden State Warriors." What makes this sentence passive is the use of the word 'could.' In order to make this more active, he should change 'could' to 'will.'
I love the idea of reading it out loud. I haven't done that. Another thing that helps me check my own work, because we all know that is the hardest, is printing it. When you just look over it on the screen it looks the same as it has before and your brain skips over the errors. Printing helps you see it with fresh eyes.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of reading it out loud. I haven't done that. Another thing that helps me check my own work, because we all know that is the hardest, is printing it. When you just look over it on the screen it looks the same as it has before and your brain skips over the errors. Printing helps you see it with fresh eyes.
ReplyDeleteI would have never picked out your last example of changing "could" to "will." That's pretty impressive that you picked that one out in an article.
ReplyDeleteReading out loud is very effective. Especially when writing dialogue. There's something about oral expression that really reveals something about the words on the paper that reading alone can't accomplish.
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