Welcome to the Writing Workshop!
Have you ever finished a story, read it back, and thought, "Wait, that doesn't sound right"? Or perhaps you found a small spelling mistake that you missed the first time? Don't worry—every great author does this! In fact, the best writing usually happens after you've written your first draft.
In this chapter, we are going to learn how to be "Writing Detectives." We will explore how to edit (to make our writing better) and proof-read (to make our writing correct). These skills will help you feel confident when checking your work in class or preparing for your Year 6 teacher assessments.
1. Editing vs. Proof-reading: What’s the Difference?
It is easy to get these two mixed up, but they are actually two different jobs!
Editing is about the "Big Picture." When you edit, you change your writing to make it more exciting, clearer, or better suited for your reader. You might change a boring word for a synonym or move a paragraph to a better place.
Proof-reading is about the "Fine Details." This is the very last check. You are looking for "secret" mistakes in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. It’s like polishing a car until it shines!
Quick Tip: Think of Editing as "Improving" and Proof-reading as "Fixing."
2. The Editing Phase: Making it Better
When you edit your composition, you should think about your audience (who is reading it) and your purpose (why you are writing it).
Checking your Structure
Does your writing flow well? You can check this by looking at your paragraphs. Each paragraph should organise ideas around a theme. If you are writing a non-fiction report, have you used organisational devices like headings or bullet points to make it easy to read?
Choosing the Right Words
Are your words doing the best job possible?
• Instead of saying "The big dog walked," you could edit it to: "The colossal hound trudged."
• This is where you check your vocabulary choice and register (whether your writing is formal or informal).
Building Cohesion
Editing is the perfect time to add cohesive devices. These are "word-glue" that stick your ideas together.
• Adverbials: Words like "Furthermore," "Later that day," or "Nearby" help the reader follow your story or explanation.
• Pronouns: Instead of repeating a person's name ten times, use pronouns like he, she, or it to avoid repetition.
3. The Proof-reading Phase: Making it Correct
Once you are happy with your ideas, it is time to put on your detective hat and look for errors. Even the best writers make mistakes on their first try!
The Punctuation Check
Read your work aloud. Every time you naturally breathe, you probably need a piece of punctuation.
• Do all your sentences start with a capital letter and end with a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark?
• If you have direct speech, have you used inverted commas (speech marks) correctly?
• Did you remember the comma after a fronted adverbial? (e.g., "Carefully, he opened the door.")
The Spelling Check
Check your suffixes and prefixes. Are they joined correctly? Look out for homophones—words that sound the same but are spelt differently, like there, their, and they're.
Key Takeaway
Editing makes the story better for the reader; proof-reading removes the mistakes that might distract them.
4. Tense and Agreement: The Year 5 & 6 Essentials
In Years 5 and 6, teachers look closely at two specific things during proof-reading: tense consistency and subject-verb agreement.
Tense Consistency
If you start writing a story in the past tense, you must stay in the past tense!
• Wrong: "The boy ran to the park and is happy." (Mixed past and present).
• Right: "The boy ran to the park and was happy." (Consistent past tense).
Subject-Verb Agreement
This means the "doing word" must match the person or thing doing it.
• Standard English: "We were going to the shops," not "We was going."
• Singular vs Plural: "The dog barks" (one dog) vs. "The dogs bark" (many dogs).
5. Helpful Proof-reading Tricks
Don't worry if you find proof-reading tricky! Here are some simple tricks to help you catch those sneaky errors:
1. Read it Backwards: Start at the last word of your story and read backwards to the start. This stops your brain from "guessing" the next word and helps you spot spelling mistakes.
2. The "Finger Trace": Point at every single word with your finger or pencil as you read. This helps you notice if you have accidentally missed a small word like "the" or "of".
3. Use a Checklist: Keep a small list of the things you know you often forget (like apostrophes or commas in a list) and look for those specifically.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
• Forgetting Parenthesis: If you use brackets, dashes, or commas to add extra information, make sure you remember the "closing" mark!
• Confusing a/an: Use 'an' before a word starting with a vowel sound (e.g., an apple, an hour).
• Missing the "Reporting Clause": In speech, don't forget to tell us who is talking (e.g., ...replied the giant.).
Quick Review
- Editing is for improving word choices, paragraphs, and flow.
- Proof-reading is for fixing spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
- Tense must stay consistent throughout your writing.
- Subject-verb agreement ensures your sentences follow the rules of Standard English.
- Reading aloud is the quickest way to find where a sentence doesn't make sense!