Editing for grammar, spelling, punctuation and usage

Editing: polishing for readers

After revising your ideas and organization, you edit to correct errors in conventions: grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and usage. Errors distract readers and can make even strong ideas seem careless. Editing shows respect for your audience.

Proofreading is the final, careful read to catch anything that remains.

Grammar essentials

Complete sentences

• Fix fragments: Because the bus was late. → Because the bus was late, we missed the assembly.
• Fix run-ons and comma splices: It rained, we stayed inside. → It rained, so we stayed inside.

Agreement

• Subject-verb: The list of names is long. (subject = list)
• Pronoun-antecedent: Each player brought his or her water bottle / All players brought their water bottles.

Verb tense consistency

Keep verbs in the same tense unless the time actually changes. This is called verb tense consistency.

✗ She walked to the store and buys milk.
✓ She walked to the store and bought milk.

In literary analysis, use the present tense to discuss events in a text: In chapter 3, Jonas receives his first memory.

Pronoun case

• Between you and me (not I).
• She and I went (not Her and me).
• The award went to him and me.

Modifiers

Place modifiers next to what they describe. Avoid dangling modifiers.

Spelling

Strategies

• Know your problem words. Keep a personal list.
• Break words into syllables or morphemes: ac-com-mo-date, mis-spell.
• Use spelling rules: drop the silent e before a vowel suffix (making), change y to i (happiness), double final consonants (running).
• Use spell check, but do not trust it fully. It will not catch correctly spelled wrong words.

Commonly misspelled words

a lot (two words), accommodate, argument, believe, calendar, definitely, embarrass, environment, February, government, necessary, occasion, receive, rhythm, separate, until, Wednesday, weird

Usage: commonly confused words

Homophones and near-homophones cause many errors.

Punctuation

• Commas: after introductory elements, before FANBOYS in compound sentences, around nonessential information, in series.
• Apostrophes: possession and contractions, never plurals.
• Quotation marks: commas and periods inside.
• Semicolons: join closely related independent clauses.
• Colons: introduce a list, explanation or quotation after a complete sentence.

Capitalization

• First word of a sentence and of a quoted sentence.
• Proper nouns: people, places, organizations, languages, nationalities.
• Titles: capitalize major words (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe).
• Do not capitalize seasons (summer) or general subjects (science), except languages (French).

Formatting and style

Follow the style guide your teacher requires (often MLA in English classes). Check:

• titles formatted correctly (italics for long works, quotation marks for short works),
• consistent spelling (Canadian colour, centre, practise as verb),
• numbers (often spell out one to nine; use numerals for 10 and above),
• consistent formatting of headings and spacing.

An effective editing process

1. Separate editing from revising. Fix ideas first; edit last.
2. Take a break before editing.
3. Print or change the font; fresh visuals reveal errors.
4. Read aloud slowly.
5. Edit in passes, one focus at a time:
   – Pass 1: sentence completeness and agreement
   – Pass 2: punctuation
   – Pass 3: spelling and usage
   – Pass 4: capitalization and formatting
6. Read backward sentence by sentence to catch spelling errors.
7. Ask a peer to proofread; others spot errors you miss.

Worked example

Original: Their was alot of students at the assembly, and everyone were excited. The principal effected the mood when she announce that the school had won the award, it was suprising.

Edited: There were a lot of students at the assembly, and everyone was excited. The principal affected the mood when she announced that the school had won the award; it was surprising.

Errors fixed: their → there, was → were (students plural), alot → a lot, everyone were → everyone was, effected → affected, announce → announced, comma splice → semicolon, suprising → surprising.

Common mistakes

• Relying only on spell check.
• Editing while drafting, which interrupts ideas.
• Reading too quickly; the brain fills in what it expects.
• Fixing the same mistake repeatedly without learning the rule.

Try it yourself

Edit each sentence.

1. Me and him should of went to the game.
2. The dog wagged it’s tail when it seen us.
3. There are less people here then last year.
4. In the novel, the main character learned that honesty mattered. (literary present)
5. Its definately to late to change you’re answer.

Answers: 1. He and I should have gone to the game. 2. The dog wagged its tail when it saw us. 3. There are fewer people here than last year. 4. In the novel, the main character learns that honesty matters. 5. It’s definitely too late to change your answer.

Study tip

Track your errors across assignments in an “error log” with three columns: the mistake, the correction and the rule. Review it before you edit your next piece.

Quick recap

• Editing fixes conventions after revision is complete.
• Check sentence completeness, agreement, tense and pronoun case.
• Use spelling strategies and don’t rely solely on spell check.
• Master commonly confused words and homophones.
• Edit in focused passes and read aloud or backward.