correction of errors

OK. How?

Hi McTag

Sorry for giving you a blank page. Here's the short story.

Many thanks.

Two days after Simon's fifth birthday, he went to school for the first time. The school was a long way from his home, so his mother took him to school in the morning, and left him at the school gate.

At half past three she went back to the school to pick up Simon. She waited outside with many other mothers. Soon he came out and ran up to her.

"Did you enjoy your first day at school?" she asked him.

He shook his head.

"No," he said, "and I'm never going back there again."

His mother was very surprised.

"What's the matter?" she asked him, "Has someone been unkind to you?"

Two days after Simon's fifth birthday, he went to school for the first time. The school was a long way from his home, so his mother took him to school in the morning, and left him at the school gate.

At half past three she went back to the school to pick up Simon. She waited outside with many other mothers. Soon he came out and ran up to her.

"Did you enjoy your first day at school?" she asked him.

He shook his head.

"No," he said, "and I'm never going back there again."

His mother was very surprised.

"What's the matter?" she asked him, "Has someone been unkind to you?"

"No," he replied.

"Did you miss me?" his mother asked him. "Is that why you don't want to go to school again?"

"No," he replied.

"Then tell me the reason," his mother said.

"All right. I can't read. I can't write. I can't spell. I can't do math and the teacher won't let me talk. What's the point of going to school when I can't do anything there?"

It's fine, apart from the repeated first section (which I have removed in the above) and one small style change which I have suggested.

Thanks. Mc Tag.

so his mother took him to school in the morning, and left him at the school gate.

no comma between these two clauses needed.

mother / took / him . . .and . . . left/ him

It's not needed, true, but personally I think it's better left in.
But then, maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned.

Two specific situations call for the use of a comma before "and." The first is created when we have three or more items in a series. This mark of punctuation is called the serial comma. The second occurs when "and" is being used to coordinate two independent clauses. An independent clause - also known as a main clause - is a group of words that has a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a sentence.

Neither of these applies, so I am afraid that you are not a bit old-fashioned, McTag, but rather a bit mistaken.

Bollocks. I mean, I disagree.
The comma is useful here because it separates two distinct actions.

This could perhaps best be illustrated by a slight change:

She took him to school in the morning, and picked him up again later.

The comma is useful here because it separates two distinct actions.

But the word "and" links them. That's the whole point.