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Year 4

Editing a section of narrative writing based on 'The Borrowers'

I can edit a section of narrative writing based on 'The Borrowers'.

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New
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Year 4

Editing a section of narrative writing based on 'The Borrowers'

I can edit a section of narrative writing based on 'The Borrowers'.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Editing is the process of making changes to improve writing.
  2. The job of an editor is to check punctuation and to make improvements to sentence structure and language choices.
  3. When editing punctuation, missing or incorrectly used capital letters, full stops and commas are checked.
  4. When editing sentence structure, changes to the way sentences are constructed to improve text flow are made.
  5. When editing vocabulary, reviews of word and phrase choice are made to ensure appropriate tone is achieved.

Keywords

  • Editing - the process of improving writing to improve text flow and overall quality

  • Punctuation - a set of standardised symbols and marks used in written language to structure sentences

  • Sentence structure - the way words are arranged and organised within sentences to convey meaning

  • Vocabulary - the language choices made by the writer

Common misconception

Children may think that the editing process is just about correcting mistakes.

Explain to the children that all writers use editing as an opportunity to improve their work as well as correcting mistakes. Even renowned authors make changes to their writing (vocabulary choice/sentence structure) in order to improve it.

Ensure children have access to a vocabulary bank that will support them in up-levelling their vocabulary choices. If time allows, children can also use this lesson to edit the setting description they wrote for 'The Borrowers'.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You need a copy of the 2014 Puffin Books edition of ‘The Borrowers’ by Mary Norton for this lesson.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
When do you use a capital letter?
Correct answer: at the beginning of a sentence
Correct answer: for a proper noun
at the end of a sentence
for a verb
Q2.
Where does a full stop go?
at the beginning of a sentence
in the middle of a sentence
Correct answer: at the end of a sentence
Q3.
When do you use commas?
Correct answer: between adjectives in a list
after a proper noun
Correct answer: to separate a main clause from a subordinate clause
Correct answer: after a fronted adverbial
Q4.
Match the sentence type to the correct definition.
Correct Answer:simple sentence,a sentence made of just one main clause with just one idea

a sentence made of just one main clause with just one idea

Correct Answer:compound sentence,a sentence formed of two main clauses and a coordinating conjunction

a sentence formed of two main clauses and a coordinating conjunction

Correct Answer:adverbial complex sentence,a sentence formed of a main clause and an adverbial subordinate clause

a sentence formed of a main clause and an adverbial subordinate clause

Q5.
What does editing writing involve?
Correct answer: correcting any mistakes
Correct answer: improving the text flow and overall quality
rewriting the whole thing
Q6.
What type of language should be used in narrative writing?
formal language
simple, everyday language
Correct answer: precise and descriptive language

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the type of punctuation to when it is used.
Correct Answer:full stop,at the end of a sentence

at the end of a sentence

Correct Answer:comma,to separate words in a list or to separate clauses

to separate words in a list or to separate clauses

Correct Answer:capital letter,at the beginning of a sentence and for proper nouns

at the beginning of a sentence and for proper nouns

Q2.
What is incorrect in the following sentence? 'Excitedly, arrietty followed her father along the dark trodden passages.'
missing capital letter at beginning of sentence
Correct answer: missing capital letter for a proper noun
comma in the wrong place
Correct answer: comma needed for an ENP
Q3.
When editing for sentence structure, what should you do first?
Use conjunctions to form different sentence types.
Correct answer: Read each sentence to check it makes sense.
Add in missing words.
Q4.
Which of these words could be missing from the following sentence? 'As she stepped into the clock, Arrietty's heart with nervous excitment.'
Correct answer: pounded
beautiful
Correct answer: leapt
scary
Q5.
Why do we edit language choices in our writing?
to ensure the writing is punctuated correctly
to ensure the writing makes sense
Correct answer: to ensure the text is written in the right tone and meets its purpose
Q6.
What changes could I make to the word choices in the following sentence to enhance it and achieve its intended purpose? 'Arrietty looked up at the pendulum of the clock.'
Correct answer: add adjectives to describe the clock
Correct answer: change 'looked' to a more precise and descriptive verb
add prepositions to show where the pendulum is