 Develop a point of view  Present ideas logically  Use precise language  Support your ideas with outside knowledge. Think about work, school, relationships etc.

 Consistency – sequence of tenses, shift of pronoun, parallelism, noun-number agreement, subject-verb agreement  Logical expression of ideas – coordination and subordination, logical comparison, modification, word order,  Clarity and precision – vague references, wordiness, weak passive verbs  Conventions- idioms, modifiers, commas, sentence structure

 6 – clear and consistent mastery (may have a few errors but of high quality)  5 – Reasonably consistent mastery (occasional errors and lapses in quality)  4 – Adequate mastery(lapses in errors and quality)  3 – Beginning to develop mastery (balance of strengths and weaknesses)  2 – Little mastery (Flawed by many weaknesses)  1 – Little or no mastery (May weaknesses interfere with meaning)

 Spend a few minutes planning  Vary your sentence structure  Use clear, precise vocabulary  Read the entire assignment  Don’t over simplify  Always use pencil  Make sure you are on topic

 These questions measure your ability to write clear, effective, and accurate sentences

 Read the entire sentence before you look at the choices  Remember the correct answer will be the correct version from the 5 choices  Read each choice along with the entire sentence  Look for common problems  When practicing read sentences aloud  Read more slowly than you usually do  Use your test booklet to mark the questions you skip

 Simply using similar structures in a series  Example – Hawaii is famous for its beautiful beaches, and Montana is well known for its majestic mountains.  Example – We planned to go to the store, watch a movie, and to sit and read quietly. What is the problem with this sentence

 This section involves finding the error in sentences The hardest part about this section is the no error option with each section.

 Read each sentence quickly but carefully  Consider each question as a cluster of true/false questions  Read aloud if possible during your practice  Examine the underlined choices A to D  Think about common mistakes people make in writing  Look for errors in idiom – words or phrases that are particular to our language

 Participles are verbs that end in –ing or – d or –ed that change to adjectives  The playing child  The washed car  Lost opportunities  If misplaced these words form dangling participles - Tourists see statues of many famous people walking along the Philadelphia streets. (What is wrong here?)

 These types of questions test your writing and revising ability

 Read the essay thoroughly to determine its meaning before you look at the questions.  Read more slowly than you usually do.  Try all the options before you decide on an option  Make sure that your answer makes sense in context.  Mark questions you skip in your test booklet.

 Avoid wordiness  Watch descriptive words  Watch redundant words  Think about what could be added to the essay  Think about anything that needs removed from the essay