1. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E and College Writing Skills with Readings, 6E John Langan The Fourth Step in Essay Writing Chapter Five The Fourth Step in Essay Writing

2. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Step 4 Revise and Edit Your Work parallelism.Use parallelism. consistent point of view.Use a consistent point of view. specific words.Use specific words. active verbs.Use active verbs. concise words.Use concise words. Vary Vary your sentences. revising sentences: Strategies for revising sentences: :

3. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Use Parallelism balancing 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

4. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Use a Consistent Point of View: Verbs Use a Consistent Point of View: Verbs verb tenses Do not shift verb tenses unnecessarily. dumped Ex.: Jean punched down the risen dough. Then she dumps it onto the worktable.

5. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Use a Consistent Point of View: Pronouns point of view Do not shift point of view unnecessarily. Ex.: One of the fringe benefits of my job is that you can use a company credit card for gasoline. I

6. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Use Specific Words specific general 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.

7. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Specific Sentences 1: Use exact names. 1: Use exact names. (Not “the boy,” but “Vince.”) 2: Use lively verbs. 2: Use lively verbs. (Not “ate,” but “slurped.”) 3: Use descriptive words. 3: Use descriptive words. (Not “the car,” but “the rickety old Buick.”) 4: Use sense descriptions. 4: Use sense descriptions. (“Vince slurped his ice-cold chocolate milkshake while sitting on the squeaking front seat of his rickety old Buick.”)

8. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Use Active Verbs active voice. Prefer the active voice. passive voice. When the subject receives the action, the verb is in the passive voice. The computer was bought by Hakim. active voice. When the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb, the verb is in the active voice. Hakim bought the computer.

9. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Use Concise Words concision. Prefer concision. Wordiness 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.

10. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E 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 phrase. 3: Beginning with an opening word or phrase. 4: Placing adjectives or verbs in a series.

11. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E 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.

12. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E 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.

13. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E 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.

14. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E 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.

15. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E 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. Edit according to the conventions of written English, aka sentence skills.

16. ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. College Writing Skills, 6E/ CWSwR, 6E Chapter 5 Proofreading Check the edited draft of your paper for typos and other other careless errors.