Essay Grading Scheme and Correction Symbols

Components of letter grades for essays and rewrites:

Content 50%

Language (simple, clear, accurate) 50%

Rewrites [==> den Aufsatz revidieren]: You will rewrite your essays based on your instructor's feedback
and the correction symbols below. Your final essay grade will be calculated as follows:
First draft [=die erste Fassung] 50%

Rewrite [=die Neufassung] 50%

Essay Correction Symbols

FOREST LEVEL: These are your HIGHEST PRIORITY and will significantly affect your grade on
essays and tests! Write simply and clearly. Use the dictionary thoughtfully and sparingly (use the
German you know!). Pay attention to case (Nominative, Accusative and Dative)
?

Meaning is unclear. This is usually the result of trying to translate an idea

literally from English.

ID*
ID and ID* both mean that you have made a mistake with an IDiomatic
expression. This usually means you've tried to translate an English idiom
literally into German when that can't be done, e.g. "this evening" = "heute
Abend" and not "diesen Abend";"the first time" = "das erste Mal" and not "die
erste Zeit." ID* indicates that the error is especially serious or distracting.
The following combinations of ID + number indicate some common
idiomatic mistakes to avoid:

ID*1: There is/are = Es gibt; There was/were = Es gab. Note: "Im

Film gibt es..." vs. "Der Film gibt...". Use "Da ist/sind" only if you're
pointing out some object(s) that is/are located "there."

ID*2: Talking about fun! Unlike English: "X hat Spa gemacht" vs.
"X war Spa"; like English: "Ich habe Spa gehabt" (or try "Ich habe
mich gut amsiert").

ID*3: Use zu Hause when someone is at home; use nach Hause

when someone is headed home.

ID*4: All day = "den ganzen Tag" vs. "alles Tag"; all night = "die
ganze Nacht" vs. "alles Nacht"; all the time = "immer" (!) vs. "alles
Zeit"

W*
W* and W both indicate that you've chosen the wrong word, but W* indicates
that the mistake is especially serious. Examples are:

Funny mistakes, like using "Dattel" for a romantic date, or "Ventilator"

for a sports fan

Mistakes that indicate unthinking use of a dictionary or use of an

online translator, such as translations of proper names (Ludwig

Dienstwagen Beethoven or Rechnung Clinton)

Choosing the wrong part of speech, e.g. translating the verb "to lead"
by the noun "Blei," or translating the verb in "she left" by the adverb
"links."

Most such errors can be avoided by

browsing the dictionary entries carefully, as opposed to just picking

one of the suggested words at random

checking the word you've found in the "other half" of the dictionary to
see if it generally seems to mean what you think it means

typing the word or phrase you've found into Google using quotation
marks to see if it is really used in the way you plan to use it

The following combinations of W + number indicate some common word

choice mistakes to avoid:

SO

GG

W*1: sein = his or its (for masculine or neuter nouns); ihr = her or its
or their (for feminine or plural nouns)

W*2: tten = to kill; sterben = to die

W*3: jemand = someone; jeder (+singular verb) OR alle (+ plural

verb) = everyone; alles = everything; alle + noun = all the; alle meine
= all my; "All day" = "Den ganzen Tag"; "All my money" =
"Mein ganzes Geld" etc.

W*4: Don't confuse einzig [= only] and eigen [= own]: "Mein

einziges Baby" = my only baby; "mein eigenes Baby" = my own baby.
Note: "Ich habe nur ein Baby" but not "Das ist mein nur Baby."

W*5: Stunde = hour; Uhr = o'clock

W*6: sagen = to say: "Sie sagt, sie hat keine Zeit"; reden (ber) &
sprechen (ber) = to talk (about): "Er redet/spricht ber Elvis." "Du
redest zu viel."

Remember that subjects of verbs are Nominative and objects of verbs or

prepositions are Accusative or Dative (for Genitive errors we'll use GEN-see below). "Einen Ein Mann geht in eine Bar"; "Ich sehe einen ein Waschbr
in meinem mein Rucksack." And remember to use nominative after "sein":
"Ich bin einen ein Student"; "David Hasselhoff ist meinen mein Idol." Where
the reason for the error is ambiguous, we may write SO/AD, or SO/G.
Grotesque Gender mistakes e.g. die Vater, die Mann, das Mutter, das Frau - or
multiple genders for the same noun

TREE LEVEL: These are fundamental verb mistakes that will stand out to anyone walking through your
forest.

ING

MV
SV
TM

Remember German has no -ing form: I go = I am going = Ich gehe. I went = I

was going = Ich ging OR Ich bin gegangen. Wrong are e.g. "Ich bin gehen,"
"Ich war gehen".
Modal Verb mistakes (errors in conjugation; failing to use "modal +
infinitive")
Subject and Verb do not agree
Wrong Tense [Present/Past] or Mood [indicative vs. subjunctive] of the
verb

VP
Verb Position:

VP1: In general, the verb should be in position 2.

VP2: Und, aber, oder, denn & sondern occupy position 0 ==> you
want e.g. "und"; then something in position one; then the verb.
o VP2a: Note that, especially after "und" and "oder," the "thing"
in position 1 is often "understood," i.e. "occupies" position 1
without being stated.

VP3: If the verb is in two parts, the conjugated part goes in position
two, and the "generic part" (infinitive or past participle) goes at the
end of the clause.

VP4: After a subordinating conjunction (dass, weil, wenn, als, ob)

and in a relative clause, the verb comes at the end. If the verb is in two
parts, the conjugated part comes at the end, and the "generic part"
(infinitive, past participle, or separable prefix) comes right before it.

VP5: After a subordinate clause, the subsequent main clause begins

with the verb.

VP6: Infinitives with or without "zu" always come at the end of the
clause. If the verb is separable or in two parts, make a "zu-sandwich":
mitzukommen, fernzusehen, Zeit zu haben, Tennis zu spielen.

WEED LEVEL: We don't want to see too many weeds in your garden BUT any interesting garden will have
a few. Don't feel bad
A
AD

Adjective ending
You've confused Accusative and Dative. Where the reason for the error is
ambiguous, we may write SO/AD.
DN
Nouns add an "-n" in the dative plural. DN indicates that you've either
forgotten this extra -n we add to the regular plural form in the Dative, or
added one where it's not needed.
EA
Don't confuse Ein-word endings and Adjective endings!
G
Gender
GEN GENitive mistakes:

This means you need to use the (correct form of the) Genitive, or may

refer to one of the following specific errors:

GR
I
ID
NN

P
PA
PL
PRN

R
RP
SIM

Word order with the Genitive is reversed compared to English: The

man's cat = Die Katze des Mannes, not (except in poetry) "des Mannes
Katze."

Add a Genitive -(e)s (no apostrophe!) to masculine and neuter

singular nouns only

For proper names, add an "-s" without an apostrophe: Annas Katze,

Schrdingers Katze; if the name ends in an -s sound, add an
apostrophe: Gauss' Katze, Lorenz' Katze

Capitalization [=GRo- und Kleinschreibung]

Punctuation [=Interpunktion]. Usually means you need to insert or delete a
comma.
IDiomatic expression. See ID* under "Forest Level" for more information!
Wrong form of an N-Noun. N-Nouns, also known as weak nouns, are a
special class of masculine nouns that add an -en or -n ending whenever they
are not in the Nominative singluar. E.g. der Student ==> den/dem/des
Studenten; der Herr ==> den/dem/des Herrn. They include the male forms of
some occupations (Student, Professor, Biologe, Astronaut, Philosoph,
Kollege...), some male animals (Elefant, Affe, Drache), and some other nouns
(Junge, Herr, Kunde, Planet...)
Wrong OR missing Preposition
This note means you need to use the PAssive, i.e. the appropriate form of
"werden" + a past participle.
Wrong PLural form (for nouns)

Written next to a pronoun: Wrong PRoNoun (e.g. "unser" instead of

"euer," "uns" instead of "ihr," but not case mistakes like "ihm" instead
of "ihn")

Written next to a noun: Use a PRoNoun to replace this noun

Spelling [=Rechtschreibung].
Wrong/missing Relative Pronoun
The word you need is SIMilar to the word you have used. We'll use this if
you've confused similar words like "dass" and "das," "antworten" and
"beantworten," "Strahlen" [=rays] and "Strahlung" [=radiation].

Other Verb problems not included in the above categories (ING, MV, SV,
TM, VP). These include errors in conjugating the verb [e.g. er/sie/es gebt
instead of er/sie/es gibt], using the wrong form of the participle [e.g.
gemachen instead of gemacht], or using the wrong auxiliary verb [haben vs.
sein]. [Do not confuse V and W: V ==> change verb form or change the
auxiliary verb, but keep using this verb; W ==> use a different word]
Wrong Word [Do not confuse V and W: V ==> change verb form, but keep
using this verb; W ==> use a different word]. See W* under "Forest Level"

Wst
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for more information!

Word order [=Wortstellung] [for word order mistakes other than verb
position (VP)]
Word missing [usually (but not always) an article or reflexive pronoun]
Other mistakes