In this assignment, I reviewed several responses from the Unit 4 Review Your Writing Discussion and selected a few sentences with missing or incorrect punctuation. Below are the examples:
- Original Sentence:
“I went to the store but I forgot to buy eggs.”
Correction:
“I went to the store, but I forgot to buy eggs.”
Explanation:
A comma is needed before the conjunction “but” when connecting two independent clauses. This punctuation helps the reader understand the separation between the two actions (going to the store and forgetting to buy eggs), making the sentence clearer. - Original Sentence:
“He loves reading cooking and traveling.”
Correction:
“He loves reading, cooking, and traveling.”
Explanation:
Commas are required to separate items in a list. Without the commas, the sentence becomes confusing and harder to read. The corrected version clearly shows that “reading,” “cooking,” and “traveling” are separate activities. - Original Sentence:
“When we got there, we were too late the show had already started.”
Correction:
“When we got there, we were too late; the show had already started.”
Explanation:
A semicolon is used to connect two closely related independent clauses that could stand as separate sentences. This helps clarify that the two ideas (arriving late and the show already starting) are linked.