Now it’s time for you to wear the hat of an editor. Each of the sentences below contains one or more

punctuation errors. Please correct them.

a. Their's is a very special relationship.
b. The exhibition, that was mentioned in the paper, has been canceled.
c. Tom is a widely-read scholar.
d. I’m going to the city market, what would you like for dinner?
e. “Are you ready”? he asked.
f. I enjoy reading books, playing piano, and writing jingles.
g. Let’s go to the mall, it should not be busy there tonight.
h. Sam reportedly told the press about his, “secret life in the CIA.”
i. The attorney prepared her summation well; and she delivered it flawlessly.
j. Billy told the assembled reporters “I have no intention of changing my position on this
important issue.”
k. “It’s just a matter of time;” the clockwatcher told his boss.
l. The plane left according to its scheduled time but bad weather created a late arrival.
m. Her platform on childrens’ rights is right on target.
n. When the fire alarm was triggered for the third time the manager finally evacuated the
building.
o. Thompson, the party’s nominee will appear at its caucus tonight.
p. “Will you be there tonight?,” he asked.
q. I like really thin pasta (the spaghettini type.)
r. I won’t support his candidacy, because of his fraud conviction.
s. Have you read the attorney generals opinion on this?
t. Bill wanted me to know, that his international order has arrived.
u. His theory has come under heavy-criticism.
v. Please get more baked beans (the Boston kind.).
w. Have you read “Beauty and the Beast?”
x. That famous controversial Atkins Diet is in the papers again.
y. Study hard, rest well, and wake up on time.
z. Thompson who is likely to be nominated for the judgeship has a strong voting rights’ record.

a. Theirs is a very special relationship. [Possessive pronouns do not take apostrophes.]

b. The exhibition that was mentioned in the paper has been canceled. [See “Comma”: The relative pronoun that indicates a restrictive construction, so its clause cannot be set off by commas.]

c. Tom is a widely read scholar. [See “Hyphen”: “Use a hyphen to join compound modifiers that precede a noun unless that modifier is preceded by very or an –ly adverb.”]

d. I’m going to the city market. What would you like for dinner? [See “Comma”: “Do not use a comma to separate two independent clauses that are not joined by a coordinating conjunction.”]

e. “Are you ready?” he asked. [See “Question Mark and Exclamation Point”: Because the question mark is part of the quoted material, it belongs inside the quotation mark.]

f. I enjoy reading books, playing piano and writing jingles. [See “Comma”: “When the last item in a series is connected by a coordinating conjunction, the comma should be omitted before that conjunction.”]

g. Let’s go to the mall; it should not be busy there tonight. [See “Semicolon”: Use a semicolon to join independent clauses not connected by a coordinating conjunction.”]

h. Sam reportedly told the press about his “secret life in the CIA.” [See “Comma”: “Do not use a comma to precede a partial quotation.”]

i. The attorney prepared her summation well, and she delivered it flawlessly. [See “Comma”: “Use a comma to separate to independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction.”]

j. Billy told the assembled reporters, “I have no intention of changing my position on this important issue.” [See “Comma”: “If the quotation is a full sentence . . . it should be preceded by a comma.”]

k. “It’s just a matter of time,” the clockwatcher told his boss. [See “Comma”: If the quotation is a full sentence, a comma should follow it.]

l. The plane left according to its scheduled time, but bad weather created a late arrival. [See “Comma”: “Use a comma to separate to independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction.”]

m. Her platform on children’s rights is right on target. [See “Apostrophe”: “If a plural noun does not end in s, add ‘s.”]

n. When the fire alarm was triggered for the third time, the manager finally evacuated the building. [See “Comma”: “Use a comma to set off long introductory clauses and phrases and some shorter clauses and phrases that would be confusing without it.”]

o. Thompson, the party’s nominee, will appear at its caucus tonight. [See “Comma”: “Use commas when the absence of a pause can cause confusion.”]

p. “Will you be there tonight?” he asked. [See “Question Mark and Exclamation Point”: “In direct quotation, remember that the comma is not necessary if the exclamation mark or the question mark is part of the quoted material that precedes attribution.”]

q. I like really thin pasta (the spaghettini type). [See “Question Mark and Exclamation Point”: The period “is ‘in or out’ depending on what the parenthetical material actually is.” If the parenthetical material is a complete sentence, then it should be followed by a period (inside the parentheses).]

r. I won’t support his candidacy because of his fraud conviction. [See “Comma”: “Do not use a comma to introduce a dependent clause.”]

s. Have you read the attorney general’s opinion on this? [See “Apostrophe”: “If a singular noun does not end in s, add ‘s.”]

t. Bill wanted me to know that his international order has arrived. [See “Comma”: “Do not use a comma to separate a subject from its predicate or object. . . . Always be sure the subject of the sentence has a clear, unobstructed route to its predicate when restrictive (essential) elements mark the pathway.”]

u. His theory has come under heavy criticism. [See “Hyphen”: In this case, heavy is a singular— not a compound—modifier of criticism.”]

v. Please get more baked beans (the Boston kind). [See “Question Mark and Exclamation Point”: The period “is ‘in or out’ depending on what the parenthetical material actually is.” If the parenthetical material is a complete sentence, then it should be followed by a period (inside the parentheses).]

w. Have you read “Beauty and the Beast”? [See “Question Mark and Exclamation Point”: “If the question mark or exclamation mark is not part of the quoted material, it belongs outside.”]

x. That famous, controversial Atkins Diet is in the papers again. [See “Comma”: “Use commas to separate descriptive modifiers of equal rank.”]

y. Study hard, rest well and wake up on time. [See “Comma”: “Journalistic writing favors the use of the serial comma: When the last item in a series is connected by a coordinating conjunction, the comma should be omitted before that conjunction.”]

z. Thompson, who is likely to be nominated for the judgeship, has a strong voting rights’ record. [See “Comma”: “Nonrestrictive clauses, phrases and words require commas because they are incidental to the sentence. That is, those elements could be removed from the sentence with little if any loss to meaning or context.”]