It’s standard testing time for many schools. But why should students have all the fun? In honor of National Grammar Day on March 4 and National Proofreading 
Day on March 8, we’re giving you the opportunity to assess your proofreading skills with a little quiz.
We’ve laced the five numbered paragraphs below with errors, some obvious and some a bit sneaky. But they’re all unequivocally wrong. Acceptable variations — such as words with different spellings (e.g., advisor, adviser) or sentences that could be punctuated multiple ways — are not included here.
The figures in parentheses indicate the number of mistakes in each paragraph. Indicate how you would correct the following by providing a corrected version, or do like our editors do and use Word’s Track Changes and Comments features:
- Many errors are subtle rather than blaring and can be hard to spot. Especially when editing your own work, you have to be careful to overlook missing words or inadvertant typos. Although spell check can usually catch mispelled words, it won’t catch words that are spelled correctly but used incorrectly in the subtext. Asking someone else to review what you’ve written can help identity errors you may have missed, thus saveing you from embarassment. (8 errors)
- The Obama administration has lead the way on heathcare reform. But the resulting Affordable Healthcare Act has generated considerable contraversy. The statue has survived repeated repeal attempts and it seems to be gaining flavor in some quarters. Opponents however continue to argue that the administrations’ polices have done more harm then good. How the reform effort will effect Obama’s legacy remains to be seen. (12 errors)
- A recent study showed that life insurers can peak customer’s interests by providing online services such as billing, address updates, forms access and policy information. The study also found that costumers want the ability to initate personnel changes online such as changing beneficaries, requesting loans and withdrawing funds. Companies who respond to these needs will insure they remain ahead of the curve ball. (10 errors)
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CPOD) is the third-most common cause of death in the U.S. It often proceeds chorionic bronchitis and leads to a higher risk of pneumonia. A patient can mange their condition by not smoking. You should also avoid environmental irritants such as secondhand smoke, chemical fumes, dust. A humidfier in the home can help brake up mucous and allow air to flow easier thru your airways. Also consider getting the flu vaccine to keep you as heathly as possible. (15 errors)
- Anti-fraud personel are trained to know when potential frauds — i.e., check kiting or counterfeiting — is present. But what if the fraud was not so clear-cut? Perhaps a situation involving account takeover theft. Information-sharing software should provide legal immunity to the the partys sharing customer information. Today’s financial firms seek complience solutions that deliver additive and complimentary capacitance. Two of the essential key solutions are next-generation connectivity and cloud-based communication software that incorporated many advances in the industry. (12 errors)
Email your answers, either in the body of the email or as a Word or PDF attachment, to info@ProofreadNOW.com. Be sure to put “PRN Quiz” in the subject line of your email to be entered into the contest. Please do not put your answers into the comments field for everyone else to see. ProofreadNOW editors, employees and their relatives don’t get to play.
Whoever submits the entry with the most correct answers will receive a $25 Amazon gift card. In the event of a tie, the winning entry will be the one we received first. Entries must be received no later than 6:00pm ET on March 16 to be eligible. We will announce the winner and publish the answers and explanations in our post next week.
