Students: Proofreading

Problem

Questions

Comments or Suggestions

Verb/Subject Agreement

Do all main verbs agree with the subject in person and number?

Verb Forms

Are any parts of verb phrases missing or incorrect?  Are verb endings correct?

Verb Tense

Is the tense appropriate to the topic and style?  Does the writing shift back and forth from present to past inappropriately? (Watch out for phrases like“I remember.” )

Noun Plurals

Do regular plurals end in “s”?  Are irregular plurals correct?  Are there problems with count and non-count nouns?

Articles

Are articles (“a,” “an,” and “the”) used correctly?  (Note: Articles are optional with plural nouns, but all singular common nouns require an article.  Proper nouns generally don’t have an article, with exceptions like “the United States” and “the Soviet Union,” which are more like descriptions than names.)

Prepositions

Are prepositions used the way a native-speaker would naturally use them?  (Note: It is difficult to learn prepositions through definitions or rules.  They have to be acquired through seeing or hearing them in use.)

Spelling

Are all words spelled correctly?  (Use spellcheck if you are writing with a computer, but be careful of words that sound the same but have different meanings.)

Punctuation

Are periods and commas used correctly?  Are quotations punctuated correctly?  (Consult a handbook if you have questions.)

Pronoun Reference

Does every pronoun have a clear referent?  (Note: Pronouns without referents, or with multiple possible referents, create a vague, confusing style.)

Other Problems

Are there other important problems not on the list?