The Editing Challenge

Five errors are hiding in the paragraph below. Think you can catch them all?

A Little Challenge

Can you spot the 5 errors in this paragraph?

Click or tap a word when you think you've found a mistake. Green means you caught one. Find all five and the explanations unlock.

The novelist packed up her manuscript and headed to the library, she wanted a quiet place to revise. Each of the chapters were full of notes from her beta readers, and the feedback had a noticeable affect on her confidence. She poured over every page, trimming scenes that dragged and sharpening it's dialogue. By evening the draft was tighter then it had ever been.

Found: 0 / 5 Hint: one error is punctuation hiding in plain sight. And rumor has it a sixth is lurking as a bonus.

You found all five! Here's the breakdown:

  • 1. "library, she" — a comma splice. Two complete sentences joined by only a comma. Fix with a period, a semicolon, or a conjunction. (Clicking "library," counts for this one.)
  • 2. "Each of the chapters were" — subject-verb agreement. "Each" is singular, so it takes "was."
  • 3. "affect" — the classic mix-up. As nouns go, you almost always want "effect."
  • 4. "poured over" — the phrase is "pored over." You pore over a manuscript; you pour a coffee. (Clicking "poured" counts.)
  • 5. "it's dialogue" — "it's" means "it is." The possessive is "its," no apostrophe.
  • 6. "tighter then" — comparisons take "than," not "then." (Bonus: this one makes six, because a good editor always finds one more.)

If you caught them all, you have a sharp eye. If a few slipped past you, that's exactly why a second reader exists. Either way, imagine this level of attention on every page of your manuscript.

Get This For Your Whole Draft