How do you proofread a personal narrative?

Answer 1

Usually, in order to proofread a personal narrative, you should read through it several times and make sure you are saying what you want to say. Reading it out loud to yourself can help, and it helps even more to read it out loud to other people. When you notice yourself changing the wording or explaining something in words that you haven't written, you know that is an opportunity to improve.

Reading your essay backwards can also help, because you will notice the words differently than you do reading it forwards. When you read it this way, take each paragraph one at a time and write what it is about our in the margin. Then, when you are done, you can see if your narrative flows, or if there are things that don't really belong, or if things are in the wrong order.

For instance, if your first paragraph is about learning to swim, is that what the whole narrative is about? If not... if you don't ever talk about actually learning that, it could be out of place. Think about the reason for your story. What did you learn? What are you trying to tell people? If this event changed your life, how and why? Does it really affect you now, or did you just add that part because it sounded good?

Writing, in a lot of ways, is about truth. Think about what it really means to you, and make sure that part comes out. You can still have humor and fun as you write... those parts are true too. Just don't be fake. In a personal narrative, the point is the *story,* not what you can make up to add to it. Everything you add and everything you take away should be because it is part of the story. We add humor and tone and all the rest so that the reader understands it in the same way that we do.

Also, make sure you are using words correctly. If you say someone was "literally" a shark, do you mean that a human turned into a shark, or that a shark was following you? Literally means that something actually was that way. Figurative language allows you to compare someone to a shark without saying that he actually was. You say "he swam like a shark" or you could even make the comparison more powerful without the word like, saying "He was a shark as he ran into me with all his power" ... but don't use the word "literally" in something like that. It isn't literal. It is figurative.

Answer 2

To proofread a personal narrative effectively, read through it multiple times looking for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure errors. Check for consistency in verb tense, point of view, and overall flow of the story. It can also be helpful to read the narrative out loud or have someone else review it for feedback.