Proofreading Worksheet - Free Printable

Let’s go through the paragraph carefully and find all the mistakes. We’ll look for:

- Spelling errors
- Missing or extra words
- Punctuation problems (like missing periods or commas)
- Capitalization issues
- Grammar mistakes

Here is the original text with line breaks added to make it easier to count:

> 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 fix each mistake one by one.

---

Line 1:
“I have a really cool fish tank lots of excitin”

→ Missing comma after “tank” — should be: “fish tank, lots of excitin”
→ “excitin” is misspelled — should be “exciting”

Mistakes so far: 2

---

Line 2:
“things inside. Their is guppies, tetras, and a tiny shark inside.”

→ “Their” is wrong — should be “There” (because we’re talking about existence, not possession)
→ Also, “inside” is repeated — it says “inside” at end of line 1 and again here. But since line 1 ends with “excitin”, and line 2 starts with “things inside”, that’s actually okay — but wait, line 1 says “lots of excitin things inside” — so “inside” is already used. Then line 2 says “Their is guppies... inside” — that’s redundant. But maybe it’s intentional? Let’s check grammar first.

Actually, the bigger issue is “Their is” → should be “There are” because “guppies, tetras, and a tiny shark” is plural.

So:
- “Their” → “There”
- “is” → “are” (subject-verb agreement)

Also, “inside” at the end is redundant but not strictly a grammar error — we’ll count only clear mistakes.

Mistakes so far: +2 = 4

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Line 3:
“their are three snail that climb up the glass walls.”

→ “their” → should be “there” (again, existence)
→ “snail” → should be “snails” (plural, because it says “three”)
→ “that climb” — this is okay, but sometimes people use “who” for animals with names, but “that” is acceptable.

Mistakes: +2 = 6

---

Line 4:
“They eate the green algae”

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

Mistake: +1 = 7

---

Line 5:
“and keep the tank clean. A frog named flipper also live”

→ “flipper” should be capitalized — it’s a name → “Flipper”
→ “live” → should be “lives” (because “a frog” is singular)

Mistakes: +2 = 9

---

Line 6:
“in the tank, but he usually hide under the rocks.”

→ “hide” → should be “hides” (again, subject-verb agreement: “he hides”)

Mistake: +1 = 10

---

Line 7:
“It’s fun to watch all the different creatures in mi tank.”

→ “mi” → should be “my”

Mistake: +1 = 11

---

Wait — did we miss anything?

Let’s double-check:

Original corrected version should read:

> I have a really cool fish tank, lots of exciting
> things inside. There are guppies, tetras, and a tiny shark inside. Also,
> there are three snails that climb up the glass walls. They eat the green algae
> and keep the tank clean. A frog named Flipper also lives
> in the tank, but he usually hides under the rocks. It’s fun to
> watch all the different creatures in my tank.

Now list of fixes:

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

That’s 11 mistakes.

But wait — in line 2, we have “inside” twice? Is that a mistake?

Original:
Line 1 ends: “lots of excitin things inside.”
Line 2 starts: “Their is guppies, tetras, and a tiny shark inside.”

So “inside” appears at end of sentence 1 and end of sentence 2. That’s repetitive, but not grammatically wrong. Some teachers might mark it as style, but unless specified, we stick to grammar/spelling/punctuation.

Also, in line 1: “I have a really cool fish tank lots of excitin things inside.” — without a comma, it’s a run-on. So adding comma is correct.

Another thing: In line 3, “that climb” — some might argue it should be “which climb” or “who climb”, but “that” is fine for animals in informal writing.

We’ll stick with 11.

But let me recount using the checklist from the worksheet:

The left side has icons for:

- Comma splice / missing comma
- Misspelled word
- Subject-verb agreement
- Wrong homophone (their/there)
- Plural/singular noun
- Verb tense/form
- Capitalization
- Possessive/pronoun error

Let’s map:

1. Missing comma after “tank” → comma error ✔
2. “excitin” → spelling ✔
3. “Their” → homophone (should be There) ✔
4. “is” → subject-verb (should be are) ✔
5. “their” → homophone (should be there) ✔
6. “snail” → plural (should be snails) ✔
7. “eate” → spelling ✔
8. “flipper” → capitalization ✔
9. “live” → subject-verb (should be lives) ✔
10. “hide” → subject-verb (should be hides) ✔
11. “mi” → pronoun (should be my) ✔

Yes, 11 total.

Final Answer:
11