Transcript Overview of Chapter Five

Chapter Five
The Fourth Step in Essay
Writing
College Writing Skills, 5E and College Writing
Skills with Readings, 5E
John Langan
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Step 4
Chapter 5
Revise and Edit Your Work
Strategies for revising sentences::
•
•
•
•
•
•
Use parallelism.
Use a consistent point of view.
Use specific words.
Use active verbs.
Use concise words.
Vary your sentences.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Use Parallelism
By balancing the items in a sentence,
you will make the sentence clearer
and easier to read.
Ex.: My job includes checking
inventory, initialing orders, and
to call the suppliers. calling
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Use a Consistent Point of View:
Verbs
Do not shift verb tenses
unnecessarily.
Ex.: Jean punched down the risen dough.
dumped
Then she dumps it onto the worktable.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Use a Consistent Point of View:
Pronouns
Do not shift point of view
unnecessarily.
Ex.: One of the fringe benefits of
my job is that you I can use a
company credit card for gasoline.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Use Specific Words
To be an effective writer, you
must use specific words
rather than general words.
General: The dog ran down the street.
Specific: The mangy stray loped down
Broadway, dodging cars and startled
pedestrians.
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
Chapter 5
Specific Sentences
1: Use exact names. (Not
“Vince.”)
“the boy,” but
2: Use lively verbs. (Not “ate,” but “slurped.”)
3: Use descriptive words. (Not “the car,” but
“the rickety old Buick.”)
4: Use sense descriptions.
(“Vince slurped his
ice-cold chocolate milkshake while sitting on the
squeaking front seat of his rickety old Buick.”)
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Use Active Verbs
Prefer the active voice.
When the subject receives the action, the verb is in the
passive voice.
The computer was bought by Hakim.
When the subject of a sentence performs the action of the
verb, the verb is in the active voice.
Hakim bought the computer.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Use Concise Words
Prefer concision.
Wordiness -- using more words than necessary -- is
often a sign of lazy or careless writing.
In this paper, I am planning to describe the
hobby that I enjoy of collecting old comic
books.
Revision: I enjoy collecting old comic books.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Vary Your Sentences
Effective writing is writing that is
varied and interesting.
Vary your sentences by:
1: Adding a second complete thought.
2: Adding a dependent thought.
3: Beginning with an opening word or
phrase.
4: Placing adjectives or verbs in a series.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Adding a Second Complete
Thought
Transform simple sentences (which
can be monotonous) --
Greg worked on the engine. The car
still wouldn’t start.
into compound sentences:
Greg worked on the engine, but the
car still wouldn’t start.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Adding a Dependent Thought
Transform simple sentences (which
can be monotonous) -The library was very quiet. I
couldn’t concentrate.
into complex sentences:
Although the library was very quiet,
I couldn’t concentrate.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Beginning with an Opening Word or
Phrase
...transforms simple sentences
(which can be monotonous) --
Paul was concerned about his daughter’s
fever. Paul called a doctor.
into varied sentences:
Concerned about his daughter’s fever,
Paul called a doctor.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Placing Adjectives or Verbs in a
Series
...transforms simple sentences (which
can be monotonous) -The truck bounced off a guardrail. It
sideswiped a tree. It plunged into the
ditch.
into varied sentences:
The truck bounced off a guardrail,
sideswiped a tree, and plunged into the
ditch. ©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
Chapter 5
Editing Sentences
After revising, check for mistakes in
grammar, punctuation, mechanics,
usage, and spelling.
Edit according to the conventions of
written English, aka sentence skills.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Proofreading
Check the edited draft of
your paper for typos and
other other careless
errors.
College Writing Skills, 5E/ CWSwR, 5E
©2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.