The reference works to use, the checks to run on your own text, and the order to run them in.
I can edit my own Belarusian systematically, using the right reference for each question.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Спярша правер будову, потым стыль.
Check the structure first, then the style.
У слоўніку слова ёсць, а ў жывых тэкстах не сустракаецца.
The word is in the dictionary but does not occur in real texts.
Прачытай уголас - пачуеш, дзе фраза заблыталася.
Read it aloud and you will hear where the sentence tangled.
Правілы арфаграфіі вырашаюць спрэчку пра напісанне.
The orthography rules settle a dispute about spelling.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Культура мовы is the discipline of using the language accurately, appropriately and clearly - not of using it ornately. Its three criteria are correctness against the norm, appropriateness to the situation, and economy. A text can be fully correct and still fail the other two.
The last one is the most under-used. A dictionary tells you a word exists; only real sentences tell you it is used the way you want to use it.
Run these separately, in this order. Trying to do them at once is why self-editing usually fails:
Six questions catch the great majority of a Russian speaker's errors:
The single most effective check, and the one most often skipped. Reading your own text aloud catches rhythm problems, over-long sentences and calques that the eye slides over.
Language culture is not purism. A living language borrows, varies and changes, and a text policed into lifelessness is worse than one with a calque in it. The aim is a text that reads as though a Belarusian speaker wrote it because they had something to say.
Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: editing everything at once, and confusing language culture with purism.
Editing every level in one pass
Run the passes separately and in order.
Trusting a dictionary entry over real usage
Check a corpus for how the word is actually used.
Skipping the read-aloud pass
It catches what the eye slides over.
Confusing language culture with purism
The aim is a living text, not a scrubbed one.
Спярша правер будову, потым стыль.
Check the structure first, then the style.
The passes are run separately and in order.
У слоўніку слова ёсць, а ў жывых тэкстах не сустракаецца.
The word is in the dictionary but does not occur in real texts.
Why a corpus check is worth more than a dictionary entry.
Прачытай уголас - пачуеш, дзе фраза заблыталася.
Read it aloud and you will hear where the sentence tangled.
The most effective check and the most often skipped.
Правілы арфаграфіі вырашаюць спрэчку пра напісанне.
The orthography rules settle a dispute about spelling.
The current rules have force of law.
Вычышчаны да бязлікасці тэкст горшы за жывы з калькай.
A text scrubbed featureless is worse than a live one with a calque in it.
Language culture is not purism.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises