ag  =  subject and verb do not agree

mt  =  mixed tenses

dc  =  dangling construction

ow  =  one word

u  =  underline or italicize

sp  =  spelling

sf  =  sentence fragment

ro  =  run-on sentence

ess  =  English sentence structure

voc  =  vocabulary

vvvvvvvvv  (squiggly underline)  =  doesn't make sense

¶  =  traditional proofreader's mark for new paragraph  ( P with two uprights)

~  =  invert word order

pr!  = proofread!

These are comments on some problems of style that students in other courses have had.  Perhaps they  will help you avoid similar pitfalls.

A general observation is that the style of many students would improve dramatically if they used more verbs and fewer nouns.  To which of the two following announcements would you react more promptly and appropriately?:

a) "In the watching of the physical structures of this institution having the purpose of the imparting of instruction, the beginning of an inflammatory process has been noticed."

or:

b) "This building is on fire."

English structure is also flawed in a).

I transcribe some bad sentences written by students as illustration.  Here is an example:

1)

"In the swineherds (sp) protectiveness (no such word) of Penelope and Telemachus, he warns the beggarÖ "

This student could have said, e.g.: "The swineherd, who wishes to protect Penelope and Telemachus, warns the beggarÖ"

 2)

"...he at least owes him the chance of continuation of life on the island"
Better: the chance to continue living on the island

3)

"The stand on Philoctetes' side for freedom away from Troy by Neoptolemos broke [the] promise to Odysseus but corrected a horrible way of trickery and lies..."
 

This student could have said, e.g.:

Neoptolemos breaks his promise to Odysseus and takes a stand: he is now willing to set Philoctetes free while respecting his desire not to go to Troy.  Thus he redeems himself, for earlier he had tried to trick Philoctetes and had told him many lies.
 

4)
"Ö she is seen to goÖ to the highest peaks of joy and elation due, in part, to her access to an improved scope of characters with which to communicate."

This string of nouns fails to communicate what the writer means, especially because the word "scope" is used inappropriately.  This term is used to describe the range of someone or something.  It is not  a noun equivalent to "greater number of" or "more diverse group."

Why not say, simply, something like this?:

"she traverses the full range of emotionsÖ and elation.  In Sophocles, Electra relates to more persons, who are also more diverse than their Euripidean counterparts."

(I'm not sure that I agree with this statement, but that would not matter.)

5) Use more concrete and direct vocabulary:

Instead of saying "due to" which calls for a noun or a string of nouns ("due to the diversity of her emotions, aroused by similar events," say:

"because similar events arouse in her more diverse emotions."

6) Avoid too many -ing forms (participles and gerunds)

7) Speak in the present about events in the plot of a work of fiction