One of the biggest mistakes I've seen when marking is the tense change. Students write about an experience in the present tense:
I wake up with a smile on my face. Today is the day! We are going to the funfair, finally. I am so excited. Then, without warning, suddenly edge into the past: My mum told me to get dressed quickly because we were late. Then, as if it never happened, we are back to the present: I really want to go on the rollercoaster. My sister is too scared, but I'm not. We seem to have accidentally stepped into the time vortex somewhere during our crafting of that piece... Please try to avoid pulling a Doctor in the middle of your text - it really does affect your grade. Past Tense This is pretty easy to spot, because it's often marked with -ed endings. It's also the easiest tense to maintain and write in, especially if you're writing in the first person. I played football. I went to the park. We ate the cake. Present Tense Present tense is what I like to call 'talking to myself' language. Imagine you are narrating your life as you live it... I play football. I am walking to the park. I eat the cake. Future Tense Future tense is a tense you may only use on rare occasions. Imagine you are looking forward to the future: I will play football. I want to go to the park. I am going to eat the cake. How to avoid mixing tenses in your exam You must always take time to proofread - I know lots of you think that you don't need to do this, but your Paper 1 mocks say otherwise. I know you think you know what you're doing, but believe me, even I still check my writing over a few times before sending it anywhere. Look for:
Further Study
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I found this great version of WWTBAM on tes.com - it should be helpful if you're struggling to get higher than 4/16 for your SPaG. It's a great little revision game that you can rope your friends or parents into, too.
Some of us are still unclear on how to best use speech marks in our writing. It's a fairly simple thing to learn! This weird video tells you more:
This video covers hyphens, and helps you to identify when you should use a hyphen to create something called a 'hyphenated adjective'.
If you're already getting pretty good writing marks, your teacher may have told you to begin using punctuation for effect - perhaps to create a feeling, or to manipulate the reader into reading it a certain way.
One way you can do this is by knowing the difference between commas, dashes and hyphens - and the best ways in which to use them. This video is a handy and VERY short guide to these three little marks:
Ah, the age-old issue - how do I stop myself from sounding like Eliza Doolittle when I talk about my friends and me?
Too many of us don't know when to use 'me' and when to use 'I'. It means that we end up with constructions like Me and my mum went to the shop. NO. Firstly, you don't ever put yourself first. It's just rude. You always put yourself after the other person. Does that mean we end up with My mum and me went to the shop? NO. This is where you need to know the difference between 'me' and 'I'. 'I' is a subject - that means that if you use it, it goes at the start of the sentence. My mum and I went to the shop. 'Me' is an object - that means that if you use it, it goes at the end of the sentence. We went to the shop, my mum and me. An easy way to remember it is to test whether it's right by removing the other person, and seeing what you're left with. Take the first example My mum and me went to the shop. If you take away 'my mum', you're left with Me went to the shop. Clearly, it's not right. However, if you do the same to my mum and I went to the shop: I went to the shop. Bam! It totally works. This video explains it in more detail:
This isn't rocket science. Honestly. Knowing the difference between 'your' and 'you're' is a very important thing!
It's really quite easy to break down if you remember that 'you're' is a contraction. YOUR is a determiner - it tells us WHO something belongs to - where is your car? Why is your hair wet? YOU'RE is a contraction of YOU + ARE - it's contracted for ease - you're a silly sausage, Bob. This video explains it in more detail:
Look, you guys. I like you, I really do. However, if I have to read one more essay that uses the word 'there' incorrectly, I'm going to scream, tip over my bin and quit my job to go and follow Green Day on tour.
There's really no excuse for mixing up there, their and they're, not least because one of them is clearly a contraction of they and are. Remember: THERE - indicates position - he is over there; there is a happy man outside THEIR - indicates possession - their socks are stripy; they took out their books THEY'RE - contraction of they + are - they're a funny bunch, 10E1; they're likely to do well. This video explains it in a little more detail:
Apostrophes are used for the following reasons:
Possession We use apostrophes to show that something belongs to someone: The man's hat. Sarah's scarf was blue. I wanted to go to Mike's house, but Mum wouldn't let me. The apostrophe is used before the 's' to show that the item that follows belongs to the person/thing. If a word is plural, then you don't need to add an extra 's', but you do need to add an apostrophe: I went into the boys' bedroom to tell them goodnight. She filled up each of the cats' bowls before she left. Sarah thought that her parents' rules were terrible. Contractions Contractions are words that are made from pushing two words together and removing a letter: I + am = I'm Do + not = don't Should + not = shouldn't We use the apostrophe to mark the missing letter. The Plural of Single Letters We use commas to mark plural single letters: Mind your P's and Q's. You need to dot your i's and cross your t's. This handy video from TedEd explains further:
These three words may seem like they all mean the same thing, but ultimately, they each have a different role. This interesting TedEd video explains when each should be employed.
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