Question

name
date:
classroom cereal
story 22 part 4 of 5
\the legend of the lone candle\
part 4 of 5: the lone candle
\as thomas grew old, he grew paranoid too. he swore the children of fairview were sneaking through the forest at night, searching for general washington’s buryed treasure. townspeople said that on a dark, quiet night, you could hear the snap of twigs as thomas lurched through the forest, patrolling the ground around general washingtons gold. you could see his lone candle flickering amidst the trees, bobbing in the night as he searched for children.

aturally, going near the forest became a sort of game for the students of the fairview schoolhouse. dares to get close to the trees became as routine as the morning school bell. one day in the year 1839, a girl named sarah and a boy named ezekiel, zeke for short, accepted one of those dares. they entered the forest just before their teacher called the students inside after their afternoon recess. by the time school was over, sarah and zeke still hadn’t come out. they were still missing at sundown. that night, a mob of townspeople carryed torches into the forest, looking for sarah, zeke, or thomas smith. they finally found sarah and zeke asleep on the floor of thomas’s cabin. the children awoke confused. all they remembered was being attacked, by an animal or something else, soon after entering the forest. thomas was nowhere to be found and the cabin was empty, accept for one thing. thomas’s lone candle still sat on the porch, flickering steadily in the night, as if it had been there all along.\

directions

1. read the story
2. find the five errors
3. mark the errors using the key

key

• spelling error
• add punctuation
• capitalise letter
• remove word
• wrong word
• move word
• make letter lower case

checklist
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

question
why did thomas smith patrol the forest at night?

Explanation:

First, identify the 5 errors in the story using the key, then answer the comprehension question:

1. "buryed" is a spelling error; correct spelling is "buried".
2. "General Washingtons gold" needs an apostrophe (punctuation) to show possession: "General Washington's gold".
3. "carryed" is a spelling error; correct spelling is "carried".
4. "sarah" should be capitalized (proper noun): "Sarah".
5. "accept for" uses the wrong word; the correct phrase is "except for".

For the comprehension question, the story states Thomas grew paranoid, believing Fairview children were sneaking to find General Washington's buried treasure, so he patrolled to stop them.

Answer:

Identified Errors (marked per key):

1. (Spelling error) "buryed" → correct to "buried"
2. (Add punctuation) "General Washingtons gold" → "General Washington's gold"
3. (Spelling error) "carryed" → correct to "carried"
4. (Capitalize letter) "sarah" → "Sarah"
5. (Wrong word) "accept for" → "except for"

Comprehension Answer:

Thomas Smith patrolled the forest at night because he was paranoid, and he believed children from Fairview were sneaking into the forest to search for General Washington's buried treasure, so he was guarding the area.