Writing corrections

Whenever you receive work back from me, look carefully at each of the corrections. If you want to improve your writing, you should take a separate piece of paper and CORRECTLY REWRITE every sentence and word with errors in it, then check it with me. The more you practise writing in this way, the better it will become.

What do all the editorial marks mean?

The DOUBLE SLASHES (//) indicate where one sentence should end and you should begin a new one. Sometimes you can break up long sentences using commas (,), colons (:), semicolons (;) or dashes (—) but this is difficult. It is best just to use shorter sentences!

SQUIGGLY LINES indicate where your writing is unclear due to one of the following:

• Incorrect words
• Confused word order
• Unclear phrases (style of expression needs changing, or more explanation needed)
• A non-sentence (sentence does not make sense)

A CIRCLE indicates errors in spelling, punctuation or capitals.