And a few extra:
Proofreader’s Marks
Category Archives: Proofreading
Parallel Construction
All items in a list need to be in the same format; this is called parallel construction.
Parallelism occurs in several ways. First, within a single sentence, a list should start with the same verb form. For example, the following sentence is not parallel: I am good at working in teams, being able to communicate, lack fear, having a positive attitude. The verbs are: working, being, lack, having. To be parallel, the verbs need to be: working, communicating, lacking, having. Here’s another example:
Not parallel:
Some personal values that are important to me in my career are:
- Making a lot of money to support my family
- Being able to enjoy my field of work
- Managing a new business
- Making a new business succeed
- Become recognized as a major business in the country
Here the verbs are: making, being, managing, and become. To be parallel, the verbs need to be: making, being, managing, and becoming.
Parallel:
Some personal values that are important to me in my career are:
- Making a lot of money to support my family
- Being able to enjoy my field of work
- Managing a new business
- Making a new business succeed
- Becoming recognized as a major business in the country
Not parallel:
- Participated in meetings
- Strengthened interpersonal skills
o Word, Excel, PowerPoint
Parallel:
- Participated in meetings
- Strengthened interpersonal skills
o Developed skills in Word, Excel, PowerPoint
In the next pair, the structure of the listed items requires parallel construction. All items need to be either phrases or complete sentences, not some of each.
Not Parallel:
Values that I feel are important for me to have in my work and career are:
- Team working skills
- Being able to communicate with others
- Not being afraid to say my ideas
- I should not judge people.
- Have a positive attitude
In this list, item number four is a complete sentence while the others are not. The following is parallel.
Parallel:
Values that I feel are important for me to have in my work and career are:
- Team working skills
- Being able to communicate with others
- Not being afraid to say my ideas
- Not judging people.
- Have a positive attitude
The Lonely This
Writers often use “This” to refer to the subject of the previous sentence. However, using the pronoun “this” alone is sometimes called a Lonely This. A subject should follow a “This.”
A Lonely This looks like:
- This is mine.
- This is likely due to too much freedom.
- This left them feeling inadequate.
In each of these examples, the reader does not know to what the “This” refers. The “This” is lonely because it doesn’t have a subject.
Writers should identify the “This” as in the following examples:
- This textbook is mine.
- This problem is likely due to too much freedom.
- This problem left them feeling inadequate.
In these examples, the “This” is followed by a noun. The more specificity in your writing, the easier it is to read because the reader doesn’t have to re-read sections to determine your subject.
Active and Passive Verbs
Active and Passive voice causes writers many, many problems. In business writing, you want to use active voice because sentences in active voice are more direct and forceful. Active voice sentences clearly identify who is doing the action. This reduces confusion and increases brevity in business documents.
In passive voice, who or what does the action of the sentence is implied, unknown, or comes after the verb in the sentence. Passive voice is often used when a writer wants to deflect blame or criticism, or when the action of the sentence is more important than the doer/actor.
The easiest way to determine if a verb is active or passive is to ask the following two questions:
What is the verb?
Who/what is doing the action (verb)?
If you know who is acting = active voice
If you’re unsure who is acting = passive voice
Are the following sentences active or passive?
1. Companies expect accounting positions to increase in the next ten years.
- What is the verb? Expect
- Who/what is expecting? Companies
- This sentence is active.
2. They have to work with computers.
- What is the verb? Work
- Who is working? “They”
- This sentence is active.
3. The report was left on the desk.
- What is the verb? Left
- Who/what left the report? We don’t know.
- This sentence is passive.
4. Several students were failed because of poor writing.
- What is the verb? Failed
- Who failed the students? We don’t know.
- This sentence is passive.
Once you’ve identified passive verbs, how do you change them to active verbs?
- Identify the verb
- Identify who is doing the action of the verb.
- Name the actor as the subject.
Consider the following examples of passive verbs changed into active verbs.
- I was identified by the MBTI as an IFNJ.
- Verb is “identified”
- Who identified? The MBTI
- Revised: The MBTI identified me as an IFNJ.
- A new program was devised for making automatic payments.
- Verb is “devised”
- Who devised? We don’t know, so we must add or name the subject
- Revised: Technicians devised a new program for making automatic payments. Or: The new program is for making automatic payments.
Now, find the passive verbs in your writing by asking:
- What is the verb?
- Who is doing the action of the verb?
Change the sentence to active voice by naming the actor (who/what does the action of the verb) first in the sentence (before the verb).
Conciseness
Being concise means using as few words as possible to effectively and clearly relay your message.
Throughout most of your education, you have been required to fill a designated number of pages and learned to use a lot of words to fill space.
In business, time is money and hiding your message within long, wordy sentences will cost your company time.
Read this article to learn more about writing concisely.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/572/1/
Who vs Whom
The Oatmeal blog has funny and easy to understand explanations of my grammar issues. Check it out here:
http://theoatmeal.com/tag/grammar
For now, read about how and when to use Who and Whom:
http://theoatmeal.com/tag/grammar
Check Your Homophones
Homophones are the words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Spell check doesn’t always catch homophones so you need proofread carefully. Check out the Grammarly.com blog-post (edited) below to see some common homophones.
For the full post, see:
25 Homophones That Most Spell-Checkers Won’t Catch
While Grammarly has algorithms that will help you correct all of these common mix-ups, there’s no substitute for the old noggin. So next time you’re writing, be sure to put on your thinking cap and look out for these homophones that most spell checkers won’t catch.
A while/Awhile
It had been a while since the long-lost lovers had seen each other, but their passion was still so true they didn’t mind waiting awhile for their fast-approaching reunion.
Accept/Except
Everyone except Christopher, who has already discovered the truth, needs to accept the fact that the world is not flat.
Affect/Effect
The technicians didn’t realize that the special effect that creepily breathed down viewers necks would affect audience members so deeply. People ran out of the theater screaming.
Aide/Aid
The teacher’s aide was the first to arrive at school that day. So when the tornado hit, she gave as much aid to the kids as possible.
Aloud/Allowed
After breaking the television set he wasn’t allowed to touch, Bart had to repeat this phrase aloud 1,000 times: I will not replace the television dials with marshmallows.
Anytime/Any time
Call anytime! Actually, scratch that. Call me at any time after 5:00 p.m.
Bizarre/Bazaar
The strange, old-fashioned bazaar featured a freak show made up of bizarre and mysterious people.
Capital/Capitol
The protesters left their own state capitals to converge on the Capitol building in Washington, DC, and rally for their cause.
Cite/Site/Sight
The site of the excavation came into sight as they emerged from the tunnel. If the bones were in fact dinosaur bones, then scientists would need to cite the analysis taken from this discovery in every paleontology research paper for the next hundred years.
Compliment/Complement
The winemaker received compliment after compliment for her incredible pairing. Each selected dish seemed the perfect complement to the chosen vintages.
Conscience/Conscious
My conscience plagues me most when I’m sleeping. Then, when I wake up, I become conscious of the guilt I’m feeling for my actions.
Desert/Dessert
If only this hot, sandy desert was made of dessert. Then I could simply eat my way out of it.
Elude/Allude
If you’re going to allude to your diamond heist so casually in conversation, you should prepare to elude the authorities, who will most likely find out about the theft.
Ensure/Insure
It seems strange that in order to ensure my son can receive medical treatment, I need to insure him with the healthcare company on the day of his birth.
Every day/Everyday
Just because the office attire is everyday wear doesn’t mean you should wear the same clothes every day.
Formerly/Formally
Formerly a Buddhist monk clothed only in a tunic, he was confused by the need to dress formally, in a shirt and tie, for work.
Guerilla/Gorilla
The paramilitary forces had a new tactic; they were going to use actual gorillas as foot soldiers in their guerilla warfare.
Led/Lead,
He led them through the dangerous forest of giant spiders with only a headlamp and a lead pipe. As the lead scout, he needed to be brave and fearless even though he felt incredibly frightened.
One/Won
She won the costumed thumb war competition by one measly point.
Pedal/Peddle
If you want to peddle stolen goods to innocent people, you’d better be prepared to pedal your bike as fast as you can away from the town when you’re done.
Pore/Pour
If you pore over your schoolbooks with the same discipline that you apply to gaming, I won’t be forced to pour this macaroni over your head.
Premier/Premiere
The premier of Switzerland eagerly awaited the premiere of the new production of the Sound of Music. The woman cast as Maria was the country’s premier actress.
Principle/Principal
School principals should be people of principle. Their behavior and attitude should, in principle, be an example to all students.
Reign/Rein
Take the reins and lead the horse as if you’re ruling a kingdom and your reign has lasted five decades.
Weather/Whether
Who cares about the weather? We’re going to have a good time regardless of whether it’s raining, snowing, or glowing.
Set the Mood: Tone in Business Writing
Tone is the subtle meaning or feeling your reader gets when reading your writing. Using the appropriate tone may be very important. You wouldn’t want to sound happy when telling a client the product will be delivered late, for example.
OWL has a great article about tone in business writing:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/652/01/
Using & Introducing Quotations
Wondering when and how to quote material from an outside source?
Check this out:
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/usingquotes.html
How should you introduce a quote? Answers here:
Transitions
Transitions help your reader move smoothly from one idea to the next.
Transitions such as “first, next, lastly” help readers follow the organization of your document and the progression of your ideas. As a writer, you want to develop smooth and subtle transitions. Repetition of a key word or phrase or use of a dependent clause can help guide the reader through your document.
Follow this link to read more about writing smooth transitions:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/574/01/