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English

(b) Read the following passage and respond appropriately to the questions that follow.

Lyakale is a Form Five student. He participates in essay writing competitions every year
but ends up with disappointment. One day, he decided to consult his English teacher to
tell him about his disappointment. The teacher asked him a few questions about how he
writes and organises his essays. Lyakale was very confident in explaining and finally
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he added the gossip that the winners had been selected before the competition. Ms
Maswai, who was an experienced judge in the competition, heard their conversation
and intervened, “Lyakale, who usually helps you to edit and proofread your essays
before submitting them?” Lyakale was puzzled to hear this question. He did not know
anything about what he was asked. He asked for more clarification .

Ms Maswai explained that writing is more than just putting words on paper. It needs
good organisation, accurate spelling, correct grammar and appropriate use of language.
It should also present relevant content in a logical flow. Writers may be able to address
the subject matter but naively become victims of errors. It is, therefore, imperative to
get the earlier drafts edited and proofread before writing the final copy for submission.
The editing and proofreading is done to polish the work and improve its quality. It
makes it readable, comprehensible and enjoyable to the readers. Lyakale understood
this quick lesson very well. He remembered how he wrote and submitted his work
without checking for errors. He never read his drafts nor did he give them to someone
to edit and proofread them.

When he went back home, he collected his previous unedited essays intending to give
to Ms Maswai the next day. Ms Maswai was happy to see Lyakale back and she knew
he understood her quick lesson. She saw the essays and directed him to other Form
Five students who were known to write texts with clear and concise meaning. Lyakale
thanked Ms Maswai and submitted his work to three classmates. After a week, Lyakale
received his edited drafts. His classmates pointed out run-on sentences, truncated
sentences, improper grammar, misspelt words, lack of coherence and cohesiveness,
and use of incomprehensible expressions in a large part of his written drafts. A few
of the tables lacked captions while some captions were not well-informative, and the
reference list did not contain all of the cited sources. In addition, certain statements
were written without supporting data and some pictures were blurred.

According to one of the editors, the introductions and conclusions were not related
to the content of the work and he confused British English with American English.
He was advised to rewrite his work appropriately and proofread each after he had re-
written it. Lyakale did everything as he was instructed. He then submitted his edited
drafts to Ms Maswai. She congratulated him for his efforts and promised to send the
essay to one of the local newspapers.

Form Five 142 Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE)

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