Checklist: Revising for Style
A checklist for revising an explication for effective expression.
ENGLISH 11AP - Language and Literature
Checklist - Revising the Explication for Style
Name
Objective: to convince your readers that your understanding of a work is valid and important and to lead them to share that understanding.
REVISING FOR STYLE: EFFECTIVENESS OF EXPRESSION
- Did you write as though you were presenting the truth?
- Did you need to cut words out? (If so, make sure you do not lose meaning.)
- Did you avoid using “praise” words: cleverly, remarkably, beautifully, etc.?
- Did you integrate quoted material with introductory material to make a grammatically correct sentence? [See Q5 on pp. 19-20 in Perrine.]
- Did you vary sentence beginnings? (How many sentences in each paragraph begin with the subject? With a phrase? With a clause?) You need to actually write down these numbers.
- Did you vary sentence length? (How many sentences in each paragraph are less than 15 words long? Between 15 and 30 words long? More than 30 words long?) You need to actually write down these numbers.
- Did you vary sentence patterns? (How many sentences in each paragraph are simple sentences? Compound sentences? Complex sentences?) You need to actually write down these numbers.
- Have you kept the use of and and so under control? (How many and’s occur in each paragraph? How many so’s?) You need to actually write down these numbers.
- Did you use active rather than passive voice?
- Did you use strong nouns and adjectives rather than superlative (most, least, -est) modifiers?
- Did you eliminate pronouns that generalize (this).
- Did you eliminate all first-person pronouns which are not quoted from the poem? (I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours)
- Did you eliminate all second-person pronouns which are not quoted from the poem? (you, your, yours)
- Did you avoid using the poet’s name as the subject of any sentence? (In other words, did you focus on the work instead of the poet – except in your paragraph on the poet?)