Editing, usage, and mechanics: complete overview - Virginia EOC Writing

Editing, usage, and mechanics is the correctness half of the Virginia EOC Writing SOL. The selected-response section includes editing items that fix a student draft, and the direct-writing Short Paper scores the same conventions on its Usage and Mechanics domain. This site breaks editing into five skills that cover the errors the EOC tests. This overview maps the five skills, how the EOC tests them, and how to study them.

The five editing skills

Each skill is a set of conventions with clear rules.

• Agreement. Matching a verb to its true subject and a pronoun to its antecedent, including collective nouns and indefinite pronouns. See subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.
• Verbs, pronouns, and modifiers. Verb-tense consistency, pronoun case (who/whom), and misplaced or dangling modifiers. See verb tense, pronoun case, and modifiers.
• Sentence boundaries. Telling a complete sentence from a fragment, and fixing run-ons and comma splices. See sentence boundaries, fragments, and run-ons.
• Punctuation. Commas, apostrophes, and end and quotation marks. See punctuation: commas, apostrophes, and more.
• Capitalization and spelling. Capitalizing proper nouns and sentence starts, and the confused homophones. See capitalization and spelling.

The thread through every skill: each error has a clear rule

The reason the EOC can test editing with "which version is correct" items is that each error type has an unambiguous rule. A verb must match its true subject; a pronoun must match its antecedent; a modifier must sit next to the word it describes; two independent clauses need more than a comma; an apostrophe marks possession or a contraction, not a plural; a season is not capitalized; a homophone is chosen by meaning. When a question offers several versions of a sentence, the correct one satisfies the rule and the distractors each break it in a recognizable way. Learn the rules, and the items become decisive.

How the EOC tests editing

• Multiple choice asks which version of a sentence is correct.
• Drop-down embeds a choice of word forms, homophones, or punctuation inside a sentence.
• Hot text asks you to click the error (the misspelled word, the misplaced comma).
• The Short Paper scores the same conventions on its Usage and Mechanics domain.

How to study editing

1. Drill agreement first, since it is the most-tested area: find the true subject or antecedent, then match.
2. Learn the sentence-boundary fixes (period, semicolon, comma + conjunction, subordination) so comma splices and run-ons are easy to correct.
3. Master the high-frequency punctuation rules (introductory comma, nonessential phrase, apostrophe for possession, its/it's).
4. Memorize the confused homophones and a test phrase for each.
5. Apply the rules to your own writing, because the Short Paper scores the same conventions.

For the official exam materials

VDOE publishes the 2017 English Standards of Learning, SOL practice items, and writing resources on its website. See the 2017 English Standards of Learning, the SOL Practice Items (All Subjects) page, and the English SOL Online Writing Resources. Always practice from released items and study the current standards, because the item types are set by VDOE.