Read the following excerpt from a student essay. How can the writer best improve his or her grammar and mechanics?
Self-expression is important, therefore, you should be yourself no matter what other people think. People might express their inner selves through music, art, or writing, through foods they eat, cook, and serve others, or through their home decor. I choose to express myself through my clothing and my hairstyle. When I was eight years old, my mother taught me how to sew, now I make all of my own clothes. I also dye my hair crazy colors, like green or blue. Sometimes people stare at me and seem to wonder why I look the way I do. My answer is, "I just gotta be me!"
by adding missing commas by using semicolons correctly by punctuating the quotation correctly
During peer review, you read and respond to a fellow student's writing. While there are many methods and strategies that you can use for reviewing a text, it is generally helpful to frame your suggestions in concrete and constructive ways and to consider the following areas for revision:
Ideas and development: Does the writer express a clear idea and develop it with evidence, examples, or analysis?
Organization: Does the writer order ideas in a clear, logical way so that they build on one another and are easy to follow?
Voice: Does the writer maintain an appropriate voice, such as a formal and objective voice in an academic essay or an engaging and expressive voice in a narrative essay?
Sentence fluency: Does the writer use sentences that vary in structure and length to create a sense of rhythm and flow within and between sentences, or does the writing sound choppy, rambling, or repetitive?
Word choice: Does the writer use words accurately and precisely to create clear, effective, and engaging writing?
Grammar and mechanics: Does the writer follow appropriate conventions, using accurate spelling, punctuation, and grammar to create writing that is correct and easy to read?
The writer could best improve his or her grammar and mechanics by using semicolons correctly.
For example, the writer could use semicolons before the conjunctive adverb therefore in the first underlined sentence, to separate items in a series containing commas in the second underlined sentence, and instead of a comma to separate main clauses in the third underlined sentence.
Self-expression is important, therefore, you should be yourself no matter what other people think. People might express their inner selves through music, art, or writing, through foods they eat, cook, and serve others, or through their home decor. I choose to express myself through my clothing and my hairstyle. When I was eight years old, my mother taught me how to sew, now I make all of my own clothes. I also dye my hair crazy colors, like green or blue. Sometimes people stare at me and seem to wonder why I look the way I do. My answer is, "I just gotta be me!"