Read it Aoud

When I've written something and I want to revise it quickly and efficiently, I read it aloud. I can tell almost immediately what I need to do. We know that it's far easier to tell how our writing "sounds" if we can actually hear it.

In Peter Elbow's book Vernacular Eloquence, he says (on page 222), "If people read aloud carefully each sentence they've written and keep revising or fiddling with it till it feels right in the mouth and sounds right in the ear, the resulting sentence will be clear and strong."

When I'm revising my own work or critiquing or editing for someone else, and I come to a difficult sentence, I always read it aloud. Sometimes I read it to someone else in the room for the reason that Dr. Elbow mentions on page 220 of the same book: "Readers will find your writing clearer and more inviting when your language is comfortable to say aloud. When it is, readers don't have to work as hard to understand your words. They seem to hear the meaning come up off the page."

We master oral language at an astonishingly young age never having learned any grammar rules, and we can use that to aid us in our writing. We sometimes get so bogged down with rules and requirements when we write that we forget about the communication. If we link writing back to our most natural form of communication, of course our meaning will be clear.

Your job is to give your child the support he needs to feel free to read aloud in order to revise his writing. You can model this by reading your rough pieces aloud to him and asking him how they sound. Give him practice making those decisions by helping you with your writing. Invite him into your process and let him experience it.