The first marked assignment in my proofreading course arrived yesterday. The course structure is all highly professional and my tutor has taken a lot of trouble over giving detailed feedback and scoring the various categories. Lots to get my teeth into but my lowest score, predictably, was in category 3 - 'Marks changes clearly and neatly' - beside which my tutor wrote, 'There's not much I can say here, other than "Improve!!!"'
It didn't half take me back. I had an English teacher who would have added, 'And by way of encouragement, I think three of the best might be in order!'
In the margin beside one of my hieroglyphs my unfortunate tutor has written, 'I can't read this so don't know if it's correct...I think it is...'; and I have to admit, I couldn't read it myself. So, it's back to the drawing board - blackboard - for my ABCs. I spent half an hour this morning just writing out the alphabet, upper and lowercase, in a simple print style which, by the end of the process, I was actually able to decipher - and if I can decipher it, there's hope for others, in particular my tutor.
