Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
Editing and proofreading
Find and correct the single error in a line — grammar, spelling or punctuation.
Proofreading is not rereading. Rereading follows the meaning, and the meaning is exactly what hides the error — your brain quietly repairs the sentence as it goes. Proofreading means looking at the words themselves, one kind of mistake at a time.
The four places errors hide
Agreement: does the verb match its subject? Tense: do all the verbs belong to the same time? Word form: is it the participle, gone, or the past, went? Punctuation: is anything missing at the end or in the middle?
One error per line
In an editing task there is usually exactly one mistake in each line. Once you have found something you are certain about, stop and move on — hunting for a second error is how a correct word gets changed into a wrong one.
Watch out for the double word
"The chair that I mended it last week" has one word too many, because that already stands for the chair. "The most tallest boy" has the same fault: most and -est both make it a superlative, and one has to go.
Worked example
Correct: "Neither of the boys were present, so the teacher have sent a note."
Check each subject against its verb.
Agreement is the fault that hides most easily, so check it first.
Try it together
Let us edit one line together.
The line is: The childrens books was lying on the floor. There are exactly two faults in it.
1.One plural word is missing an apostrophe. Write that word correctly.
Have a go
Correct the error: "One of my friend is a dancer." Write the corrected word.
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.