Edit Tamil spelling and punctuation in a passage

Editing is a separate skill from writing. A good edit means reading your finished passage three times, each time looking for one kind of error only.

This lesson belongs to SPM Tamil vocabulary and accuracy. It builds on telling confused Tamil words apart.

What is the three-pass method?

Read the passage three times, changing your focus each time.

1. Meaning pass: does every word make sense in its sentence? Catch wrong words such as பல்லி (lizard) for பள்ளி (school).
2. Spelling pass: check letters and endings, including the doubled consonant after certain endings.
3. Punctuation pass: check for a full stop at the end of each sentence, commas in lists, and question marks.

Using one focus per pass is slower than a single read, but it catches more. Your eyes do one job at a time.

Worked example: an original passage

This passage contains six planted errors. Read it once before looking at the table.

நேற்று நாங்கள் பல்லிக்குச் சென்றோம் ஆசிரியர் எங்களுக்கு ஒரு கதை சொன்னார். கதையில் ஒரு சிறுவன் அம்மாவுக்காக பூக்களை பறித்தான். பூக்களின் மனம் எங்கும் பரவியது

Here are the six errors.

Corrected passage: நேற்று நாங்கள் பள்ளிக்குச் சென்றோம். ஆசிரியர் எங்களுக்கு ஒரு கதை சொன்னார். கதையில் ஒரு சிறுவன் அம்மாவுக்காகப் பூக்களைப் பறித்தான். பூக்களின் மணம் எங்கும் பரவியது.

Each pass found a different set. The meaning pass found items 1 and 5, the spelling pass found items 3 and 4, and the punctuation pass found the missing full stops in items 2 and 6.

The mistake to avoid

The usual mistake is to read once and call the passage finished. A single quick read finds only the slips you already expect, such as an obvious spelling error.

Another slip is to “correct” a word that was already right. If you are not sure, mark it with a pencil dot and check it in a dictionary or with a teacher, instead of changing it on a guess.

Turn your findings into a habit

Each error in the table has a type. Tally your own errors by type over a few passages, and a pattern will appear, such as always missing the doubled consonant, or always missing the final full stop.

Then aim your next edit at that one type first. Recording the pattern in a private language mistake log makes the tally easy to keep.

Check yourself

Edit this short original passage. It has three errors: அவள் நூலகத்தில் ஒரு புத்தகத்தை எடுத்தாள் அதை வீட்டில் பொறுமையாகப் படித்தால் அடுத்த நாள் அதைத் திரும்பக் கொடுத்தாள்.

What to study next

Test all four skills in the vocabulary and accuracy practice set. If your passages are also loose in structure, see sentence construction.

For a teacher to edit your real writing with you, see online one-to-one Tamil tuition.