I was reading the National Education Association web site yesterday (partially for ideas, partially just for fun), and I came across these great sentence-punctuating activities for students (or all of us). I'm still laughing.
Punctuate the following:
1. a clever dog knows its master
2. i saw a man eating lobster
3. the butler stood in the doorway and called the guests names
4. [a want ad] WANTED: piano to replace daughters lost in fire
5. [a newspaper headline] father to be stabbed to death in street
6. [a book dedication] to my parents the pope and mother teresa
Answers:
1. A clever dog knows its master. NOT: A clever dog knows it's master. (Read: Barley)
2. I saw a man eating lobster. NOT: I saw a man-eating lobster.
3. The butler stood in the doorway and called the guests' names. NOT: The butler stood in the doorway and called the guests names.
4. WANTED: piano to replace daughter's lost in fire. NOT: WANTED: piano to replace daughters lost in fire.
5. Father-to-be stabbed to death in street. NOT: Father to be stabbed to death in street.
6. To my parents, the Pope, and Mother Teresa. NOT: To my parents, the Pope and Mother Teresa.
Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention my personal favorite, which the NEA seems to have overlooked:
Punctuate:
a woman without her man is nothing
Answer:
A woman: without her, man is nothing. NOT: A woman, without her man, is nothing.
3 comments:
Oh, Rach, don't be so quick to assume context! There's no reason why the butler couldn't have actually been mocking the guests or why the father couldn't have incurred the wrath of some knife-wielding person with enough time in advance for the knife-wielder to put out a press release. ;-)
OH! My favorite playthings.
Would you do some misplaced modifiers sometime? (Big smile here) And, yes, the first punctuation of the "woman" sentence is correct!
Freaking awesome. I love those.
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