On May 13, Mr. Haggerty’s Journalism class divided into two fine teams and fought it out for the Second Annual Strunk and White Grammar Championship. The event is named after Strunk and White, authors of The Elements of Style, a style guide for writers first published in 1919. Assistant instructor George Vrechek served as master of ceremonies.

The team captained by Dan Hogan held the lead until the very last question when the team (sometimes) captained by Dan Luchsinger gained three points. The teams wound up in a dead heat with 40 net correct answers out of a possible perfect score of 53 on a very challenging test.

The sentences involved are listed below in the event that others at Mount Carmel want to try their hand at making the corrections needed. Points are deducted for making corrections that are not needed. The corrected sentences are shown below.

Correct the following sentences for all mistakes without changing the base words being used. Not every sentence may need correction. In the event of a conflict between style guides, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style (which seldom condones alternatives) will be the deciding reference.

1. Whose smart dog is scratching its own fleas?
2. Bret from Northwest Indiana took his Mother to the mother son dance.
3. “Mr. Haggerty if I had Five-cents for every punctuation error I made,” Jack said “I’d be rich”.
4. Potential All stater Mathew Domer walked into Memorial stadium in Champagne, Illinois on a Saturday nite but waltzed out with a trophy.
5. Mr. Vrecheck warned “you need to be careful when using terms like pandoras box and Achilles heal”.
6. Coach Himes keys were left in the coach’s office facing the practice field.
7. Mike Reed, who is the President of the Student Council was at Kevin’s and D’Andre’s football game.
8. Mount Carmels’ chess club members walked passed the Football Team.
9. Emmanuel said “All Seniors would like to do well on the exam…When we get to college, it will be easy”.

The correct sentences and the number of corrected mistakes are found below.

1. Whose smart dog is scratching its own fleas? OK as is. (0)
2. Bret, from northwest Indiana, took his mother to the Mother-Son Dance. (8)
3. “Mr. Haggerty, if I had five cents for every punctuation error I made,” Jack said, “I’d be rich.” (5)
4. Potential all-stater Matthew Domer walked into Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, on a Saturday night but waltzed out with a trophy. (7)
5. Mr. Vrechek warned, “You need to be careful when using terms like Pandora’s box and Achilles’ heel.” (8)
6. Coach Himes’s keys were left in the coaches’ office facing the practice field. (3)
7. Mike Reid, who is the president of the Student Council, was at Kevin and DeAndre’s football game.(5)
8. Mount Carmel’s Chess Club members walked past the football team. (6)
9. Emmanuel said, “All seniors would like to do well on the exam….(one more period)When we get to college, it will be easy.” (4)