A Sentence a Day

[A.m.ir]

A Sentence a Day focuses on short, playful, interesting sentence with sense of humor.

Readers receive proofreading practice in daily doses that don't overwhelm. Each exercise takes only a few minutes of your time, allowing for frequent, consistent reinforcement and practice of serious writing skills.

Each sentence that has errors is followed by a post that includes a sample correction and notes for readers about the corrections.

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1

Incorrect:
The students found it very hard to believe that Mrs Snodwhumple had ever been a teenager herself, in fact they found it hard to believe that she was human at all.

Correct:
The students found it very hard to believe that Mrs. Snodwhumple had ever been a teenager herself. In fact, they found it hard to believe that she was human at all.

Notes:
“Mrs.” requires a period.

The item is a run-on sentence. A period or a semicolon should be placed after “herself.”

Introductory phrases like “by the way, “on the other hand,” and “in fact” should be set off with commas.

توضیحات:

بعد از کلمه "Mrs" یک نقطه لازم است. به این صورت: "Mrs."

جمله مذبور یک جمله مرکب است که بخشهای آن باید با نقطه یا کاما از هم جدا شوند. بنابراین بعد از "her-self" یک نقطه یا ویرگول لازم است.

عبارات مقدماتی مثل "by the way" ، "on the other hand" و یا "in fact" باید با ویرگول از ادامه جمله جدا شوند.

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
The envelope enveloping the leter.

Correct:
The envelope enveloping the letter was covered with pink hearts and red lipstick kisses.

Notes:
The item is a sentence fragment. What about the envelope enveloping the letter?

Try complete the sentence in at least two more ways—adding something before the fragment (Bart cautiously opened the envelope enveloping the letter) and after the fragment (The envelope enveloping the letter was covered with pink hearts and red lipstick kisses).

“Letter” has two t’s.

توضیحات:

جمله اول تنها بخشی از یک جمله است. "پاکتی که نامه در آن قرار گرفته" قراره چی بشه؟

ابتدا از دانش آموزان بخواهید با اضافه کردن عبارتی به قبل از این عبارت یک جمله کامل بسازند:

(Bart cautiously opened the envelope enveloping the letter)

این بار با اضافه کردن عبارتی به بعد از این عبارت یک جمله کامل بسازند:
(The envelope enveloping the letter was covered with pink hearts and red lipstick kisses)

برای تمرین بیشتر، و همینطور کمی تفریح، از دانش آموزان بخواهید جمله را با عبارات مختلف دیگر کامل کنند. مثلا با استفاده از عبارتی که کلمه “fear” در آن باشد یا کلمات دیگر و یا شرایط مختلف دیگر.

کلمه “letter” دو تا t دارد.

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
The nieghbors supposebly had a pet dodo bird that excaped but I no that dodo birds are extinct.

Correct:
The neighbors supposedly had a pet dodo bird that escaped, but I know that dodo birds are extinct.

Notes:
“Neighbors” is one of those aggravating words that does not follow the “i before e except after c” rule.

Despite how some people pronounce the word, there is no b in “supposedly.” Similarly, there is no x in “escaped.”

“Know” is the word needed, not “no.”

The sentence is a compound sentence (two complete sentences connected with “and,” “but,” “or,” “for,” “nor,” and sometimes “yet” and “so.”) Therefore, it needs a comma.

توضیحات:

“Neighbors” یکی از آن کلماتی سختی است که از قانون "همیشه حرف i قبل از e می آید مگر بعد از حرف c " پیروی نمی کند.

برخلاف آنطور که واژه supposedly گاهی به گوش می آید، در این کلمه اصلا حرف B وجود ندارد؛ همینطور در کلمه escaped هم حرف X وجود ندارد.

کلمه know در اینجا مورد نیاز است، نه No .

جمله یک جمله ی مرکب است (یعنی دو جمله ی کامل که توسط and , or, but for , nor و گاهی اوقات yet و so به یکدیگر متصل میشوند) از این رو به کاما یعنی ویرگول نیاز دارند.

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
The star athlete turned out to be a alien. From the newly discovered planet gezbarkawda.

Correct:
The star athlete turned out to be an alien from the newly discovered planet Gezbarkawda.

Notes:
Students often create sentence fragments by putting in a period too soon.The two fragments above are easily fixed by simply removing the period.

“A” is used before words beginning with a consonant sound. “An” is used before words beginning with a vowel sound.

Because “Gezbarkawda” is the name of a specific planet, it should be capitalized even if it is fictional.

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
My brother, Sundar, he puts catsup and maple syrup on everything.

Correct:
My brother Sundar puts catsup and maple syrup on everything.

Notes:
People often use double subjects, especially when they are talking informally.
Examples: My mother, she won’t let me go camping with my boyfriend for three weeks in Alaska. My boyfriend, he thinks she’s being unreasonable. My dad, he won’t even let me talk to
him about it. However, these double subjects are completely unnecessary and actually kind of silly. My mother won’t let me go camping is simpler and just as clear as My mother,
she won’t let me go camping.

Appositives interrupt a sentence to give more information about a noun in the sentence. Usually they are set off with commas. However, a one-word appositive such as “Sundar” doesn’t really need commas.

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
It is supposebly difficult to pat your head rub your stomach and chew gum at the same time.

Correct:

It is supposedly difficult to pat your head, rub your stomach(,) and chew gum at the same time.

Notes:
Although many people pronounce the word “supposebly” (with a b), the word is really “supposedly” (with a d).

Words in a series should be separated by commas. However, the final comma (the serial comma) is really optional, unless its elimination creates confusion in meaning.
Interestingly, magazine and newspaper publishers tend to leave it out, following the Associated Press Stylebook. Book publishers are more likely to rely on the Chicago Manual of Style, which recommends leaving it in. Students are often amazed to find out that authorities can differ on punctuation rules.

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
Who’s idea was it to allow students to ride skateboards in the hall.

Correct:
Whose idea was it to allow students to ride skateboards in the hall?

Notes:

Any sentence that asks a question should have a question mark at the end.

“Who’s” is a contraction of “who is.” A test: try substituting “who is” in the sentence to see if it makes sense. If it does, use “who’s.” If it doesn’t, use “whose.”

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
A even-toed ungulate which is better known as a camel keeps the sand out of it’s eyes with 3 eyelids.


Correct:
An even-toed ungulate, which is better known as a camel, keeps the sand out of its eyes with three eyelids.

Notes:

“An” is used before words beginning with a vowel sound.

“Which is better known as a camel” is an appositive. It interrupts the flow of the sentence to give more information about “ungulate” and should be set off with commas.

“Its” is a pronoun used to show ownership or possession.There is no apostrophe in it.

Numbers smaller than ten are generally spelled out, not written as numerals. Therefore, “3” should be written as “three.”

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
After Lee took a break to walk his Iguana and pet his Python he went back to work on his marshmellow sculpture.

Correct:
After Lee took a break to walk his iguana and pet his python, he went back to work on his marshmallow sculpture.

Notes:

“After Lee took a break to walk his iguana and pet his python” is an introductory element (a clause). Therefore, it should be followed by a comma.

“Iguana” is a kind of lizard, just as “python” is a kind of snake. However, they aren’t the names of specific iguanas or pythons. If the iguana’s name is “Ethel,” “Ethel” is what should be capitalized, not “iguana.”

“Marshmallow” is the correct spelling.

[A.m.ir]

Incorrect:
The mall closed it’s doors lifted into the air and flew off into space with a large and handsome truck stop.

Correct:
The mall closed its doors, lifted into the air(,) and flew off into space with a large and handsome truck stop.

Notes:

Never mind that the mall in this sentence is behaving in a decidedly peculiar fashion. It is doing three things, and those three things should be separated by commas.The final comma in a series is considered optional.

“It’s” is a contraction of “it is.” A test: substitute “it is” in the sentence to see if “it’s” is what is needed. If it doesn’t sound right, “its” should be used.