The passage can be improved with the correct punctuation as follows:
"My favorite activities include reading, writing, and painting. I enjoy these because they help me relax; I also find them to be very rewarding. Sometimes, when I have extra time, I like to write short stories; they allow me to be creative and express my thoughts."
Here's a breakdown of the corrections:
- Removed the semicolon after "include" and replaced it with nothing.
- Added commas after "reading" and "writing."
- Changed "helps" to "help" to agree with the plural subject "activities."
- Changed the colon after "relax" to a semicolon.
- Changed the comma after "Sometimes" to a comma (which is correct but unchanged).
- Replaced the comma after "short stories" with a semicolon.
This version uses correct punctuation throughout the passage.