GTTP Lesson 1

Part l
        Please correct the following sentences, paying close attention to the end punctuation.  Once corrected, please show the rule you used.

1.  "Did you ever consider calling him first?" her mother asked

(question marks: rule 3: question mark inside quotation marks)

2.  She asked the operator if she could make a collect call.

(period: rule 2:  indirect question)

3.  Jacob made supper for the entire family.

(period: rule1: complete sentence )

4.  "Call the police!" he shouted.

(exclamation point: rule 1: in quote; also period: rule 1: complete sentence)

5.  Have you filed for bankruptcy?

(question: rule  1: asking)

6.  Stephen wondered if he should stop for gas.

(period: rule 1: complete sentence )

7.  "Carla called and said she would be late."

(period: rule 1: complete sentence )

8.  How can you talk to me like that?

(question: rule  1: asking)

9.  We watch the sunrise every morning.

(period: rule 1: complete sentence)

10.  "Step away from the car!" the FBI agent shouted.

(exclamation point: rule 1: in quote; also period: rule 1: complete sentence)

11.  The drug dealers were raided by the DEA.

(period: rule 1: complete sentence)


12.  By the end of the term, I will be a M.D.

(period: rule 3 & 4: abb. need a period & don’t follow with another period at end of a sentence)

13.  Do you honestly expect me to eat this.

(question: rule  2: rhetorical)

14.  Sheltered in his arms, she wondered if he was telling her the truth.

(period: rule 1: complete sentence)

15.  Did anyone verify that he was CIA?

(Irregular abb. Gov. abb.  also question: rule 1: asking)

16.  The waiter asked if we were ready for dessert.

(period: rule2: indirect question)

17.  She is so catty.

(period: rule 1: complete sentence)

18.  They were from Birmingham, AL.

(period: rule 1: complete sentence)

19.  "Did you just hang up on him?" she laughed.

(question marks: rule 3: question mark inside quotation marks)

20.  Marge did the laundry, dishes, dusting, etc. I did the vacuuming.

(Periods: rule 4: don’t follow with another period at end of sentence)


Part ll
        Fill in the punctuation for the following paragraph taken from The National Geographic, June 2008.
Postal Modern


        It's such a cliché:  "I'll send you a postcard."  But a century ago, the cards carried more than just vacation greetings.  They were the almost-instant messages of their time.  Back then, letter carriers made up to seven deliveries a day in big cities like New York.  Correspondents asked about health, made dinner plans, and pursued sweethearts.  "Why don't you write?" One young Colorado woman demanded of her beau (who ended up marrying another).  On early cards, addresses were on one side, and the missives went on the picture.  Then in 1907, the "divided back" debuted in the US:  address and message shared the flip side so images weren't sullied by scrawl.  This is a card folks use today, and use it they do.  Last year, Americans sent over two billion postcards.  --Catherine L. Barker





From 1984, by George Orwell
The Challenge

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.  Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats.  At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall.  It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features.  Winston made for the stairs.  It was no use trying the lift.  Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours.  It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week.  The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way.  On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall.  It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move.  BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran. 2