Written Expression: conventions
Revise standard English in context and identify the erroneous line, including valid no-change decisions.
OpenTACHS Written Expression
Revise for both correctness and paragraph purpose.
Updated October 3, 2026
What to study
- passage organization
- sentence revision
- clarity and effective expression
- standard English
- line-error identification
How to approach the section
- Read the full sentence and its neighboring sentences before editing. First identify the tested relationship: subject and verb, pronoun and antecedent, consistent time, punctuation between clauses, or the modifier’s intended subject. An edit must repair a real error while preserving meaning.
- Establish the paragraph’s purpose before evaluating an opening, ending, inserted sentence or transition. Label the role of each sentence: introduction, evidence, explanation, contrast or conclusion. The best revision connects those roles without changing the writer’s claim.
- After a lesson, answer a fresh item and explain why the closest competing choice fails. Revisit that reasoning after a delay; recognizing a stored answer is less informative than reproducing the method.
Common mistakes
- Fixing grammar while breaking the meaning.
- Choosing a transition by tone while ignoring whether it signals cause, contrast or sequence.
- Treating a displayed line break as a grammatical boundary.
Written Expression: organization
Revise paragraph focus, order, transitions, relevance and clear references.
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