---
title: "Edit text: woman and sick husband"
subject: "Communication English"
chapter: 3
key: "semester_5/communication_english:edit-text-woman-husband-ill"
source: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_5/communication_english/edit-text-woman-husband-ill
site: BCT Engineering
---

# Edit text: woman and sick husband

Communication English · Chapter 3: Contextual Grammar

- Asked in: 2071 Shrawan, 5 marks
- Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort) on 2026-10-14
- Page: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_5/communication_english/edit-text-woman-husband-ill
- Whole chapter: https://www.bctengineer.com/md/semester_5/communication_english/chapter-3

## Question

Edit the following text to make it error free:
A woman husband had been seriously ill but finally the doctor announces that he would live. What do you mean? You told me that he couldn't last another two weeks, complained the wife. "Well, I'm going to cure him after all. Surely you're glad aren't you" replied the doctor. It puts me in kind of a trouble said the woman I've gone and sold his clothes to pay for the funeral.

## Short answer

A woman’s husband had been seriously ill, but finally the doctor announced he would live. “You said he wouldn’t last two weeks,” she complained. “I’ll cure him. Aren’t you glad?” he replied. “I’ve sold his clothes for the funeral,” she said.

## Answer

#### Edited text
A woman's husband had been seriously ill, but finally the doctor announced that he would live. "What do you mean? You told me that he couldn't last another two weeks," complained the wife.

"Well, I'm going to cure him after all. Surely you're glad, aren't you?" replied the doctor.

"It puts me in a kind of trouble," said the woman. "I've gone and sold his clothes to pay for the funeral."

#### Corrections made
- "A woman husband" changed to "A woman's husband" (possessive).
- "announces" changed to "announced" to agree with the past tense of the paragraph.
- Quotation marks, commas and question marks added to show direct speech.
- Comma added before the tag question "aren't you?".
- "kind of a trouble" changed to "a kind of trouble".
- Speech tag "said the woman" separated from the second sentence of speech with proper punctuation.

## Check yourself

The answer's key points as multiple-choice questions, with the correct option and why.

1. 'A woman husband' is corrected to
   A. A womans husband
   B. A woman's husband
   C. A women husband
   D. A woman husbands
   Answer: B. A possessive apostrophe is needed. (Key point: Possessive)

2. Why is 'announces' changed to 'announced'?
   A. To agree with the past tense of the paragraph
   B. To make it plural
   C. To make it a question
   D. To make it passive
   Answer: A. The passage is in the past. (Key point: Tense)

3. What punctuation is needed around the tag question?
   A. A semicolon
   B. A colon
   C. No punctuation
   D. A comma before 'aren't you' and a question mark at the end
   Answer: D. Tag questions are set off by a comma. (Key point: Tag question)

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