SASS EL P1 Editing Guide

SASS Guide to Editing 1 Strategies for Editing 1. Scan (Read quickly) through the passage 2. Read through passage the second time looking for clues 3. Look for clues by identifying: (i) Nouns (Do they agree with the verbs?) (ii) Verbs (Are they in the correct tense?) (iii) Prepositions Some common errors: 1. Tenses 2. Verb form E.g. I saw her cried. crying 3. Confusion between words E.g. weather vs whether/ when vs went 4. Word form E.g. happy (adj) vs happiness (n) 5. Subject verb agreement E.g. Tom and Jerry is … are 6. Pronouns E.g. They have only ourselves to blame. themselves 7. Modal verbs E.g. She could not attended the concert. attend 8. Articles E.g. I went to India and visited a Taj Mahal. the 9. Singular/plural nouns E.g. tooths vs teeth/ luggages luggage 10. Agreement E.g. I saw many student jay walk. students 11. Prepositions E.g. I sat at the bench. on 12. Reflexive pronouns Who vs which E.g. The lady which was wearing a black dress… who No Type of Error Rule Notes 1 Nouns Plural Nouns – referring to more than one thing There are some things which are thought of as being plural rather than singular, so some nouns have only a plural form. For example, you can buy ‘goods’ , but not ‘a good’. These are called plural nouns. Other nouns have only a plural form when they are used with a particular meaning. For example, an official meeting between American and Russian leaders is usually referred to as ‘talks’ rather than ‘a talk’. In these meanings, these nouns are also called plural nouns. Eg. Union leaders met the country for wage talks on October 9. It is inadvisable to sell goods on a sale or return basis. All proceeds are going to charity. Employees can have meals on the premises. Note that some plural nouns do not end in ‘-s’: for example ‘clergy’, ‘police’, ‘poultry, ‘evidence’, ‘audience’. Words that end in -ch, x or s sounds, will require an -es for the plural: • Witches, boxes, gases, buses Uncountable Nouns Do not insert the plural marker –s for uncountable nouns. Here is a list of the most common uncountable nouns of this type: money progress knowledge advice research baggage luggage homework news spaghetti traffic information machinery hair furniture Quantifiers We use quantifiers to express quantity. Some common examples Compiled by YV

SASS Guide to Editing 2 are all, any, both, each, enough, every, few, little, many, much, a lot of… 1) All, a lot of or lots of, enough, more, most, other and some are used with plural nouns and uncountable nouns Eg. All students must wear a uniform. Peter considers all philosophy absurd. Sandra has to do a lot of work. 2) Another, each and every are used with singular nouns only Eg. I am going to send you another postcard. Each student is given a test paper. Every toilet is cleaned regularly. 3) Many is used with plural nouns while much is used with uncountable nouns. Steven can speak many languages. I have spent too much money this month. 4