Hyphenation

Sometimes we need to split (break) a word at the end of a line, for example:

The directors requested that a more conven- ient time be arranged.

In the above example we have split the word "convenient". We have done this by inserting a hyphen (-) between "conven" and "ient". We have hyphenated "convenient".
In such cases, it is important to insert the hyphen in an appropriate position, that is, between syllables.
Since we insert the hyphen between syllables, it follows that we cannot hyphenate a single-syllable word.
We cannot hyphenate the single-syllable word "friend", for example, but we can hyphenate the three-syllable word "convenient" as "con-venient" or "conven-ient".
To hyphenate correctly, it helps to understand syllables. Every word is made from syllables. Each word has one, two, three or more syllables, as shown in the following chart.
Understanding Syllables

word		number of syllables
dog	dog	1
green	green	1
quite	quite	1
quiet	qui-et	2
orange	or-ange	2
table	ta-ble	2
convenient	con-ven-ient	3
expensive	ex-pen-sive	3
interesting	in-ter-est-ing	4
realistic	re-al-is-tic	4
unexceptional	un-ex-cep-tion-al	5

Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel sound.

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Peer Editing

peer (noun): a person who shares your ability, age or background; your equal
edit (verb): to review, correct and suggest changes to another person's work

 

You cannot always count on a teacher to review your writing. Your teacher may have many students in her class. Or you may not have a formal teacher. Perhaps you have an online teacher, or you are learning to write on your own. "Flying solo" is not something writers should do. For every writer there must be a reader. The first reader is you. Reading your own writing is called "proof reading". After you proofread your writing find a "peer editor" to check your work.

Proofreader's Checklist

Here is a list to check when you review your own writing:

1. Did I allow some time to pass before re-reading my work?
2. Do my sentences have proper capitalization and punctuation?
3. Are there any words I think might be spelled incorrectly?
4. Did I read it out loud to myself?
5. Did I write too much or too little?
6. Are all of the sentences necessary?
7. Did I use one form of narration throughout? (with a specific audience in mind)

What is the job of a peer editor?

The peer editor helps the writer submit, post or publish a piece of writing. This person does not fix all of the mistakes. The peer editor helps the writer fix her own mistakes. Think of your peer editor as a teacher or tutor. It is easier to spot another person's mistakes than it is to spot your own.

Peer Editor's Key

It is a good idea to create an editor's key with your writing peers. This way you can suggest changes instead of fixing the mistakes. An editor's key has symbols that everyone understands. If you mark your friend's paper by hand, use a different colour pen than the writing. If you mark it on the computer, use a different colour font. C = Case
F = Form
P = Punctuation
SP = Spelling
T = Tense
WC = Word Choice
/ = Not necessary
^ = Add a word
? = Unclear
* = Other problem or concern

Abbreviations and Symbols Explained

C: Use this to show that a letter should be changed to lower (abc) or upper (ABC) case.

F: Use this when the wrong word form (noun, verb, adjective) is used. For example, a writer might use the word "aboard" (adverb) instead of "board" (verb).

P: Place a P where a punctuation error exists. Perhaps the sentence is missing a period. Maybe a comma is used incorrectly.

T: Use if a verb is in the wrong tense. Place the T on top of the incorrect verb. Allow the writer to correct the tense.

WC: Use this when the specific word or phrase does not make sense. Perhaps the writer doesn't understand the meaning of the word. Maybe there is a better word.

/: Place this slash through a word that is not needed. For example you could place it through the word to before a verb if only the base verb is needed.

?: Use this if you don't understand a sentence or phrase. Circle the section you don't understand and write a question mark above it.

^: Use this symbol to indicate that the writer needs to insert a word or phrase. Perhaps the writer forgot to include "to" before a base verb.

*: For other errors you can place a star * beside the problem. At the end of the page or writing add a note with a star. You can use two stars ** for a second note etc.

Example paragraph with Errors

i went home erly today. I wasn't feel good school. It was raining day, so I go home and have a rest. When I wake up, I felt better.

Example Edit

Note: You don't have to circle the errors.

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Sentence Variety

sentence (noun): a group of words that expresses a thought and is complete in itself (starting with a capital letter and ending with a full stop or question/exclamation mark)
variety (noun): the quality of being different; not having uniformity or sameness

Do you read your sentences out loud after you write them? It is a good idea to do this. Writing that reads easily and sounds conversational is easier to understand. When we talk, we vary the length of our sentences. Some of our sentences are long and exciting and seem to go on forever until it is time for us to finally stop and take a breath. Some are short and sweet. A wise English poet once said, "Variety is the spice of life." Remember this advice as you write your stories, essays and letters.

How to add Sentence Variety

There are a number of ways to add variety to your writing. Imagine yourself cutting up a sentence into individual words and placing them in a paper bag. Now shake it up! Did you do a little dance? Great. Now lay out your sentence and experiment. Can you make two sentences out of one? Can you put your sentence back to front? Try turning your sentence into a question. Or, if you think your sentence is too short, you may want to add another sentence to it. If you have a really important point, perhaps a famous person has said something similar. In other words, there may be a quote you can use to strengthen your writing.

Sentence Types

Before we look at sentence variety, let's review the 4 main types of simple sentences. Simple sentences contain one clause.:

1. Declarative sentence (most common): The sky is blue.
2. Interrogative sentence: Why is the sky blue?
3. Exclamatory sentence: The sky is blue now! (It was black just a minute ago.)
4. Imperative sentence: Don't go outside! (It's pouring rain.)

More advanced types of sentences are "compound" (combining two sentences with a conjunction) and "complex" (using at least one dependent clause and one independent clause). To create these sentences you need to know how to use conjunctions, adverbial phrases, prespositional phrases, conditionals and noun phrases.
Simple sentences: The boy wanted to go outside. He had to eat his pizza first.
Compound: The boy wanted to go outside but he had to eat his pizza first.
Complex: Although the boy wanted to go outside, he had to eat his pizza first.

Sentence Patterns

The most common sentence pattern that writers use is sentence-verb-object (SVO). This is how beginners write. For example:

• The boy ate pizza.
• I play soccer.
• Homework is boring.

There are many ways to rewrite SVO sentences. Let's play with this sentence:

• The boy ate pizza.

1. Turn it into a question:
   Do you know what the boy ate? Pizza.
2. Turn it into a passive sentence:
   The pizza was devoured by the boy. (You could use "eaten" but here "devoured" gives a better reason for placing the pizza first.)
3. Turn it into an exclamatory sentence:
   The boy ate pizza again!
4. Combine it with your next sentence:
   The boy wolfed down the pizza and then ran outside to play.
5. Use a transitional phrase:
   Even though the boy ate the pizza, you could tell that he wanted to be outside playing.
6. Start with a participle:
   Eating the pizza, the boy watched his friends playing outside.
7. Place modifiers in different places:
   The pizza, which was a huge pepperoni slice, was devoured by the boy.
   Wolfing down his pizza, the boy barely noticed the pepperoni on it.
   The boy ate the large pepperoni pizza as quickly as possible.
   Although he wanted to keep playing, the boy rushed in and wolfed down his pizza lunch.
   As fast as he could, the boy ate the pizza.

Sentence Length

Avoid using sentences that are all the same length. Short sentences are powerful. Combine short sentences with long sentences to make your writing flow more naturally. Your most important sentences should be clear and concise. Keep them short. Descriptive sentences can have more length, but you should read them out loud to make sure that they flow naturally.
Example of a paragraph with poor sentence length:The boy's mother called him inside for dinner. The boy ate his pizza. He was very hungry. He didn't want to eat, though. He wanted to play outside with his friends.
Example fix: The boy's mother called him inside for dinner. It was pizza. Even though the boy was hungry and pizza was his favourite meal, he wanted to stay outside and play. He wolfed the pizza down and ran back outside.

Note: Occasionally writers start three or more sentences in a row with the same word. This is a stylistic trick used for emphasis, for example:

• It was hot. It was humid. It was the last day of summer.

Sentence Variety: Writing Challenge:

How many ways can you rewrite, expand, reorder, reword these ten boring sentences?

1. The sky is blue.
   Example:
   Blue skies like these make my day.
   There isn't a cloud in the sky.
   It's a clear day.
   You won't get a finer day than today.
   The sky is as blue as the sea.
   Have you ever seen such a blue sky?
   What a fine day!
2. I am sick.
3. I have school tomorrow.
4. My room is small.
5. Andrea is busy.
6. There's nothing to do.
7. It's cold in this house.
8. I don't want to be late.
9. I'm hungry.
10. It's Wednesday.

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Punctuation

Punctuation is the system of symbols (. , ! - : etc) that we use to separate sentences and parts of sentences, and to make their meaning clear. Each symbol is called a "punctuation mark".

The Value of Punctuation An English teacher wrote these words on the board: woman without her man is nothing The teacher then asked the students to punctuate the words correctly. The men wrote the top line. The women wrote the bottom line.

Summary of Punctuation Marks

Click on the link for each punctuation mark to find out more.

Punctuation Mark	Name	Example
	full stop or period	I like English.
	comma	I speak English, French and Thai.
	semi-colon	I don't often go swimming; I prefer to play tennis.
	colon	You have two choices: finish the work today or lose the contract.
	hyphen	This is a rather out-of-date book.
	dash	In each town—London, Paris and Rome—we stayed in youth hostels.
	question mark	Where is Shangri-La?
	exclamation mark exclamation point (AmE)	"Help!" she cried. "I'm drowning!"
	slash, forward slash or oblique	Please press your browser's Refresh/Reload button.
	backslash	C:\Users\Files\jse.doc
	double quotation marks	"I love you," she said.
	single quotation marks	'I love you,' she said.
	apostrophe	This is John's car.
	underline	Have you read War and Peace?
	underscore	bin_lad@cia.gov
	round brackets	I went to Bangkok (my favourite city) and stayed there for two weeks.
	square brackets	The newspaper reported that the hostages [most of them French] had been released.
	ellipsis mark	One happy customer wrote: "This is the best program...that I have ever seen."

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The English Alphabet (abc...)

An alphabet is a set of letters or symbols that we use to represent the basic speech sounds of a language in writing.

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English Spelling Rules

Writing (and therefore spelling) is a representation of the spoken word. The spoken word is not a representation of writing. Because accents and pronunciation can change easily and quite quickly, whereas what is written in books and dictionaries remains "fixed" for years, as well as for various historical reasons, there is often little correspondence between spoken English (pronunciation) and written English (spelling). English spelling therefore often appears to be totally illogical. The following rules can help you to decode the mysteries of English spelling. But remember, even the best rules have their exceptions.

• Adding -er/-est
  quick, quicker, quickest, happy, happier, happiest, hot, hotter, hottest...
  
• Adding -ing/-ed
  work, working, worked, stop, stopping, stopped...
  
• Adding -ly
  loud, loudly, happy, happily, terrible, terribly...
  
• Adding -s
  dog, dogs, church, churches, wife, wives...
  
• -ible or -able
  accessible, visible, dependable, networkable...
  
• -ie- or -ei-
  friend, fiend, feint, freight...
  

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