help with proofreading marks

Question

will you check to see if I identified all the proofreading marks in this paragraph.

 

 

     The goldfinch is a small, yellow bird with black and white striped wings.  Gold-

finches are common through out most of North America, but their winter plumage

is much duller thant that of the males spring and early summer plumage that they

are often misidentified, in other seasons.  They can be identified by their short,

conical bill; small head, long wings; and short, notched tail.  golfinches can often be seen

around bird feeders.  They like to eat the seeds that fall on the ground beneath the

feeders

 

 

1.  period after feeders in last sentence.

2.  Upper G and spell goldfinches correctly in the 5th line

3.  Comma between ground and beneath in the 6th line

4.  Period after America in line 2

5.  Rewrite sentence in 2nd and 3rd line as Their winter plumage is much duller than males in early spring.  In early summer they are often misidentified than in other seasons.

 

 

thanks

 

Answer 1

Here are all the mistakes I found:

1. Goldfinch should be capitalized
2. "thant that" should be than that
3. "through out" should be one word
4. "males" should be made male's to be possessive 
5. **more on this sentence below
6. In the "they can be identified by" sentence, the semi-colons should be commas
7. Goldfinches is misspelled and not capitalized in the second to last sentence
8. The period between the last two sentences can be replaced with a semi-colon: Goldfinches can often be seen around bird feeders; they like to eat the seeds that fall on the ground beneath [them][.]

 

3. Comma between ground and beneath in the 6th line

 

You don't need a comma here.

5. Rewrite sentence in 2nd and 3rd line as Their winter plumage is much duller than males in early spring. In early summer they are often misidentified than in other seasons.

 

"Goldfinches are common through out most of North America, but their winter plumage
is much duller thant that of the males spring and early summer plumage that they
are often misidentified, in other seasons."

 

**This needs to be three sentences and reworded.

 

Goldfinches are common throughout most of North America.

 

A male's winter plumage is much duller than its spring and early summer plumage.

 

They are often misidentified in other seasons.

Answer 2

It looks like you got a few, but a handful of mistakes slipped past.

 

Technically, "goldfinch" should NOT be capitalized in the first sentence, as it is not a proper noun. In terms of both grammar and bird taxonomy, it's correct as-is. However, it should be capitalized in the second-to-last sentence, since it's the first word in the sentence. It's also misspelled in that sentence as "golfinches" (missing the d).

 

The semicolons are actually correct in the third-to-last sentence (starting with "They can be identified") and should be left there. However, it would read better like this: "They can be identified by their short,
conical bills; their small heads and long wings; and their short, notched tails." Note that I changed bill, head, and tail in that sentence to plurals (since the subject of the sentence is plural, the objects should be as well).

 

Other mistakes:

- The last sentence is missing a period at the end.

- This sentence starting with "Goldfinches are common" is really unclear. If this is within the scope of the assignment, I'd recommend rephrasing it to read "Although goldfinches are common throughout most of North America, the males' spring and summer plumage is so distinctive that females and winter males may be misidentified" (since females and winter males look pretty similar, this should be clarified) Also in that sentence, "thant" should be "than."

- The last two sentences could be combined to decrease repetition: "Goldfinches like to eat the seeds that fall from bird feeders, so they can often be seen nearby."

 

I hope that this was helpful!

Answer 3

Hello, L!

I see a few more problems with the paragraph.

-Goldfinch should be capitalized in the first sentence.
-'black and white' would be better written as black-and-white.
-through out should be throughout. (Second sentence)
-In the sentence starting with, "They can be identified," replace the semi-colons with commas.

In your third comment, I would not put a comma between "ground," and "beneath." Beneath is tied more to ground, rather than as an extra statement about where the birds eat. I may be wrong on this one, though.

In your fifth comment, whose plumage is duller than males? Females? You will need to specify. You will need to also specify who "they" is in your second sentence. Also, add a comma after, "In early summer."

 

Hope this helps.