by
Dr.
Tina L. Hanlon
English Department,
Ferrum
College
Correct just the grammatical error in each sentence below. (There is one common
grammatical error in each sentence.) Do not change the wording of the sentence
any more than is necessary, but you may add or change words or punctuation if
that is necessary in order to correct the sentence so that it uses standard
English sentence structure. These structural problems involve verbs, pronouns,
modifiers, fragments, parallelism, comma splices, etc. For more focus on fragments,
fused sentences, and comma splices, see the second exercise below.
1. The dessert she baked for us tasted wonderfully.
2. Bruce polished his coins almost until they looked new.
3. Last night the stars seemed exceptional bright.
4. After sitting there awhile, snow began to fall, and we went in.
5. When it snows, we like to stay home and taking a break from work.
6. The professor explained why plagiarism is wrong on Monday.
7. Your mother or your sister should lend you their coat.
8. The arrangements for the convention was poorly organized.
9. The secretary was sorry he threw the document away three weeks before the trial.
10. I plan to swim several miles a week, therefore, I will be in good shape soon.
11. The whole truth being that she doesn't want to get up early.
12. Prepare to make an incision in the abdomen as soon as completely anesthetized.
13. Joe argued, when he compared himself to Jane, that he was smarter than her.
14. Since he has no money he can't go on the trip, he is very sad.
15. The horror that was felt by everyone when the earthquake hit.
16. Tropical plants and a painting makes the room more cheerful.
17. A professor has the painful duty of assigning low grades to some of their students' work.
18. The street is icy, dangerous, and an obstacle course of stalled cars.
19. Jacques was the only one of the skiers who were injured.
20. The movie was a prime example of uneducated Americans.
Correct the comma splices, fused sentences and fragments in the passage below.
If a sentence or passage is correct, write OK.
1. Disneyland is fun for everyone, I think I enjoyed it as much as my ten-year-old niece.
2. She didn’t turn in the papers that were due before midterm. Her excuse being that she lost her textbook.
3. In and around Boston, the sixty-eight institutions of higher learning draw both full-time and part-time students, numbering more than 150,000. Of these over 60 percent come from states other than Massachusetts.
4. When I approached him after school for extra help with my algebra. He replied that he had already given me enough time. That I should try to find a tutor.
5. In December police shot and killed four raccoons, one was rabid, in fact raccoons are identified as major carrier of rabies.
6. Learning to read lips is not easy young children can adapt to this preferred method of teaching language to the deaf more easily than older people can.
7. It is rainy and foggy out today, however, the field trip to the museum will take place as scheduled.
8. A University of Manchester astronomer, who thrilled sky watchers when he reported discovery of a planet around a neutron star. He retracted his announcement.
9. The Mediterranean fruit fly larva can leap distances of five inches, it has no legs.
10. Americans continue their love affair with the automobile at the same time they are more successful than ever before in restricting its use.
This page created 12/4/03
thanlon@ferrum.edu
Ferrum College
Writing Center