Making Grammar Relevant with Facebook Faux Pas

My writing students have always enjoyed proofreading with the Daily Paragraph Editing books. My daughter joined the Facebook craze on her 13th birthday, and one of my conditions was that she use correct grammar and spelling. She's been great about it, and I was tickled (and a little chagrined) one day to see that she'd corrected her friend's spelling on a status. So I thought: why not make daily status editing exercises for my daughter?

I did a quick scan of my Facebook friends and came up with a great list. This is just one day's collection, and I'm sure I'll never run out of examples! If you'd like a change from your regular editing exercises or just to add a little variety to your grammar program, feel free to start with these and then find some more on your own. Trust me, it's easy!

(Here's a link to common proofreaders' marks if you don't have that handy.)

You can buy this assignment on Teachers Pay Teachers for just $1!


Making Grammar Relevant: Facebook Faux Pas

In many ways, your Facebook page reflects who you are. You choose your friends, join groups, accept “Flair” and bumper stickers, add your lists of “likes,” and more. You also set our own status and make your own comments. You make the choice: will you take the time to use correct grammar and spelling, or will you take the easy way out?

Directions: Each of these “sentences” below comes from an actual Facebook group or status. Your assignment is to correct these sentences. Look for errors in grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and more. Write the corrected sentence under the original.

1. almost done with homework then babysitting the adorable riley boys then church then hopefully going to eat at burger king!
2. Thank you SO Much for the Happy Birthday wishes, it makes my day a little more special. I have some great friends and an amazing Family!
3. Life isn't about Worrying. Thats a waste of time.
4. I wish you werent so far away so i could share all my happiness with you.
5. I sprang my knee n i cant get up!
6. I hate my english teacher seriously shes an idiot
7. I do believe he would have ran all morning if I did not stop him.
8. Sorry I never texted you back, I had dinner then my phone died
9. dont know my friends address but I know exactly where theyre house is!
10. We get wear jeans tomarow but not sneakers, what's the point of wearing jeans then?
11. i can’t talk to you anymore, its not that I a mad at you, it’s just that when I talk to you I realize how much I love you and when I realize how much I love you, I realize I can’t have you and that makes me love you even more.
12. I love going to a concert and loosing your voice the next day.
13. The same person who laughs, talks a lot and seems happy, may also be the person who cry’s themselves to sleep.
14. please don;t be evil, its not very nice you know.
15. i just cleaned out the friends list if your still here your lucky.
16. i have 3 tests this week two of which are tomorrow I hate this week already.


Answer Key
Note: These are suggested corrections. There will be more than one way that a student could correct each sentence.
1. I am almost done with homework. Later I’ll be babysitting the adorable Riley boys, heading to church, and then hopefully going to eat at Burger King.
2. Thank you so much for the birthday wishes. It made my day a little more special. I have some great friends and an amazing family!
3. Life isn’t about worrying. That’s a waste of time.
4. I wish you weren’t so far away, so I could share all my happiness with you.
5. I sprained my knee, and I can’t get up!
6. I hate my English teacher. Seriously, she’s an idiot.
(Better yet: I love my English teacher. She’s brilliant.)
7. I do believe he would have run all morning if I did not stop him.
8. I’m sorry that I never texted you back; I had dinner, and then my phone died.
(Even better: I’m sorry that I didn’t return your text message. I had dinner, and then my phone died.)
9. I don’t know my friends’ addresses, but I know exactly where their houses are!
10. We get to wear jeans tomorrow but not sneakers. What’s the point of wearing jeans at all?
11. I can’t talk to you anymore. It’s not that I am mad at you; it’s just that when I talk to you, I realize how much I love you. When I realize how much I love you, I realize I can’t have you. That makes me love you even more.
12. I love going to a concert and losing my voice the next day.
13. The same person who laughs, talks a lot, and seems happy, may also be the person who cries herself to sleep.
14. Please don’t be evil; it’s not very nice.
15. I just cleaned out my friends list. If you’re still here, you’re lucky.
16. I have three tests this week, two of which are tomorrow. I hate this week already.

© Sarah Small, 2010.