Writing Activity

Write about your favorite restaurant.

*If you have trouble generating ideas, consider the following: 1. What does the restaurant look like? 2. When do you go there? 3. What do you order there?

Questions for Discussion

1. What makes writing “good”?

2. Sometimes people say “I’m a bad writer.” Why might someone think he or she is a bad writer?

3. What do you like about your writing? If you could improve one thing about your writing, what would it be?

How would you change these sentences?

1. Marcia admires her parents, Abraham Lincoln and Barbra Streisand. 

2. Today we will be reading “Ode to the Sprinkler”, “Ode to La Tortilla”, and “Ode to Pomegranates”.

3. I can tell that the author likes sports because they wrote a story about a soccer team.

4. Everyday I go to work, write lessons and cleanup my desk.

5. Jared likes to run as well as bike for exercise.

10 Tips for Strengthening Your Writing Skills

By: Samantha GussowMay 29, 2013

Background on Writing Tips

Based on house style and Chicago Manual of Style (used by editors and proofreaders in Publications)

Things that get fixed at the copyedit stage or paged-up stage (proofs/passes)

These tips help to make written work more concise and to the point.

1. Use the active voice.

Sentences using future progressive: 1. We will be reading about frogs today.2. We are going to read about frogs today.

Sentence using active voice: 1. We will read about frogs today.

Why use the active voice?

Implies more certainty

Makes writing more concise/less wordy

More direct

2. Avoid the phrase “in order to.”

In order to learn about team cooperation, we will watch a video.

To learn about team cooperation, we will watch a video.

Why avoid this phrase?

Similar to why active voice is used:Less wordy

More direct

3. Use commas properly.

Use commas to set off people’s names.

Ex: Karina admires her parents, Stuart and Martha.

Why not put a comma after Stuart? Ex: Karina admires her parents, Stuart, and

Martha. If you put a comma after Stuart, it looks like

Karina admires her parents and two other people (Stuart and Martha).

More Comma Fun….

Use commas in lists. Ex: Karina admires her parents, Ben

Carson, and Princess Diana. Ex: Michael likes fishing, reading, and

skiing.

Using a comma before and sets off items in a list.

Commas make a big difference…

4a. Think about the part of speech of a word.

There are many parts of speech! Noun Verb Adjective Adverb (end in –ly)

Some words can be more than one part of speech, making it tricky to identify which type is being used.

Determining Part of Speech Sometimes when reading a sentence, it is

not instantly clear which part of speech is used.

Ex: the word honored Can be a verb OR an adjective

Honored as a verb Kellie honored her mom’s request to water the

plants.

Honored as an adjective Mr. Bell was honored to speak at graduation.

Writing Definitions of Words

Activity: Read the following two words. Which definition do you think works best? Why?

1. smiled look happy looked happy

2. honesty act of telling the truth told the truth

Definitions (cont.)

1. smiled looked happy

Past tense

2. honesty act of telling the truth

“Act of” or “process of” → good way to begin def. of noun

4b. Think about whether a word is one word or two.

Some words can be used as a noun and a verb.

The noun form is usually one word. Ex: The Environment Club held a weekly

cleanup in the park.

The verb form is usually two words. Ex: Clean up your room.

Everyday vs. every day

1 word = adj. (means daily, ordinary) Ex: Shawna incorporates exercise into her

everyday life.

Ex: A cup of morning coffee is part of Jason’s everyday routine.

2 words = adv. (means each day) Ex: Every day Bryan goes to work.

Ex: Kaye delivers the mail every day.

5. Use the phrase “as well as” correctly.

This is used for comparison. Ex: Brandon draws as well as his sister.

This phrase does not mean “and.” Incorrect: Stacey is good at swimming as well as basketball.

Correct: Stacey is good at swimming and basketball.

6. Use affect and effect correctly.

Affect = verb A verb (or a = v) Ex: The weather will affect Ms. Johnson’s plan for an outdoor picnic.

Effect = noun e = n Ex: Fallen trees were an effect of the

storm.

7. Make your nouns and pronouns agree.

Their = more than 1 person Incorrect: The author likes animals because their

characters are bears. Why is this sentence incorrect?

The author refers to 1 person.

How can this be fixed? The author likes animals because her characters

are bears. The author likes animals because his characters

are bears.

A Special Note about Pronouns

Using “his or her” when the gender is unknown is a bit of a debate.

Some people feel that “his or her” is too wordy.

Handled on a case-by-case basis

8. Put commas and periods inside quotation marks.

Example #1: The author used the phrases “ray of

sunshine,” “beam of light,” and “grinned widely” to describe Mickey’s smile.

Example #2: We will read “Ode to Pablo’s Tennis Shoes.”

9. Be aware of words with multiple spellings.

There are countless examples. Here are just a few! Manner vs. manor Peak vs. peek Pedal vs. peddle vs. petal Rapped vs. rapt vs. wrapped

10. Use apostrophes correctly.

Singular = apostrophe s (‘s) ‘ + s Ex: Call on a volunteer, and record the

student’s response on the board. (just 1)

Plural = s, apostrophe (s’) s + ‘ Ex: Record students’ responses on the

board. (more than 1)

Let‘s go back to where we started…

Now that we’ve reviewed some writing tips, look back over the 5 sentences. Make any other changes.

Sentences with Changes…

1. Marcia admires her parents, Abraham Lincoln, and Barbra Streisand. 

2. Today we will read “Ode to the Sprinkler,” “Ode to La Tortilla,” and “Ode to Pomegranates.”

3. I can tell that the author likes sports because he or she wrote a story about a soccer team.

4. Every day I go to work, write lessons, and clean up my desk.

5. Jared likes to run and bike for exercise.

The End…Happy Writing!