Punctuation Patrol
Identify the missing punctuation in this list: The hiker packed a tent a sleeping bag and a flashlight.
What is a comma? (Items in a series).
The group of students were excited about the field trip.
What is "was"? (The singular subject is "group").
Common vs. Proper: My Cousin lives in the city of Atlanta.
What is lowercase "cousin"?
Fixing a fragment: Running through the park in the rain.
What is adding a subject/verb? ("I was running...")
Redundancy: The two twins both agreed the movie was too long.
What is "two" or "both"?
Correct the punctuation in this compound sentence: The storm clouds gathered quickly yet the baseball game continued.
What is a comma before "yet"? (...quickly, yet...)
Correct the pronoun: Either the teacher or the students will bring their own supplies.
What is "their"? (This is correct; it agrees with the closer subject "students").
Book titles: the call of the wild
What is The Call of the Wild?
Fixing a comma splice: The sun set, the temperature dropped quickly.
What is a semicolon? (...set; the...)
Transitions: The budget was cut. ________, the play was canceled.
What is "Consequently" or "Therefore"?
Edit this sentence to join two related independent clauses without using a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS): The laboratory results were inconclusive the scientists decided to repeat the trial.
What is using a semicolon? (...inconclusive; the scientists...)
Edit for formal conventions: Everyone in the auditorium need to silence their cell phones.
What is "needs"? (Indefinite pronouns like "everyone" are singular).
Directions vs. Regions: After driving North for three hours, we finally reached the North.
What is lowercase "north" (direction) and uppercase "North" (region)?
Subordinating conjunctions: The team practiced every day. They lost the championship game. (Combine using "Although").
What is "Although the team practiced every day, they lost..."?
Formal tone shift: "The author’s ideas are super cool, but he doesn't really back them up."
What is "The author’s ideas are compelling; however, they lack sufficient evidence."?
Identify the error and explain how the change improves clarity: After eating the cat groomed itself on the rug.
What is a comma after "eating"? (Justification: It prevents the reader from thinking the cat was the meal).
Identify the tense error and justify the fix: "The jury enters the courtroom, sat down, and listens to the judge."
What is "sat"? (Justification: "Sat" is past tense; it must be changed to "sits" to maintain consistent present tense).
Dialogue capitalization: “The weather is perfect,” whispered Sarah, “But I forgot my umbrella.”
What is lowercase "but"? (Rule: Sentence continues after the tag).
Participial phrases: The bell rang. Students ran. The halls were full. (Combine into one).
What is "Ringing loudly, the bell sent students running into the already full halls."?
Logical progression: (1) Preheat oven. (2) Enjoy cookies. (3) Mix flour.
What is Sentence 2? (Rule: Must move to the end for chronological order).
Clue: Edit this peer's draft for dialogue and appositive punctuation: “I’m ready to go” said Mr. Harris the lead geologist “But we need the GPS.”
Answer: What is “I’m ready to go,” said Mr. Harris, the lead geologist, “but we need the GPS.”?
Edit this peer's draft for subject-verb and pronoun agreement: Neither of the candidates have finished their speech yet because the crowd are very loud.
What is Neither of the candidates has finished his or her speech yet because the crowd is very loud.?
Edit for academic capitalization: the Professor told us that during the Fall semester, we would study the declaration of independence.
What is The professor... during the fall semester... the Declaration of Independence.?
Edit this run-on: The industrial revolution changed everything people moved to cities to find work in factories and the air became very polluted.
What is "The Industrial Revolution changed everything; as people moved to cities... the air became polluted."?
The Clue: Below is a disorganized, informal draft. To earn 500 points, your team must reorder the sentences for logical flow, correct the informal tone, and fix the punctuation/agreement errors. You must produce one polished, academic paragraph.
(1) Therefore, the city council should definitely put more money into the public library's tech lab. (2) A lot of kids don't have good internet at home, which makes it super hard to do their homework. (3) Everyone in the community deserve a fair shot at succeeding in school. (4) Modern education rely heavily on digital resources and online research.
To get full points, the team must present a paragraph similar to this:
"Modern education relies heavily on digital resources and online research. However, many students lack reliable internet access at home, which creates significant challenges for completing academic assignments. Because everyone in the community deserves an equal opportunity to succeed, the city council must increase funding for the public library’s technology laboratory."