Advanced Exercises on Grammar, Punctuation, and Usage




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Each of the following paragraphs has four mistakes in grammar, punctuation, or usage. Possible mistakes are as follows: run-on, fragment, subject-verb disagreement, wrong word, missing comma, undesired comma, colon error, unclear pronoun reference, and possessive error. In order of mistakes through the paragraph, click on the word(s) or punctuation that causes the mistake. Corresponding information for this exercise can be found in The Craft of Editing (denoted CE) and The Craft of Scientific Writing (denoted CSW). To make this exercise even more challenging, remove the underlining-of-links option from your browser's list of preferences.






Paragraph #1
A greenhouse is a glass building used to grow plants. A greenhouse has transparent glass that allows the sunlight to pass through, but does not allow the heat inside to escape. The same affect occurs on the earth. The suns radiation passes through the atmosphere to heat the earth's surface. When heated, the earth's surface produces infrared radiation, which has a longer wavelength than that of sunlight. This infrared radiation rises into the atmosphere where gases, such as carbon dioxide, prevents the infrared radiation from escaping into space. The concentrations of these gases which are called greenhouse gases, control how much infrared radiation escapes. The retained radiation heats the earth's atmosphere, thus keeping the planet warm.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's first mistake.

Discussion: wrong word (CE, page 97; CSW, page 269).



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A greenhouse is a glass building used to grow plants. A greenhouse has transparent glass that allows the sunlight to pass through, but does not allow the heat inside to escape. The same effect occurs on the earth. The suns radiation passes through the atmosphere to heat the earth's surface. When heated, the earth's surface produces infrared radiation, which has a longer wavelength than that of sunlight. This infrared radiation rises into the atmosphere where gases, such as carbon dioxide, prevents the infrared radiation from escaping into space. The concentrations of these gases which are called greenhouse gases, control how much infrared radiation escapes. The retained radiation heats the earth's atmosphere, thus keeping the planet warm.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's second mistake.

Discussion: possessive mistake (CE, page 124; CSW, page 271; or Strunk).



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A greenhouse is a glass building used to grow plants. A greenhouse has transparent glass that allows the sunlight to pass through, but does not allow the heat inside to escape. The same effect occurs on the earth. The sun's radiation passes through the atmosphere to heat the earth's surface. When heated, the earth's surface produces infrared radiation, which has a longer wavelength than that of sunlight. This infrared radiation rises into the atmosphere where gases, such as carbon dioxide, prevents the infrared radiation from escaping into space. The concentrations of these gases which are called greenhouse gases, control how much infrared radiation escapes. The retained radiation heats the earth's atmosphere, thus keeping the planet warm.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's third mistake.

Discussion: subject-verb disagreement (CE, pages 131-132; CSW, page 259-260).



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A greenhouse is a glass building used to grow plants. A greenhouse has transparent glass that allows the sunlight to pass through, but does not allow the heat inside to escape. The same effect occurs on the earth. The sun's radiation passes through the atmosphere to heat the earth's surface. When heated, the earth's surface produces infrared radiation, which has a longer wavelength than that of sunlight. This infrared radiation rises into the atmosphere where gases, such as carbon dioxide, prevent the infrared radiation from escaping into space. The concentrations of these gases which are called greenhouse gases, control how much infrared radiation escapes. The retained radiation heats the earth's atmosphere, thus keeping the planet warm.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's final mistake.

Discussion: missing parenthetical comma (CE, pages 103-104; CSW, page 263).



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A greenhouse is a glass building used to grow plants. A greenhouse has transparent glass that allows the sunlight to pass through, but does not allow the heat inside to escape. The same effect occurs on the earth. The sun's radiation passes through the atmosphere to heat the earth's surface. When heated, the earth's surface produces infrared radiation, which has a longer wavelength than that of sunlight. This infrared radiation rises into the atmosphere where gases, such as carbon dioxide, prevent the infrared radiation from escaping into space. The concentrations of these gases, which are called greenhouse gases, control how much infrared radiation escapes. The retained radiation heats the earth's atmosphere, thus keeping the planet warm.



Paragraph #2
During the last century, the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased substantially [Holman, 1985]. Scientists believe that further increases could cause excess warming of the earth's climate. Moreover, many scientists believe this warming could produce side effects. For example, the changing of the earth's wind patterns. These wind patterns control the amount of rain received in a particular area. If the greenhouse gases warm the earth's climate too much, areas that now receive plenty of rainfall could become deserts, moreover, some scientists speculate that additional increases in warming could cause another effect, a rise in the ocean levels ["Greenhouse," 1990]. How would this rise occur? An increase in global temperature would melt the polar ice caps, thus emptying more water into the oceans. They also predict that this ocean rise, which may be as high as 1 meter could flood port cities and coastal lands.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's first mistake.

Discussion: not a complete sentence (CE, page 111).



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During the last century, the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased substantially [Holman, 1985]. Scientists believe that further increases could cause excess warming of the earth's climate. Moreover, many scientists believe this warming could produce side effects. An example would be the changing of the earth's wind patterns. These wind patterns control the amount of rain received in a particular area. If the greenhouse gases warm the earth's climate too much, areas that now receive plenty of rainfall could become deserts, moreover, some scientists speculate that additional increases in warming could cause another effect, a rise in the ocean levels ["Greenhouse," 1990]. How would this rise occur? An increase in global temperature would melt the polar ice caps, thus emptying more water into the oceans. They also predict that this ocean rise, which may be as high as 1 meter could flood port cities and coastal lands.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's second mistake.

Discussion: run-on sentence (CE, page 129; CSW, page 258).



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During the last century, the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased substantially [Holman, 1985]. Scientists believe that further increases could cause excess warming of the earth's climate. Moreover, many scientists believe this warming could produce side effects. An example would be the changing of the earth's wind patterns. These wind patterns control the amount of rain received in a particular area. If the greenhouse gases warm the earth's climate too much, areas that now receive plenty of rainfall could become deserts. Moreover, some scientists speculate that additional increases in warming could cause another effect, a rise in the ocean levels ["Greenhouse," 1990]. How would this rise occur? An increase in global temperature would melt the polar ice caps, thus emptying more water into the oceans. They also predict that this ocean rise, which may be as high as 1 meter could flood port cities and coastal lands.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's third mistake.

Discussion: ambiguous pronoun reference (CSW, pages 93-94; or Writing Center).



Top of Page



During the last century, the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased substantially [Holman, 1985]. Scientists believe that further increases could cause excess warming of the earth's climate. Moreover, many scientists believe this warming could produce side effects. An example would be the changing of the earth's wind patterns. These wind patterns control the amount of rain received in a particular area. If the greenhouse gases warm the earth's climate too much, areas that now receive plenty of rainfall could become deserts. Moreover, some scientists speculate that additional increases in warming could cause another effect, a rise in the ocean levels ["Greenhouse," 1990]. How would this rise occur? An increase in global temperature would melt the polar ice caps, thus emptying more water into the oceans. Scientists also predict that this ocean rise, which may be as high as 1 meter could flood port cities and coastal lands.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's final mistake.

Discussion: missing parenthetical comma (CE, pages 103-104; CSW, page 263).



Top of Page



During the last century, the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased substantially [Holman, 1985]. Scientists believe that further increases could cause excess warming of the earth's climate. Moreover, many scientists believe this warming could produce side effects. An example would be the changing of the earth's wind patterns. These wind patterns control the amount of rain received in a particular area. If the greenhouse gases warm the earth's climate too much, areas that now receive plenty of rainfall could become deserts. Moreover, some scientists speculate that additional increases in warming could cause another effect, a rise in the ocean levels ["Greenhouse," 1990]. How would this rise occur? An increase in global temperature would melt the polar ice caps, thus emptying more water into the oceans. Scientists also predict that this ocean rise, which may be as high as 1 meter, could flood port cities and coastal lands.



Paragraph #3
The gas that contributes most to the greenhouse effect, is carbon dioxide [Houghton, 1990]. Carbon dioxide cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted. In fact, its not even considered a pollutant. Plants use carbon dioxide in combination with chlorophyll, water, and sunshine for photosynthesis, which is a process essential to life. Besides aiding in photosynthesis, it also absorbs the earth's radiation. This gas occurs naturally in the atmosphere, however, man has dramatically increased the concentration of carbon dioxide over the last twenty years.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's first mistake.

Discussion: unwanted parenthetical comma (CE, pages 103-104; CSW, page 263).



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The gas that contributes most to the greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide [Houghton, 1990]. Carbon dioxide cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted. In fact, its not even considered a pollutant. Plants use carbon dioxide in combination with chlorophyll, water, and sunshine for photosynthesis, which is a process essential to life. Besides aiding in photosynthesis, it also absorbs the earth's radiation. This gas occurs naturally in the atmosphere, however, man has dramatically increased the concentration of carbon dioxide over the last twenty years.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's second mistake.

Discussion: incorrect usage (CE, page 117; CSW, page 271).



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The gas that contributes most to the greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide [Houghton, 1990]. Carbon dioxide cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted. In fact, it's not even considered a pollutant. Plants use carbon dioxide in combination with chlorophyll, water, and sunshine for photosynthesis, which is a process essential to life. Besides aiding in photosynthesis, it also absorbs the earth's radiation. This gas occurs naturally in the atmosphere, however, man has dramatically increased the concentration of carbon dioxide over the last twenty years.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's third mistake.

Discussion: unclear pronoun reference (CSW, pages 93-94; or Writing Center).



Top of Page



The gas that contributes most to the greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide [Houghton, 1990]. Carbon dioxide cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted. In fact, it's not even considered a pollutant. Plants use carbon dioxide in combination with chlorophyll, water, and sunshine for photosynthesis, which is a process essential to life. Besides aiding in photosynthesis, carbon dioxide also absorbs the earth's radiation. This gas occurs naturally in the atmosphere, however, man has dramatically increased the concentration of carbon dioxide over the last twenty years.

Give up?





































Congratulations, you have found the paragraph's final mistake.

Discussion: run-on sentence (CE, page 129; CSW, page 258).



The gas that contributes most to the greenhouse effect, is carbon dioxide [Houghton, 1990]. Carbon dioxide cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted. In fact, it's not even considered a pollutant. Plants use carbon dioxide in combination with chlorophyll, water, and sunshine for photosynthesis, which is a process essential to life. Besides aiding in photosynthesis, carbon dioxide also absorbs the earth's radiation. This gas occurs naturally in the atmosphere. However, man has dramatically increased the concentration of carbon dioxide over the last twenty years.



You have reached the end of this exercise.

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Last updated 2/99
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