Question: What can we do
about common errors in writing, the ones we see time and time again?
Answer: Isolate them.
If it’s a run-on sentence, isolate it and let the students play with it. If
it’s a comma splice, isolate it and let students play with it. If it’s a
sentence fragment, isolate it and let the students play with it—and learn how
to correct it in several different ways.
Comment: And if it’s a problem with parallel
structure, isolate it and let students play with it. If it’s a problem in
active/passive voice, isolate it and let students play with it. If it’s a problem
with a dangling modifier, isolate it and let the students play with it—sort of
like sentence combining. RayS.
Title: “Amplify
Errors to Minimize Them.” MS Stewart. Teaching
English in the Two-Year College (March
2009), 291-193.
Note: Taking a week or so off. Will rejoin you on
Monday, January 2, 2012, with more “oldies but goodies,” ideas in the teaching
of English from past journal articles. RayS.
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