TNReady Writing Rubric: Conventions

What are the conventions of English? The conventions of Standard English are the rules about grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling. Conventions in English are the accepted practices of writing English. Conventions include punctuation, layout or format of the document. Think of conventions as your toolbox—the place where you keep those rules for writing. Conventions are the surface features of writing. Conventions are a courtesy to the reader, making your writing easier to read by putting it in a form that the reader expects and is comfortable with. Learning conventions includes mechanics, usage, and syntax. I will teach you the basic conventions of English this year. They will be taught in the context of writing. Once I teach you a convention, I expect you to use that convention correctly in your own writing.

Conventions are edited in the last stage of the writing process. You don’t need to worry about correct spelling or punctuation or how to use a part of speech until you have drafted and revised your text. The proper place to think about conventions is at the end of the writing process when you are preparing your writing for publication.

Our first conventions lessons will focus on the twenty most common errors. The following are the most common errors that students make in their order of frequency:

1.       No comma after an introductory element

2.       Vague pronoun reference

3.       No comma in compound sentence

4.       Wrong word

5.       No comma in nonrestrictive element

6.       Wrong or missing inflected endings

7.       Wrong or missing preposition

8.       Comma splice

9.       Possessive apostrophe error

10.   Tense shift

11.   Unnecessary shift in person

12.   Sentence fragments

13.   Wrong tense or verb form

14.   Subject-verb agreement

15.   Lack of comma in a series

16.   Pronoun agreement error

17.   Unnecessary comma with restrictive element

18.   Run-on or fused sentence

19.   Dangling or misplaced modifier

20.   It’s versus its

Remember that I will teach you these conventions or rules during ELAB lessons this year.