Copy editors of the world, unite and take over

New York state is increasing its focus on grammar education. Check out this lede from Newsday:

Attention students ... No, correct that ... Attention, students: Missing commas and dangling participles could well cost you points in the school year now opening.

It's Revenge of the Grammarians. An expanded series of state tests is adding new questions on grammar -- a topic all but abandoned in many classrooms a generation ago. The tests will be taken on Long Island this school year by 210,000 students -- triple the number assessed in English here last year.

Ah, the comma of direct address. Wonder if that'll make the test. Sounds like some copy editing practice is in order.

To measure students' grammar skills, each new English test for grades 3, 5 and 7 will include a paragraph in which students will correct errors in spelling, punctuation, word usage and sentence structure.

The article has a cute headline: "Tense testing ahead."