The key to revising sentences is patience. After working on an essay, we get tired and very familiar with the ideas. This makes it difficult to pay attention to errors in specific sentences.
To overcome this, try reading your writing out loud. Your eyes will gloss over errors when you read something very familiar, but your ears will hear everything that sounds not quite right.
When revising at the sentence level, you are looking at the detail of the writing. The goal is to ensure your reader can think about your ideas without being distracted by errors or lack of clarity in the sentences.
Checklist for Effective Sentences
Let’s begin by considering the essential elements of effective sentences.
Does your essay:
Let’s practice revising some sentences.
Let’s tackle these paragraphs sentence by sentence. After you read the highlighted sentence, type a revision in the space provided. Review the sample answers to compare.
- Yes, off to a good start. The topic sentence is grammatically correct.
- Yes, Revise. Hint: consider the clarity between the subject and the verb.
Revision: Compare your revision to this sample with annotated explanations:
- Yes, Revise. Hint: Consider how the sentences could be connected.
Revision: Compare your revision to this sample with annotated explanations:
- Yes, Revise. Hint: Watch for subject-verb agreement and comma use.
Revision: Compare your revision to this sample with annotated explanations:
- Yes, this sentence makes sense and is written clearly.
- Yes, Revise. Hint: look at the subject and the verb for clarity
Revision: Compare your revision to this sample with annotated explanations:
- Yes, Revise. Hint: this sentence is grammatically accurate but poorly written with repetition.
Revision: Compare your revision to this sample with annotated explanations: