Revising and Editing Writing Worksheets - Free Printable

Let’s solve this step by step.

We are given a passage with no capital letters, speech marks, full stops, or commas. Our job is to:

1. Add the correct punctuation (capital letters, speech marks, full stops, commas).
2. Split the passage into four paragraphs (not counting indentations for direct speech).

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First, let’s read through the text and find where sentences begin and end, and where someone is speaking.

The story starts with “the iron man stood up straight...” — that should be capitalized: “The Iron Man stood up straight.”

Then we see: “slowly he turned till he was looking directly at hogarth” — “Hogarth” is a name, so it needs a capital letter.

Next: “we’re sorry we trapped you and buried you shouted the little boy” — this is clearly someone speaking! So we need to put quotation marks around what the boy says, and add a comma before “shouted”.

So:
“We’re sorry we trapped you and buried you,” shouted the little boy.

Then: “we promise we’ll not deceive you again follow us and you can have all the metal you want brass too aluminium too and lots of chrome follow us”

This is still the boy talking — so it continues in quotes. We should break this into sensible sentences.

“We promise we’ll not deceive you again. Follow us, and you can have all the metal you want — brass too, aluminium too, and lots of chrome. Follow us!”

Now, after that, the narration resumes: “the iron man pushed aside the boughs and came into the lane hogarth joined the farmers slowly they drove back down the lane...”

We need to capitalize “The Iron Man”, “Hogarth”, and start new sentences where needed.

Also, note: “slowly they drove back down the lane and slowly with all his cogs humming the iron man stepped after them” — this is one long sentence but can be broken for clarity.

Then: “they led through the villages half the people came out to stare half ran to shut themselves inside bedrooms and kitchens nobody could believe their eyes when they saw the iron man marching behind the farmers”

Again, we need to split into proper sentences.

Finally: “at last they came to the town and there was a great scrap-metal yard everything was there old cars by the hundred old trucks old railway engines old stoves old refrigerators old springs bedsteads bicycles girders gates pans - all the scrap iron of the region was piled up there rusting away”

This describes the scrapyard — we can make a list with commas and end with a full stop.

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Now, let’s think about paragraph breaks.

Paragraph 1: The Iron Man stands up, turns to Hogarth, and the boy speaks to him.

Paragraph 2: The Iron Man follows them down the lane, through the villages, people react.

Paragraph 3: They arrive at the town and see the scrap-metal yard.

Wait — actually, let’s look again.

Better breakdown:

Paragraph 1: From start until the boy finishes speaking → ends with “Follow us!”

Paragraph 2: The Iron Man moves, joins the farmers, they drive off, he follows, go through villages, people react.

Paragraph 3: Arrival at the town, description of the scrapyard.

But the task says FOUR paragraphs.

Let’s try:

Paragraph 1: The Iron Man stands up and turns to Hogarth. Boy begins speaking.

Paragraph 2: Boy continues speaking — promises metal, etc.

Paragraph 3: The Iron Man follows them down the lane, through villages, people’s reactions.

Paragraph 4: Arrival at town, description of scrapyard.

That works.

Actually, looking at natural breaks:

- First part: Action + boy’s first sentence.
- Second part: Boy’s promise and offer.
- Third part: Movement through lane and villages.
- Fourth part: Arrival at town and scrapyard.

Yes.

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Now, let’s write the corrected version with punctuation and paragraph breaks.

Remember: Capitalize first word of each sentence, names, “I”, start of dialogue. Use quotation marks for speech. Commas for lists and pauses. Full stops to end sentences.

Here’s the fully corrected and paragraphed version:

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Paragraph 1:

The Iron Man stood up straight. Slowly, he turned till he was looking directly at Hogarth.
“We’re sorry we trapped you and buried you,” shouted the little boy.

Paragraph 2:

“We promise we’ll not deceive you again. Follow us, and you can have all the metal you want — brass too, aluminium too, and lots of chrome. Follow us!”

Paragraph 3:

The Iron Man pushed aside the boughs and came into the lane. Hogarth joined the farmers. Slowly, they drove back down the lane, and slowly, with all his cogs humming, the Iron Man stepped after them. They led through the villages. Half the people came out to stare; half ran to shut themselves inside bedrooms and kitchens. Nobody could believe their eyes when they saw the Iron Man marching behind the farmers.

Paragraph 4:

At last, they came to the town, and there was a great scrap-metal yard. Everything was there: old cars by the hundred, old trucks, old railway engines, old stoves, old refrigerators, old springs, bedsteads, bicycles, girders, gates, pans — all the scrap iron of the region was piled up there, rusting away.

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Note: In Paragraph 3, I used a semicolon (;) to join two closely related independent clauses (“Half the people...; half ran...”) — this is acceptable and improves flow. Alternatively, you could use a period and make two sentences. But since the original didn’t specify strict rules beyond basic punctuation, this is fine.

Also, in Paragraph 4, I used a colon (:) after “Everything was there” to introduce the list — again, optional but helpful. You could also just use commas.

For school level, using commas and periods is safest.

Let me adjust slightly to keep it simple:

In Paragraph 4:
“At last, they came to the town, and there was a great scrap-metal yard. Everything was there — old cars by the hundred, old trucks, old railway engines, old stoves, old refrigerators, old springs, bedsteads, bicycles, girders, gates, pans. All the scrap iron of the region was piled up there, rusting away.”

Used em dash (—) or hyphen (-) is okay. Original had a hyphen, so we can keep that.

Final version with minimal advanced punctuation:

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Paragraph 1:

The Iron Man stood up straight. Slowly, he turned till he was looking directly at Hogarth.
“We’re sorry we trapped you and buried you,” shouted the little boy.

Paragraph 2:

“We promise we’ll not deceive you again. Follow us, and you can have all the metal you want — brass too, aluminium too, and lots of chrome. Follow us!”

Paragraph 3:

The Iron Man pushed aside the boughs and came into the lane. Hogarth joined the farmers. Slowly, they drove back down the lane, and slowly, with all his cogs humming, the Iron Man stepped after them. They led through the villages. Half the people came out to stare. Half ran to shut themselves inside bedrooms and kitchens. Nobody could believe their eyes when they saw the Iron Man marching behind the farmers.

Paragraph 4:

At last, they came to the town, and there was a great scrap-metal yard. Everything was there — old cars by the hundred, old trucks, old railway engines, old stoves, old refrigerators, old springs, bedsteads, bicycles, girders, gates, pans. All the scrap iron of the region was piled up there, rusting away.

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This meets all requirements:

- Added capitals, speech marks, full stops, commas.
- Split into four clear paragraphs.
- Direct speech is properly quoted and punctuated.
- Names are capitalized.
- Sentences are complete and logical.

Final Answer:

The corrected and paragraphed passage is:

Paragraph 1:
The Iron Man stood up straight. Slowly, he turned till he was looking directly at Hogarth.
“We’re sorry we trapped you and buried you,” shouted the little boy.

Paragraph 2:
“We promise we’ll not deceive you again. Follow us, and you can have all the metal you want — brass too, aluminium too, and lots of chrome. Follow us!”

Paragraph 3:
The Iron Man pushed aside the boughs and came into the lane. Hogarth joined the farmers. Slowly, they drove back down the lane, and slowly, with all his cogs humming, the Iron Man stepped after them. They led through the villages. Half the people came out to stare. Half ran to shut themselves inside bedrooms and kitchens. Nobody could believe their eyes when they saw the Iron Man marching behind the farmers.

Paragraph 4:
At last, they came to the town, and there was a great scrap-metal yard. Everything was there — old cars by the hundred, old trucks, old railway engines, old stoves, old refrigerators, old springs, bedsteads, bicycles, girders, gates, pans. All the scrap iron of the region was piled up there, rusting away.