Capstone — Full Proofread
📋 What it is
A full proofread uses EVERY skill at once: punctuation, agreement, spelling, and clarity, in one pass.
🗣️ Coach says
The final exam: BOLT hands in a paragraph with several kinds of error mixed together. A real editor makes one careful pass and catches them all. Slow down and check each sentence for every rule you know.
🧠 Memory hook
One slow pass, every rule at once. Read it aloud — your ear catches what your eye skips.
😂 Giggle
What did the dangling modifier say?
"I'm just hanging around the wrong word!"
😲 Whoa!
Professional proofreaders read a text BACKWARDS, sentence by sentence, so they see the words and not the story.
🖍️ Final proofread — grade BOLT-3000's paragraph (watch for the already-correct trap).
You're the teacher — mark BOLT-3000's work, then reveal how you did. (Grading a robot: all the skill, none of the sting.)
BOLT wrote: “me and my freind seen the movie, it was grate.”
✗ Needs a fix — several fixes: “My friend and I SAW the movie; it was GREAT.” (I not me; saw not seen; friend spelling; splice; great).
A real proofread catches case, verb form, spelling, a comma splice, and a homophone in one pass.
BOLT wrote: “The team played well.”
✓ Leave it (Stet) — leave it — “team” is a collective singular and “played” already agrees; don't change team→teams.
The Stet trap: an already-correct sentence must be LEFT, not over-marked.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Proofread a short paragraph of your own — read it aloud and mark every error.