This set has ten original questions, ordered from easier to harder, covering all five lessons in spelling, punctuation and proofreading. Questions 1 to 4 check single skills, 5 to 7 add punctuation and diagnosis, and 8 to 10 need the full proofreading routine.
Write your answer on paper first, then open the answer. Do not look at the worked answer until you have tried.
These are practice questions for skill building. They are not Cambridge exam questions and carry no marks.
Questions
Question 1 (endings). Correct the verb endings.
“Yesterday, Li Wei walk to school and meet his teacher.”
Show answer
“Yesterday” means past time. “walk” becomes walked. “meet” is irregular, so the past form is met.
Yesterday, Li Wei walked to school and met his teacher.
Question 2 (endings). Correct the plural and agreement errors.
“Three of the girl brings their bag to class.”
Show answer
“Three of the” needs a plural noun: girls. A plural subject needs bring. “their bag” becomes bags because three girls bring more than one bag.
Three of the girls bring their bags to class.
Question 3 (endings). Fix the adverbs.
“The speaker talked slow and answered every question polite.”
Show answer
Both words describe verbs, so both need -ly. “slow” becomes slowly. “polite” becomes politely (keep the e).
The speaker talked slowly and answered every question politely.
Question 4 (spelling change). Write the -ing form of each word: run, hope, plan, wait.
Show answer
- run: one short vowel, one final consonant, so double: running.
- hope: drop the silent e: hoping.
- plan: double the n: planning.
- wait: two vowels before the final consonant, so no doubling: waiting.
Question 5 (punctuation). Correct the sentence in two different ways.
“It was late, the shop was closed.”
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Two complete ideas joined only by a comma. Any two of these are correct:
- It was late. The shop was closed.
- It was late; the shop was closed.
- It was late, so the shop was closed.
- The shop was closed because it was late.
Question 6 (punctuation). Correct the punctuation.
“The plan was simple however it took weeks.”
Show answer
“However” does not join two ideas by itself. Put a semicolon before it and a comma after it: The plan was simple; however, it took weeks. Or use a joining word: The plan was simple, but it took weeks.
Question 7 (slip or gap). A student writes “We recieved the letter” and later “We recieve it every year”. When the word is underlined, the student cannot say which letters are wrong. Is this a slip or a gap? What should the student do?
Show answer
A gap. The wrong form appears twice and the student cannot correct it on sight. Action: learn that “receive” has ei after c, write “receive”, “received” and “receiving” in three new sentences, and retest in three to five days.
Question 8 (full routine). Proofread this sentence for endings, punctuation and spelling.
“my brother work in a bank, he enjoy it becaus the customers is friendly.”
Show answer
- Capital: My.
- Endings: singular “brother” takes works; “he enjoy” becomes enjoys; plural “customers” takes are.
- Punctuation: the comma joins two complete ideas, so use “and”: works in a bank, and he enjoys.
- Spelling: because.
- End punctuation: add a full stop.
My brother works in a bank, and he enjoys it because the customers are friendly.
Question 9 (full routine). Proofread this paragraph. There are at least seven errors.
“Last month our class go on a trip to a farm. We was excited, the bus left at seven. The farmer show us how he milk the cows. Everyone were suprised by how warm the milk felt.”
Show answer
Work in passes.
Endings: “go” becomes went (past time). “We was” becomes We were. “show” becomes showed. “milk” after “how he” becomes milked (past). “Everyone were” becomes Everyone was (“everyone” is singular).
Punctuation: “We were excited, the bus left at seven” is a comma splice. Use “and” or a full stop: We were excited, and the bus left at seven.
Spelling: “suprised” becomes surprised.
Corrected: Last month our class went on a trip to a farm. We were excited, and the bus left at seven. The farmer showed us how he milked the cows. Everyone was surprised by how warm the milk felt.
Question 10 (correction list). Write a complete correction list entry for this error: “It was a important day.”
Show answer
| Wrong form | Right form | Type | Rule in my words | Retest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| It was a important day. | It was an important day. | Gap | Use “an” before a vowel sound | Day 4, new sentence, such as “She has an idea.” |
The entry should have the wrong and right forms in full sentences, a type, a short rule in the student’s own words and a retest that uses a fresh sentence.
If you got these wrong
| Error type | What went wrong | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Questions 1 to 4 | Verb, noun or adverb endings, or a spelling change before -ing | Check common word endings in context |
| Questions 5 to 6 | Comma splice or “however” used as a joining word | Use punctuation to separate complete ideas |
| Question 7 | Could not tell a careless slip from a real gap | Distinguish a typing error from a knowledge gap |
| Questions 8 to 9 | Found some errors but missed others | Proofread one issue at a time |
| Question 10 | The entry lacked a rule or a retest | Create a personal correction list from original work |
Record each slip in the mistake log and retest queue with the error type, so a fresh question can be retested later. The writing revision compare view lets you compare a first draft with your corrected version, and the summary studio gives you another original text to work on.
Write a short paragraph of your own, proofread it with the four passes, and swap it with a friend if you can. Seeing errors in someone else’s writing often sharpens your own eye.
If you keep missing the same type of error, our teachers can look at your actual corrected answers in online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition.