An image of text that reads “When hunting companions forget or ignore safety rules” It tells the reader that, “the addition of a comma would improve this sentence drastically.”

Source: companion season & bag limits, j l t, Flickr

Capitalization

In this section, we will turn our attention to capitalization. When you inspect your writing for problems in capitalization, you will need to keep in mind when to use capital letters. Read the list of capitalization rules below. One item is incorrect. Click on the box of the incorrect capitalization rule when you think you know the answer.

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The first word in a sentence
Try again. The first word in a sentence is always capitalized.

The personal pronoun “I”
Try again. "I" is always capitalized.

People’s first and last names
Try again. First and last names such as Tim Jones and Julie Rivera should be capitalized.

The seasons of the year
Correct! The seasons of fall, winter, spring, and summer should not be capitalized unless they begin a sentence.

Names of specific places, institutions, and languages
Try again. Places such as Dallas, institutions such as Anderson Hospital, and languages such as Spanish should be capitalized.

Calendar items such as the days of the week, months of the year, and holidays
Try again. Days such as Monday, months such February, and holidays such as Christmas should be capitalized.

Product names
Try again. Product names such as Tropicana and Tide should be capitalized.
Titles of books and magazines
Try again. Books such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and magazines such as Newsweek should be capitalized.


Now, carefully read the paragraph below while keeping in mind the rules of capitalization. As you read, decide whether each word should be capitalized or not, then make your choice from the drop-down menu.

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A photograph of the comma and period keys on a computer keyboard

Source: M comma full stop, Sam Kelly, Flickr

Punctuation

Punctuation issues in your writing may include misplaced or missing periods, question marks, exclamation points, commas, semicolons, hyphens, colons, parentheses, and apostrophes. Common problem areas that you may want to look at include the beginnings and endings of sentences (mistakes and missing marks, as in the case of run-ons and fragments), colon and semicolon usage, commas between items in a list, and commas that create run-on sentences. Be sure to look at each instance individually.

Some easy punctuation issues to spot are incorrectly punctuated possessive pronouns (apostrophes) and missing end marks (periods). Look for these issues and others as you read the paragraph below and decide whether each highlighted part is correctly or incorrectly punctuated.

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Photo of a pink highlighter; its cap is two pink feet and the other end is topped by a silly face and a head of crazy hair that sticks out

Source: TNS Media Intelligence Pink Highlighter Dude, Tamar Weinberg, Flickr


Spelling

Remember, what you want to do when looking for spelling errors is look for words you don’t recognize (because they may be misspelled), words you often have trouble with, and words that sound the same but are spelled differently (homonyms) such as past and passed.

Many writers find that certain rules help them to remember how to spell particular types of words, especially those formed by adding suffixes (or endings). Here are four spelling rules that may be helpful to you.

  1. Using i before e

    Use i before e, except after c, or when the sound is a long “a” as in neighbor and weigh. 

    2. Examples: believe, chief, piece, and thief; deceive, receive, weigh, and freight

    Common Exceptions:     efficient, weird, height, neither, ancient, caffeine, foreign


  2. Dropping the final e

    3. Drop the final e before a suffix beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) but not before a suffix beginning with a consonant.

    Examples: ride + ing = riding
    guide + ance = guidance
    hope + ing = hoping
    entire + ly = entirely
    like + ness = likeness
    arrange + ment = arrangement

    Common Exceptions: truly, noticeable

  3. Changing a final y to i

    4. Change a final y to i before a suffix, unless the suffix begins with i. 

    Examples: defy + ance = defiance
    party + es = parties
    pity + ful = pitiful
    try + es = tries
    try + ing = trying
    copy + ing = copying
    occupy + ing = occupying

    Common Exceptions: 
    journeying, memorize

  4. Doubling a final consonant

    5. Double a final single consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel when both of these conditions exist: (1) a single vowel precedes the consonant and (2) the consonant ends an accented syllable or a one-syllable word.

    Examples: stop + ing = stopping
    admit + ed = admitted
    occur + ence = occurrence
    stoop + ing = stooping
    benefit + ed = benefited
    delight + ful = delightful

Read the paragraph again, and this time, look for the suspected spelling errors. Perhaps the word is an example of one of those spelling rules that tends to trip you, such as one of the rules above. As you read, choose the correct spelling from each drop-down menu.

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Does this way of editing look like it might work for you? It helps you see mistakes that you might not see if you’re looking at your essay without specific directions. Keep in mind that the process of editing will undoubtedly bring up overlapping areas of grammar. Sometimes a misspelled word involves the inclusion or deletion of an apostrophe at other times maybe a sentence fragment needs a punctuating mark to remedy a grammatical error.

The point to these exercises is to look at written work and think about how each sentence is written. Following a step by step approach gives you a system of editing your work. Now, you will be ready to think through some revisions on your own.