English Curriculum I Students Grammar I Melbourne High School One of the most common errors of students is to put different ideas together in what they think is the same sentence, when really a separate sentence is required, as in: This should, of course, read: However, these two separate ideas can be formed into one complete sentence by inserting a conjunction (joining word): because barkedhas been diggingwas leveringhas seenI am making The rule is simple: the tenses should be consistent with the tense you begin with. barkedhad been diggingwas leveringhad seenI was making In the following paragraph, the student has begun in the present tense then changed to the past: whistlesspringsrearedneighedcrashedspurted The correct version is: whistlesspringsrearswhirlsneighscrashspurts Some common mistakes: • Collective nouns (words which describe groups of persons, animals or things) usually take a singular verb. Class 9F Ted’s family is brilliant This football team Tony’s gang Classes 9F and 10C Ted’s and Jed’s families are brilliant The football teams Tony’s gangs
Writing Tutoring | The Writing Tutor Whether you struggle with writing or find it easy, if you want to improve you will need more practice than your schoolwork can provide. Learning to write well takes time. Often beginning writers are afraid that what they write won’t sound good. The Process: Before our first meeting, I send you a questionnaire and writing prompt. I evaluate your writing and share my findings with you and your family when we meet. In our first meeting, we also spend time talking about you as a writer: your favorite books, the things you like to write, and the types of assignments you’ve found to be difficult. I evaluate writing by looking at three categories — organization, development and grammar. In each lesson I teach you a specific skill or set of skills and we practice that skill together. If you are interested in the kinds of assignments my students write, I post new stories, poems and essays regularly in “Aurora’s Notes.” If you have more questions about how I work, please contact me!
Freelance Writers and Writing Coaches 6 Flares Twitter 3 Facebook 0 LinkedIn 1 inShare1 Google+ 2 Pin It Share 0 Email -- Email to a friend 6 Flares × I have the utmost respect for freelance writers. I’ve worked as a freelancer. I sometimes still do, but, lately, I’ve been contemplating how that role intersects with my role as a writing coach. The two often seem to be at odds with another. Perhaps the two roles aren’t quite at odds with one another then. The danger, though, is that either role can detract from the story that needs to be told. Effective Business Writing Techniques "The ability to organize and express ideas verbally and in writing is the single most important skill for all employees...business letters, writing business reports or business memo writing, are essential tools of the employee." ~ Peter Drucker This course is available: online and onsite for groupsonline for individuals Effective Business Writing Techniques is a comprehensive business writing workshop, available online or onsite, that hones the bedrock business writing skills required of every business person for most frequent business correspondence: memos, business letters, business reports and email. Thousands of clients, from leading corporations, have improved their writing in this course.
Do You Want to Write for DailyWritingTips? by Daniel Scocco Do you want to share your favorite writing tip with our readers? Perhaps you want to talk about your pet peeves? Well, now you can. We are officially accepting guest articles. And it gets even better: if our readers really like your content we might extend you an invitation to become a paid staff writer. Guest Author Guidelines The main requirement for getting your guest article accepted is writing something that will be useful to our readers. Your article must be original, and must not have been published online before.Once we publish it on the blog you agree to not publish it elsewhere (i.e., on some other website).You may include a byline at the bottom of the article, with up to two links (e.g., one link to your blog and one to your Twitter account). How to Apply If you agree with the guidelines please send your guest article to daniel@dailywritingtips.com.
Market Your Writing | Make A Living Writing By Craig Baker Every writer in history has stood at the starting line, pen and paper at the ready, eager for that big story that is going to launch them into freelance writing success. But if you don’t have any professional writing clips — published articles — to give an editor when looking for your first writing assignment, it can make you feel a bit like the freshman serving punch at the senior prom. All you want is to get to the other side of that counter. How do you go from wearing the server’s bowtie to owning your own tux in the world of writing? Frankly, I don’t know yet. But I can tell you firsthand that clips will only get you so far. My first clip came when I was fresh out of college; I sent an 800-word guest opinion to our local afternoon newspaper as it was spiraling down the print news drain into non-existence. The same paper took another piece from me a month later, though they printed a grievous error in the headline and then promptly went out of business. Putting in the work
Essay Punch Writing Prompts Essay Punch provides nine guided writing prompts. Each unit concentrates on a specific type of essay – persuasive, informative, and descriptive. Here are the topics of each writing prompt: Unit 1: Descriptive One of your friends always seems to have an interesting experience to relate. Unit 2: Informative One of your friends knows all about dolphins. Unit 3: Persuasive Some members of the school board in your community have recommended that all students be required to do community service each semester.
Writers need these 4 Web Pages On Their Professional Websites I was talking with a freelance writer friend last week who said she was having trouble figuring out what content or pages she needed for her professional website. As I listened to her I realized it wasn’t simply confusion over what she needed to post on her site that was getting her; she was in overwhelm at the whole idea of putting up a website. I know she’s not alone. I get a fair amount of email from writers pleading for help getting a website up. And sure, what you put on the site, the content, is important, but for writers isn’t as likely to be overwhelming as the actual technology. We aren’t born knowing how to build websites First, let me say that none of us were born knowing how to build websites. If you’re as old as I am, the web didn’t exist for much of your adult life; if you’re younger as this woman is, you may be comfortable getting around the ‘net, working with social media and using various software packages, but have no idea how to build a website. Here’s what I suggested
About Writing | Frequently Asked Questions | Barbara Kingsolver Do you have any advice for beginning writers? I try to avoid giving advice. Maybe I’ll offer just this: if you’re a young writer and a smoker, you should probably quit, because that will increase your odds of getting old enough to accumulate wisdom. That is the main thing readers want, I think: wisdom. When I pick up a book, I want it to rock my mind. That only happens if the author knew something I didn’t. Any writer is well served by learning about the world. I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I’d written. The only way to become a writer is to sit still and write. back to top What is your writing routine? I find it takes discipline to stop writing and go do other things, such as cleaning the house. I tend to wake up extremely early with words flooding into my brain. I’ve learned the hard way, from my body, that when I get in this zone it’s wise to set an alarm to go off every hour or so, to remind me to get up, unclench, do some yoga. Do you write every day?