LEARN ENGLISH WRITING
Here are the writing exercises for this week.
- write the second draft of the reflective story about Seconds
- complete editing exercises to improve basic writing skills
- complete editing for articles exercise – it’s good practice
- an exercise to practice writing control – movement and progress
- check answers for chapter 5 in the textbook
ESL Editing Exercises – Basic Errors
Here are three short paragraphs. Find the mistakes (mostly punctuation and spelling, about 10 mistakes per paragraph) and rewrite the paragraph. The answers are below. Or download the worksheet.
Part 1
January 21, 1976 was an historic day. One that day, two supersonic Concorde aircraft made there first flights one took of from London and the other from paris. Later that year, the first Concorde flew to New York. The flight from London to New York took about three ours. Other planes took twice the time to make that flight! The fleet of Concorde’s was retierd in 2003. Over the years, the planes had carryed more then 2.5 million passengers.
Part 2
Do you know wear the longest rode on Earth can be found. The Pan-American Highway begins in alaska. It passes through Canada United States and Mexico. Than it continues down the West coast of South America all the way to the Chile. Altogether, the highway passes through 12 countrys. It passes through jungles and mountains the road is about 16,000 miles long.
Part 3
Are you familiar with the work of marie curie. Born in Warsaw Poland, on November 7, 1867, Curie was a Chemist and physicist. She and her husband Pierre won the Nobel Prize in 1903 for there discovery of the element radium. In 1911, Marie becomes the first person to win the nobel Prize twice she won the second award for her study of radioactivity. Marie died in 1934 from cancer cause by her contact with radiation.
ESL Editing Exercises – Articles
Here is a familiar children’s story. Add the correct definite (the) or indefinite (a/an) article or nothing.
Part 1
Once upon ______ time, there was ______ shepherd boy who was sitting on ______ hillside watching ______ village sheep. However, he was bored, so he decided to play ______ trick on ______ villagers. He screamed at ______ top of his voice, “Wolf! Wolf! ______ wolf is chasing sheep!”
The villagers came running up ______ hill as fast as they could to help ______ boy. But when they arrived, they couldn’t see ______ wolf. ______ boy laughed his head off, when he saw their angry faces. “Don’t cry ‘wolf’,” said ______ villagers, “when there is no wolf!” And off they went back down ______ hill.
______ young boy, who thought this was ______ great game, decided to do ______ same thing again ______ couple of days later.
Part 2
He cried out, “Wolf! Wolf! ______ wolf is chasing sheep!” To his delight, he watched ______ villagers run up ______ hill to help him. When ______ villagers saw that there was no wolf they said, in ______ very unfriendly voice, “Don’t cry ‘wolf’ when there is NO wolf!” But ______ boy just smiled and watched them go grumbling down ______ hill yet again.
Later, he saw ______ real wolf, which was prowling about his flock. Frightened, he leaped to his feet and screamed as loudly as he could, “Wolf! Wolf!” ______ villagers heard him calling for help, but they thought it was just another one of his tricks, and so they ignored him.
Part 3
In ______ evening, everyone wondered why ______ shepherd boy hadn’t returned to village with their sheep, so they went up ______ hill to look for him. They found him weeping, but they couldn’t see their sheep. They asked ______ boy why he was crying and where their sheep were. He said, “There really was ______ wolf here! The sheep have run away! I cried, “Wolf! But nobody came to help me.”
______ old man tried to comfort ______ boy as they walked back to ______ village. “We’ll help you look for ______ lost sheep in ______ morning,” he said, putting his arm around ______ boy.
______ moral of ______ story is that, “Nobody believes ______ liar…even when he is telling ______ truth!”
PHOTO CREDIT
The image in this post comes from Tim Bouwer and its use complies with the owner’s creative commons licensing terms.
ESL Editing Exercises – Answers
Part 1
January 21, 1976, was an historic day. On that day, two supersonic Concorde aircraft made their first flights. One took off from London and the other from Paris. Later that year, the first Concorde flew to New York. The flight from London to New York took about three hours. Other planes took twice the time to make that flight! The fleet of Concordes was retired in 2003. Over the years, the planes had carried more than 2.5 million passengers.
Part 2
Do you know where the longest road on Earth can be found? The Pan-American Highway begins in Alaska. It passes through Canada, the United States and Mexico. Then it continues down the west coast of South America all the way to Chile. Altogether, the highway passes through 12 countries. It passes through jungles and mountains. The road is about 16,000 miles long.
Part 3
Are you familiar with the work of Marie Curie? Born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867, Curie was a chemist and physicist. She and her husband, Pierre, won the Nobel Prize in 1903 for their discovery of the element radium. In 1911, Marie became the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice. She won the second award for her study of radioactivity. Marie died in 1934 from cancer caused by her contact with radiation.
ESL Editing Articles – Answers
Part 1
Once upon a time, there was a shepherd boy who was sitting on a hillside watching the village sheep. However, he was bored, so he decided to play a trick on the villagers. He screamed at the top of his voice, “Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is chasing sheep!”
The villagers came running up the hill as fast as they could to help the boy. But when they arrived, they couldn’t see a wolf. The boy laughed his head off, when he saw their angry faces. “Don’t cry ‘wolf’,” said the villagers, “when there is no wolf!” And off they went back down the hill.
The young boy, who thought this was a great game, decided to do the same thing again a couple of days later.
Part 2
He cried out, “Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is chasing sheep!” To his delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him. When the villagers saw that there was no wolf they said, in a very unfriendly voice, “Don’t cry ‘wolf’ when there is NO wolf!” But the boy just smiled and watched them go grumbling down the hill yet again.
Later, he saw a real wolf, which was prowling about his flock. Frightened, he leaped to his feet and screamed as loudly as he could, “Wolf! Wolf!” The villagers heard him calling for help, but they thought it was just another one of his tricks, and so they ignored him.
Part 3
In the evening, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn’t returned to village with their sheep, so they went up the hill to look for him. They found him weeping, but they couldn’t see their sheep. They asked the boy why he was crying and where their sheep were. He said, “There really was a wolf here! The sheep have run away! I cried, “Wolf! But nobody came to help me.” An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village. “We’ll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning,” he said, putting his arm around the boy.
The moral of the story is that, “Nobody believes a liar…even when he is telling the truth!”