Re-reading your work before the final print out is essential. The good proof reader does not just pick up typos. He or she picks up all manner of mistakes and inconsistencies that creep into a text. For example:
- noun/verb mismatches, i.e. Lenin suggest that ... (singular subject and plural verb)
- inconsistent tenses, i.e. Hungary held its first free elections in 1990. They change their politics and will instigate a new political order. (past, present, future)
- inconsistent use of capital letters, e.g. The transformation of Central European former soviet states to Democracy was not easy, since democracy brings plurality which was not something that Soviet Russia encouraged.
The exercises in this section have all manner of different errors, all of which should be picked up at the proof reading stage. See if you can spot and correct them.