Editing and Proofreading Worksheets - 15 Worksheets Library - Free Printable

Let’s go step by step to find and fix the mistakes in the paragraph.

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Original text:

> Of all the different household chores, I dislike laundry the most! I don’t mind puting the laundry in the washing machine or pulling wet laundry out of the washer and heaving it into the drier. Its folding and hanging and putting away all the Laundry that I can’t stand, so I tend to not do it. Then I end up with heaps of clean dry wrinkled laundry on various pieces of furniture. I wish I had a made to do this for me?

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Step 1: Find spelling errors

- “puting” → should be putting (double ‘t’)
- “drier” → when talking about the appliance, it’s usually spelled dryer
- “Laundry” → capitalized incorrectly; should be lowercase laundry unless starting a sentence
- “a made” → probably meant maid (someone who does chores)

→ So far: 4 spelling/word choice errors

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Step 2: Check grammar and punctuation

- “Its folding...” → Should be It’s (contraction of “it is”), not “its” (possessive)
- “so I tend to not do it.” → This is awkward. Better: “so I tend not to do it.” But since we’re only correcting clear errors, let’s note: “tend to not” is grammatically acceptable but less common — however, many teachers would mark this as an error. Let’s count it as 1 error for now.
- Last sentence: “I wish I had a made to do this for me?” → Ends with a question mark, but it’s not a question. Should be a period. Also, “a made” → “a maid”

→ That’s 3 more errors: “Its” → “It’s”, “tend to not” → “tend not to”, and wrong punctuation at end + “made” → “maid” (already counted above)

Wait — let’s recount carefully:

List of actual distinct errors:

1. puting → putting
2. drier → dryer
3. Its → It’s
4. Laundry → laundry (capitalization)
5. tend to not → tend not to (awkward phrasing — often corrected in editing)
6. a made → a maid
7. ? at end of last sentence → should be .

That’s 7 errors.

But wait — let’s read again:

> “I wish I had a made to do this for me?”

Actually, “a made” is two words — but it’s clearly meant to be “a maid”. So that’s one word error.

Also, the question mark is definitely wrong — it’s a statement expressing a wish, not a question.

Another possible error: “heaps of clean dry wrinkled laundry” — missing commas? Like “clean, dry, wrinkled”? In formal writing, yes — but in casual writing, sometimes omitted. Since this is an editing exercise, likely expected to add commas between adjectives.

So:

8. Missing commas: “clean, dry, wrinkled”

Now we have 8.

Is there anything else?

“Heaving it into the drier” — “heaving” is correct (means lifting heavily), so no error there.

“pulling wet laundry out of the washer” — fine.

“folding and hanging and putting away” — repetitive “and”, but not necessarily wrong. Could be improved, but not an error per se.

So total errors found:

✔ Spelling:
- puting → putting
- drier → dryer
- made → maid

✔ Grammar/Punctuation/Capitalization:
- Its → It’s
- Laundry → laundry
- tend to not → tend not to (style/grammar)
- ? → .
- clean dry wrinkled → clean, dry, wrinkled (comma usage)

That’s 8 errors.

Some might argue “tend to not” isn’t strictly wrong — but in school editing exercises, they usually want you to fix awkward constructions like that.

Also, some might say “heaps” is informal — but again, not an error.

Let’s stick with 8.

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Now, rewrite the corrected version:

> Of all the different household chores, I dislike laundry the most! I don’t mind putting the laundry in the washing machine or pulling wet laundry out of the washer and heaving it into the dryer. It’s folding and hanging and putting away all the laundry that I can’t stand, so I tend not to do it. Then I end up with heaps of clean, dry, wrinkled laundry on various pieces of furniture. I wish I had a maid to do this for me.

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Final Answer:
You found 8 mistakes.

Corrected text:
Of all the different household chores, I dislike laundry the most! I don’t mind putting the laundry in the washing machine or pulling wet laundry out of the washer and heaving it into the dryer. It’s folding and hanging and putting away all the laundry that I can’t stand, so I tend not to do it. Then I end up with heaps of clean, dry, wrinkled laundry on various pieces of furniture. I wish I had a maid to do this for me.