7.9: Proofreading

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Practice 1

Read the following paragraph and determine whether each sentence is correct, is a fragment, has a subject/verb agreement error, includes a comma splice, or is a fused sentence. No sentence includes more than one error.

1. When I was younger, I had a number of "accidents" with my cars. 2. Not accidents in the traditional sense. 3. For example, as I was driving home from work one day, I smelled smoke. 4. I pulled over to the side of the road then I looked under the hood. 5. Seeing nothing alarming, I got back into my car and continued driving, however, the scent of smoke became even stronger. 6. So strong that I pulled over to the side of the road again. 7. Still seeing nothing unusual, I got back into my car this time it filled up with smoke. 8. A passing motorist stopped to offer his help. 9. He pulled back the carpet from under the accelerator, the carpet burst into flames. 10. Noticing a jug on my front seat, he asked what were in it. 11. When I told him it was iced tea, he poured the tea onto the fire. 12. Putting out the fire before it could do more damage. 13. another incident happened several years later. 14. My sister and I was driving to the beach. 15. Smoke started coming from the cassette player, quickly the smoke filled the car. 16. Forcing us out of the car. 17. It seems my husband had wired the cassette player incorrectly. 18. A fact that is not particularly surprising. 19. I no longer have either car, I no longer have that husband.

Answer: Answer Key - Proofreading Practice 1

Practice 2

1. The Internet can be a great source of information for students who are doing research, however, the information on the Internet is not regulated. 2. Anyone can post information that is intentionally or unintentionally inaccurate or misleading anyone can create his or her own Web page. 3. There is information on aging, information on cancer, information on health, and information on weight loss. 4. The Alcoholics Anonymous Web site and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism site provides information related to alcohol abuse. 5. Looking for information on pregnancy and childbirth? 6. Not hard to find on the Internet. 7. Labor and Birth Resources (a good Web site) provide information on the different types of pain medications available to mothers. 8. Interested in weight loss? 9. Try Overeaters Anonymous. 10. Another good site that include assessment tools is Cyberdiet.

Answer: Answer Key - Proofreading Practice 2

Practice 3

1. There is a number of risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. 2. Some of these factors cannot be changed. 3. Increasing age, male gender, and heredity is a few. 4. According to health sources, six risk factors are related to our own choices in lifestyle, these include smoking, activity level, cholesterol level, blood pressure, weight, and diabetes. 5. Many smokers believe that if you have smoked for years, there is no benefit in quitting the damage has been done. 6. This belief, however, is incorrect. 7. According to the American Heart Association, one's risk of heart disease declines rapidly after one quits smoking. 8. Another changeable factor related to heart disease is lack of regular exercise. 9. Physical activity, including walking, swimming, or jogging, help lower cholesterol levels and encourages weight loss. 10. Another risk factor for heart disease is stress. 11. Especially unresolved stress over an extended period of time. 12. Those who cannot cope with stress are more likely to develop harmful lifestyles that contribute to heart disease, they may smoke, become inactive, or eat fatty foods. 13. Take control of your heart. 14. Before it is too late.

Answer: Answer Key - Proofreading Practice 3

Practice 4

1. Some people eat the strangest food items for breakfast. 2. Like roast beef, mashed potatoes, and candied yams. 3. My uncle, who has traveled to China, South America, and Africa, like to eat elephant ears (the plant!) in a coconut cream sauce. 4. My brother Bill likes hot fudge sauce on his grits, my sister likes catsup on her eggs. 5. My father on rare occasions eat cold pepperoni pizza. 6. My former neighbors back in Island Grove, Florida, likes to eat swamp cabbage and heart of palm. 7. Other people serve the strangest foods at parties. 8. For instance, chocolate covered turkey! 9. At my brother Peter's caroling party, he and his wife served an odd variety of finger foods. 10. There was octopus in a lemon butter sauce, squid in a marinara sauce, and oysters in an apricot sauce. 11. A former boyfriend seasoned pancakes in the oddest ways he liked to throw in pinches of cloves, cumin, and nutmeg. 12. Thinking he was a creative genius. 13. No one ate his pancakes. 14. Not even his dog.

Answer: Answer Key - Proofreading Practice 4

Practice 5

Read the following sentences and determine whether each sentence is correct, is a fragment, has a subject/verb agreement error, includes a comma splice, or is a fused sentence. No sentence includes more than one error.

The story of the first two years, two months, and two days in the life of a modern Southern marriage.
This book is dangerous, it is one of those rare books that causes fits of uncontrollable laughter.
In the book The Heart of a Distant Forest, Andrew Lachlan meets a woman he had loved, they soon begin seeing each other.
At one point in the novel, Lachlan writes, "It is hard for me to write my hands shake so."
A novel written with insight, poetry, beauty, and passion.
A book meant to be read again and again.
The night became cold, Laura was glad that she packed an extra blanket.
Laura would not sleep well that night she would ache from the damp and freezing air.
Sometimes my life seems like a novel, I am a character lost in a series of confusing subplots.
Living out my life in third person singular.
Reading and walking was all she loved.

Answer: Answer Key - Proofreading Practice 5

References

Dr. Mary Nielsen, Dean of the Dalton State College School of Liberal Arts.