PR-0794UK Proofreading and Editing - Upper

The ‘Titanic’ should be left alone
Teachers notes
Lesson focus
Punctuation
• Commas in a list
• Grammatical commas
• Full stops
• Apostrophes for possession
• Apostrophes in contractions
Grammar
• Verb tenses
Spelling
• Confused words: allowed/aloud
• Misspelt words
Vocabulary
• Synonyms
• Compound words
Teacher information
A discussion text evaluates an issue. Arguments are given to persuade the audience of a particular point
of view.
Answers
The ‘Titanic’ was a large, luxurious ship that sank in 1912, taking 1513 people with it.
The wreck was found in 1985. Since that time, thousands of artefacts have been
taken from the ‘Titanic’. Some people think this is wrong. They say the ‘Titanic’ is really a
graveyard and should be left alone.
I don’t think that just anyone should be allowed to visit the shipwreck. But if scientists are
careful, I can’t see anything wrong with removing artefacts from the ‘Titanic’. People
can then go to see them in museums. This is a good way to pay our respects to the
people who died in the disaster. If the artefacts are left
underwater, they will eventually perish and no-one will
ever see them. I think that’s a shame. The people
who died on the ‘Titanic’ must be remembered.
Bringing the ship’s artefacts to the surface is the
best way to do this.
1. Missing punctuation is in bold type.
2. (a) Verbs are underlined.
will be – was (line 2), will die – died (line 8)
3. (a) Spelling errors are in italic type.
Viewing Sample
thousands, wrong, allowed, scientists, removing, eventually, remembered, surface
4. (a) Answers will vary, but may include the following:
(i) deteriorate, decompose
(ii) calamity, catastrophe
(b) Compound words have been underlined in bold.
graveyard, shipwreck, underwater, no-one, alone, anyone, anything
(c) Teacher check
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