The Whipping Boy

The Whipping Boy: A Common Core Grammar Review is a freebie in my store. This is an error analysis exercise; the answer key is posted below. Some items have more than one answer because the sentence can be revised multiple ways. If you see that your students need help with the punctuation rules, check out Writing Folder Essentials.

1) Jemmy is a street-smart boy who was taken from the sewers to serve as the royal whipping boy. OR Jemmy is a street-smart boy. He was taken from the sewers to see as the royal whipping boy.

2) Prince Horace likes practical jokes; consequently, he is called Prince Brat behind his back.

3) Prince Horace never listens to his tutor. Therefore, he has never learned to read and write. OR Prince Horace never listens to his tutor; therefore, he has never learned to read and write. OR Prince Horace never listens to his tutor, so he has never learned to read and write.


4) Prince Brat is a selfish boy who enjoys watching the whipping boy be punished.


5) The prince forced Jemmy to come along when he ran away because he wanted a friend. OR The prince forces Jemmy to come along when he runs away because he wants a friend.

6) The prince desperately wants to make friends, but he goes about it the wrong way.

7) Cutwater and Hold-Your-Nose Billy, two ruffians with a reputation for murder, kidnap the boys and hide them deep in the forest.

8) Hold-Your-Nose Billy, who earned his name from all the garlic he eats, didn’t recognize the prince.

9) Jemmy tries to stop the prince from revealing his identity; however, Prince Brat refuses to cooperate.

10) Before he left the castle, the prince packed a basket full of fruit tarts, veal pies, and roast pheasant.

11) Jemmy tricks the rogues into believing he is the prince because he wants them to send Prince Brat back to the castle with the ransom note.

12) The vagabonds plan to send the prince's horse back to the castle along with the ransom note.

13) Since Billy doesn't know how to read and write himself, he asks Jemmy, who he thinks is the prince, to read the note backwards.

14)  Jemmy hides under the bed of straw so that he can escape.

15) Jemmy helped the old man get his stagecoach out of the mud; he positioned some driftwood under its wheels.

16)
Prince Brat wants to be a good friend, so he helps Jemmy find pieces of driftwood to sell.

17) The woman who gives the milk to the boys talks about Prince Brat without knowing who he is.

18) When Prince Horace realizes that people think he is a spoiled brat, he is deeply hurt.

19) There are rats in the sewers, particularly near the tunnel under the brewery.

20) Johnny Tosher, a rat-catcher from the sewers, helped the boys get away from Cutwater and Billy.

21) Prince Brat throws the scoundrels off their trail when he grabs the birdcage out of Jemmy's hand and flings it in the direction of the brewery. 

22) By the end of the story, the reader understands that Prince Brat was running away to experience life and enjoy freedom from all the royal trappings; likewise, the King reveals his own frustration with having to live in the palace. OR ....trappings. Likewise, the King reveals . . . .