Sentence Correction Exercises

Sentence correction means reading a sentence that contains a mistake, working out what is wrong, and rewriting it so it is clear and grammatical. The exercises below cover the errors that appear most often in classroom work and standardized tests. Try each item before you read the answer.

How to Approach Sentence Correction

A short routine helps more than guessing. For each sentence:

1. Find the subject and the verb. Does the verb agree with the subject, and is there a complete clause?
2. Check the pronouns. Is the form right (I or me, its or it’s), and is it clear who or what each pronoun refers to?
3. Look at the modifiers. Is each descriptive phrase next to the word it describes?
4. Check word choice and small words. Prepositions, articles and doubled words are easy to miss.
5. Read the punctuation. Commas, apostrophes and end marks should match the structure of the sentence.
6. Keep the meaning. A correction should fix the error without changing what the writer meant.

Some sentences contain more than one error, so keep checking after you find the first one.

Exercise 1: Fix the Grammar

Rewrite each sentence so it is correct.

1. The list of items are on the table.
2. Me and Sara went to the library.
3. She walked to the store, she forgot her wallet.
4. Because the bus was late.
5. The dog wagged it’s tail.
6. He went to work despite of his illness.
7. Walking down the street, the rain started.
8. She likes hiking, to swim, and reading.
9. Neither the manager nor the employees was ready.
10. I haven’t seen him since three years.

Answers and Explanations

1. The list of items is on the table. The subject is list, which is singular. The phrase of items does not change that.
2. Sara and I went to the library. I is the subject form. Putting the other person first is also the polite convention.
3. She walked to the store, but she forgot her wallet. The original is a comma splice (two complete sentences joined by only a comma). You could also use a period or a semicolon.
4. Because the bus was late, we missed the first class. The original is a fragment. A because clause needs a main clause. For more on this, see our guide to because sentences.
5. The dog wagged its tail. Its is the possessive. It’s means “it is” or “it has”.
6. He went to work despite his illness. Despite is not followed by of. (In spite of is the version that takes of.)
7. Walking down the street, I felt the rain start. In the original, the opening phrase seems to describe the rain. Another fix is “As I walked down the street, the rain started.”
8. She likes hiking, swimming, and reading. Items in a list should have the same form (parallel structure).
9. Neither the manager nor the employees were ready. With neither… nor, the verb usually agrees with the closer subject, here employees.
10. I haven’t seen him for three years. For is used with a length of time. Since is used with a starting point, such as “since 2023”.

Exercise 2: Fix the Punctuation

Add or change punctuation and capitalization.

1. alas my cat died yesterday
2. We bought apples oranges and bananas.
3. My brother who lives in Leeds is visiting us.
4. Dont forget your umbrella.
5. She asked where are you going
6. I like tea however my sister prefers coffee.

Answers (Punctuation)

1. Alas, my cat died yesterday. Capitalize the first word and set off the interjection with a comma (an exclamation mark also works if you want stronger feeling). End with a period.
2. We bought apples, oranges, and bananas. Commas separate items in a series. The comma before and is optional in some style guides.
3. My brother, who lives in Leeds, is visiting us. The who clause adds extra information, so it is set off by a pair of commas. See interrupting words and phrases for more on this.
4. Don’t forget your umbrella. The apostrophe marks the missing o in do not.
5. She asked, “Where are you going?” A direct question in quotation marks needs a comma before it, capital letter, and a question mark inside the quotes. Written indirectly, it becomes: She asked where I was going.
6. I like tea; however, my sister prefers coffee. However joining two complete sentences needs a semicolon before it and a comma after it. A period before However also works.

Common Error Types to Check For

• Subject-verb agreement: the verb must match the real subject, not a nearby noun.
• Fragments: a group of words that cannot stand alone. Check that the sentence has a complete subject and a full predicate.
• Run-ons and comma splices: two complete sentences joined without proper punctuation or a conjunction. Teachers can use the independent and dependent clauses lesson plan to explain these.
• Pronoun errors: case (I/me), possessives (its/it’s) and unclear reference.
• Misplaced and dangling modifiers: descriptive phrases attached to the wrong word.
• Faulty parallelism: list items or paired structures in different forms. For parallelism used deliberately, see isocolon.
• Wrong or extra words: unnecessary prepositions, doubled words and confused pairs.
• Punctuation: commas, apostrophes and quotation marks. Our piece on why punctuation matters in reading shows how a single mark can change meaning.

Tips for Test-Style Sentence Correction

• Read the full sentence before looking at the answer choices.
• A good correction removes every error without introducing a new one, and keeps the sentence clear, the first of our rules of writing.
• The shortest option is often correct, but not always. Check that the meaning is unchanged.
• If the original already reads correctly, “no change” may be the right answer.
• For multiple-choice practice in that format, try the identifying sentence errors exercises.

Where to Go Next

If one type of mistake kept catching you out, practise it directly. Emphasis structures are covered in it-cleft sentences exercises, and editing marks used by professional proofreaders are explained in proofreading marks for inserting parentheses.