Editing for Sentence Completeness (1)

Study the lesson on the left, and then apply it, adding periods, commas, or nothing (x) in the blanks. Click "Check" often as you work to see whether each decision is correct.

Reading

Learning where sentences end requires slow and careful reading. Read the following text slowly (aloud if you can manage it), stopping wherever you might reasonably pause for breath if you needed to.

1. Stop there and consider what you have read.

2. Ask yourself whether what you have just read could be understood by itself. Now, we know that pronouns will not be clear without some context, but that is just a question of the meaning of words. Assuming that you know what all the words mean, could you read just that bit and feel it was complete?

3. If so, this may be the end of the sentence. But any "complete thought" can still be enlarged, so you don't yet KNOW that you have reached the end of the sentence. Therefore, read on to the next stopping point.

4. If that next word group does not feel complete all by itself, ask yourself whether it should be attached to the preceding word group or to the following one.

5. If it belongs with the following word group, you have entered a new sentence, so go back to where you stopped the first time and put in a period. Then proceed as before.

6. Note that it will be a huge help to bear in mind that every sentence is either a statement, a question, a command, or an exclamation. If you are asking a question and then find yourself making a statement, you ought to suspect that you have passed from one sentence into another.

Now insert periods, commas, or nothing (x) in the blanks. Click "Check" often as you work to see whether each decision is correct.

THE ATTIC ALWAYS SMELLED OF COAL DUST AS YOU MOUNTED THE BARE WOODEN STEPS TO THE LANDING THE TEMPERATURE IN SUMMER WOULD RISE FIVE DEGREES AND THEN ANOTHER FIVE AS YOU REACHED THE TOP THE LIGHT CAME FROM THREE SIDES BUT ON ONE SIDE THE ROOF SLOPED DOWN TO THE FLOOR AND THE FLOOR BOARDS ENDED BEFORE THE POINT AT WHICH A SMALL CHILD COULD WALK UPRIGHT A CHILD'S DESK SAT IN AN ALCOVE STRAIGHT AHEAD WITH MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S VIOLIN HANGING ON A NAIL OVERHEAD ITS BOW LAY ON THE DESK WHERE I HAD LEFT IT AFTER CUTTING THE HORSEHAIR STRANDS I CAN STILL FEEL THE SPRINGY RELEASE OF THE CUT FIBERS AS THE SCISSORS SLICED THROUGH THEM THEY SEEMED TO LEAP APART AS IF THEY HAD BEEN WAITING AGES FOR THAT LIBERATION THAT WAS THE ONLY MAJOR CRIME I WAS EVER GUILTY OF IN MY GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE THE ONLY TIME SHE LOST HER TEMPER WITH ME THE ONLY TIME I FELT REALLY GUILTY.