Answer Key
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Answer Key
Unit Six: Punctuation and Sentence Structure
Proofreading Exercise One
Correct the errors in the use of punctuation and sentence structure in the following sentences:
1. Jamaica Kincaid in “Girl” and Amy Tan in “Two Kinds” discuss mother-daughter relationships, the attitude
of the mothers to their daughters, and the things that the mothers want their daughters to do.
2. One day, the mother and daughter got into a conflict. The daughter says, “I wish I wasn’t your daughter!”
3. In “Two Kinds,” the family is an immigrant family; maybe that’s why the mother has a lot of disagreements
with her daughter.
4. It didn’t happen in one day; it took some time.
5. Even if they didn’t love their husbands, women couldn’t get away from their
husbands.
6. If you aren’t ready to face some difficulties, you’d better prepare yourself.
7. All she can do is hide in herself, hide in her own world.
8. Although the mother had the best wishes for her daughter, the mother was wrong.
9. It was the same kind of day that I had in my country.
10. Jing Mei’s mother wants her daughter to do everything her way; she never asks Jing
Mei what she is interested in.
11. There is a big responsibility that falls on the father’s shoulders with the first baby.
12. We all carry naïve ideas throughout the years: ideas that say, for example, a man and
wife must be in love.
13. I read an article in the newspaper which talked about some people who used illegal tricks
to make money.
14. Perfection does not exist in humans, and because of this, we need to accept ourselves
the way we are.
15. There are some parents who make their daughters marry someone who the daughters do not love.
16. In ancient China, there were some governors who would punish parents who did not let their daughters
marry them.
17. She has to do all that her mother says.
18. A new mother would think about necessary stuff to buy: a carriage, diapers, swaddling cloths, and so on.
19. A mother would think about necessary stuff, while a father would think about how he and his son would go
fishing.
20. Jing Mei wants her daughter to become famous, so that she can brag to her friends.
Proofreading Exercise Two
Correct the errors in the use of articles, nouns, verbs, and punctuation and sentence structure (indicated in
the margin) in the following essay:
Everybody wants to have a good father. However, “good father” has different meanings for different
people. Some people believe that a good father must be very kind. The father never punishes the children;
the father never orders the children to do things. The relationship between father and child is friendship.
Some people believe that a good father must provide a good living environment for his children; therefore,
the children can have a good material life.
In my mind, father is father. I never think about if my father is good or bad. I believe that no matter if my
father is good or the best, he is my father. When I was born, I was my father’s daughter. I had no choice.
Also, I believe most fathers, including my father, love their children, even though they treat their children in
many different ways.
When I was a child, I had a lot of time to stay with my father. At that time, my father was a normal
worker. Like other workers, he always arrived home on time. As a result, my father had a lot of time to stay
at home. My father loved to play with me, but before that, I had to finish my homework correctly. When my
father arrived home, the first thing he did was check my homework. If he found some mistakes in my
homework because I was careless, I needed to redo those problems ten times without excuse. But if I did
well in my tests, he would get me a gift to praise me. In his free time, my father loved to hang out with us. As I
can remember, my family always hung out with his friends’ families on the weekend. Therefore, I could go to
many different places and make many new friends.
Time passed. I became a fourth grade student, and my father had his own business. At that time, the
time for my father to stay at home became less and less. He didn’t have time to play with me; he didn’t have
time to check my homework; he didn’t have time to hang out with me. He became very busy. When I got up
in the morning, my father was sleeping; when my father got home, I was sleeping. As a result, I didn’t see
my father for a long time; therefore, in my mind, I always thought that my father didn’t love me anymore so
he didn’t like to play with me. Little by little, my father became very strange to me. I didn’t know how to
communicate with him. When I stayed alone with my father, I couldn’t find any topic to talk to him about. I
remember that when I was a 7th grade student, I couldn’t see the blackboard clearly. My father decided to
bring me to take an eye exam. I had a long time that I didn’t stay alone with my father. When I saw my father,
I was scared. I just called him “Papa.” And then I didn’t know what I could say. My father said, “What
happened to you? Why do you treat me like a stranger? You don’t like to talk to me now. I know I have not
talked to you for a long time, but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I care about you. I am your father.” Even
though my father said it to me, I still didn’t know how to communicate with my father. On that day, I just kept
quiet.
Time passed. I am a college student now. The relationship between my father and me has become
closer than before. At last, I understand the reason my father didn’t play with me was not because he didn’t
like me. In fact, he was very busy. In his mind, he just wanted to try his best to provide a better life for our
family. Moreover, I discovered that my father is one of the people that understand my difficulty in my college
studies. Most of my friends tell me that their parents don’t understand their difficulty. All they can do is try
their best to solve their problems for themselves; their parents can’t give any suggestions to them. At the
beginning, I had the same idea as my friends. However, one thing happened that changed my mind. Last
semester, one day, when I was reading my accounting textbook, my father came into my bedroom. He
asked me what I was reading. I told him,” I am reading my accounting book; it is very difficult. I can’t
understand it.” After he heard that, he pointed out the general ideas for me, and then he gave me some
suggestions about how to learn accounting. At that time, I was very surprised, and I was very happy. I was
happy that I was not alone. My father could give me some tips for my studying. My father cared about me.
After that, we had one more topic to discuss. Even though my father couldn’t tell me the details for my
accounting class, I thought that was good enough for me.
Now, I still don’t have the definition of a good father. But I think the fathers
who never punish their children and the fathers who can only provide a good material life for their
children are not good fathers. However, in my mind, my father is a good father.
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