Question

Question 1
Paul is writing a story in which two friends are having a conversation, and one friend wants to go have a snack. Paul isn’t sure if he should include a comma in his sentence of dialogue that reads: “Let’s eat Bobby.” Should he include a comma in this sentence? How does the meaning change with and without a comma?

Question 2
Ellie is a horrible speller. She asks her colleague to edit a draft of her email to her team before she sends it. Here are two sentences from the email:

Tommorow its important that our comittee meats to discus the calender changes. I would apreciate everyones fool coperation.

How would her colleague edit these sentences for spelling and rewrite them correctly?

Question 3
Victor has been asked to rewrite his proposal because he has made numerous mistakes involving mechanics. Here is an excerpt from the proposal:

The Company needs to focus on the markets in Northern Ohio, and in Western Indiana. We will meet every wednesday for 3 weeks and the Main team will meet in march.

How would he edit these sentences for mechanics and rewrite them correctly?

Question 4
Tricia has made several mistakes involving numbers in a formal letter she has drafted. Here is an excerpt from the letter:

15 patients called in two thousand thirteen. That number increased to twenty patients in 8 years. Offering each patient five ml of the antibiotic did not help.

How would she edit these sentences to properly write numbers and numerals?

Question 5
Roberto is teaching his new interns how to vary their sentence structure to make their writing more engaging. He gives them a simple sentence: The store opens on Friday. He then challenges them to add to this sentence to create one compound sentence, one complex sentence, and one compound-complex sentence based on this simple sentence. What are three sentences he can offer as examples to demonstrate each of these structures?

Answer 1

1) Yes — include the comma.
- With a comma (vocative): "Let's eat, Bobby." — Bobby is being addressed; the speaker suggests they eat (something) together.
- Without a comma: "Let's eat Bobby." — reads as an imperative to eat Bobby (cannibalism). The comma marks direct address and prevents the unintended meaning.

2) Corrected and smoothed sentences:
- "Tomorrow it's important that our committee meet to discuss the calendar changes."
- "I would appreciate everyone's full cooperation."

(Notes: "Tomorrow" is corrected; use the subjunctive "meet" in this construction; corrected spellings: tomorrow, it's, committee, meet, discuss, calendar, appreciate, everyone's, full, cooperation.)

3) Edited for mechanics:
- "The company needs to focus on the markets in northern Ohio and western Indiana."
- "We will meet every Wednesday for three weeks, and the main team will meet in March."

(Notes: lowercased common noun "company" and directional modifiers "northern/western" unless they are part of a proper name; removed unnecessary comma; capitalized day/month; spelled out small numbers.)

4) Revised with appropriate numerals and words:
- "Fifteen patients called in 2013."
- "That number increased to 20 patients over eight years."
- "Offering each patient 5 mL of the antibiotic did not help."

(Notes: avoid starting a sentence with a numeral so "Fifteen" is spelled out; years are written as numerals; use numerals for counts of 10 or more (20) and for measurements (5 mL); spell out numbers under 10 in running text — e.g., "eight years".)

5) Examples illustrating sentence types (base: "The store opens on Friday.")

- Compound sentence: "The store opens on Friday, and many customers plan to go."
- Complex sentence: "Because the store opens on Friday, I will stop by after work."
- Compound-complex sentence: "The store opens on Friday, and many customers plan to go because it will be offering discounts."