One of the five traits of writing that may seem daunting to young writers—and maybe even to parents and teachers—is “Language Use and Style.”  While it is fairly easy to help children identify language errors, such as misspellings, in their writing, helping them to improve their language style can be challenging.

Errors in word choice, usage, and conventions, after all, properly belong within the category of “Mechanics and Conventions” and involve a writer’s proficiency with mostly hard and fast rules of English.  Language style, as the name suggests, involves something less firm than a hard and fast rule; it is more artistic in nature and engages a writer’s ability to use language creatively and expressively to communicate a message, as well as something of the writer’s own personality, to the reader. (more…)