Proofreading, and Editing
Proofreading and editing are essential skills that are developed through practice. Many of these concepts students have not covered since Jr. high or high school, so it may be a bit of a refresher. If you have any difficulty with these concepts, remember to use your Errors in English and How to Correct Them textbook which covers these issues at length and has the approaches to fixing errors.
This assignment should help to prepare you to find errors in your own paper as well as aid you in your peer review assignment.
Proofreading Practice:
Read the passage below and identify the sentence errors that are underlined. From the box below, choose the letter that describes the type of mistake made and write it on the space provided. The same mistakes may appear more than once.
a. Sentence Fragment
b. Run-on
c. Subject-verb agreement
d. Apostrophe mistake
e. Faulty parallelism
Looking Out for Yourself
It's sad but true that "If you don't look out for yourself, no one else will." For example, some people have a false idea about the power of a college (1) degree, they think that once they (2) possesses the degree, the world will be waiting on their doorstep. In fact, nobody is likely to be on their doorstep unless, through advance planning, they (3) has prepared themselves for a career. (4) The kind in which good job opportunities exist. Even after a person has landed a job, however, a healthy amount of self-interest is needed. People who hide in corners or (5) with hesitation to let others know about their skills (6) doesn't get promotions or raises. (7) Its important to take credit for a job well-done, whether it involves writing a report, (8) organized the office filing system, or calming down an angry customer. Also, people should feel free to ask the boss for a raise. (9) If they work hard and really deserve it. Those who look out for themselves get the (10) rewards, people who depend on others to help them along get left behind.
Editing Practice:
Read the passage below and note the errors. Underline parts of the passage that need to be revised or edited. On the lines below write the amount of errors of that type you found in the passage. (Hint: There are ten total errors).
Too Many Cooks
The problem in my college dining hall was the succession of incompetent cooks who were put in charge. During the time I worked there, I watched several cooks come and go. The first of these was Irving. He was skinny and greasy like the undercooked bacon he served for breakfast. Irving drank, by late afternoon he begun to sway as he cooked. Once, he looked at the brightly colored photograph on the orange juice machine. And asked why the TV was on. Having fired Irving, Lonnie was hired. Lonnie had a soft, round face that resembled the Pillsbury Doughboy's but he had the size and temperament of a large bear. He'd wave one paw and growl if you entered the freezers without his permission. He also had poor eyesight. This problem caused him to substitute flour for sugar and using pork for beef on a regular basis. After Lonnie was fired, Enzo arrived. Because he had come from Italy only a year or two previously. He spoke little English. In addition, Enzo had trouble with seasoning and spices. His vegetables were too salty, giant bay leaves turned up in everything. Including the scrambled eggs. The cooks I worked for in the college dining hall would have made Julia Child go into shock.
Sentence fragments ______ Run-ons ______ Irregular verb mistake______ Dangling modifier ______ Nonparallel structure ______ Missing comma ______ Pronoun placement mistake _____