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8th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 9 of 16

Write It Better

Voice, revising and proofreading

What your child practices

Choosing the right form and tone for an audience, using reliable sources and giving credit, building voice, acknowledging other perspectives, and revising, editing and proofreading drafts.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 8L1; 8L2; 8L3 · revising and proofreading

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Use an outline to organize ideas before you draft.
  2. Revise to add evidence and cut wordiness. Edit and proofread for errors.
  3. Match form and tone to your audience, use reliable sources and give credit.

Example: Remove the wordiness: “Due to the fact that it was raining, the game was postponed.” “Due to the fact that” uses five words. “Because” says the same thing in one. Answer: Because it was raining, the game was postponed.

Write It Better in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 9 of 16 in 8th grade English Language Arts, after Digital Citizens and before Precise Words & Spelling.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What does proofreading focus on?

    • the topic
    • the purpose and audience
    • spelling, punctuation, grammar and format
    • the main idea and structure

  2. Question 2

    Which concluding sentence best wraps up an essay on recycling?

    • That is all I have to say about lunch.
    • Also, aluminum is a metal.
    • By recycling more, our community can protect resources for the future.
    • Recycling bins are blue.

  3. Question 3

    Which edit fixes the run-on? “It was cold we wore jackets.”

    • It was, cold we wore jackets.
    • It was cold we wore, jackets.
    • It was cold, so we wore jackets.
    • It was cold we wore jackets,

  4. Question 4

    Which sentence is the most precise?

    • The kitten pounced on the red yarn.
    • The pet did stuff.
    • A small creature moved near an object.
    • The animal did something to the thing.

  5. Question 5

    Which sentence uses a precise verb?

    • The team moved over the field.
    • The team did a thing across the field.
    • The team sprinted across the field.
    • The team went across the field.

  6. Question 6

    Which source should you cite in a report?

    • Only your own opinion
    • Nothing at all
    • A book you used to learn the facts
    • A friend's guess

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