Proofreading Paragraphs - Printable Worksheets - Free Printable

Let’s go through the editing task step by step.

We are looking for mistakes in the paragraph about the “Fish Tank.” The goal is to find and fix errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, or word choice.

Here’s the original text:

> I have a really cool fish tank lots of excitin things inside. Their is guppies, tetras, and a tiny shark inside. Also, their are three snail that climb up the glass walls. They eate the green algae and keep the tank clean. A frog named flipper also live in the tank, but he usually hide under the rocks. It’s fun to watch all the different creatures in mi tank.

Now let’s check each sentence one at a time.

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Sentence 1:
> I have a really cool fish tank lots of excitin things inside.

- Missing comma after “tank” — it should be: “I have a really cool fish tank, lots of excitin things inside.”
- “excitin” is misspelled → should be “exciting”

✔ Mistakes so far: 2

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Sentence 2:
> Their is guppies, tetras, and a tiny shark inside.

- “Their” is wrong here — it should be “There” (meaning “exists”)
- Subject-verb agreement: “guppies, tetras, and a tiny shark” = plural → verb should be “are”, not “is”

So: “There are guppies, tetras, and a tiny shark inside.”

✔ Mistakes so far: 4

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Sentence 3:
> Also, their are three snail that climb up the glass walls.

- Again, “their” should be “there”
- “snail” should be plural → “snails” (because it says “three”)

So: “Also, there are three snails that climb up the glass walls.”

✔ Mistakes so far: 6

---

Sentence 4:
> They eate the green algae and keep the tank clean.

- “eate” is misspelled → should be “eat”

✔ Mistakes so far: 7

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Sentence 5:
> A frog named flipper also live in the tank, but he usually hide under the rocks.

- “flipper” should be capitalized → “Flipper” (it’s a name)
- “live” should be “lives” (frog is singular → third person singular verb)
- “hide” should be “hides” (same reason — “he hides”)

So: “A frog named Flipper also lives in the tank, but he usually hides under the rocks.”

✔ Mistakes so far: 10

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Sentence 6:
> It’s fun to watch all the different creatures in mi tank.

- “mi” is misspelled → should be “my”

✔ Total mistakes found: 11

Wait — let’s double-check we didn’t miss anything.

List of corrections made:

1. Added comma after “tank” in first sentence
2. Fixed “excitin” → “exciting”
3. Changed “Their” → “There” in second sentence
4. Changed “is” → “are” in second sentence
5. Changed “their” → “there” in third sentence
6. Changed “snail” → “snails” in third sentence
7. Fixed “eate” → “eat” in fourth sentence
8. Capitalized “flipper” → “Flipper” in fifth sentence
9. Changed “live” → “lives” in fifth sentence
10. Changed “hide” → “hides” in fifth sentence
11. Fixed “mi” → “my” in sixth sentence

That’s 11 total mistakes.

But wait — sometimes teachers count missing commas as one mistake even if they’re part of a run-on. Let’s look again at Sentence 1:

“I have a really cool fish tank lots of excitin things inside.”

This is actually two ideas stuck together without proper punctuation. It could be fixed with a comma OR by making it two sentences. But since the instruction is to edit for mistakes, and this is clearly a run-on error, counting the missing comma as one mistake is fair.

Also, note: In some grading systems, subject-verb agreement errors might be counted per instance — which we did.

Another thing: Is “tiny shark” realistic? Probably not — but that’s not a grammar/spelling mistake, just factual. We don’t correct facts unless told to.

So yes — 11 mistakes total.

Final Answer:
11