Exercise for Lesson 3: A Proofreader’s Job

1. The paragraph below contains a couple of errors. Mark each of the errors and re-write the paragraph as it should be written. This number focuses on helping you practice correcting technical errors.

Haircuts are one of the most challenging things that you can encounter as a teenager. At this point, you’re probably thinking about a haircut and envisioning the numerous makeover scenes from every romantic comedy ever—from the drastic “take it all off look which Audrey Hepburn pulle doff in Roman Holiday (which won her an Oscar) to Anne Hathaway’s more stuble but fun transition into Princess Amelia in the 2020 hit The Princes Diaries. Unfortunately when your sixteen and going through the growing pains of puberty, this is far from the reality. Instead of a beautifull transition into the beautiful, gracefull women your goin to become, you often end up walking out of the parlor a little more awkward-looking than when you came in . In this articl e you’ll find a couple of tips which lwil help you find a greathaircut to cary tyou through the tough transition into adulthood.

2. Below are two paragraphs; one has gone through proofing and editing whereas the other has not. Read through them both very carefully and determine which is which. After this, list down the things which lead you to this conclusion—what is present or absent in the edited draft that was/wasn’t there in the unedited draft? Completing this exercise allows you to practice comparing two drafts.

Draft 1:

The thing about dogs is that they’re a really big responsibility. Sure, they’re really adorable and for the most part it’s really fun having a dog but you also have to consider that dogs cost a lot of money—not to mention time and energy. First off, you have to feed them. Then you have to bathe them. And then, if you’re going out of town you have to find someone to take care of them.This is just the physicalpart: what about the emotional aspect of taking care of a pet? Along with the happiness of having an animal companion is also the inevitable sadness upon acknowledging that your lovely pet won’t live forever. If you ask me, it’s just all too much to handle. 

Draft 2:

The thing about dogs is that they’re a really big responsibility. Sure, they’re adorable and for the most part it’s really fun having a dog.

However, you also have to consider that dogs cost a lot of money—not to mention time and energy. First off, you have to feed them. Dog food which offers optimum nutrition for your canine companion can be expensive and hard to find. You also have to bathe them: taking time out of your normal routine to do this so that your dogs stay tick and flea-free is extremely challenging.

While all this is taxing, this is only the physical aspect of dog-owning which hurts: what about the emotional part? Along with the happiness of having an animal companion is also the inevitable sadness upon acknowledging that your lovely pet won’t live forever. This, if you ask me, is what really makes taking care of a dog way too much to handle.

3. Assume that the corrected paragraph above is going to be rendered in MLA format. How do you need to do this? What spacing should be observed? What are the proper margins? What font size needs to be followed?

4 . Come up with an evaluation for the corrected paragraph in item number 2. What about it did you like? What about it do you think can be improved?