DAILY SENTENCE EDIT BELLWORK …addresses the 20ish MAJOR ERRORS THAT COLLEGE PROFESSORS SEE IN STUDENT

WRITING

DIRECTIONS: PROOFREAD AND CORRECT A SENTENCE (or two) EVERY SCHOOL DAY. (…even in alternates)1. Wrong word. This speaks for itself. NOTES:

1. Everyone accept Joan decided to read the book Guns of

August.

2. The President lead yesterday’s parade down Pennsylvania

avenue.

3. You’re answer is not quiet write. 

4. I new all the answers in algebra this morning.

5. The lawyer road passed the court house.

The lawyer past the court house.

6. Weather the Congress decides to raise taxes or cut Domestic spending, american

citizens will face rising costs and decreased wages in the Spring.

7. Professor rodrigue will loose a month’s salary when he is in germany this Summer.

8. The amount of people at the hearing proved to the committee that the Legislation

had a wide margin of support.

9. See ya wen we get back from vacation, he yelled.

10. Alot of students or at the crawfish boil.

11. John cannot decide weather to loose wait.

12. Hear is the end of the paige.

13. Their was 10 cars damaged in the wreck.

14. Whose that man? She wondered.

15. The criminals’ sentence were to lenient.

16. How was youre Biology test?

17. Because he went to the store i didn’t half to.

2. Vague pronoun reference.  For example: The boy and his father knew that he was in trouble. (Who is in trouble? The boy? His father? Some other person?)  NOTES:

1. The Smiths’ car looks just like the Landrys’, but theirs has a dent in the bumper

2. Laura used an old broom to clean up the broke glass before throwing it away.

3. After the teacher gave Susan the test paper she walked away angrily.

4. At madewood plantation, they like to keep the grounds clean.

3. Run-on, fused sentences. Run-on sentences are sentences that run on forever; they are sentences that ought to have been two or even three sentences. Comma splice. A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined only with a comma. A comma splice also occurs when a comma is used to divide a subject from its verb. Fused sentences occur when two independent clauses are put together without a comma, semi-colon, or conjunction.NOTES: 

1. There’re are to days left before the we leave for the trip I’m all ready packed.

2. His parents left yesterday mine left today.

3. He intercepted the football he fumbled it on the same play.

4. You must study these notes then read the chapter.

5.  My cat loves to sit in front of the television watching Seinfeld, she gets angry when

anyone tries to move her.

6. Rainy days makes George unhappy, he likes plenty of sunshine.

4. Missing comma in compound sentences. NOTES:

1. The dress is old and worn but I still want to keep it.

2. It was a good movie so we decided too sit threw it again.

3. It was getting dark and we wasn’t there yet.

5. Missing Comma after introductory phrases—and before nouns of direct address.NOTES:

1. Tired from the long hike the campers stopped to pitch their

tents.

2. If your coming to the mall with me bring your checkbook.

3. Whenever Bill gets angry his face gets read.

4. Every Winter we are faced with many rainy days.

6. Missing comma in a series. Whenever you list things, use a comma. You’ll find a difference of opinion as to whether the next-to-last noun (the noun before “and”) requires a comma. Our advice is to use the comma because sometimes your list will include pairs of things.NOTES:

1. The lightning flashed the thunder boomed and the rain poured down.

2. There or many needs a new Hospital better roads and more schools.

3. His favorite foods are: peanut butter and jelly, fried pickles and green tomatoes.

No comma in nonrestrictive clauses.   Here you need to distinguish between restrictive relative clauses and a nonrestrictive relative clause.

NOTES:

1. I left the notes on my desk since Mr. Jones my boss wanted to see them.

2. William Kuenstler who often champions the underdog is one of the lawyers.

3. The mayor after consulting with his aides made his decisions.

8. Unnecessary commas with restrictive clauses. NOTES:

1. Motel rooms, that are dirty, ought to be illegal.

2. The person, checking tickets at the counter, asked for a form of identification.

3. The sixth-century philosopher, Boethius, was arrested, tortured, and bludgeoned to death.

9. Sentence fragment. Silly things, to be avoided. Unless, like here, you are using them to achieve a certain effect. Remember: sentences traditionally have both subjects and verbs. Don’t violate this convention carelessly.  NOTES:

1. Within each group, a wide range of features to choose from. 

2. Then I attended Morris Junior High.

3. Making up his mind quickly. 

4. Although it only attained a speed of about twelve miles an hour. My old rowboat with its three-horsepower motor seemed like a high-speed job to me. 

5.  Being a friend of mine like he was when we first joined the soccer team. 

11. Wrong/missing inflected ends. “Inflected ends” refer to a category of grammatical errors that you might know individually by other names – subject-verb agreement, who/whom confusion, and so on. Adding a letter or syllable to the end of a word changes its grammatical function in the sentence. A common mistake involving wrong or missing inflected ends is in the usage of who/whom. NOTES:

1. To who do I owe the pleasure of this suprise?

2. Janet surprise catrina with a cake after work yesterday.

3. John’s project was enter in the science fair.

12. Wrong/missing preposition. Occasionally prepositions will throw you. Consider, for example which is better. “different from,” or “different than?” Though both are used widely, “different from” is considered grammatically correct. The same debate surrounds the words “toward” and “towards.” Though both are used, “toward” is preferred in writing. When in doubt, check a handbook.NOTES:

1. Do u want to go to the swimming pool by car, or can we go by foot!

2. The ball rolled slowly in the goal.

3. See you on next friday.

4. The fireman were waiting to comment on the emegency they were called to.

13. Possessive/apostrophe error. Sometimes apostrophes are incorrectly left out; other times, they are incorrectly put in (her’s, their’s, etc.)  NOTES:

1. I dont wanna go to dads this weekend, Kayla cried.

2. Somebodys shoes are under the desk.

3. Lets go see dances with Wolves.

4. The editors plans will be discussed at tonights

meeting.

5. He lost many nights sleep over that problem.

6. That is nobodys business but yours’.

7. The childrens bicycles are in the garage.

8. The girls necklaces was bury under the sand.

14. Unnecessary shift in person. Don’t shift from “I” to “we” or from “one” to “you” unless you have a rationale for doing so.  NOTES:

1. Even though he believed weight loss was possible, you do not know how hard it can be until you try to lose a few pounds.

2. One can do well in school if you budget your time.

3. I used to think my parents were fussy, but as you get older you become more tolerant.

15. Tense shift. Be careful to stay in a consistent tense. NOTES:

1. The tree stumps grate against the bottom of the boat, luckily neither the engine nor the boat were damage.

2. If the club limited its membership it will have to raise its dues.

3. As Barbara puts in her contact lenses the telephone rang.

4. Thousands of people see the art exhibit by the time it closes.

5. By the time negotiations began, many pessimists have expressed doubt about them.

16. Wrong tense or verb form. NOTES:

1. Neither of the students are coming.

2. None of the cars is missing.

3. He loved watch tennis and to play it.

4. Mark had sang that song already.

17. Subject verb agreement. This gets tricky when you are using collective nouns or pronouns and you think of them as plural nouns. Mistakes like this also occur when your verb is far from your subject. NOTES:

1. Reading these papers strain my eyes.

2. The suitcases in that store is made of Leather.

3. All managers salaries was increase by twenty percent.

4. The dogs bones was bury under the tree.

5. She claims that Womens fashion change to often.

6. When do Stans brother leave?

7. There are no reason too complain.

8. One of her best friend work their.

9. There is to errors.

10. Everybody who go to this restaurant order the steak.

11. His studies was interrupt by the war.

12. Has my shirt and jeans been washed yet?

18. Pronoun agreement error. Ex: “Everyone is entitled to their opinion.”  The problem is, “everyone” is a singular pronoun.  You will have to use “his” or “her.” NOTES:

1. Everyone is leaving their books when they go to the pep rally.

2. Between you and I the reason the show was cancel was poor financial backing.

3. If someone has a complaint they can ask to see the manager.

4. All new employees must bring their social security car to the employment office when you start work.

19. Dangling, misplaced modifier. Modifiers are any adjectives, adverbs, phrases, or clauses that a writer uses to elaborate on something.  Modifiers, when used wisely, enhance your writing.  But if they are not well-consideredor if they are put in the wrong places in your sentencesthe results can be less than eloquent.  Always put your modifiers next to the nouns they modify.  Dangling modifiers are a different kind of problem.  They intend to modify something that isn’t in the sentence.  Consider this: “ As a young girl, my father baked bread and gardened.” The writer means to say, “When I was a young girl, my father baked bread and gardened.”  The modifying phrase “as a young girl” refers to some noun not in the sentence.  It is, therefore, a dangling modifier. 

1. Though only 16 years old, the collage excepted Maria’s application.

2. While watching the super bowl, my television lost the picture.

3. After a quick change into my hospital gown, the nurse told me too relax.

4. The robber was described as a six foot tall man with brown hair blue eyes and a

mustache weighing 150 pounds.

5. The policemen finally stopped the criminal using pepper spray and handcuffs.

20. Its/it’s error. “Its” is a possessive pronoun.  “It’s” is a contraction for “it is.”1. May be the state legislature will make it’s decision today.

2. Its not a problem.

3. Its not a good project but I no of know other weigh too due it.

4. Its cold outside.

21. Adjective error.1. My brother never reads, as a result; his knowledge of world affairs is real limited.

2. Jill is a real good actress.

3. He was quick but the snake was

quickest.

4. He hit the ball perfect.

5. Michelle is a real good actresses.

22. Other

1. Do not use so many ands in this sentence.

br Meaning ExampleAb a faulty abbreviation She had earned a Phd along with her M.D.Agr

See also P/A and S/V

agreement problem:subject/verb orpronoun/antecedent

The piano as well as the guitar need tuning. The student lost their book.

Awk awkward expressionor construction

The storm had the effect of causing millions of dollars in damage.

Cap faulty capitalization We spent the Fall in Southern spain.CS comma splice Raoul tried his best, this time that wasn't good enough

DICT faulty diction Due to the fact that we were wondering as to whether it would rain, we stayed home.Dgl dangling construction Working harder than ever, this job proved to be too much for him to handle.ed problem with final -ed Last summer he walk all the way to Birmingham.

Frag fragment Depending on the amount of snow we get this winter and whether the towns buy new trucks.| | problem in parallel form My income is bigger than my wife.

P/A pronoun/antecedentagreement

A student in accounting would be wise to see their advisor this month.

Pron problem with pronoun My aunt and my mother have wrecked her carThe committee has lost their chance to change things.You'll have to do this on one's own time.

Rep unnecessary repetition The car was blue in color.R-O run-on sentence Raoul tried his best this time that wasn't good enough.Sp spelling error This sentence is flaude with two mispellings.s problem with final -s He wonder what these teacher think of him.

STET Let it stand The proofreader uses this Latin term to indicate that proofreading marks calling for a change should be ignored and the text as originally written should be "let stand."

S/V subject/verb agreement The problem with these cities are leadership.Tense verb tense problem He comes into the room, and he pulled his gun.Wdy wordy Seldom have we perused a document so verbose, so ostentatious in phrasing, so burdened with

too many words.WW wrong word What affect did the movie have on Sheila?She tried to hard to analyze its conclusion.

Symbol Meaning Exampleinsert a comma

apostrophe or singlequotation markinsert something

use double quotation marks

use a period here

delete

transpose elements

close up this space

a space needed here

begin new paragraph

no paragraph