Eight Corrections on the Green Club Page
The Class XI magazine editorial team has one afternoon to proofread the 'Green Club' page. The drafts must be 120 words, keep the writer's meaning, and follow the British spelling used in the school. The submitted paragraph reads:
'Our Green Club have planted 45 saplings in the school campus on 5 June. Each class were given five saplings and a bag of manure. The students which volunteered worked from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. One of the saplings were damaged by the rain, so we has replaced it. We are planting more trees last year than this year. The principal said that he will inaugurate the garden next month. We request all students to bring their own water bottles and to not waste paper.'
The editor, Kavin, is allowed to make only eight corrections and must not change the facts. He also has to add a 12-word caption for the photograph.
1. Correct exactly eight errors and give the rule for each in a table.
Read the worked answer
| # | Original | Correction | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Our Green Club have planted | has planted | A club is a single collective unit; singular verb. |
| 2 | in the school campus | on the school campus | Standard formal preposition for a campus surface. |
| 3 | Each class were given | was given | 'Each' + singular noun takes a singular verb. |
| 4 | students which volunteered | students who volunteered | Relative pronoun for people is 'who', not 'which'. |
| 5 | One of the saplings were | was | 'One of + plural noun' is the subject; it is singular. |
| 6 | so we has replaced | so we have replaced | Plural subject 'we' takes 'have'. |
| 7 | We are planting more trees last year | We planted more trees last year | 'Last year' is finished past time; use past simple. |
| 8 | said that he will inaugurate | said that he would inaugurate | Reported speech shifts future 'will' to 'would'. |
Kavin must not 'correct' the split infinitive in 'to not waste paper' as one of his eight: it is a style preference, not one of the factual or grammatical errors listed. Choosing which items count as the eight is part of the task.
2. Kavin wants to merge 'Each class were given five saplings and a bag of manure' with 'The students which volunteered worked from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.' into one sentence without changing facts. Provide the merged sentence and explain the grammar decisions.
Read the worked answer
Merged sentence: 'Each class was given five saplings and a bag of manure, and the students who volunteered worked from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.'
Decisions:
- The two original statements are independent clauses, so co-ordinating them with ', and' preserves both facts and keeps the sentence readable.
- 'Each class' stays singular: 'was given'.
- 'which' becomes 'who' because the volunteers are people.
- The time phrase stays attached to the volunteers' work, not to the distribution, so the order of information is not distorted.
An alternative is 'Each class was given five saplings and a bag of manure; the students who volunteered worked from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.' The semicolon is acceptable because the two clauses are closely related, but the comma-plus-'and' version is simpler.
3. A junior editor says 'in the school campus' cannot be an error because everyone says it. How should Kavin decide what counts as an error here?
Read the worked answer
Distinguish grammar from usage and style. 'On the campus' is the standard preposition in edited formal English; 'in the campus' is common in speech in Indian English but is not the form the school magazine's stated standard requires. Kavin should apply a defensible standard to the whole page and note this as a usage correction, not a serious grammatical fault.
If the school has a style sheet that explicitly permits 'in the campus', consistency would allow it. Without such a sheet, choose 'on' and be able to explain why. The exam rewards a stated standard plus consistent application; it does not reward personal preference. In a viva, Kavin should say: 'This is a register and usage choice, not a broken rule of grammar.'