Proofreading
Mnemonic
An Introduction
Presented by:
Gayla S. Keesee
Education Specialist
Mack Gipson, Jr. Tutorial & Enrichment Center
10/2006
Special People Can
Proofread Very Skillfully.
Remember, Don’t Panic!
Common Errors









Spelling
Punctuation
Capitalization
Pronouns
Verbs
Sentence Fragments
Run-on Sentences
Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers
Parallel Structure
Spelling

Be aware of your “enemies”
 Words you often misspell

Homonyms
 Words sound the same (they’re, their, there)

Usage
 Words often confused (accept, except)
Capitalization




Titles—all words 4+ letters long
First word in complete sentence
Proper nouns
School Subjects
 Names of languages—French, English
 Numbered courses--Biology I, History 211
Pronouns

Pronoun Agreement
 Agree with antecedent (noun referring to)
 Number—singular, plural
 Gender—masculine, feminine
 Case—subject, object, possessive Pronoun Shifts (case)
 Do not shift between person
 1st, 2nd, 3rd person
YOU
Verb Forms

Subject-Verb Agreement
 Here, there, it at the beginning of sentence not
subj.
 Subj. will never be in a prepositional phrase
 Watch out for indefinite pronouns
 Turn questions around = subj + verb + obj.

Verb Tense—indicates time of action
 Keep tenses consistent
Sentence
Fragments

Missing one or more elements of an
Independent Clause (IC).
 Subject
 Verb
 Complete Thought

Corrections:
 Add the element(s)
 Attach the fragment to the IC before or after it.
Run-On Sentences

Two or more IC joined together
 usually with only a comma—comma splice

Corrections:
 Use a period to separate the two sentences.
 Add ,conj
 Use a semi-colon—esp. if they’re closely related.
 Rewrite the sentence completely.
Dangling/Misplaced
Modifiers

Modifiers—adjectives & adverbs
 May be single words or phrases
 Must be placed as close to word being described
as possible
Parallel Structure

Items joined by a conjunction must be
expressed in the same grammatical form.
 Word, word, and word
 reading, dancing, and cooking
 Phrase, phrase, or phrase
 over the hill, under the bridge, and into the cave
 either move to Kansas or move to Texas