1. Writing tips for the day…..

2. Use direct evidence The skilful use of textual evidence -- summary, paraphrase, specific detail, and direct quotations -- should illustrate and support the ideas you are developing in your essay.

3. Show why the evidence is important… The boys find the grinding ball, but later attempt to bury it (SUMMARY). Burying it is their futile attempt to make time stand still and to preserve perfection (RELEVANCE). Use direct evidence to support your point. It isn’t enough to say Rochester is mean and rude on occasion. Show when and how that happens. Explain why it is important.

4. A run-on sentence is when two independent clauses (i.e. complete sentences) are joined with no conjunction or punctuation. An awkward sentence often has many multiple clauses and conjuctions, of a long or twisted construction.

5. Today I am tired I will take a nap later. Marie is never interested in stargazing during the winter however on warm summer nights she often goes to the college observatory. Louisa pretended to be interested in her brother's hobby, she secretly wished she had stayed at home

6. Run-on sentences Use a comma and any one of the following connecting words: for and nor but or yet so Today I am tired so I will take a nap later.

7. Marie is never interested in stargazing during the winter. However on warm summer nights she often goes to the college observatory. Louisa pretended to be interested in her brother's hobby, but she secretly wished she had stayed at home

8. Awkward sentences? Rewrite them. Rule of them: try not to have more than one conjunction per sentence (if you have multiple buts and becauses….there is a problem) She ran to the store but forgot her purse so she had to go home and get money before going back to the store to buy the milk. She ran to the store but had forgotten her purse. As a result, she had to go home and get money before going back to the store to buy the milk.

9. Apostrophes… ONLY in plurals and possessives. You should be trying not to use contractions… So…. The Eyre family or The Eyres (plural) or The Eyres’ (possessive). NOT The Eyre’s….. James's hat (James' hat is also acceptable. For plural, proper nouns that are possessive, use an apostrophe after the 's': "The Eggles' presentation was good." The Eggles are a husband and wife consultant team.) If a family's last name ends in "s," make it plural before adding an apostrophe. For instance, if you wanted to discuss the Williams family, they would become "the Williamses" in a plural sense

10. Know how to use apostrophes for acronyms and years. Say you use an acronym for a noun, like CD. To make CD plural, use "CDs," not CD's." The same logic goes for years - instead of writing "Spandex was popular in the 1980's," use "1980s." The only time an apostrophe should be used in a year is if it's standing in for omitted numbers. For instance, if you wanted to shorten the year 2005, you could write '05. In this case, the apostrophe is essentially acting like it does in a contraction and serving as shorthand.