Capitals and Commas Answers

Read the paragraph.Once, Tyrone had been a great marathon runner. The trophies sat on a shelf in his bedroom. That was long ago, before all the problems with his legs began. He could walk, but only slowly and with care. Still, he would not give up. He now spent his days in his house, _______ from room to room.

When you write a short story, why might you use a thesaurus to look up synonyms of descriptive words?

Read the paragraph.While Olivia listened to the band on stage, she occasionally glanced at her friend Jeremy, who was bopping his head, eyes closed, smiling the entire time. How could he recommend music like this? Olivia was tempted to put her fingers in her ears. The lead singer sounded as if he were either in pain or a dog lost in the woods. Her eardrums felt like they would burst.

Read the paragraph.Alyssa played keyboards, electric guitar, and bass. She could belt out songs so loudly that for hours afterward you could still feel the power of her voice. And as she sang, she would dance, occasionally stopping to bang out a few notes on the keyboard or rip through a solo on guitar, while her band kept the beat in the background. We had seen all of her shows at the local clubs, and if we had owned a car, we would have traveled to see her in other cities, too. We knew that certain people said that Alyssa wouldn’t amount to much.

Read the sentence.Last week, Luis bought a peppy car that he loves to drive around the neighborhood.

Read the paragraph.Tanya leaned forward again and pulled back on the oars. With each pull she moved them a bit closer to the opposite shore, but it still seemed impossibly far. Her friend Valentina sat a few feet away, up in the bow, dabbling fingers in the water. She didn’t seem to have any idea how hard Tanya was working.

Read the sentence.We needed to cross the foaming river to get back to camp, _______ the river had washed the bridge away, _______ all that was left was a few pieces of broken wood.

Read the sentence.The hungry bird finally stopped hovering overhead, so the caterpillar began to inch along the tree branch again.

Read the sentence.On warm sunny days, Luis rolls down the windows and drives for hours and hours.

Read the excerpt from "What I Hope to Leave Behind."When enough women feel that way, there may grow up a generation of children with entirely different ambitions, and before we know it, a new deal and a new civilization may be upon us.