Part 3 : Sentence Correction

University of Oran 1 , Ahmed Ben Bella Ms.Djawida REBAA Faculty of Letters and Arts Second –Year LMD Licence Level

Department of Arabic Language and Letters دراسات أدبية/ لغوية

Part 3 : Sentence Correction

Learning Objectives :

At the end of this chapter , students should be able to :

- identify Run-On Sentences .

- fix Run-On sentences through the use of punctuation , semicolons and commas with

conjunctions and subordinators .

- know when to capitalize and when not to capitalize.

- edit a piece of writing that contains capitalization and punctuation errors.

- revise their grammar by spotting and editing grammar errors.

- avoid common spelling mistakes through a variety of carefully selected activities .

- recognize what proofreading is and why it is important .

- identify and describe the proofreading marks by using them properly in a piece of

writing .



Lesson N°1: Run-On Sentences

1- Definition

A Run-On sentence is a group of words that consists of two or more independent clauses

written as though they were one sentence , but in reality it is made up of two sentences

grouped together without punctuation . In point of fact , defective punctuation is the major

cause for Run-On sentences .

2- Examples

- You should examine the matter it is of utmost significance . ( Run-On )

- You should examine the matter . It is of utmost significance ( correct )

- You should examine the matter , for it is of utmost significance . ( correct )

- Dock workers had no contract they discussed going on a strike . ( Run-On )

- Because dock workers had no contract , they discussed going on a strike. ( correct)

3- Understanding the Difference between Simple , Compound and Run-on

sentences

As highlighted in the preceding lessons :

a simple sentence contains one complete thought . ( it consists of one clause )

a compound sentence is made up of of two complete thoughts connected by a

coordinating conjunction . (it is composed of two clauses )

a Run- On sentence contains two complete thoughts which are NOT joined together

properly .



4- Editing Run-On Sentences

There are four main ways to correct Run-On sentences , they are as follows :

Separate the two sentences using punctuation ( . , ; )

- The English test was very short It had only 10 questions . ( Run-On Sentence)

- The English test was very short . It had only 10 questions .( correct)

Make a compound sentence using a coordinating conjunction . ( FANBOYS)

- Ziad enjoys going to the movies I enjoy staying home . ( Run-On Sentence )

- Ziad enjoys going to the movies , but I enjoy staying home . ( correct )

Create a complex sentence . ( by using a subordinating conjunction )

- I like to play tennis Alice likes to play football . (Run-On Sentence )

- I like to play tennis ; however Alice likes to play football. ( correct )

Rearrange the sentence by making the necessary changes ( you may add or

remove words )

- She put some sunscreen because the sun was extremely hot she wanted to go

inside . (Run-On Sentence )

- She put some sunscreen because the sun was extremely hot , and she wanted

to go inside . ( correct )

Key Notes:

1- A Run- On sentence is a sentence that joins clauses together which are forced together

instead of being properly connected .

2- Just because a sentence is long does not necessarily mean it is a Run-On . Some long

sentences are grammatically correct , while some short sentences are Run-Ons .



Activities

Activity N1 : Correct the following Run-On sentences . Write the revised sentences on the lines

provided .

1- Mrs. Lewis introduced me to him the instructor is a neighbour of mine .

...........................................................................................................................................

2- Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 one of Louvre Museum employees hid it in his coat and walked out.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

3- We should get moving there is no time to waste .

...........................................................................................................................................

4- Paul and I were somewhat depressed we decided to make the best of things .

...........................................................................................................................................

5- Watching football is fun playing it is much better .

...........................................................................................................................................

6- Many African Americans celebrate a festival called Kwanzaa meaning “ first fruits of the harvest”

in their mother tongue .

………………………………………………………………………………………………

7- The dog barked at the moon the barking kept me awake all night .

...........................................................................................................................................

8- In 1533 , Britain’s king ( Henry viii ) married Anne Boleyn he was excluded from the Roman

Catholic Church .

...........................................................................................................................................

Activity N2 : Identify the following sentences as Simple - Compound- or Run-ons .

1- My grandmother makes the best fried chicken in the world . ( ……………)

2- I have earned a green belt in Karate my sister has earned a black belt . (……………)

3- I’m in love with my HP laptop It is so convenient . ( ……………)

4- I did not eat my breakfast today I was running late . ( ……………)

5- He would never line out Little Ann was running by his side . ( ……………)

6- Jim wants to call and ask Sandy for a date . ( ……………)

7- This weekend you can go with us to the lake , or you can go with your friends. (………)

8- You need to wash your hands frequently It will help keep you healthy . ( …………)

9- Living in New York city can be fun , but it can also be noisy . ( ……………)

Activity N3 : In the blank below , write your own Run-On sentence .

..............................................................................................................................(Run-On)

..............................................................................................................................(correct)

Lesson N°2 : Capitalization



1- Capitalization

Because it is important to learn how to communicate with written language , proper

capitalization is quite essential . Indeed , in addition to having a subject and a predicate ,

correct sentences must have proper capitalization .

2- Definition

Capitalization means using a capital letter (for example, A instead of a). The use of capital

letters helps readers read your writing without confusion .

In English , there are two major types of letters :

capital letters such as A R E F …etc

lowercase letters like a r e f …. etc

3- When to Capitalize : ( Basic Capitalization Rules )

Always capitalize the following :

The first word of any sentence .

Marcel grew up in Scotland .

She left a message on my phone.

The pronoun I.

I speak four languages .

I will call you immediately .

The first letter of proper nouns and proper adjectives .

David wants to play tennis with us.

Mexico is a lovely city .

I graduated from the University of New York.

I always eat Italian food .



The first letter of months, days, and holidays (BUT NOT SEASONS).

I was born in June .

Susie’s birthday is this Thursday.

Ramadan is approaching .

This summer is going to be very hot.

The first letter of nationalities, religions, races of people, and languages.

We often eat Mexican food.

I want to master many languages, such as Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Russian.

There is one Christian church in my town.

The first letter in a person’s title.

Dr. Simon is the best doctor in the city .

Pr. Bouchiba died a year ago .

Ms. Martha is my teacher of English .

Geographic areas: cities, states, countries, mountains, oceans, rivers, building

names etc.

I have already seen the Nile River .

Burj Khalifa is a huge tower .

Historical periods :

The Renaissance began in the 14th century.

My grandfather was born in World War II.

The first letter of each major word in the title of a book, movie, article, etc.

Pride and Prejudice is my favourite novel.

I found the article “How to Write a Good Cover Letter” in this magazine.



4- When NOT to Capitalize :

In general never capitalize unless there is a reason to .

Do not capitalize the names of animals , birds , flowers , trees , diseases , games ,

foods and seasons unless they contain a proper noun or proper adjective .

Do not capitalize points of the compass ( east, west , north south ) except when

referring to a region or a political entity .

The North won the Civil War , The Middle East .

Do not capitalize a , an , or the before a title or name unless they are a part of it .

Do not capitalize short prepositions such as : in , at , on ...etc ; short conjunctions

like: yet , or, so , for...etc in a title unless they are at the beginning .

Do not capitalize the word university unless you are spelling the full name of the

university .

Harvard University is one of the most famous universities in the world.



Activities

Activity N1 : Read the following sentences , underline the words that should be

CAPITALIZED .

1- Baton rouge is the capital of louisiana .

2- it does not rain very much in april .

3- have you seen the sears tower in chicago ?

4- i speak french , english and spanish .

5- my favourite book is the old man and the sea .

6- what is the population of china now ?

7- We crossed the golden gate bridge .

Activity N 2 : Write each sentence using proper capitalization.

1- i was born in shanghai, china, but grew up in the united states.

...................................................................................................

2- mrs. Kate medilton is my idol .

...................................................................................................

3- my brother attends columbia university .

.....................................................................................................

4- my family will have a summer vacation in hawaii.

...................................................................................................

5- I didn’t want to cook tonight, so i just ordered thai food for dinner.

...........................................................................................................

Activity N3 : Complete these statements . Make sure you use correct capitalization .

1- U.S.A stands for the United ……………….. of ………………… .

2- The seventh month of the year is …….……….. .

3- …………………is the capital of Wales .

4- One of the most popular brands of perfumes is ………………… .

5- My favourite restaurant is ………………………………………. .

6- The summer months are ………………… , …………………. and ………………… .

7- Algeria is the largest country in …………………… .

8- The last movie I saw was ………………………………………….. .



Lesson N°3 : Grammar Errors’ Correction

Introduction

If you want to improve your writing and get a positive attention , you have to pay

attention to the rules. You need to understand the parts of speech when your write as you have

to know how to combine them properly so that to convey meaning .

In a piece of writing , students tend to forget a comma once in a while without doing

any harm to their writing . However , some mistakes in grammar are so apparent and

distracting that any knowledgeable reader may notice them immediately . To this end , make

sure you avoid not only capitalization or spelling errors but also grammar mistakes.

Examples :

1- Last summer we will visit Bali . ( ................... )

2- She neither speaks Arabic nor does she speaks Berber . ( ...............)

3- I haven’t seen he yet . ( .............. )

4- The people I know is not generous . ( ..................... )

5- I enjoy watching action movies ; however my brother enjoyed horror movies .( ........)

6- Why wasn’t they there ? ( .................)

7- Teachers doesn’t have long holidays . ( ................)

Remarks :

In the 1st example , a past indication is given , no need to use the future tense .

In the 2nd Example , do / does and modals are followed by the infinitive .

In the 3rd example , the pronoun “he” is a personal pronoun – also known as subject),

which never takes the position of an objective pronoun .

In the 4th example , the word people refers to a group of individuals .

In the 5th example , the second verb (of the 2nd sentence) must be conjugated in the

present .

In the 6th and 7th the examples , one must pay a careful attention to the use of

auxiliaries which go hand in hand with subjects of the sentence .



Activities

Activity N1 : In each of the following sentences , you have to remove a word to make them

grammatically correct . Identify the word which needs to be removed .

1- He went to work despite of his illness .

( to – despite – of )

2- Paul , who he is my best friend , is a writer .

( who- best - he )

3- No matter what that I do , I can’t make her happy.

( what – that –make)

4- She is busy at the work and won’t be home before 10: 30 .

( et - the – be )

5- I have decided to quit my job a week ago .

( have - to - a )

6- You should complain of if you are not satisfied with her .

( of - if - with )

7- You should tell to me exactly what happened there .

( should - to – what )

8- He is clever but he lacks of experience .

( but - of - is )

9- She does not resemble to either of her parents .

( does - to - of )

10- I have written to every my friend I have

( to - every - my )



Activity N2 : Find and correct the mistakes below .

1- He go to bed very early .

2- Does they live in Canada ?

3- Adel sings beautiful .

4- The couple looks happily .

5- Do they usually driving to work ?

6- My sister wants to travels to England .

7- They has lots of fancy cars .

8- She feeled so sad when her husband passed away .

9- Does John and Alive has enough money ?

10- Learn Spanish is not my cup of tea .

Activity N3 : Spot and Correct the grammar mistakes below .

In many country breakfast is a snack rather than a meals , but the traditional English

breakfast are full of meat . Some people has a cereal or porridge to begin with . If porridge

is prepared of coarse oatmeal ( in the proper Scottish manner ) it is a tasty and nourishing

dish , especially when it was eaten with milk or cream . Then comes toast , by butter and

marmalade ,and perhaps some fruit .Tea or coffee is drank with the meal. Many English

people now taken such a full breakfast only in Sunday morning .



Lesson N°4 : Spelling Errors’ Correction

1- Spelling

Capitalization and spelling are two of the most important parts of one’s writing. As

highlighted in the previous lesson , capitalization in a piece of writing is quite crucial and so

is spelling .

Correct spelling gives your written work credibility . Not only your reader knows that you

are educated , but that also you are careful about your work . Spelling mistakes can prevent

readers from seeing your thoughtful ideas in print .

Many spelling mistakes occur when carelessness and speed take place . To this end , it is

quite important to proofread your piece of writing not only for difficult words , but mainly

for simple and ordinary words that you may have misspelled through carelessness. In pursuit

of these aims , you should have a dictionary handy to confirm that you have correctly spelled

all unfamiliar words.

2- Examples

1- She doesn’t spaek German . ( speak )

2- They are known as the city’s worst thiefs . ( thieves )

3- She feels inhappy about her marriage . ( unhappy )

4- Your haelth is your waelth . ( health - wealth )

5- They put the cards in different boxs . ( boxes )

6- We painted the house white and the doores black . ( doors )

7- You should look for different travel agencys . ( agencies)

3- Tips to improve your spelling of particular words

- Keep a good dictionary nearby to use whenever in doubt .

- Make sure you pronounce words correctly , this will help you write properly .

- Get into a habit of taking a good look at new or difficult words .

- Develop your own memory device so that to memorize difficult words.



Activities

Activity N1 : Read each sentence carefully and circle the misspelled words . Then write the correct

spelling on the blanks provided .

Sample : I speak many foriegn languages . ........Foreign ................

1- On this particuler evening , we went to the nearby restaurant to eat steak . ........................

2- The old woman beleived that the pathetic man was truly in desperate need . ........................

3- The county ambulence raced quickly . .............................

4- The waether is extremly hot today . ................................

5- The police officer arrested the district’s dangerous theif . ................................

6- Emily and her freind decided to go to the movies . .................................

7- The female employee at Gucci shop is elegent . .................................

8- Paul is driving to the southaest of the city . .................................

9- Last sumer , Caroline visited Yellowstone National Park . .................................

10- The American womin we studies in history are worth knowing . .................................

Activity N2 : Read the following passages carefully , spot the spelling errors .

Passage N1 :

Last sammer, we dicided to spend our vacation at the beach because the waether was

very hot in the mountains. The travel agent sad that travelling by bus was the cheapest way,

but we want by plane because it was fuster. We wantid to have more time to spend at the

beach. The weather was beautifule and we had a great time.



Passage N2 :

One of my favourite vacation plases is Mexic . I realy like the weather there because it

never gets could. The people are very nice two. They never laugh at my bad Spanich. The

foud is really god. Mexico city is a very interesting place to vizit. It has some great museums

and lots of fascinating old buildinges. The hotels are to expensive to stay but there are more

affordable option . For example, you can stay at one of the beach resorts like Acapulco. If you

are planning to visit Mexic, you should definitely sea the Mayan temples near Merida.

Activity N3 : Below is a paragraph full of errors , spot the capitalization and spelling

mistakes by circling them .

at the start of schoul , rachel a studnt from chicago attended Michigan university. she

was afrad of here new Teacher . Mrs. davis seemed nice , but she had so manny rules four the

class to folow . as the schoul year continued , rachel began to Understand how the Teatcher

came up with the rules . By the End of the Year , rachel considered mrs. davis as the best

teatcher Ever .

Capitalization Mistakes : .................

Spellng Errors : ...............



Sequence N5 : Proofreading Using Symbols

Introduction

Proofreading is simply careful reading . As you examine every word , sentence and

paragraph , you will find errors . When you locate them , you can use proofreading symbols to

shorten the amount of time you spend editing .

It is an excellent idea to become familiar with those symbols . Below is a list of the most

common proofreading marks (symbols) .

Symbol Meaning of Symbol

≡ Capitalize a lower-case letter

ʘ

Add a period

,

Add a comma

Add a question mark

𝞿 Delete a word or punctuation mark

ᴑ Spelling Error

˄ Add a word .

Examples :

- Colonel lotfi High school . → Capitalize a lower-case letter. ( ≡ )

- Are they coming tonight → Add a question mark.

- I have visited England Scotland and Wales . → Add a comma ,

- Michael and I are invited to Dora’s birthday → Add a period ( ʘ )

- I had an an interesting idea . → Delete a word ( 𝞿 )

- They from a different city . → Add a word ( ˄ )

- Were is Katherine going ? → Spelling Error ( ᴑ )

?

?

?



Activities

Activity : Proofread the following sentences using symbols .

1- london is the capital of england . ( ............)

2- One of my favourite is Oliver Twist . ( .............)

3- She is a singer a songwriter. (...............)

4- Who is your teacher of linguistics (..................)

5- My favourite subject is literature (...........)

6- When school begins , I will be taking english spanish world history and science classes

(............)

7- She Alice sings beautifully . (...........)

8- Frensh is the official languge in france . ( .............)

9- Mexican food is delicious (...........)

10- Did they call the fire department. (...........)

Activity N2 : Read the following paragraph carefully , circle and edit all the mistakes you come

across using proofreading symbols .

karen wakes everyday at seven am she eats braekfast feeds her cat gets her things

together for school . then she walks down the block were she catches the bus karen’s favourit

subject is art . she eats lunch with her friend isabel and plays with her tennis . After schoul

karen takes the bus home . Once arrived she plays with her lovely cat . after dinner she

watches television until it is time four her to go to bed . The next day she gets up and does it

all again .

Capitalization Mistakes : ...................

Spelling Mistakes : . ....................

Grammar Mistakes : ....................

Punctuation Mistakes : .................

Part 3 : Sentence Correction

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Transcript of Part 3 : Sentence Correction