Question

read the following excerpt from a student essay. how can the writer best improve his or her grammar and mechanics? in great expectations by charles dickens, pip, a young orphan, is sent by his sister to the home of miss havisham, a wealthy, eccentric woman. there he meets estella, a beautiful girl whom he falls hopelessly in love with. on one visit to miss havishams, pip encounters a boy who challenges him to a fight; wanting to impress estella, he hits the boy. \i never have been so surprised in my life as i was when i let out the first blow and saw him lying on his back, looking up at me with a bloody nose\, pip recounts. estella seems delighted and says to pip \come here! you may kiss me if you like\. by using semicolons correctly by punctuating quotations correctly by fixing run - on sentences

Explanation:

The quotations in the text have incorrect punctuation. Periods and commas should be placed inside closing quotation marks in American English. For example, "I never have been so surprised in my life as I was when I let out the first blow and saw him lying on his back, looking up at me with a bloody nose", Pip recounts. should be "I never have been so surprised in my life as I was when I let out the first blow and saw him lying on his back, looking up at me with a bloody nose," Pip recounts.

Answer:

by punctuating quotations correctly