Observance of the conventions of "standard  English" shows competence in school writing and is a major objective of instruction, beginning with direct instruction in first grade in marking sentence boundaries with initial capitalization and end punctuation. Finished essays must display a high degree of uniformity, manifested through conformity to handbook rules for syntax, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization, conformity to dictionary rules for spelling, and conformity to MLA guidelines for formatting. Each failure to observe the conventions in the first two categories is considered an "error," and an accumulation of such errors is considered a clear indication of a student's need for basic writing instruction.

Failure to observe the conventions for formatting seems to be considered more an error of taste than a mark of inadequate mastery of the language, but we often view with suspicion any student text that exhibits creative alternatives to standard formatting, by for example, using color or graphics, varying font, deviating from left margin alignment, etc.

whAt Do youuu ThiNk wHEn you rEad TeXt LiKE tHIS?

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