The Multi-Level Sweep: Conduct a review in stages. First, check for 'surface' errors like capital letters and full stops. Second, check for 'structural' errors like tense shifts or missing words.
The Tense Audit: Specifically look at every verb in a paragraph to ensure they all belong to the same timeframe (e.g., all past tense or all present tense), unless a deliberate shift like a flashback is intended.
Homophone Verification: Scan for commonly confused words such as there/their/they're, your/you're, and its/it's. These are high-frequency errors that significantly impact the perception of technical accuracy.
Dialogue Formatting Check: If direct speech is used, verify that every new speaker starts on a new line and that punctuation (commas, question marks) is placed inside the quotation marks.
| Feature | Proofreading | Editing/Revision |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Technical accuracy (SPaG) and mechanics. | Content, structure, and overall argument. |
| Timing | Usually the final step or end-of-paragraph check. | Often occurs during the planning or drafting phase. |
| Goal | To eliminate errors and polish the surface. | To improve the quality of ideas and narrative flow. |
Comma vs. Full Stop: A common error is the 'comma splice,' where a comma is used to join two independent sentences. Proofreading should identify these and replace them with full stops, semicolons, or conjunctions.
Omission vs. Possession: Students must distinguish between apostrophes used for missing letters (e.g., don't) and those used to show belonging (e.g., the character's voice).
The 'I' Check: Always ensure the first-person pronoun 'I' is capitalized, regardless of where it appears in a sentence. This is a simple but frequent mistake that loses marks.
Sentence Variety Audit: During the check, look at the start of each sentence. If three or more sentences in a row start with the same word (e.g., 'The...'), deliberately change one to a subordinate clause or an adverbial starter to show range.
The Missing Word Scan: Under exam pressure, the brain often moves faster than the hand, leading to omitted small words like 'the', 'and', or 'is'. Reading the work slowly, as if aloud, helps catch these gaps.
Punctuation for Effect: Check if you have used more than just basic full stops. Look for opportunities to include a question mark, exclamation mark, or dash to enhance the tone.
The 'Wait Until the End' Trap: Many students plan to proofread in the last two minutes of the exam. This is often insufficient time to catch deep structural issues or tense inconsistencies; paragraph-by-paragraph checking is more reliable.
Over-reliance on Dialogue: Students often use dialogue to move the story forward but fail to punctuate it correctly. If unsure of the rules, it is safer to use 'internal monologue' which requires fewer complex punctuation marks.
Tense Drifting: It is a common misconception that tenses can be mixed freely. In reality, drifting from 'he walked' to 'he says' within the same scene suggests a lack of grammatical control.
