Express Review Guides: Grammar

Grammar Grammar ® New York Copyright © 2007 LearningExpress, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-A...

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Grammar

Grammar ®

New York

Copyright © 2007 LearningExpress, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Express review guides. Grammar.—1st ed. p. cm. ISBN: 978-1-57685-626-0 1. English language—Grammar—Problems, exercises, etc. I. LearningExpress (Organization) PE1112.E97 2007 428'.0076—dc22 2007017305 Printed in the United States of America 9 8

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First Edition ISBN: 978-1-57685-626-0 For more information or to place an order, contact LearningExpress at: 2 Rector Street 26th Floor New York, NY 10006 Or visit us at: www.learnatest.com

Contents INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10 CHAPTER 11 GLOSSARY

v Pretest 1 Capitalization and Punctuation—First Things First 15 Spelling—Spell Well . . . with a Few Exceptions 51 Verbs—The Movers and Shakers of Language 69 Adjectives and Adverbs—The 5 Ws and 4 Hs of Good Writing 89 Agreement—A Matter of Compatibility 107 Modifiers—Does It Dangle or Squint or Split? 127 Sentence Structure—From the Simple to the Complex 143 Paragraphs—As Easy as Announce-Build-Close! 157 Tricky Words—Bee a Wear of Why Lee Words! 171 Posttest 187 201

Introduction

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ur earliest ancestors invented language out of necessity and the need to improve their quality of life. It could not have taken long for early humans to come to detest the endless aggravation of not being able to get their points across to others around them. The adage Necessity is the mother of invention held true then, as it does even today, as the complexity of our world increases. Our language constantly evolves in order to adapt to our needs and to maintain and improve our quality of life. It doesn’t happen overnight, though, and it didn’t back then either, but the evolution of language is like clockwork—its change is unswerving. English is complex, but luckily, it comes with a user’s manual—grammar and usage—a voluminous set of rules and guidelines that helps you make sense of the many intricate and dynamic parts of our language. And while you may be studying grammar right now in school, figuring out the inner workings of sentence structure and writing can be fun and challenging. The benefits of your efforts will especially be rewarded in your writing. You write more often than you think. Essays, notes, e-mail, lists—all require writing, just in different formats. Sometimes, what you write requires you to be more formal, and you have to follow certain guidelines for etiquette. At other times, your writing may resemble some kind of code or language that your friends understand perfectly well, but that an English teacher would have nightmares about. That’s okay. Really. Flexibility is the key, and knowing when and where to use proper English is important. No

viii Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR one expects you to be a walking grammar book, but having a grounded understanding in the whys and hows of English will impact your spoken and written communication skills forever. If you make a concerted and consistent effort to apply some of the skills you have learned in this book, you will create good habits—habits that will stay with you when you write term papers, a letter of introduction to a prospective employer, and perhaps even an acceptance speech for a prestigious award. All of these scenarios hinge on someone understanding and appreciating what you say and how you say it, whether written or spoken. This book will equip you with the basic tools you will need to build an essay that is clear and logical and that you can be proud of. It also includes the following helpful hints and exercises to help you further develop your writing skills.

➥

Fuel for Thought: critical information and definitions that can help you learn more about a particular topic

➥

Inside Track: tips for reducing your study and practice time—without sacrificing accuracy

➥

Practice Lap: quick practice exercises and activities to let you test your knowledge

The chapters, which include lessons, along with examples and practice questions, are meant to be read in order, so the lessons build upon themselves as you read. Here’s a brief description of each chapter, so that you get an idea of the flow.

CHAPTER 1: PRETEST Take this test to see where you need to focus before you start the book. Any surprises? This will give you a good idea about your strengths and where you need to improve. Read through each lesson, do the practice questions along the way, and you’re bound to strengthen your writing skills.

Introduction

CHAPTER 2: CAPITALIZATION AND PUNCTUATION—FIRST THINGS FIRST There’s more to capitalization than just capitalizing the first word of every sentence. Learn about the basic dos and don’ts of proper capitalization. As the “pulse” of the sentence, punctuation leads the reader through a sentence just as road signs lead a driver. Learn the ins and outs of punctuation, from apostrophes to dashes to quotations to semicolons.

CHAPTER 3: SPELLING—SPELL WELL . . . WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS Learn basic spelling rules (and their exceptions), and learn how prefixes and suffixes play an important role in our language.

CHAPTER 4: VERBS—THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS OF LANGUAGE The “movers and shakers” of language, verbs come in many shapes and varieties and present many vivid pictures. Learn how verbs make a sentence come alive.

CHAPTER 5: ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS—THE 5 Ws AND 4 Hs OF GOOD WRITING Like the colors on an artist’s palette, these modifiers brighten and enliven language to help paint pictures in a reader’s mind. Learn how useful and powerful these words can be.

CHAPTER 6: AGREEMENT—A MATTER OF COMPATIBILITY Agreement between a sentence’s verbs and nouns is paramount. Learn how to decide whether to make a verb plural or singular, and how to make your pronouns compatible with your antecedents. Your what? Find out here!

CHAPTER 7: MODIFIERS—DOES IT DANGLE OR SQUINT OR SPLIT? Care to know whether your modifiers dangle, squint, or split? Learn about phrases and clauses and their uncanny ability to throw a curveball or two when you least expect it.

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CHAPTER 8: SENTENCE STRUCTURE—FROM THE SIMPLE TO THE COMPLEX Proper sentence structure can make or break your message. Learn how phrases and clauses improve your sentence structure and how to avoid runons and fragments.

CHAPTER 9: PARAGRAPHS—AS EASY AS ANNOUNCE-BUILD-CLOSE Identify paragraph components and their proper organization, and then apply that knowledge to create a sound five-paragraph essay.

CHAPTER 10: TRICKY WORDS—BEE A WEAR OF WHY LEE WORDS! English is filled with words that sound alike but are spelled differently (homonyms) and words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently (homographs). Then there are words that just, well, trick us—better word choice is just a chapter away.

CHAPTER 11: POSTTEST Now that you’ve finished the book, how much have you improved? This posttest will give you a chance to see how much you’ve learned and how far you’ve come since you took the pretest. Do you still need any improvement? Go back to the relevant chapters and review.

GLOSSARY This chapter contains an extensive list of important words you may already know, or you may have learned throughout this book. Refer to it as often as you need to. Ready? Let’s get started!

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Pretest

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his pretest contains 70 questions and is designed to test your knowledge of various topics that are covered in the book. By taking this test and then checking your answers against the answer key that follows, you’ll be able to determine what you already know and what you need to learn. For each question you answer incorrectly, be sure to read the explanation that accompanies the correct answer in the answer key. Also, the answer key contains chapter references, so that you know which lesson deals with that question’s topic. It should take you no more than one hour to complete the pretest. Good luck!

CAPITALIZATION Correct the words that require proper capitalization. 1.

dean asked, “may i borrow your markers when you’re finished?”

2.

my teacher asked me to write an essay titled “if i could live forever.”

3.

when hailey saw the latest issue of vogue, she eagerly bought it.

4.

brielle said, “there’s a lost cat sitting outside the door.”

2 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR 5.

my dentist, dr. benjamin feldman, always gives me a free toothbrush.

6.

tammy enjoys taking walks in the park.

7.

have you read the biography of queen elizabeth i?

8.

the warm carribbean breeze blew gently across the island.

9.

i traveled to burma, a country northwest of thailand.

10.

I see mrs. alessi on thursdays only.

PUNCTUATION Insert proper punctuation into the following sentences. 11.

The playful puppy pushed the little girl

12.

Should Polly play outside with her friends or practice her piano

13.

The hungry penguin sat on the ice waiting for its mother

14.

Wow How did you do that

15.

its time to go home

16.

Rebeccas long blond hair blew in the breeze

17.

The cat chased the mouse into the barn and returned later with a smile on its face

18.

The lost hiker tired and hungry searched through his bag for food

19.

As Ashley flew to London she thought of her friends and family back home

Pretest

20.

Butch a bully popped all of Chelseas balloons and made her cry

21.

The caterpillar crawled over the leaf along the branch and down the trunk of the tree

22.

After a long talk they decided to go home cook dinner watch TV and chill

23.

March 17 1993 is Saras birthday she will be 15 years old this year

24.

The midnight sky was still except for one tiny sparkle of a star

25.

You must know how to catch throw hit and slide

26.

They finally reached the far side of the island however help was nowhere in sight

27.

Amanda placed Martins Encyclopedia Book H in her book bag

28.

Elliott wants to study genetics in college he hopes to become a doctor

29.

That was a good one remarked Tony Do it again

30.

Im hungry Do we have anything to eat whined Brandon

MODIFIERS Adjectives

In each sentence, circle the adjective(s). 31.

The car got a flat tire.

32.

Tom’s cotton shirt was wrinkled.

33.

The loud music hurts my ears.

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Southern peaches are exceptionally delicious and juicy.

Adverbs

In each sentence, circle the adverb(s). 35.

The orange ball glowed and sank slowly on the horizon.

36.

Linda completely misunderstood the directions the teacher gave.

37.

Nikki quickly decided to turn right at the corner.

38.

Westerns can be very exciting.

39.

Her fourth-quarter grades had improved slightly.

40.

Twenty minutes too late, she removed the burned tuna casserole from the oven.

Prepositional Phrases

In each sentence, circle the prepositional phrase(s). 41.

The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed each hour.

42.

The shed in the backyard was covered with English ivy.

43.

Steven cut the grass in the front yard yesterday.

Tricky Words

In each sentence, circle the tricky word(s). 44.

Will ewe please take three dollars and by sum milk?

45.

Joe tries to due his assignments early.

46.

Nell kneads two go two bed.

Pretest

47.

Hour daughter, Meghan, had the flew.

48.

They’re is only ate scents in my pocket.

49.

The plain arrived with the pear of twins a bored.

50.

Weight here! Aisle get sum stationary for you.

SENTENCE STRUCTURE Identify each sentence as simple, compound, or complex. Underline the subject once and underline the predicate twice. 51.

The judges watched the dancers closely and gave prizes to the highest scorers.

52.

Karen’s sandwich store serves subs, soups, and salads.

53.

Zachary slept well after washing cars for the fund-raiser all day.

54.

Mrs. Milling recorded the test grades, and her student teacher passed them back to the students.

55.

The nurse gently held the newborn baby, who was crying.

56.

Presidential conventions occur every four years during the summer.

57.

Ivy was afraid to watch horror movies, but she enjoyed comedies.

58.

The bakery, which was built next to the grocery store, was always busy.

59.

Although he was a good student, sometimes Matthew forgot to do his homework.

60.

The teacher, who taught health and gym, quickly made his way to the meeting.

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6 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR

COMBINING SENTENCES Choppy sentences in a paragraph are unappealing. Combine the following sentences, rewriting them when necessary, to create an informative, interesting sentence. Although there are many possible combinations, a sample sentence of each question is provided for you at the end of the pretest. 61.

My worst trip was not, in fact, the actual vacation. My worst trip was the plane ride to the vacation spot.

62.

This wasn’t just one of those two-hour trips to Florida. This was a 16-hour direct flight. It was a flight across the Atlantic over the North Pole.

63.

I was boarding the plane. I was anxiously waiting to see how the leg room and the food would be. I was anxiously waiting to see who would be seated around me.

64.

Naturally, I did not have high expectations on a flight as long as this. I considered how they can’t expect you to be too comfortable. I considered how they can’t expect you to not be bored.

Pretest

65.

Of course, I was not surprised. I think more things went wrong than right on this flight.

66.

As I was sitting down, the first thing I noticed was two babies. I noticed the babies seated within three rows of me. I thought that wasn’t a good sign.

67.

The babies weren’t the only things I became aware of as I took my seat. I realized how close the back of the seat in front of me was to my knees.

68.

By then, I was already telling my sister she could have the window seat. I was supposed to have the window seat. I knew I would need the aisle for extra leg room.

69.

I settled in. Eventually, I started dozing off. I would be interrupted by the flight attendants. They were kicking my feet, which were in the aisle. I can’t complain, though, because they weren’t supposed to be there anyway.

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The food was actually quite good. The tray holder that comes out of the back of the seat in front of you was not. It was like trying to balance your meal on the head of a needle. I ended up spilling my soda and dinner all over my lap.

ANSWERS Capitalization

We capitalize (1) the first word of every sentence, (2) the first word of a direct quotation, (3) the pronoun I and all contractions made using the word I, (4) proper nouns, (5) proper adjectives, and (6) the first word and all key words in titles. (To better understand capitalization, please see Chapter 2.) 1. Dean asked, “May I borrow your markers when you’re finished?” 2. My teacher asked me to write an essay titled “If I Could Live Forever.” 3. When Hailey saw the latest issue of Vogue, she eagerly bought it. 4. Brielle said, “There’s a lost cat sitting outside the door.” 5. My dentist, Dr. Benjamin Feldman, always gives me a free toothbrush. 6. Tammy enjoys taking walks in the park. 7. Have you read the biography of Queen Elizabeth I? 8. The warm Caribbean breeze blew gently across the island. 9. I traveled to Burma, a country northwest of Thailand. 10. I see Mrs. Alessi on Thursdays only. Punctuation

(1) Periods signify the end of declarative and imperative sentences; (2) question marks are used after a question; and (3) exclamations signify strong feelings or emotion. (To better understand punctuation, please see Chapter 2.) 11. The playful puppy pushed the little girl. 12. Should Polly play outside with her friends or practice her piano? 13. The hungry penguin sat on the ice waiting for its mother.

Pretest

Wow! How did you do that? 15. It’s time to go home. 16. Rebecca’s long, blond hair blew in the breeze. 17. The cat chased the mouse into the barn and returned later with a smile on its face. 14.

Use commas (1) to separate series of three or more items or phrases in a sentence, (2) with an introductory word or phrase, (3) before and after a word or phrase that is meant to rename or describe a noun that precedes it (an appositive), and (4) in dates and addresses. 18. The lost hiker, tired and hungry, searched through his bag for food. 19. As Ashley flew to London, she thought of her friends and family back home. 20. Butch, a bully, popped all of Chelsea’s balloons and made her cry. 21. The caterpillar crawled over the leaf, along the branch, and down the trunk of the tree. 22. After a long talk, they decided to go home, cook dinner, watch TV, and chill. 23. March 17, 1993, is Sara’s birthday. She will be 15 years old this year. 24. The midnight sky was still, except for one tiny sparkle of a star. Use colons to (1) introduce a list, (2) introduce the subtitle of a movie or book, (3) separate hours from minutes when writing the time. Use a semicolon (4) to separate two related sentences and (5) between two complete sentences that are separated by transitional words or phrases. 25. You must know how to do all of the following: catch, throw, hit, and slide. 26. They finally reached the far side of the island; however, help was nowhere in sight. 27. Amanda placed Martin’s Encyclopedia:: Book H in her book bag. 28. Elliott wants to study genetics in college; he hopes to become a doctor. Direct quotations require the use of opening and ending quotation marks. 29. “That was a good one,” remarked Tony. “Do it again.” 30. “I’m hungry. Do we have anything to eat?” whined Brandon.

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10 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Modifiers

Adjectives (1) modify only nouns; (2) answer What kind? Which one? and How many? about the nouns they are modifying; (3) imply something belongs to someone; and (4) are sometimes proper nouns that behave like adjectives. (To better understand adjectives, please see Chapter 5.) 31. The car got a flat tire. 32. Tom’s cotton shirt was wrinkled. 33. The loud music hurts my ears. 34. Southern peaches are exceptionally delicious and juicy. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, and answer Where? When? How? How much? How often? and How long? (To better understand adverbs, please see Chapter 5.) 35. The orange ball glowed and sank slowly on the horizon. 36. Linda completely misunderstood the directions the teacher gave. 37. Nikki quickly decided to turn right at the corner. 38. Westerns can be very exciting. 39. Her fourth-quarter grades had improved slightly. 40. Twenty minutes too late, she removed the burned tuna casserole from the oven. A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. (To better understand prepositional phrases, please see Chapters 6 and 7.) 41. The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed each hour. 42. The shed in the backyard was covered with English ivy. 43. Steven cut the grass in the front yard yesterday. Words that are spelled differently and have dissimilar meanings, but are pronounced exactly the same, are called homonyms. (To better understand tricky words, please see Chapter 10.) 44. Will you please take three dollars and buy some milk? 45. Joe tries to do his assignments early. 46. Nell needs to go to bed. 47. Our daughter, Meghan, had the flu. 48. There is only eight cents in my pocket.

Pretest

The plane arrived with the pair of twins aboard. 50. Wait here! I’ll get some stationery for you. 49.

Sentence Structure

(1) A simple sentence must have a simple subject (one word) and a simple predicate (one word); (2) a compound sentence is two complete sentences joined by a conjunction; (3) a complex sentence is made up of at least one independent clause and one subordinate (dependent) clause. (For more help with sentence structure, please see Chapter 8.) 51. The judges watched the dancers closely and gave prizes to the highest scorers. compound 52. Karen’s sandwich store serves subs, soups, and salads. simple 53. Zachary slept well after washing cars for the fund-raiser all day. simple 54. Mrs. Milling recorded the test grades, and her student teacher passed them back to the students. compound 55. The nurse gently held the newborn baby, who was crying. complex 56. Presidential conventions occur every four years during the summer. simple 57. Ivy was afraid to watch horror movies, but she enjoyed comedies. compound 58. The bakery, which was built next to the grocery store, was always busy. complex 59. Although he was a good student, sometimes Matthew forgot to do his homework. complex 60. The teacher, who taught health and gym, quickly made his way to the meeting. complex

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12 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Combining Sentences

(For more help with combining sentences, please see Chapters 8 and 9.) 61. My worst trip was not, in fact, the actual vacation, but the plane ride to the vacation spot. The choppiness of these sentences is obvious because the subjects are repeated. Combine the subjects to make one sentence. 62. This wasn’t just one of those two-hour trips to Florida but a 16-hour direct flight across the Atlantic over the North Pole. Again, the choppiness is evident with the repetition of the words this and flight. Combine for fluidity. 63. As I was boarding the plane, I anxiously waited to see how the leg room and the food would be, and to see who would be seated around me. The subject, I, is written three times, which means the sentences can be combined. Also, notice the word anxiously being used twice. Avoid repetition. 64. Naturally, I did not have high expectations on a flight as long as this; I considered how they can’t expect you to be too comfortable and to not be bored. The sentence topics are directly related, so they can be joined using a semicolon. The last two sentences need combining for fluidity. 65. Not to my surprise, I think more things went wrong than right on this flight. Just a little rewording brings the two sentences together. 66. As I was sitting down, the first thing I noticed was two babies within three rows of me, and I immediately thought that wasn’t a good sign. Notice some of the repetition avoided with combining and a little rewording. 67. The babies weren’t the only things I became aware of as I took my seat; I realized how close the back of the seat in front of me was to my knees. The semicolon joins the sentences, as they complement each other. 68. By then, I was already telling my sister she could have the window seat, even though I was supposed to. I knew I would need the aisle for extra leg room. Combining the first two sentences makes sense. Leave the last one alone for the added emphasis.

Pretest

I settled in and eventually started dozing off, only to be interrupted by the flight attendants kicking my feet, which were in the aisle. I can’t complain, though; they weren’t supposed to be there anyway. Notice the same subject, I, in the first three choppy sentences. They need combining with a bit of rewording. Leave the last sentence alone for emphasis. 70. The food was actually quite good, but the tray holder that comes out of the back of the seat in front of you was not. It was like trying to balance your meal on the head of a pin, and I ended up spilling my soda and dinner all over my lap. The first two sentences contrast each other nicely, and combining them with the conjunction but works well. The last two sentences can be made into a compound sentence using the conjunction and.

69.

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Capitalization and Punctuation First Things First

W

hat if no one had to follow the same rules or conventions of punctuation and capitalization for written English? It is certain that whatever message the writer means to get across will fall short, if not get lost altogether. Take a look. when i—go to thanksgiving Dinner at. grandmas house my cousin nathan and I, watch football on my uncles? big screen tv and Cheer on our . . . favorite teams, later on the Entire family young; and old gathers in the living room, and plays bingo a time! honored custom started “when grandma was a little girl growing” up in st louis mo? Without the use of standard punctuation and capitalization, you would find that reading the preceding passage is tedious and requires too much time and trouble. If it is rewritten appropriately, however, reading and understanding it becomes effortless. When I go to Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma’s house, my cousin Nathan and I watch football on my uncle’s big-screen TV and cheer on our favorite teams. Later on, the entire family, young and old, gathers in the living room and plays bingo, a time-honored tradition started when Grandma was a little girl growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. What a difference!


PART 1: CAPITALIZATION—FIRST THINGS FIRST Capitalize the first word of every sentence. Take the dog for a walk, please. Fifty-two weeks make up one year. Capitalization signifies the beginning of a sentence. It provides visual separation clues for readers as to when a new sentence begins, which is helpful when several sentences follow one another in a paragraph, as you observed in the preceding passage.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT IF THE FIRST word of a sentence is a number, it should be written out as a word.

When a sentence includes a person’s exact words, capitalize the first word of the direct quotation . . . Looking wide-eyed at the list of ice cream choices, Anthony said, “There are so many flavors.” “I’m so hungry, I could eat them all!” exclaimed Anthony’s friend, Jason. . . . however, do not capitalize the first word of a partial quotation. “We can have a feast,” Alex replied with resolve, “if we order the seven-scoop Kitchen Sink Sundae!” Capitalize the pronoun I and all contractions made using the word I (I’m, I’ve, I’ll, I’d).

Capitalization and Punctuation

“I’m sure I’ve never borrowed Alicia’s sequined green-and-pink sweater,” said Rhonda. “I’ll look in my closet, but I think I’d remember wearing something that outlandish.” Capitalize proper nouns. Unlike common, garden-variety nouns, which are general names for people, places, and things (city, building, man, holiday, etc.), proper nouns are specific (New York City, Empire State Building, Thomas Edison, Thanksgiving, etc.) and require capitalization to acknowledge their importance. ➥ When referring to a specific person, for example, Mr. James W. Dunlap, Jr., or Dr. Sara E. Mahanirananda, PhD, notice that their initials are capitalized, as are their titles (Mr., Mrs., Miss, Rev., Dr.) and the abbreviations following their names (Jr., Sr., Esq., PhD). ➥

FUEL FOR THOUGHT SOME NOUNS MAY act as both a common and proper noun, depending on how they are used in a sentence. For instance, when used alone, the word governor is a common noun. The governor took a much-needed vacation after the arduous primaries this fall. When used before a person’s name, however, governor should be capitalized. When asked where he was headed, Governor Braxton commented that he was looking forward to his two-week reprieve in upstate New York. This rule also applies to family relationships when a specific person is referred to, except when it follows a possessive noun or possessive pronoun. I made my grandmother a scarf for her birthday; Aunt Nancy commented on how colorful it was.

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INSIDE TRACK THE CARDINAL DIRECTIONS (north, south, east, and west) are not capitalized; however, when you’re referring to a specific section of the country, like the Southwest, you capitalize the word. The seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter) are not capitalized unless they are being used in the title of something, like Spring Fling. The names of gods and religious figures are always capitalized except when you are not referring to one specific god, like Roman gods.

PRACTICE LAP Identify and correct improperly capitalized words in the following dialogue. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 1.

“all right,” jack conceded, “you win this time.”

2.

“it’s getting late and i have homework to do,” jack sighed.

3.

“can we play one more time,” asked julie. “please?”

4.

jack smiled and remarked, “only if i can go first!”

5.

“deal!” julie replied with a sly smile, handing jack the wireless controller. “good luck!”

Capitalize proper adjectives. Adjectives modify, or enhance, nouns to tell you more information about the person, place, or thing being described. Sometimes, a proper noun acts like an adjective—for example, April showers, Chinese yo-yo, and English muffin. When proper adjectives refer to a nationality, the suffix -n or -ian is generally added, such as with Victorian era, American flag, and Mexican food.


Capitalize the first word and all key words in titles of books, movies, songs, short stories, works of art, etc. Articles (a, an, the) and the conjunctions so, for, and, but, nor, or, yet are not capitalized, unless they are the first word of the title. Personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, they, them, we, us, etc.) and verbs are always capitalized. Titling Written Works

Book

Bridge to Terabithia

Short Story

“The Lawyer and the Ghost”

Newspaper

The New York Daily News

Movie

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Painting

Starry Night

Song

“Sunshine on My Shoulders”

Magazine

Newsweek

PRACTICE LAP Identify and correct any proper adjectives or titles that should be capitalized in the following sentences. Then, check your answers on page 20. 6.

Have you read Mark Twain’s the adventures of huckleberry finn?

7.

Thomas Jefferson’s declaration of independence of the united states of america is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

8.

Kauai, a hawaiian island, is among one of the most exotic places in the world.

9.

One of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s famous paintings is called lady at the piano.

10.

march winds blow, before april showers show, which make may flowers grow.

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ANSWERS Reminder: Capitalize (1) the first word of every sentence, (2) the first word of a direct quotation, (3) the pronoun I and all contractions made using the word I, and (4) proper nouns. 1. “All right,” Jack conceded, “you win this time.” 2. “It’s getting late and I have homework to do,” Jack sighed. 3. “Can we play one more time?” asked Julie. “Please?” 4. Jack smiled and remarked, “Only if I can go first!” 5. “Deal!” Julie replied with a sly smile, handing Jack the wireless controller. “Good luck!” Reminder: Capitalize (1) proper adjectives and (2) the first word and all key words in titles. 6. Have you read Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? 7. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence of the United States of America is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. 8. Kauai, a Hawaiian island, is among one of the most exotic places in the world. 9. One of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s famous paintings is called Lady at the Piano. 10. March winds blow, before April showers show, which make May flowers grow.

PART 2: PUNCTUATION—THE PULSE OF THE SENTENCE Periods

Periods signify the end of a declarative sentence (a statement of fact) or an imperative sentence (a command or request is stated). For example: Declarative: There is a test on the Westward Expansion on Tuesday. Imperative: Study hard if you want to do well.


Periods also follow most abbreviations (Mr., Mrs., lb., oz., A.M., P.M., Mon., Tue., Jan. Feb., etc.), except for abbreviations that use all capital letters (NASA, CIA, FBI, YMCA, etc.) and abbreviations for states (DE, NJ, CA, KN, MO, etc.). Periods must also follow a person’s initials (John F. Kennedy, T.S. Eliot, etc.).

INSIDE TRACK WHEN A SENTENCE ends with an abbreviation that has a period, do NOT add another period at the end. Instead, leave the abbreviation’s period as the endmark. If the sentence is an exclamatory sentence or question, you MUST place the exclamation mark or question mark at the end, after the abbreviation’s period. Correct: I was supposed to meet you at 4 P.M.! Was I supposed to meet you at 4 P.M.? Incorrect: I will meet you at 4 P.M..

Question Marks—Go Ahead and Ask

Question marks are used after a question (an interrogatory sentence). This is a difficult rule, isn’t it? Don’t get indirect questions mixed up with questions. Sometimes a sentence sounds like it has a question in it, but it’s really just a statement reporting a question: I was wondering if Lucas, Sean, and I could get together to study tonight at my house. I asked whether I could get together with my friends to study. The statements I was wondering and I asked are just that—statements. Hence, they end with periods.

21

22 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Exclamation Marks—Turn Up the Volume

Exclamations signify strong feelings or emotion. When a sentence is exclamatory, use an exclamation mark to end it; this includes an imperative sentence, which gives an authoritative or earnest command. Exclamatory Sentences: Hey! This is pretty simple! I can’t believe it! Look at the size of that dog! I’m glad I don’t feed it! Imperative Sentences: Stop! I mean it! Be quiet now! This is important!

FUEL FOR THOUGHT BE CAREFUL NOT to overuse the exclamation mark in your writing. For emphasis, people tend to end their sentences with not only one, but sometimes two, three, or more. Yikes!!!!!!!

PRACTICE LAP Place the correct punctuation at the end of each sentence. Check your answers on page 47. 1.

The sun was shining in my window when I woke up

2.

Did you see the tightrope walker at the circus

3.

The honest stranger found a wallet and returned it to its owner

4.

Ouch That hurt

5.

Excellent work class, I am very proud of you

Capitalization and Punctuation Commas—A Common Sense Approach

Of all the punctuation marks, commas are used more frequently than any other, and tend to cause writers the most headaches. Their usage is really a matter of personal style, which leaves some writers dropping them into sentences all over the place, and others placing them so sparingly, you’d think they were being charged for each one. All kidding aside, just how do you know when to use one and when not to? Here are some suggestions to help you avoid confusion, yet not cramp your style. ➥

When you have a series of three or more items in a sentence, use a comma to separate them. The items may be words or phrases. Words in a Series: Yellow, blue, red, and green are my favorite colors. Phrases in a Series: The cardinal flew around the house, above the tree, and under the power line.

➥

When you have two or more adjectives describing a noun or pronoun, use a comma to separate them. The young cat had gray, matted fur due to lack of care by its owner.

➥

If you have a series of items where the words or, and, or nor are connecting them, a comma is not necessary. Cats and dogs and hamsters are popular pets. I like more exotic pets like guinea pigs or parakeets or iguanas. However, I like neither snakes nor mice nor spiders as pets.

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INSIDE TRACK COMMON SENSE MUST prevail when using commas. Read your sentence to make certain that the meaning is not misconstrued with too many or too few commas. Consider the following: Robert danced with Barbara, Anne, Cassidy, and Katie Lee at the prom. Robert had a very busy evening at the prom and probably went home exhausted. Robert danced with Barbara Anne Cassidy and Katie Lee at the prom. While Robert did dance with two girls, Barbara Anne, whose last name is Cassidy, and Katie, whose last name is Lee, it’s unlikely he went home worn out.

➥

If a sentence begins with an introductory word or phrase, it is, in most cases, generally followed by a comma. The use of a comma after introductory sentence parts helps the reader from carrying the meaning of the introduction into the main part of the sentence, which can lead to misinterpretation. For example: Confusing: After eating the three little pigs and the big bad wolf played a round of golf to catch up on old times. (My, someone was very hungry!) Less Confusing: After eating, the three little pigs and the big bad wolf played a round of golf to catch up on old times. (Friendly bunch, aren’t they?) Confusing: Bugged Bob went to the manager to complain about his cold dinner. (What a strange name, Bugged Bob. Does he have a sister Irked Irene, or perhaps Mad Margaret?)


Less Confusing: Bugged, Bob went to the manager to complain about his cold dinner. ➥

When a word or phrase immediately follows a noun, it should be set off by commas. The word or phrase is meant to rename or enhance the noun’s meaning by providing the reader with more information. This sentence interrupter is called an appositive. Brian, a varsity soccer player, trains daily at the gym to stay in shape.

The phrase a varsity soccer player renames Brian and adds to our understanding about who he is. This phrase, however, can be removed and the sentence will remain complete—Brian trains daily at the gym to stay in shape. Let’s look at another: My teacher, Mr. Moyer, is also a football coach at the high school. Again, if we remove the appositive Mr. Moyer, the meaning of the sentence remains complete—My teacher is also a football coach at the high school. One more: The pies, pumpkin and chocolate cream, were the perfect ending to our dinner. We know exactly what kinds of pies were the perfect ending to dinner because of the appositive provided. If we remove the phrase, does the sentence meaning remain intact? Yes. Besides enhancing a noun, appositives typically have two other functions in a sentence. They name a person being addressed in the sentence: See, Danielle, I told you the principal saw you running in the hall. Look, Courtney, I found my earring under my dresser.

25

26 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR And they set off expressions of opinions, conclusions, etc.: George Washington, in fact, is known as the father of our country. Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, was the most revolutionary president in American history.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT OTHER EXPRESSIONS YOU may encounter are yes, no, well, indeed, nevertheless, however, I believe, of course, for once, obviously, in my opinion, to tell the truth, and on the contrary.

PRACTICE LAP Place all missing commas in the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 6.

Sal’s uncle Joe is a mail carrier in Mississippi.

7.

Believe it or not Joe walks about five miles a day on his route.

8.

Last month he was chased by a neighborhood dog Rex while working on his route.

9.

Fortunately he was able to run jump a fence and hop into his truck for safety.

10.

Joe’s customer Mr. Henderson was careful to keep Rex inside from then on.


➥

Use commas in dates, addresses, salutations (friendly letters only!), and closings of letters. ➲

Dates Place a comma after the day of the week (if it’s mentioned), the day of the month, and the year (if the sentence continues only):

Michael Jordan was born Sunday, February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York.

INSIDE TRACK NO COMMA IS necessary if you’re writing only the day and month or the month and year in a sentence: Michael Jordan was born February 17. Michael Jordan was born in February 1963.

➲

Addresses In friendly and business letters, and in sentences, there are places in addresses you are expected to place commas: Sentence/Text Form: In order to receive credit for your payment, please remit check or money order to Lamp Lighters Co., 54321 Main St., Roxbury, NJ 07876.

As you can see, commas need to be placed between the business or person’s name and the start of the street address, then after the street address, and then between the city and state. No commas are necessary between the state and the zip code.

27


INSIDE TRACK WHEN MENTIONING A city and state in a sentence (without a zip code), a comma must also follow the state. Last week, my dad traveled to Chicago, Illinois, on business. The same rule holds true if you mention a country name: He sometimes travels to Paris, France, in the spring.

Letter/Envelope Form: Lamp Lighters Co. 54321 Main St. Roxbury, NJ 07876 Only a comma between the city and state is necessary in this format. ➲

Salutations and Closings When greeting someone in a friendly letter, use a comma after his or her name and after your closing:

Dear Aunt Josie, Love, ➥

Use a comma before coordinating conjunctions that are followed by an independent clause (a sentence). Coordinating conjunctions are and, but, for, nor, or, yet, and so. I am 14 years old, and my brother, Jonathan, is 15. He is older than I am, yet I’m taller than he is, so people think I’m older.

These can all be written as separate sentences: I am 14 years old. My brother, Jonathan, is 15. He is older than I am. I’m taller than he is. People think I’m older.


It is better, though, to combine them to avoid choppiness. ➥

Commas are used in direct quotations (the exact words that a person says). ➲ Direct Quotation Identifying the Speaker First: Kevin said, “There’s a big rip in the back of your pants!”

These are the exact words of Kevin. ➲

Direct Quotation with an Interrupter:

“There’s a big rip,” Kevin said, “in the back of your pants!” Notice that the first part of Kevin’s sentence ends with a comma (after rip), and again after the interrupting words Kevin said. ➲

Indirect Quotation:

Kevin said that there is a big rip in the back of your pants. This is someone conveying what Kevin said. No commas are needed. ➥

Use commas with titles and degrees only when they follow a person’s name. Commas: In an emergency, call Jackson Foster, MD. Lorraine Devonshire, PhD, has become president of our state college. No Commas: Call Dr. Foster in an emergency. Dr. Lorraine Devonshire has become president of our state college.

➥

Use commas when writing long numbers. When writing numbers, especially long ones, your teachers expect you to place commas in them to help readers understand the number more easily. For instance, if you had the number 6307200 or 378432000, it would take quite a bit of thought to decipher the numbers; what with

29

30 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR counting how many numbers there are and then mentally grouping them into threes to divide them into their billions, millions, hundred thousands, thousands, hundreds, and so on. With the help of commas, numbers are easily interpreted: The average student spends 6,307,200 minutes, or 378,432,000 seconds, in school from first grade through high school graduation!

INSIDE TRACK TO PLACE COMMAS properly in long numbers, begin at the far right of the number and place a comma after every three digits: The 2006 population of New Jersey, an area of 8,729 square miles, was 8,724,560. Numbers from 1 to 999 don’t require a comma. Nor do phone numbers, page numbers, zip codes, years, serial numbers, and house numbers. However, when you are writing a series of numbers, commas should be placed in between each number: Study pages 112, 113, and 114 in your textbook to prepare for tomorrow’s quiz on commas. Red Bank, New Jersey, has four zip codes: 07701, 07702, 07703, and 07704.

PRACTICE LAP Add periods and commas where necessary in the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 11.

Mr Eatmore S Pinach president of the Ban Brussels Sprouts Association (BBSA) is heading a worldwide protest against the sale and consumption of the so-called wild cabbage.


12.

It seems its popularity has soared to new heights since the latest campaign The Brussels Sprout Tout has gone on tour throughout Europe Asia and North America.

13.

The operation has prompted many widespread international antisprout movements among dark leafy greens lovers led by China’s Bok Choy Switzerland’s Swiss Chard and North America’s renowned Dan D Lyon Green.

14.

Donations to support the cause are greatly appreciated so please feel free to give your time or money generously.

15.

Send all correspondence and contributions to BBSA 481 Bountiful Blvd Verdant Valley CA 98765.

Colons and Semicolons—The Introducers and Connectors of Punctuation

Colons are used to introduce a particular bit of information. Unlike commas, which seem to have a million and one rules to follow, a colon simply introduces anything: a word, a sentence, a list, a quotation, a phrase. It says “here is an example” or “an example is going to follow” to the reader (figuratively, of course). Now, that’s not to say you can simply throw colons into your writing. There is some simple, yet important, colon etiquette to follow: ➥

Use a colon to introduce a list. Please bring the following items to school on the first day: pencils, a pen, notebook paper, and a binder. A more detailed list of needed items will be given in class.

While colons usually signify a list to follow, the colons themselves may NOT follow a verb or preposition: Incorrect: On the first day of school, please bring: pencils, a pen, notebook paper, and a binder.

31

32 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Incorrect: On the first day of school, please bring pencils, a pen, notebook paper, and a binder to: Mr. Stewart, Mrs. Hodges, or Ms. Louise. TIP: To play it safe, use a phrase like as follows or the following before the colon (for example, the list is as follows: OR bring the following:). ➥

Use a colon to introduce an excerpt or long quotation. In his first inaugural address to the United States of America, President John F. Kennedy said: . . . In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty . . . And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

➥

Use a colon to introduce the subtitle of a movie or book. Ethan’s favorite movie is Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi. Scott read Crispin: At the Edge of the World two times already this summer.

➥

Use a colon to separate hours from minutes when writing the time. It’s now 4:43 P.M. The school record for the one-mile relay is 5:32:47.

➥

Use a colon in the salutation of a formal or business letter. Dear Sir: To Whom It May Concern: Dear Mr. President:

The Semicolon—The Super Comma

The semicolon, a.k.a. the “super comma,” connects two related sentences to emphasize their relationship to a reader. Typically, the second sentence that follows makes a comment of some sort about the first or offers further information about it—hence the relationship.


➥

Use a semicolon to separate two sentences (independent clauses) that are related in topic and meaning. Sentence 1: Waiting until the last minute, Jamon hurriedly finished his report. Sentence 2: He made many careless mistakes. Sentence 3: Waiting until the last minute, Jamon hurriedly finished his report; he made many careless mistakes.

Jamon made careless mistakes because he hurried to do his report. This cause/effect is emphasized even more by being in the same sentence. ➥

Use a semicolon between two complete sentences that are separated by some transitional words or phrases, or conjunctive adverbs. Waiting until the last minute, Jamon hurriedly finished his report; consequently, he made many careless mistakes.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT HERE ARE SOME common conjunctive adverbs: afterward

accordingly

besides

consequently

furthermore

hence

however

indeed

instead

likewise

moreover

nevertheless

nonetheless

otherwise

similarly

so

still

then

therefore

thus

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PRACTICE LAP Add colons and semicolons where necessary in the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 16.

Mom’s list included the following milk, eggs, butter, toothpaste, and soap.

17.

I was supposed to be home at 1130 A.M., but I got home at 130 P.M. instead.

18.

Pratishta couldn’t decide whether to watch Ace Ventura Pet Detective or Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

19.

The weather on Sunday was spectacular however we had to stay home to paint.

20.

His new baby sister was precious her blue eyes were riveting.

Quotation Marks—It Must Be the Real Deal

Quotation marks, a.k.a. quotes, are used in writing to show the exact words someone said—exactly. This exact account is called a direct quotation. ➥

Direct quotations require the use of opening and ending quotation marks. Direct Quotation: “Mark always thinks he’s right,” said his little sister, Cheryl. Indirect Quotation: Mark’s little sister, Cheryl, says Mark, always thinks he’s right.

Here, the same message is conveyed, but the reader is able to distinguish that the sentence with quotes are the exact wording from the speaker. The indirect quotation, called hearsay, means just that—someone saying what he or she heard someone else say . . . make sense?


➥

Don’t place quotes around someone’s thoughts (his or her ideas that are not spoken aloud). Correct: These math problems are pretty difficult—will I pass this test? Elisabeth thought. Incorrect: “These math problems are pretty difficult—will I pass this test?” Elisabeth thought.

➥

Use quotes to convey uncertainty or misgivings. You know, Tracy, I don’t know how you can call this a “friendship” when all you do is avoid me every chance you get. We have been socalled “friends,” well, “forever,” and I can’t believe you would do “this” to me!

Sometimes, like in the sample you just read, people can get carried away with using quotes to show emphasis, so just be cautious. FUEL FOR THOUGHT HERE ARE SOME helpful guidelines about quotations to guide you: ➥ Capitalize the first letter to begin a quotation: “I feel like eating peppermint ice cream; do you?” asked Alexa. ➥ Periods, question marks, and exclamation marks usually go inside the closing quotes. Colons and semicolons do NOT: Mrs. Kirby, the librarian, told me about the “rule of thumb”: Read the first page and hold up one finger for each word I don’t know. If I get to my thumb, the book is too hard. ➥ Use a comma before the opening quotes when words that identify the speaker come right before the quote: Sandy chided, “Your dog is staring at me and it’s giving me the creeps.” ➥ When there is an interrupter to identify the speaker in the middle of the quote, each part of the quotation is enclosed in quotation marks. The first part of the quote ends with a comma

35


enclosed in the end quotes. The interrupting words are followed by a comma before the opening quotes: “Soon I’ll be 14,” bragged Frank, “so I can get a part-time job!” Notice also that so is not capitalized. That is because it is not starting a new sentence, but is a continuation of Frank’s first sentence. ➥ If a speaker is saying two separate sentences, each sentence begins with a capital letter within the opening quotes. As well, a period, not a comma, is used to punctuate the interrupter: “You’re lucky, Frank,” remarked Lauren. “Fourteen doesn’t come for me until next October.”

PRACTICE LAP Identify any words or sentences that require quotation marks, and properly place commas and endmarks in the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 21.

Remember, class, said Mr. McDermott, tomorrow is Spirit Day, so wear green!

22.

I don’t think I have anything green, thought Julie. I wonder if Kevin will let me borrow his football jersey.

23.

This will be the third thing you’ve borrowed from me this week! Kevin said to Julie. Including the jersey, you have to make sure you return my CD and my yearbook.

24.

Smiling, Julie replied, I’ll go get your yearbook and CD right now. I wanted to show Carol a picture of Mike Wiley, a boy she likes.

25.

Uh, that’s more information than I needed to know, Jules. Just go get my stuff, jibed Kevin, on his way out the door.

Capitalization and Punctuation The Apostrophe—It’s Not Just a Matter of Possession

Plurals, possessives, contractions . . . the apostrophe plays many important, and highly misused, roles in English grammar. Why, just down the road, a local business owner proudly displays several flashing neon signs advertising his tasty wares: Taco’s, Salad’s, and Soup’s to Go! This, unfortunately, is an all-too-common appearance in stores from coast to coast. Do you know what’s wrong with this sign? None of the words in the sign needs an apostrophe because each item is a regular plural (plural means more than one). Only on rare occasions do you need to add an apostrophe to create a plural, which we’ll talk about later in the lesson. Let’s talk about contractions first. Contractions—The Long and the Short of It

In informal writing, like a letter to your friend or your Aunt Josephine, you can use shortened versions of words, called contractions. Contract means “to squeeze together or shorten,” and contractions are two words that have been shortened or squeezed together to make one. For instance, instead of writing cannot, you write the contraction form of the word: can’t. So what happens to the n and the o? The apostrophe stands in for them (cannot = can’t). What is the contraction for I am? Right! I’m is the answer.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT HERE ARE SOME more contractions: AM

WILL

HAVE/HAS

HAD/WOULD

I

I’m

I’ll

I’ve

I’d

YOU

you’re

you’ll

you’ve

you’d

HE

he’s

he’ll

he’s

he’d

SHE

she’s

she’ll

she’s

he’d

IT

it’s

it’ll

it’s

it’d

THEY

they’re

they’ll

they’ve

they’d

WE

we’re

we’ll

we’ve

we’d

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Here are the helping verbs in negative form: IS + not = isn’t ARE + not = aren’t WAS + not = wasn’t WERE + not = weren’t HAVE + not = haven’t HAS + not = hasn’t HAD + not = hadn’t CAN + not = can’t DO + not = don’t DID + not = didn’t SHOULD + not = shouldn’t WOULD + not = wouldn’t COULD + not = couldn’t

INSIDE TRACK REMEMBER THAT ONLY in informal writing is it acceptable to use contractions. Your teachers will likely discourage you from using contractions in schoolwork, such as reports and essays.

Possessives—Whose Is It, Anyway?

Possessives are nouns that show ownership—that something belongs to something else. Be careful, because these can be tricky. First, before adding an apostrophe, you need to make certain that the word you’re using actually implies possession. Take the word story, for example: Singular: The ghost story had a scary plot. Plural: The ghost stories had a scary plot. Neither of these sentences uses the word story or stories in a possessive way.


➥

To make a singular noun possessive, add an ’s. Singular Possessive: The ghost story’s plot was scary.

Here, the sentence implies that the plot belonging to the one ghost story was scary. The story possesses the plot, thus making it the story’s plot. Let’s try another one: My younger brothers name is Christian. Where does the apostrophe need to be placed? What word is implying possession of something? Right, brother’s—the name, Christian, belongs to my younger brother. The word brother needs an ’s. ➥

To make a plural noun ending in ’s possessive, add an apostrophe AFTER the final ’s. Plural Possessive: The ghost stories’ plots were scary.

Here, the sentence implies that the plots belonging to more than one ghost story were scary. The stories possess the plots, thus making them the stories’ plots. Let’s try another one: The boys soccer trophies were placed on the table in rows. Again, where does the apostrophe need to be placed? What word is implying possession of something? Right, boys’—the trophies belong to the boys. The word boys needs an apostrophe AFTER the ’s in boys. Do all plural nouns end in s? Most do, but not all. There are some nouns that take on a completely different spelling when they turn plural, like children, for example. Or women. Can you think of others? How about geese, mice, people, feet, men, teeth. . .? There are many more. In any of these cases, these words are treated like the singular nouns, and ’s is added to them to form a possessive.

The geese’s V formation in the sky was impressive as they flew overhead.

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➥

To make a singular noun ending in s possessive, you can add an ’s OR add an apostrophe after the s. To some, it may seem odd to add an ’s after another s somehow, but that’s one correct way to do it! Marty Reynolds’s jacket was left on the school bus yesterday.

You may also write the sentence like this: Marty Reynolds’ jacket was left on the school bus yesterday. It is best to follow the way your teacher wishes to avoid problems.

PRACTICE LAP See if you can find all of the apostrophe mistakes in these sentences. You can check your answers at the end of the chapter. 26.

I do’nt believe Iv’e ever seen a five-toed cat before, have you?

27.

Miss Marples’ detective skills are as clever as Sherlock Holmes’s flair for solving crimes.

28.

These childrens picture book’s have become too easy for you. Lets choose a more challenging book to read this time.

29.

Werent you at my sister Tracys’ birthday party two week’s ago?

30.

I heard that your fathers got two sports cars!

Hyphens and Dashes—So Alike, Yet So Different

Aside from their similar looks—hyphens getting the short end of the bargain, so to say—they each perform completely different jobs in our writing. Hyphens, for instance, divide words at the ends of lines, hyphenate numbers and compound words, and help out some prefixes and suffixes to help avoid confusion.


➥

Use a hyphen with the prefixes great-, all-, half-, ex-, self-, and the suffix -elect: great--grandfather all--knowing half--hearted ex--girlfriend self--control mayor--elect

➥

great--grandmother all--powerful half--truth ex--president self--reliant governor--elect

Use a hyphen to join capital letters to form a new word: X--ray

T--square

T--shirt

R--rated

or at the syllable break and between double letters of a word at the end of a line of writing: Jan--u--ary ➥

ten--nis

ad--o--les-cent

but--ter--fly

Use a hyphen to write numbers 21–99 in word form and to write fractions as words: Twenty--nine forty--six one--third eight--tenths

or write numbers as a score or a date: The final score of the Force vs. Sonics play-off game was 16-18. The newspaper dated 3-17-06 contains the detailed article. The date may also be written using slashes instead: 3/17/06. ➥

Use a hyphen to clarify some words where re- means to redo something, or where the spelling of two words put together would be awkward: Michael tried to recollect how he planned to re-collect the books he mistakenly deposited in the library bin.

41

42 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Michael is trying to remember how he planned to get the books back that he gave to the library by mistake. The shell-like glass dish was badly chipped. Without the hyphen, shell--like would have been written shellllike, which is an awkward combination of three l’s together. ➥

Use a dash to emphasize a “by-the-way” or incidental thought in your writing: Her father brought two-dozen roses—beautiful pink and white ones wrapped in tulle—to her graduation party!

➥

Use a dash to set off a short series or list in a sentence: Acceptable: At the zoo, we saw many exotic animals like bongos, capybaras, echidnas, kinkajous, and an okapi. Better Choice: At the zoo, we saw many exotic animals—bongos, capybaras, echidnas, kinkajous, and an okapi.

INSIDE TRACK A DASH CAN be used much like a colon. It gives your writing a less formal tone, where colons are more formal.

Parentheses and Brackets—By the Way

Between the two punctuation marks, you are bound to see many more parentheses than brackets in writing simply because they are more “functional.”


➥

When you want to provide your reader with extra information in the middle, or even the end, of your sentence, you can place that information inside parentheses (this is called a parenthetical comment). Margie (who is one of the best dancers on the team) took a spill on stage last night and twisted her ankle.

Important: You can take the information in the parentheses out of the sentence, and the sentence still will make sense to the reader. ➥

Dates and page numbers are commonly placed inside parentheses. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), one of the world’s most famous composers, continued to write musical masterpieces even though he went deaf in his thirties. More information about Beethoven can be found in Chapter 22 (pages 97–113).

➥

Parentheses can be used to enclose numbers or letters meant to itemize information. To make your bed, choose your favorite sheets and (a) place the fitted sheet snuggly around the mattress; (b) drape the flat sheet on top (preferably straight and even) and tuck the bottom of the sheet between the mattress and box spring; (c) place your pillow inside the pillowcase and put it at the head of the bed; and (d) cover the bed with a quilt or blanket to stay toasty-warm. All that’s left is to hop in and snooze!

Note: (a), (b), (c), and (d) may be replaced with (1), (2), (3), and (4). ➥

When you want to insert an editorial (your own comments) within quoted material, use brackets. Bill said, “It [the Super Bowl] was great! They [the Colts] played like champions today!”

43

44 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR ➥

Use brackets to alter the capitalization of a word in a quote in order to make it fit in your sentence or paragraph scheme. For example:

The directions specifically say to “[t]urn off the power before trying to connect the VCR to the television.” The directions would have originally read Turn off the power . . . in the source this quote came from. Italics and Underlining—The Attention Getters

Before modern technology, writing was done mostly by hand. The option of italicizing words was all but impossible, so underlining was used to emphasize words. Today, we use both interchangeably, with just the touch of a button. ➥

Italicize or underline the titles of long works, such as books, magazines, newspapers, movies, TV shows, albums, plays, long poems, and musicals. Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting

Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting

The Chicago Sun

The Chicago Sun

Robert Frost’s poem Birches

Robert Frost’s poem Birches

Use quotation marks around the titles of stories, songs, short poems, articles, and other smaller works.

INSIDE TRACK DON’T BE FICKLE and use italics in one paragraph or entry, and then underline in the next one. You must be consistent in your choice. Pick one and then stick with it the entire time.


➥

Italicize foreign words in your writing. The French word bonjour means “hello.”

➥

Italicize or underline words in sentences you want to emphasize for the reader. Can you tell the difference in the meanings of these four sentences? Maria was sad.

[Okay, Maria was sad.]

Maria was sad.

[Oh, it was Maria who was sad.]

Maria was sad.

[Good, Maria’s no longer sad.]

Maria was sad.

[I see; she wasn’t glad, she was sad.]

When we read, we have to sometimes interpret the speech patterns of the writer (or speaker). Using italics allows us to help our readers in that interpretation. The Ellipsis—You Don’t Say . . .

When you encounter three single-spaced periods in your reading . . . it means one of a couple of things: ➥

An ellipsis indicates that some words before or after the dots have been left out. “. . . but I didn’t do it!” sobbed AJ. Grandpa went on. “You know, when I was a little boy I had to walk seven miles, barefoot, in the snow . . . and then over that mountain over there, and then . . .”

➥

An ellipsis indicates a pause in between words or thoughts. “I’m not afraid of the dark . . . but I’d still like the light on until I fall asleep,” Raymond whispered.

45

46 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR When you write and want to use an ellipsis, be careful not to leave out important information that would intentionally mislead the reader of the speaker’s message: Journalist Jess D. Faks reports that actress superstar, Holly Wood, said in her acceptance speech, “I owe ALL of my success to . . . me . . . not . . . my fans and my manager.” Hmm . . . it seems that Mr. Faks decided to omit some very important words from his citation. If Mr. Faks had not misused the ellipses, we would have known what Holly had REALLY said: “I owe ALL of my success to many special people who have supported me through my highs and lows: my parents and teachers, and of course, I cannot forget my fans and my manager.”

PRACTICE LAP Can you identify the mistakes in the following sentences? You may check your answers at the end of the chapter. 31.

The vice president elect spoke briefly about the president.

32.

The Gary Paulsen novel Brian’s Winter, a story of survival in the Canadian wilderness, would make a good G rated movie for kids.

33.

Some ski resorts use gondolas and Tbars to transport skiers to the top of the mountain.

34.

Twenty two is my lucky number. What’s yours?

35.

Louisa May Alcott 1832–1888 was thirty five when she wrote Little Women.


ANSWERS Reminder: (1) Periods signify the end of declarative and imperative sentences, (2) question marks are used after a question, and (3) exclamations signify strong feelings or emotion. 1. The sun was shining in my window when I woke up. 2. Did you see the tightrope walker at the circus? 3. The honest stranger found a wallet and returned it to its owner. 4. Ouch! That hurt! 5. Excellent work class. I am very proud of you! Reminder: Use commas (1) to separate series of three or more items in a sentence, (2) with an introductory word or phrase, and (3) before and after a word or phrase that is meant to rename or describe a noun that precedes it (an appositive). 6. Sal’s uncle, Joe, is a mail carrier in Mississippi. 7. Believe it or not, Joe walks about five miles a day on his route. 8. Last month, he was chased by a neighborhood dog, Rex, while working on his route. 9. Fortunately, he was able to run, jump a fence, and hop into his truck for safety. 10. Joe’s customer, Mr. Henderson, was careful to keep Rex inside from then on. Reminder: Also use commas (1) in dates and addresses, (2) to set off expressions, and (3) with titles and degrees. 11. Mr. Eatmore S. Pinach, president of the Ban Brussels Sprouts Association (BBSA), is heading a worldwide protest against the sale and consumption of the so-called “wild cabbage.” 12. It seems its popularity has soared to new heights since the latest campaign, The Brussels Sprout Tout, has gone on tour throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. 13. The operation has prompted many widespread international anti-sprout movements among dark, leafy greens lovers, led by China’s Bok Choy,

47

48 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Switzerland’s Swiss Chard, and North America’s renown Dan D. Lyon Green. 14. Donations to support the cause are greatly appreciated, so please feel free to give your time or money generously. 15. Send all correspondence and contributions to BBSA, 481 Bountiful Blvd., Verdant Valley, CA, 98765. Reminder: Use colons to (1) introduce a list, (2) introduce the subtitle of a movie or book, and (3) separate hours from minutes when writing the time. Use a semicolon (4) to separate two related sentences and (5) between two complete sentences that are separated by transitional words or phrases. 16. Mom’s list included the following: milk, eggs, butter, toothpaste, and soap. 17. I was supposed to be home at 11:30 A.M., but I got home at 1:30 P.M. instead. 18. Pratishta couldn’t decide whether to watch Ace Ventura:: Pet Detective or Robin Hood:: Prince of Thieves. 19. The weather on Sunday was spectacular; however, we had to stay home to paint. 20. His new baby sister was precious; her blue eyes were riveting. Reminder: (1) Direct quotations require the use of opening and ending quotation marks; (2) don’t place quote around someone’s thoughts; and (3) use quotes to convey uncertainty or misgivings. 21. “Remember, class,” said Mr. McDermott, “tomorrow is Spirit Day, so wear green!” 22. I don’t think I have anything green, thought Julie. I wonder if Kevin will let me borrow his football jersey. 23. “This will be the third thing you’ve borrowed from me this week!” Kevin said to Julie. “Including the jersey, you have to make sure you return my CD and my yearbook.” 24. Smiling, Julie replied, “I‘ll go get your yearbook and CD right now. I wanted to show Carol a picture of Mike Wiley, a boy she likes.” 25. “Uh, that’s more information than I needed to know, Jules. Just go get my stuff,” jibed Kevin, on his way out the door.


Reminder: (1) Contractions are two words shortened or squeezed together with an apostrophe; (2) to make a singular noun possessive, add an ’s; (3) to make a plural noun ending in s possessive, add an apostrophe AFTER the final s; (4) to make a singular noun ending in s possessive, add an ’s OR add an apostrophe after the s; (5) when writing abbreviations with more than one period, add an ’s to denote more than to make it plural. 26. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a five-toed cat before, have you? 27. Miss Marple’s detective skills are as clever as Sherlock Holmes’ (or Holmes’s) flair for solving crimes. 28. These children’s picture books have become too easy for you. Let’s choose a more challenging book to read this time. 29. Weren’t you at my sister Tracy’s birthday party two weeks ago? 30. I heard that your father’s got two sports cars! Reminder: Use hyphens (1) with some prefixes, (2) to join capital letters to form a new word, (3) to write numbers 21–99 in word form or as a date. Also, (4) dates and page numbers can be placed inside parentheses, and (5) italicize or underline the titles of long works, like books. 31. The vice president-elect spoke briefly about the president. 32. The Gary Paulsen novel Brian’s Winter, a story of survival in the Canadian wilderness, would make a good G-rated movie for kids. (Brian’s Winter may also be italicized.) 33. Some ski resorts use gondolas and T-bars to transport skiers to the top of the mountain. 34. Twenty-two is my lucky number. What’s yours? 35. Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) was thirty-five when she wrote Little Women. (Little Women may also be italicized.)

49

3 Spelling

Spell Well . . . with a Few Exceptions

J

ust how important is spelling anyway? Well, it can make the difference between someone understanding and appreciating your idea and someone walking away baffled. How important is that to you? You know, it wasn’t that long ago when students had only dictionaries to turn to in order to check their spelling errors, and not the ones on the Internet, but the books on shelves that lined the walls in classrooms and libraries. In this high-tech age, when computers line the walls of classrooms and libraries, and are turning into common household items, many think that dictionaries are becoming a thing of the past—what with the convenience of “spell check” just the click of a mouse away. But don’t be too quick to throw that dictionary away just yet! It could come in handy more than you think. Take a look at this. Ewe mite knot awl weighs sea yore riding miss takes write a weigh, sew ewe halve two Czech care fully. Men knee mite yews tulles, like ay computer, two tri too fined and altar thee mist aches, butt sum thymes it seas write thru them. The English language has 26 letters in its alphabet (21 consonants and 5 vowels) and 19 different vowel combinations to make up a total of 44 sounds, called phonemes. It would be easy if all you had to do was memorize 44 sounds to help you spell words . . . but, alas, this is English, and these 44

52 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR sounds are spelled in almost 1,000 different ways, thus making the household dictionary not obsolete, but a necessity. Spelling rules and patterns can help you learn to spell many words, although you must keep in mind that you’ll regularly run into rule exceptions. Let’s take a look at some basic spelling rules.

COMMON SPELLING RULES Words with ei or ie

Have you heard this mnemonic before? Write i before e except after c or when sounding like a as in neighbor and weigh. I before E

Except after C

When Sounding Like A

thief

friend

ceiling

weigh neighbor

relief

achieve

deceive receive

vein

sleigh

niece

believe

conceit

reign

eight

receipt

deceit

INSIDE TRACK FOLLOWING ARE SOME exceptions to the rule. either, neither, seize, seizure, leisure, weird, foreign, height, glacier, ancient, being, feisty, protein, counterfeit, sovereign

Spelling

PRACTICE LAP For the following questions, choose either ie or ei to spell each word given correctly. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter.

1.

rel

2.

dec

3.

ch

4.

w

f

5.

sh

6.

v

n

10.

for

f

7.

s

ve

11.

y

ld

rd

8.

fr

ght

12.

n

ce

ve

ld

ght

9.

gn

Doubling the Final Consonant

When a one-syllable word (bat, can, put) ends with a consonant (batt, cann, putt) that is preceded by one vowel (baat, caan, puut), you should double the final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel (e.g., -ed, -ing, -er). For instance: bat battting battted battter can cannning cannned cannner When a multisyllable word (patrol, forget, occur) ends with a consonant (patroll, forgett, occurr) that is preceded by a vowel (patrool, refeer, occuur), and ends TROL, re-FFER, oc-C CUR), you should double the with a stressed syllable (pa-T final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel (e.g., -ed, -ing, -al, -ence, -ant). For instance: repel repellling repellled repelllant refer referrring referrred referrral occur occurrring occurrred occurrrence

53


FUEL FOR THOUGHT IF THE MULTISYLLABLE word ends with a consonant preceded by a vowel, but has its final syllable unstressed (TRA-vel, HON-or, REV-el), do not double the final consonant before adding the suffix (e.g., -ing, -ed, -er, -ary). For instance: travel

traveling

traveled

traveler

honor

honoring

honored

honorary

revel

reveling

reveled

reveler

Also, words ending in -x, -y, or -w do not double the final consonant before adding a suffix. For instance: mix

mixing

mixed

mixer

crow

crowing

crowed

crower

play

playing

played

player

Last, words whose final consonant are preceded by two vowels do not double the final consonant before adding a suffix. For instance: reveal

revealing

revealed

revealer

wait

waiting

waiting

waiter

When a prefix being added to a word ends with the same letter the main word begins with, include both letters in the new word. For instance: miss + spell = missspell unn + necessary = unnnecessary ill + logical = illlogical

Spelling

Likewise, when a suffix is being added to a word that ends with the same letter the suffix begins with, include both letters in the new word. For example: musicall + ly = musicallly openn + ness = opennness evenn + ness = evennness

INSIDE TRACK ACCORDING TO THIS rule, eighteen should be spelled eight + teen = eightteen, but it is not.

Finally, when you are making a compound word and the final consonant letter of the first word is the same as the first consonant letter of the second word, include all letters, even if the letters are repeated. For example: cann + not = cannnot bookk + keeper = bookkkeeper newss + stand = newssstand

INSIDE TRACK ACCORDING TO THIS rule, pastime should be spelled past + time = pasttime, but it is not.

55


PRACTICE LAP Choose the correct ending to spell each word correctly. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 13.

steal

➔

stealling

stealing

14.

shop

➔

shopped

shoped

15.

tax

➔

taxing

taxxing

16.

step

➔

stepping

steping

17.

compel

➔

compelling

compeling

18.

portray

➔

portrayed

portrayyed

19.

draw

➔

drawwing

drawing

20.

need

➔

needed

needded

21.

perplex

➔

perplexxing

perplexing

22.

keep

➔

keeping

keepping

The Silent E

When a word ends with a silent e, the e is dropped before adding the suffix that begins with a vowel (e.g., -ing, -ed, -er, -able). For instance: usee using debatee debating movee moving

used user debated debater moved mover

usable debatable movable

Spelling

When a suffix is being added that begins with a consonant (e.g., -ly, -ment, -ful), leave the e at the end of the word. For instance: lovee loveely agreee agreeement gracee graceeful

FUEL FOR THOUGHT WORDS THAT END in -ce and -ge and have a suffix beginning with -a or -o added to it (e.g., -able and -ous) keep the final e. For instance: outrage

outrageous

enforce

enforceable

courage

courageous

service

serviceable

Also, words that end in -ee keep the final e before some suffixes beginning with a vowel (e.g., -ing, -able). For instance: agree

agreeing

agreeable

see

seeing

seeable

foresee

foreseeing

foreseeable

Finally, there are words that don’t follow the aforementioned rules and whose spelling will need to be memorized. For instance: argument

truly

ninth

These words keep the final e because dropping it would lead the reader to think it was a completely different word. For instance: singe

singeing

Without the e, the word would read “fa-la-la” singing, not “oh, this is burning” singeing. For another instance: dye

dyeing

Without the e, the word would read “soon to be not living” dying, not “I prefer this shade of red for streaking my hair” dyeing.

57


PRACTICE LAP Choose the correct ending to spell each word given correctly. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 23.

compete

➔

competting

competing

24.

hope

➔

hopful

hopeful

25.

pale

➔

paling

paleing

26.

state

➔

stated

statted

27.

compile

➔

compilling

compiling

28.

like

➔

likly

likely

29.

manage

➔

management managment

30.

take

➔

taken

takn

31.

amaze

➔

amazeing

amazing

32.

arrive

➔

arrived

arriveed

Words Ending in -Y

When -y is the final letter, change the -y to -i before adding the suffix. For instance: happyy lazyy faultyy

happiily happiiness laziily laziiness faultiily faultiiness

Spelling

INSIDE TRACK IF THE SUFFIX being added to the word ending in y begins with an -i (e.g., -ing), the y should remain. For example: try

trying

qualify

qualifying

horrify

horrifying

When the -y at the end of the word is preceded by a vowel, the -y is not changed but remains the same when a suffix is added. For instance: employy employying annoyy annoyying enjoyying enjoyy

employyed employyment annoyyed annoyyance enjoyyed enjoyyment

INSIDE TRACK HERE ARE SOME words that don’t follow this rule. day daily

gay gaily

pay paid

lay laid

say said

PRACTICE LAP Identify the word in each group that is spelled correctly. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 33.

beauty ➔

beautyful

beautiful

beautuful

34.

fancy

➔

fanciful

fanceful

fancyful

35.

duty

➔

dutiful

duteful

dutyful

59


fuzzy

➔

fuzzyness

fuzzieness

fuzziness

37.

lazy

➔

laziness

lazyness

lazieness

-tion, -cian, or -sion?

The “shun” sound, spelled three different ways (-tion, -cian, -sion), is pronounced the same in all three spellings. Each suffix, though, is used with different kinds of root words. How will you know which one to choose? It’s simple. Take a look. Here is a list of words ending in -cian. Can you see a pattern for the spelling rule this suffix will follow? electriccian beauticcian

musiccian magiccian

physiccian opticcian

politiccian mathematiccian

All of these -cian words involve people and their careers or hobbies. So, -cian is used only when the spelling word has to do with people. The suffixes -tion and -sion are never used with these “people words.” Okay, let’s see if you can identify the next spelling pattern for the spelling rule for the suffix -sion. extendd suspendd suppresss

extenssion suspenssion suppresssion

comprehendd apprehendd aggresss

comprehenssion apprehenssion aggresssion

Notice that all of the root words end in -s or -d. When the root word ends in -s or -d, the suffix -sion is used to make the noun form of verbs ending in -s or -d. Additionally, one more rule applies to the -sion suffix. Can you spot it? division

conclusion

adhesion

exclusion

vision

Do you hear a heavy “zhun” sound instead of the soft “shun” sound in these words? When a word contains a heavy “zhun,” it is spelled with -sion only.

Spelling

INSIDE TRACK VERBS WITH THE ending -mit use the suffix -mission to make the noun form of the word. For instance: permit

permission

submit

submission

commit

commission

Last, if the root word ends in -t or -te, then -tion is used to make the noun form of the verb. For instance: protectt rejectt contributte

protecttion rejecttion contributtion

projectt attributte educatte

projecttion attributtion educattion

PRACTICE LAP Choose the correct ending for the following words. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 38.

confuse

39.

opposite ➔

opposi

(-sion, -cian, -tion)

40.

confess

➔

confes


41.

elect

➔

elec

42.

magic

➔

magi

43.

describe

➔

descrip

44.

collide

➔

colli

➔

confu


(-sion, -cian, -tion) (-sion, -cian, -tion) (-sion, -cian, -tion) (-sion, -cian, -tion)

61


extend

➔

enten


46.

explode

➔

explo


47.

beauty

➔

beauti


The Letter Q

With the rapid growth and assimilation of world cultures in the United States over the past century, and the swift development of technology making the world “smaller” every day, American English becomes more and more infused with the influence of foreign words. With that comes the ever-growing list of exceptions to the spelling rules, some of which you have seen already. In the English language, the letter q must be followed by a u in a word. Primarily, the use of the letter q in English is derived from the influence of the French language. Words such as queue, quarter, question, and picturesque are a ubiquitous part of everyday spoken language. You may run into other q words, such as Qatar, Iraq, Iraqi, Qantas, and Compaq in the news and in advertisements. All of these words are proper nouns, and simply because they are proper nouns, they become exceptions to this rule. Why? Because spelling rules apply only to common, everyday words, not special ones.

PRACTICE LAP Use the clues to help you choose the correct q word from the word bank to place in the blank. The letter q may be found at the beginning, middle, or end of the words. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. Q WORD BANK

quizzical

quick

quagmire

quail

quality

question

quake

quack

racquet

bouquet

unique

physique

plaque

conquer

banquet

sequel

frequently

opaque

48.

a bunch of flowers

49.

a dilemma

Spelling

50.

a large spread of food

51.

the continuation of a story

52.

a query

53.

to shake

54.

to overtake by force

55.

not transparent or see-through

56.

fast

57.

reward of recognition

58.

often

59.

a small game bird

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES Adding prefixes, groups of letters that have a significant meaning, to the beginnings of words does not change the spelling of the original words (called root words). When a prefix is added, its meaning is combined with the original root word’s meaning to form a new word. English prefixes and suffixes commonly come from Latin and Greek words, although Old English (Anglo-Saxon) was borrowed from as well. Take the Greek prefix astro-, for example. Astro- means “star” in Greek. Can you think of words beginning with astro- that have to do with stars and space? What about astronaut, astrology, astronomy, or asteroid? Suffixes are added to the ends of words. Many suffixes actually change the original word’s part of speech when they are added. For example, the verb bowl becomes the noun bowler when the suffix -er is added. Adding suffixes often requires that the spelling of the original word alter in some way, which is what makes spelling so challenging. Like prefixes, suffixes are

63

64 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR derived from Greek, Latin, and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words. Following are some of these common prefixes and suffixes. Common Prefixes and Suffixes

Prefix

Meaning

Example

acro-

high, top

acrobatics

aero-

air

aerobics

agri-

fields

agriculture

alti-

high

altitude

ambul-

walk, move around

ambulance

amphi-

around, both

amphibian

anima-

life, breath, soul

animal

ante-

before, prior

antecedent

anthro-

man

anthropologist

anti-

against

antipathy

aqua-

water

aquarium

arthro-

joint

arthropod

atom-

gas, vapor

atmosphere

audio-

sound, hearing

audience

auto-

self, itself

automatic

bi-

two, double

bicycle

biblio-

book

bibliography

bio-

life

biography

cardio-

heart

cardiologist

centi-

hundred

centipede

chlor-

green

chlorophyll

chrono-

time

chronology

circum-

round

circumference

co-

together

cooperation

cour-

heart

courage

crypto-

secret

cryptography

deca-

ten

decade

deci-

tenth

decimal

dent-

tooth

dentist

Spelling

Prefix

Meaning

Example

dino-

terrible

dinosaur

eco-

house

ecology

equi-

same

equivalent

geo-

earth, land

geography

graph-

written

graphic

hemi-

half

hemisphere

hexa-

six

hexagon

hydr-

water

hydration

il-

not

illegal

im-

not

impossible

inter-

between

international

intra-

within

intrapersonal

liber-

free

liberty

lingua-

tongue

linguistics

magni-

big, great

magnify

mega-

great, large

megaphone

metro-

measure

metric

micro-

small, tiny

microscope

mini-

small, little

miniature

mono-

one, alone

monologue

multi-

many

multicolored

neo-

new

neoclassical

nocti-

night

nocturnal

nom-

name

nominate

non-

not

nonworking

octa-

eight

octagon

ortho-

upright, straight

orthodontist

ped-

foot

pedestrian

pedi-

child

pediatrics

pre-

before

preview

pro-

for

pronoun

re-

again

replay

sens-

feeling

sensory

soli-

alone, only

solitary

65


Prefix

Meaning

Example

sub-

below, under

submarine

terra-

land

terrain

thermo-

heat

thermometer

trans-

across, beyond

transportation

un-

not

unhappy

uni-

one

united

vice-

in place of

vice president

zoo-

animal

zoology

Suffix

Meaning

Example

-able

can do

capable

-ancy

condition

vacancy

-archy

rule

monarchy

-chrome

color

monochrome

-cide

kill

homicide

-cracy

rule

democracy

-derm

skin

dermatologist

-ful

characterized by

cheerful

-gram

writing

telegram

-graph

writing

autograph

-ist

one who

pianist

-itis

disease

bronchitis

-less

without

homeless

-ment

act of, result

disappointment

-meter

instrument

speedometer

-ness

state of, quality

goodness

-pathy

feeling, suffering

sympathy

-phobia

fear of

claustrophobia

-phone

sound

telephone

-ward

direction of

westward

-y

full of

salty

Spelling

ANSWERS Reminder: Write i before e except after c or when sounding like a as in neighbor and weigh (with a few exceptions). 1. relief 5. shield 9. eight 2. deceive 6. vein 10. foreign 3. chief 7. sieve 11. yield 4. weird 8. freight 12. niece Reminder: (1) When a one-syllable word ends with a consonant that is preceded by a vowel, double the final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel; (2) when a multisyllable word ends with a consonant that is preceded by a vowel, and ends with a stressed syllable, double the final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel; (3) when a prefix or suffix is being added to a word that begins or ends with the same letter, include both letters in the new word. 13. steal ➔ stealing 14. shop ➔ shopped 15. tax ➔ taxing 16. step ➔ stepping 17. compel ➔ compelling 18. portray ➔ portrayed 19. draw ➔ drawing 20. need ➔ needed 21. perplex ➔ perplexing 22. keep ➔ keeping Reminder: (1) When a word ends with a silent e, the e is dropped before adding the suffix that begins with a vowel; and (2) when a suffix is being added that begins with a consonant, leave the e at the end of the word. 23. compete ➔ competing 24. hope ➔ hopeful 25. pale ➔ paling 26. state ➔ stated 27. compile ➔ compiling

67

68 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.

like manage take amaze arrive

➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

likely management taken amazing arrived

Reminder: (1) When -y is the final letter, change the -y to -i before adding the suffix. 33. beauty ➔ beautiful 34. fancy ➔ fanciful 35. duty ➔ dutiful 36. fuzzy ➔ fuzziness 37. lazy ➔ laziness Reminder: (1) Words with the -cian suffix involve people and their careers or hobbies; (2) when the root word ends in -s or -d, the suffix -sion is used to make the noun form of verbs; and (3) if the root word ends in -t or -te, then -tion is used to make the noun form of the verb. 38. confuse ➔ confusion 39. oppose ➔ opposition 40. confess ➔ confession 41. elect ➔ election 42. magic ➔ magician 43. describe ➔ description 44. collide ➔ collision 45. extend ➔ extension 46. explode ➔ explosion 47. beauty ➔ beautician Reminder: In English, the letter q must be followed by a u. 48. bouquet 54. conquer 49. quagmire 55. opaque 50. banquet 56. quick 51. sequel 57. plaque 52. question 58. frequently 53. quake 59. quail

4 Verbs

The Movers and Shakers of Language

I

magine having a lively conversation with your friend about a recent hit movie, each of you contorting your faces and waving your arms about, as in a game of charades. If we lacked verbs in our language, this would be about the only way that we could get our points across: by mimicking. Luckily, with the use of verbs—the movers and shakers of any written and spoken language—you can convey your ideas not only expressively, but also with a wide variety of colorful, vivid choices. For instance, let’s see in how many ways L. E. Phant and Pac A. Derm, a pair of loxodonta africanus, trek across the Kenyan savannah. The pair walk . . . then decide to stomp . . . and march . . . and then parade . . . after which, they lumber . . . trudge . . . and plod . . . then finally, overcome with exhaustion, they hobble and limp their way to the forest. Okay, so these action verbs are pretty obvious. But are they all? Well, no. Some are less physical, and more mental: want, need, require, think, suppose, know, wonder, hope, feel, mean, remember, understand, see, find, consider, love, like, etc. The action is there; it’s just not visible.


LINKING AND HELPING VERBS: MAKE THE CONNECTION! The linking verb does not express action, but expresses a state of being or a condition. Specifically, this kind of verb links, or connects, a noun to an adjective or other noun. Rosemarie is thoughtful. (Thoughtful describes Rosemarie; is links the two.) Mark became a soccer coach. (Coach identifies Mark; became links the two.) The bananas looked ripe. (Ripe describes bananas; looked links the two.) Identifying some linking verbs can be tricky because they look like action verbs. Their job, however, is to clarify the condition of the related noun in the sentence. Following is a short list of verbs that perform multiple tasks, and act not only as action verbs, but also as linking verbs. appear become seem smell prove act

feel sound turned

grow stay fall

look taste get

prove come

remain lie

How can one tell the difference with these tricky verbs? Take the word feels: Meghan gently pets the cat and feels its soft fur. Meghan is performing the action, to feel. Can you visualize her hand petting and feeling the cat’s soft fur? The cat begins to purr because it feels content. The word feel connects the adjective content to the noun cat. Feel is acting as a linking verb, not an action verb.

Verbs

Let’s try another one. Mom remained calm even though she burned last night’s dinner. The odor of charred fish remained in the house for a week. In the first sentence, remained links Mom and the adjective calm, which describes how Mom felt, whereas in the second sentence, remained is an action verb, implying that the odor stayed behind. An easy way to tell if a verb is an action or linking verb is to substitute the verb with a verb form of to be, or another linking verb, like seem or become. If you substitute the verb and it still makes sense, then you have a linking verb. If it doesn’t, then it’s an action verb. Take a look at these examples.

The leaves turn orange and red every autumn. Now, replace turn with the verb are. The leaves are orange and red every autumn. Or use the verb seem. The leaves seem orange and red every autumn. Let’s try another one. When I turn the hair dryer on, it is very noisy. Now, replace turn again with the verb was. When I was the hair dryer on, it is noisy. Or use became here. When I became the hair dryer on, it is noisy. These just don’t make sense, because the word turn in this sentence is an action verb, not a linking verb.

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PRACTICE LAP See if you can tell whether the verbs in the following sentences is an action verb or a linking verb. Remember to use the seem/became trick if you need help. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 1.

The ghost appeared in the window.

2.

The ghost appeared disgruntled as it passed by the window.

3.

Can you prove the theory of relativity?

4.

Your answer could prove faulty if you are not careful.

5.

We arrived late and had to stay overnight at a hotel this weekend.

6.

Mom asked us to stay quiet as we walked down the hallway.

7.

Have you tasted my newest candy bar creation?

8.

Yes, the Summit Sensation tasted delectable.

9.

The lunch bell sounds melodic, especially when you have a hungry stomach.

10.

At noon, the clock sounds the bell to inform the students that it’s lunchtime.

Verbs

Sometimes, you’ll encounter another type of verb in your writing and reading called a helping verb. Helping verbs enhance the main verb by providing more information about its tense. Some common helping verbs are am, are, be, can, could, do, have, had, has, may, might, should, was, were, and would, among others. A main verb can have as many as three helping verbs. For instance: Nathan was playing guitar yesterday. He has been playing for quite a while now. Next year, he will have been playing for 11 years total.

PRINCIPLE PARTS OF VERBS: PART AND PARCEL Participles, verb forms that act like verbs or adjectives, are broken into four principle parts: 1. Present—the verb form that is usually found as the main or first entry in the dictionary, e.g., throw, sleep, dance, sit, ride, etc. Sometimes, an s is added to the end of the verb when it is used in conjunction with a singular noun. 2. Present participle—the verb form used with to be verbs to express ongoing action, e.g., am throwing, is sleeping, are dancing, was sitting, were riding, etc. The suffix -ing is added to the present infinitive and is always accompanied by a helping verb, forming what is called a verb phrase. When the verb is acting as an adjective, a helping verb is not required. 3. Past—the verb form that describes actions that happened in the past, e.g., threw, slept, danced, sat, rode, etc. All regular verbs in past tense end in -ed. Irregular verbs end in a variety of ways. 4. Past participle—a verb form that must be accompanied by the helping verb have with the past tense form of the verb (regular or irregular), e.g., have thrown, has slept, had danced, have sat, has ridden, etc. When the verb is acting as an adjective, a helping verb is not required.

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74 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Regular Verbs

Present

Present Participle*

Past

Past Participle**

walk, walks

am walking

walked

have walked

jump, jumps

are jumping

jumped

had jumped

listen, listens

are listening

listened

has listened

Irregular Verbs

Present

Present Participle*

Past

Past Participle**

sing, sings

is singing

sang

has sung

think, thinks

was thinking

thought

have thought

see, sees

were seeing

saw

has seen

Irregular Verbs Whose Form Does Not Change

Present

Present Participle*

Past

Past Participle**

cost, costs

is costing

cost

has cost

cut, cuts

am cutting

cut

have cut

hurt, hurts

are hurting

hurt

has hurt

* Uses am, is, are, was, or were ** Uses have, has, or had

VERB TENSES: CONSIS-TENSE-CY IS THE KEY! When you speak or write, you help your listeners and readers understand when something happens, has happened, or will happen using three basic tenses: present, past, and future. To avoid confusion, you should be consistent with tenses as you speak and write. If your passage begins in past tense, then continue in past tense; likewise if you are using present or future. Consistency is the key! Present Tense—implies present action or action that happens again and again I meet my friends every day at school. We have many of the same classes. Past Tense—implies that the action already happened I met them at lunchtime today. We sat at the same table.

Verbs

Future Tense—implies that the action hasn’t happened yet, but will I will meet with Nicole after school. We will study for our midterms. Present Progressive Tense—implies that the action is currently in progress. Always add -ing to the verb and with the helping verbs am, is, or are. Katelyn is learning how to skateboard from her brother, Andrew. They are riding on the sidewalk in front of their house. Past Progressive—implies that the action was happening at some specific time in the past. Add -ing to the verb and use the helping verbs was and were. I was sweeping the basement floor yesterday while my parents were painting the dining room ceiling. Kurt, my younger brother, was helping also. Future Progressive—implies that the action will occur in the future or is continuous. Use the verb form ending in -ing and the helping verbs will be or shall be. Tom will be traveling to Thailand again this summer. I shall be going with him next year when I graduate. Present Perfect Tense—implies that the action started in the past and continues up to the present time. Use the helping verb have or has with the past participle form of the verb. Suzanne and David have gone to the theater to see a movie. Past Perfect Tense—implies that the action happened in the past and was completed before some other past action. Use only the helping verb had with the past participle form of the verb. They had planned to see the 4:30 show. Last week, the line for tickets had been long, and the seats had sold out quickly. Future Perfect Tense—implies that the action will start and finish in the future. Use the helping verb will have, would have, or will have been with the past participle form of the verb. Because they arrived early this time, it is unlikely the show will have sold out by the time they reach the ticket counter.

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FUEL FOR THOUGHT HAVE YOU EVER heard anyone say or write should of, as in I should of ordered strawberry instead? Because many people tend to write what they hear, the misconception is that what is being said is of, not have. Quite the contrary, what really should be said and written is I should’ve ordered strawberry instead, in which should’ve is the contraction for the words should have. Be careful! The terms could’ve (could of) and would’ve (would of) also fall victim to this ghastly grammatical error.

PRACTICE LAP Which tense of the verb or verb phrase is needed to complete the following sentences? Check your answers at the end of the chapter. 11.

I think parties (were, are) always fun, especially during the holidays.

12.

I (waited, wait) with anticipation every year for my invitations to arrive.

13.

Last year, the parties (are, were) small gatherings with just a few close friends. I (enjoy, enjoyed) that.

14.

This year, my friends (will have, will have had) big parties with oodles of people, loud music, and lots of good food.

15.

I (will have, will) attend every celebration this holiday season. Cheers!

REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS Have you ever noticed how little kids tend to add -ed to the end of every verb they say? For instance:

Verbs

When Mommy goed to work, I cried. I gotted my toys and played, and then I feeled better. Why is this? Many English verbs, although not all, follow the same pattern when expressing past action—they end in -d or -ed. Those that end with -d or -ed are called regular verbs and are the ones you learned first when you learned to read and write. I bike along the boardwalk often. This afternoon, though, I biked through park trails with my friends. She must learn how to text with her cell phone. I learned already. Irregular verbs, on the other hand, have no set way of forming the past tense and should be memorized. I cut the grass this morning. Yesterday, I cut my neighbor’s grass. Here, the irregular verb cut stays the same whether it is past or present. Other verbs that follow suit are cost, burst, bid, put, and set, to name a few. I usually tear the wrapper right off my pack of gum, but I carefully tore my father’s open. My friends and I eat pizza at Nick’s. We ate three pies today. Other irregular verbs include the following: Common Irregular Verbs

Present

Past

Past Participle

be

was/were

been

beat

beat

beaten

become

became

become

begin

began

begun

bite

bit

bitten

blow

blew

blown

break

broke

broken

bring

brought

brought

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78 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Present

Past

Past Participle

broadcast

broadcast

broadcast

build

built

built

buy

bought

bought

catch

caught

caught

choose

chose

chosen

come

came

come

cost

cost

cost

cut

cut

cut

do

did

done

draw

drew

drawn

drink

drank

drunk

drive

drove

driven

eat

ate

eaten

fall

fell

fallen

feed

fed

fed

feel

felt

felt

fight

fought

fought

find

found

found

fly

flew

flown

forbid

forbade

forbidden

forget

forgot

forgotten

forgive

forgave

forgiven

freeze

froze

frozen

get

got

got

give

gave

given

go

went

gone

grow

grew

grown

hang

hung

hung

have

had

had

hear

heard

heard

hide

hid

hidden

hit

hit

hit

hold

held

held

hurt

hurt

hurt

keep

kept

kept

Verbs

Present

Past

Past Participle

know

knew

known

lay

laid

laid

lead

led

led

learn

learned/learnt

learned/learnt

leave

left

left

lend

lent

lent

let

let

let

lie

lay

lain

light

lit

lit

lose

lost

lost

make

made

made

mean

meant

meant

meet

met

met

mistake

mistook

mistaken

mow

mowed

mowed/mown

pay

paid

paid

proofread

proofread

proofread

put

put

put

quit

quit

quit

read

read

read

ride

rode

ridden

ring

rang

rung

rise

rose

risen

run

ran

run

say

said

said

see

saw

seen

seek

sought

sought

sell

sold

sold

send

sent

sent

sew

sewed

sewed/sewn

shake

shook

shaken

shave

shaved

shaved/shaven

shine

shone

shone

shoot

shot

shot

show

showed

showed/shown

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80 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Present

Past

Past Participle

shrink

shrank

shrunk

shut

shut

shut

sing

sang

sung

sink

sank

sunk

sit

sat

sat

sleep

slept

slept

slide

slid

slid

speak

spoke

spoken

speed

speeded/sped

speeded/sped

spend

spent

spent

spread

spread

spread

spring

sprang

sprung

stand

stood

stood

steal

stole

stolen

stick

stuck

stuck

sting

stung

stung

strike

struck

struck/stricken

strive

strove

striven/strived

swear

swore

sworn

swim

swam

swum

take

took

taken

teach

taught

taught

tear

tore

torn

tell

told

told

think

thought

thought

throw

threw

thrown

understand

understood

understood

upset

upset

upset

wake

woke

woken

wear

wore

worn

weep

wept

wept

win

won

won

wind

wound

wound

write

wrote

written

Verbs

FUEL FOR THOUGHT THE VERBS hang and lie can be both regular and irregular. These verbs have multiple meanings, and their proper conjugation hinges on how you are using them in a sentence. Say you mean hang as in a thief going to the gallows to hang for his crime, then hang conjugates as a regular verb (hang, hanged, hanged). On the other hand, say you want to mean hang out with friends or hang a poster on the wall. Hang should now conjugate as an irregular verb (hang, hung, has hung). Likewise, if lie carries the meaning “to tell an untruth or falsehood,” it should be conjugated as a regular verb (lie, lied, has lied). Otherwise, it means “to recline,” which should conjugate as an irregular verb (lie, lay, has lain).

INFINITIVES: TO SPLIT OR NOT TO SPLIT? When the word to precedes a main verb, that verb is in the infinitive form. The infinitive form of a verb can act as a noun, adjective, or adverb, depending upon its usage in the sentence. To play Juliet in this year’s production is her dream. (noun) Michael is going to the tennis courts to play. (adverb) The need to play helps young children learn important social skills. (adjective) Long before the twenty-first century, grammarians held onto the notion that it was wrong to split an infinitive (to insert an adverb between to and the verb, as in to reluctantly move or to decidedly speak). At the time, Latin, now a dead language, was a mandatory topic of study for students like yourself. Oddly, some of the rules of English reflected those of Latin grammar, even though they were two completely different languages. In Latin grammar, an infinitive is written as one word and cannot be split; thus, the grammarians said that English infinitives should not be split either. Fortunately, for the most part, the rule has since changed. After all, isn’t the goal

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82 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR of writing and speaking to make your meaning clearer and more understandable for your audience? Take this example. Benjamin used his flash cards to quickly review his vocabulary words for class. This sentence reads far more clearly than the following, in which the infinitives are not split. Benjamin used his flash cards to review quickly his vocabulary words for class. Benjamin used quickly his flash cards to review his vocabulary words for class. Bear in mind that some un-split infinitives are better left unchanged. She is generally quick to make her decisions. The alternative, She is quick to generally make her decisions, sounds a bit awkward. So does She is quick to make generally her decisions. So, how do you decide whether or not to split the infinitive? Let your ear tell you. If it sounds right, then it by all means, go with it. If it doesn’t, then you’re better off leaving it whole.

WHEN IS A VERB A NOUN? WHEN IT’S A GERUND, OF COURSE! When you place -ing at the end of a verb, that verb can become a noun. Smoking is bad for your health. (the verb smoke + ing = noun/gerund) Running is wonderful exercise. (the verb run + ing = noun/gerund) Listening to music is relaxing. (the verb listen + ing = noun/gerund) Have you noticed that these, and other gerunds, look like something else you’ve just learned about? Present participles, you say? Bravo! You’re correct! Progressive verbs, you say? Congratulations! You’re correct, too!

Verbs

FUEL FOR THOUGHT GRAMMAR IS LIKE a puzzle. To construct the picture correctly, you have to look at each piece carefully to see how it fits into the adjoining piece. You must do the same for grammar. Because a word can play many different roles in a sentence, you must look carefully at how it is being used with the words surrounding it. This is especially important with verbs, participles, and gerunds. Running is wonderful exercise. Here, running is a gerund, acting as a noun. Running 20 miles each week, Jeremy became enthusiastic about competing in the New York City marathon. In this second sentence, running is functioning as a participle, describing Jeremy. Jeremy has finished running the marathon and feels tremendously energized. Last, the word running is acting as a verb in this sentence. It is showing action.

OH, THOSE TROUBLESOME VERBS! For the most part, by the time you graduate high school, you will know how to say most any verb in the present tense, simple past tense, and simple past participle (using has, have, and had as helping verbs) without much thought at all. Okay, maybe you’ll have to use a bit more thought for the irregular verbs because they don’t follow any particular standard form. There are, though, two irregular verbs that are known to make most people (even grammar-savvy adults) stop and think for a moment or two: lay/lie and sit/set.

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84 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR LAY / LIE

Present lay, lays

Present Participle

Past

Past Participle

(am, is, are, was) laying

laid

(have, has) laid

Lay means “to place or put an object somewhere.” A noun must always follow the verb lay (making the noun a direct object—the object receiving the action) in the sentence. Each night, Carly lays her clothes out for school. She laid her plaid sweater and jean skirt on her chair after dinner this evening. The nouns clothes and sweater, now direct objects, receive the action in each sentence. Present

Present Participle

Past

Past Participle

lie, lies

(am, is, are, was) lying

lay

(have, has) lain

Lie means “to rest or recline” or “to be situated.” No noun follows the verb this time. A prepositional phrase or adverb sometimes follows, however. The cat lies in the window to bask in the morning sun. He has lain there almost every day this summer. The prepositional phrase in the window and the adverb there follow the verb lies and the verb phrase has lain in each sentence. SET / SIT

Present

Present Participle

Past

Past Participle

set, sets

(am, is, are, was) setting

set

(have, has) set

Set means “to place or put an object in a particular spot.” Like lay, set must be followed by a noun (which will become the direct object—the object receiving the action) in the sentence.

Verbs

Joanne carefully set the new crystal figurine inside the cabinet hanging on the wall. She has already set two others in her special collection this week. The nouns figurine and the pronoun others, now direct objects, receive the action in each sentence. Present

Present Participle

Past

Past Participle

sit, sits

(am, is, are, was) sitting

sat

(have, has) sat

Sit means to be situated or to be seated or resting. Like lie, no noun need follow the verb, but an adverb or prepositional phrase very well may. With a smile, Joanne sat proudly admiring her collection of crystal figurines that were sitting in the cabinet. The adverb proudly and the prepositional phrase in the cabinet follow the verb sat and verb phrase were sitting in the sentence.

PRACTICE LAP Identify the correct verb needed to complete the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 16.

The county park (lies, lays) just north of Jackson Avenue in Humbolt.

17.

Sometimes, you can see people (sitting, setting) on park benches, or they will (lay, lie) on a blanket they have (laid, lain) on the grass.

18.

Some enjoy watching the geese as they swim, (sit, set), and (lain, lie) in the sun.

19.

Sometimes, people will (sit, sat) and throw bread crumbs to the basking geese.

20.

Many of the geese are so relaxed that they (lay, lie) their heads under their wings for hours at a time.

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ANSWERS Reminder: An easy way to tell if a verb is an action verb or a linking verb is to substitute the verb in the sentence with a form of the verb to be or the linking verb seem or become. If the sentence still makes sense, the verb is a linking verb, and if it doesn’t, then the verb is an action verb. 1. The ghost appeared in the window. (action) 2. The ghost appeared disgruntled as it passed by the window. (linking) 3. Can you prove the theory of relativity? (action) 4. Your answer could prove faulty if you are not careful. (linking) 5. We arrived late and had to stay overnight at a hotel this weekend. (action) 6. Mom asked us to stay quiet as we walked down the hallway. (linking) 7. Have you tasted my newest candy bar creation? (action) 8. Yes, the Summit Sensation tasted delectable. (linking) 9. The lunch bell sounds melodic, especially when you have a hungry stomach. (linking) 10. At noon, the clock sounds the bell to inform the students that it’s lunchtime. (action) Reminder: Be consistent with verb tenses as you speak and write. If your passage begins in past tense, then continue in past tense; likewise, if you are using present or future tenses, be consistent. 11. I think parties are always fun, especially during the holidays. 12. I wait with anticipation every year for my invitations to arrive. 13. Last year, the parties were small gatherings with just a few close friends. I enjoyed that. 14. This year, my friends will have big parties with oodles of people, loud music, and lots of good food. 15. I will attend every celebration this holiday season. Cheers!

Verbs

Reminder: (1) Lay means to place or put an object somewhere, and lie means to rest or recline or to be situated; and (2) set means to place or put an object in a particular spot, and sit means to be situated or to be seated or resting. 16. The county park lies just north of Jackson Avenue in Humboldt. 17. Sometimes, you can see people sitting on park benches, or they will lie on a blanket they have laid on the grass. 18. Some enjoy watching the geese as they swim, sit, and lie in the sun. 19. Sometimes, people will sit and throw bread crumbs to the basking geese. 20. Some of the geese are so relaxed that they lay their heads under their wings for hours at a time.

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5

Adjectives and Adverbs The 5 Ws and 4 Hs of Good Writing

A

djectives and adverbs are like the vibrant paints on an artist’s palette that she uses to create the picture she sees; likewise, a writer paints pictures with his words so his readers can not only understand his ideas, but enjoy reading about them, too. In other words, if you were hungry and went to the pantry or fridge to scope out a tasty snack, would you grab the box of plain, low-sodium crackers or opt for a helping of chips and salsa? Not to knock crackers. Sometimes they are just what the doctor ordered. And, sometimes, a no-frills, get-to-the-point sentence or paragraph is what you have to write. Let’s face it, not all creations have to be a masterpiece. But when the creative mood strikes, adjectives and adverbs add a spark to your writing.

COMMON ADJECTIVES Simply put, adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. They give more specific information about a person, place, or thing. Take the word house, for instance. Alone, the word is general. Add the words two-story and yellow, and you have a clearer picture of the house in your mind. Sometimes, you hear

90 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR adjectives referred to as modifiers. Modify means “to change,” and in truth, adjectives change a noun by making it more specific. Adjectives answer three specific questions about nouns and pronouns. What kind? Which one(s)? How many?

long, short, heavy, red, excellent, difficult this, that, these, those some, few, many, eight, 4,000

To decide if a word is an adjective, simply ask yourself these three questions. Let’s put it to the test. The moldy, green bread made Josh lose his appetite for the milehigh turkey sub. The words green and moldy seem to describe the noun bread (a thing), but just to make certain, let’s ask ourselves whether they answer What kind? Which one? How many? Both words answer what kind of bread (moldy and green—yuck!), making them both adjectives. Now, do you see any other adjectives in the sentence? If you pointed to mile-high and turkey, you are correct. Both words answer what kind of sub (a thing). Excellent! Let’s try another one. That striped shirt clashes with your plaid pants. The noun shirt (a thing) is being described, or modified, by two words: that (which answers which shirt) and striped (which answers what kind of shirt). The other noun, pants (a thing), is being described by the adjectives your (which answers which pants) and plaid (which answers what kind of pants). Good job!

Adjectives and Adverbs

FUEL FOR THOUGHT ADJECTIVES USUALLY COME before the noun they are modifying, but not always. Let’s go back to the moldy sub for a moment. The moldy, green bread made Josh lose his appetite for the milehigh turkey sub. With a little tweak here and there, you can easily reword the sentence to make the adjectives come after the noun. The bread, moldy and green, made Josh lose his appetite for the sub piled a mile high with turkey.

PRACTICE LAP Can you identify the adjectives in the following sentences? Check your answers at the end of the chapter. 1.

Leslie bought a new white-and-silver beach cruiser.

2.

Her old bike had a broken rim and pedal.

3.

Every weekend, she rode on the wooden boardwalk at the local beach.

4.

Her father will repair her damaged bike and paint it blue and red.

5.

Then, Leslie will give it to her younger brother, Matthew.

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ARTICLES: ARE YOU DEFINITE? The three words—a, an, and the—are special adjectives called articles. You encounter them when reading all the time. The is called a definite article because it implies a specific person, place, or thing (the cafeteria, the principal). A and an are called indefinite articles because they do not imply anything specific (a boy, a movie). Definite: Class, please line up at the door. (a specific door) Indefinite: Class, please line up at a door. (any door)

FUEL FOR THOUGHT THE ARTICLE A is placed before words that begin with a consonant sound, and an is placed before words beginning with a vowel sound. Here are some examples. a tiger

an open window

a quarter

an igloo

a shoestring

an ankle

Be careful! Not all words that begin with a vowel begin with a vowel sound! Look at these examples. a unicorn, a university (Both begin with a y sound.) a one-eyed monster, a one-way street (Both begin with a w sound.)


PRACTICE LAP See if you can correctly place the indefinite articles a or an in front of each noun. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter.

6.

hour

14.

unicorn

7.

inspector

15.

honest person

8.

umbrella

16.

house

9.

yellow jacket

17.

unique opportunity

10.

European

18.

earthworm

11.

upperclassman

19.

university

12.

ounce

20.

hollow log

13.

one-eyed monster

PROPER ADJECTIVES: IT’S ALL IN THE NAME Sometimes, you may encounter a word that is capitalized like a proper noun, but its job in the sentence is to be an adjective. Take the phrases French toast, English muffin, and Smith family. Each one begins with a proper adjective, and each proper adjective answers the questions What kind? or Which one? about the nouns that they are modifying. What kind of toast? What kind of muffins? Which family?

French English Smith

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94 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Many proper adjectives are derived from country or cultural names. You often need to adjust the proper noun by adding a suffix to the end of the word. America Italy Vietnam Japan Peru Paris

Americaan Italiian Vietnameese Japaneese Peruvvian Parisiian

PRACTICE LAP Can you revise the following phrases to change the proper noun into a proper adjective? For instance, the phrase the students from Japan becomes the Japanese students. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 21.

some grapefruits from Florida

22.

the ancient empire belonging to the Mayas

23.

a symphony by Mozart

24.

a pyramid in Egypt

25.

a store in Paris

PRONOUNS AS ADJECTIVES: IS IT MINE, YOURS, OR OURS? Like nouns, can pronouns can be used as adjectives? Yes! Personal pronouns, called possessive adjectives, can act as adjectives when preceding a noun. Here are some examples. Liza carried her books to class. “His name is Milo,” said the little boy. I hope that their recital is successful.


INSIDE TRACK SOMETIMES PERSONAL PRONOUNS act as adjectives: Singular

Plural

my

our

your

your

his, her

their

its

their

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES: WHICH ONE? Made up of four words—this, that, these, and those—demonstrative adjectives answer the question, Which one(s)? Demonstrative adjectives always appear before the noun they are modifying. That video game looks cool. This lamp is broken. These shells are pretty. Those waves seem dangerous.

INSIDE TRACK WHEN THIS, THAT, these, and those are not followed by a noun, they are pronouns (a word that replaces a noun). That looks cool. This is broken. These are pretty. Those seem dangerous.

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FUEL FOR THOUGHT DETERMINING WHICH DEMONSTRATIVE adjective or demonstrative pronoun to use depends upon your distance from the object or objects. If you are holding or touching an object, you would use this; when referring to two or more objects, you would use these. Demonstrative Adjective: This pen is mine. Demonstrative Pronoun:

These are yours.

If you are pointing to an object at a distance, you would say that; when referring to two or more objects, you would say those. Demonstrative Adjective: That pen is mine. Demonstrative Pronoun:

Those are yours.

PRACTICE LAP Can you tell whether the italicized word in the sentence is a demonstrative adjective, a demonstrative pronoun, or a possessive adjective? Check your answers at the end of the chapter. 26.

This is an adorable puppy. Just look at its eyes.

27.

That toothbrush belongs to Emily, not Keith. This one is his.

28.

Hopefully, my payment will reach this company on time.

29.

These are really delicious. May I have more please?

30.

The peanuts in their bag are boiled; these in our bag are roasted.


USING ADJECTIVES TO COMPARE: GOOD, BETTER, BEST! Sometimes, you need to be able to show how one object compares to another. You can make these comparisons with adjectives on three levels: the positive degree, the comparative degree, and the superlative degree. Here’s how they work. With the positive degree, a person makes a simple statement about the noun. This balloon is big. The comparative degree makes a comparison between two nouns only. This balloon is big, but that one is bigger. In the superlative degree, a person compares more than two nouns. Of all the balloons, this one is the biggest. Positive

Comparative

Superlative

small

smaller

smallest

red

redder

reddest

cute

cuter

cutest

thick

thicker

thickest

close

closer

closest

You need to remember three rules when using the comparative and the superlative degrees. Rule 1: Add -er and -est to one-syllable adjectives (see the previous table). Rule 2: When using adjectives with two or more syllables, use more and most to enhance their degree or less and least to decrease the degree. Use this book for the advanced class, that one for the more advanced class, and any of those for the most advanced class.

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98 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR His mother was less apprehensive about him when he walked to school, and was least apprehensive when he took the bus. Rule 3: There are some exceptions to the second rule. Some two-syllable adjectives use -er and -est. happy picky silly

happier happiest pickier pickiest sillier silliest

Others won’t follow any of these forms; they are considered irregular. good bad many

better worse more

best worst most

INSIDE TRACK IF YOU ARE uncertain as to which comparative form to use, consult a dictionary to help you decide. If the comparative and superlative forms aren’t given, play it safe and use more and most with the positive degree of comparison. This puppy is more silly than that one. This puppy is the most silly of all.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT SOME ADJECTIVES JUST can’t be compared no matter how hard you try. They are referred to as absolute adjectives. Take the word round, for instance. Can something be rounder than round? How about the word unique? What can be more unique than something that is already one of a kind? Words like favorite, true, false, perfect, square, free, and complete also fall into this category.


PRACTICE LAP Choose the correct form of the comparative or superlative adjective that best completes each sentence. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 31.

Victoria’s dog, Shadow, is the (friendlier, friendliest) dog I’ve ever met.

32.

Which is (cuter, cutest), the yellow purse with flowers or the pink purse with stripes?

33.

President Lincoln is one of the (most famous, famousest) U.S. presidents.

34.

Jack’s piano lesson went (good, well) because he practiced every day.

35.

Sheila is (happiest, most happy) when she gets to nap during the afternoon.

ADVERBS Like adjectives, adverbs modify words, specifically verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Of those three, verbs are the most often modified. Adverbs answer five specific questions about the words they modify. Where? When? How? How much? (To what extent?) How often? How long?

here, there, everywhere, outside, underneath now, then, sometimes, often, infrequently, yesterday slowly, timidly, suspiciously, curiously, fervently really, too, extremely, very, so daily, weekly, sometimes, never, once, twice forever, all day, not long, all night, for a while

Just as when you are trying to identify adjectives, you can ask yourself these questions to help you determine whether a word is an adverb. Let’s try it. The mouse scampered hastily across the kitchen floor yesterday. Notice the -ly word hastily. Does it answer how something was done? Yes, it answers how the mouse scampered (a verb): It scampered hastily. Do you

99

100 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR notice any other words that may be adverbs? How about yesterday? Does yesterday answer any adverb questions? Yes, it answers when the mouse scampered hastily: yesterday. Good! Let’s try another one. His hair grows so fast that it has to be trimmed often. There aren’t any -ly words this time. Don’t panic! Notice the word fast. This word answers how his hair grows—it grows fast—and, therefore, it is an adverb. Now, take the word so. So answers to what extent of fast it grows— it grows so fast—making so an adverb (modifying another adverb). The next word, often, answers when haircuts are needed: often.

INSIDE TRACK NOT ALL WORDS ending in -ly are adverbs. There are some adjectives that share the same ending. friendly, neighborly, costly, ugly, burly, lovely, cowardly

Comparing Adverbs

Just like adjectives, adverbs use -er and -est, as well as more, most, less, and least to show degrees of comparison. The comparative degree is used when comparing only two persons or things; the superlative degree is used when comparing three or more persons or things. For short one-syllable adverbs, use the -er and -est endings. soon

sooner

soonest

For longer two-syllable adverbs, use more and most to enhance their degree or less and least to decrease the degree. often frequently

more often most often more frequently most frequently


Additionally, irregular adverbs don’t follow either form. well badly far

better worse farther/further

best worst farthest/furthest

Last, some adverbs just can’t be intensified, no matter how hard you try. They are referred to as absolute adverbs. The words all, every, completely, and entirely, for instance, imply everything possible—how could there be more? Likewise, never and always imply the two extremes of when. You certainly would have trouble trying to do something more always or less never, wouldn’t you agree?

PRACTICE LAP Choose the correct form of comparative or superlative adverb that best completes each sentence. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 36.

Mariah can hold her breath (longer, longest) than her sister, Tanya.

37.

In my family, I can shower the (fastest, faster), which gives me more time to eat breakfast in the morning.

38.

Most students sleep (later, latest) during the summer break than during the school year.

39.

Mr. Thomas reminded the class that the (sooner, soonest) they finished the lesson, the (quicker, quickest) they could start their homework.

40.

Unfortunately, the group behaved so (poorly, poorer) in the museum that they were asked to leave.

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ADVERB OR ADJECTIVE It isn’t unusual, as you already know, to encounter a word that looks like it is one part of speech when, in fact, it is really another. For instance: Shelly studied hard for the test on the Industrial Revolution. Shelly thought the test on the Industrial Revolution was hard. In the first sentence, hard is modifying, or enhancing, the verb studied. It is answering the question how Shelly studied: She studied hard. In the second sentence, hard is modifying, or enhancing, the noun test. It answers the question what kind of test: It was a hard test. Here are some words that can be more than one part of speech. Adjective

Adverb

His sports car is fast.

He drives too fast.

The early class was filled quickly.

I arrived early to class.

The straight line looked crooked.

Please come straight home.

Sue and Brittany are close friends.

You shouldn’t sit too close to the TV.

She has fair skin and burns easily.

People expect others to play fair.

The hikers climbed the high hills.

The eagle soared high into the air.

My daily exercise routine is simple.

She eats fruits and vegetables daily.

Jason’s late uncle left him a house.

Michael got to stay up late last night.

There are many others. Can you think of some?

PRACTICE LAP Try to determine whether the underlined words in the sentences are adjectives or adverbs. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 41.

My plane will fly straight to Chicago and arrive late on Saturday evening.

42.

Daily doses of vitamin C will help prevent colds during the winter.


43.

We saw many high buildings from our hotel room, which was situated high on the top floor.

44.

It was a close call when my kitten, sitting close to the open window, decided to move onto the sill.

45.

“Open wide,” said the dentist playfully, holding the huge toothbrush. My wide-eyed stare made him grin.

ANSWERS Reminder: Adjectives (1) modify only nouns and (2) answer What kind? Which one? and How many? about the nouns they are modifying. 1. Leslie bought a new white-and-silver beach cruiser. 2. Her old bike had a broken rim and pedal. 3. Every weekend, she rode on the wooden boardwalk at the local beach. 4. Her father will repair her damaged bike and paint it blue and red. 5. Then, Leslie will give it to her younger brother, Matthew. Reminder: The indefinite article a is placed before words that begin with a consonant sound, and the indefinite article an is placed before words beginning with a vowel sound. 6. an hour 14. a unicorn 7. an inspector 15. an honest person 8. an umbrella 16. a house 9. a yellow jacket 17. a unique opportunity 10. a European 18. an earthworm 11. an upperclassman 19. a university 12. an ounce 20. a hollow log 13. a one-eyed monster

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104 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Reminder: Proper adjectives (1) are proper nouns that behave like adjectives and (2) answer Which one? and What kind? about the nouns they are modifying. 21. some grapefruits from Florida—Florida grapefruits 22. the ancient empire belonging to the Mayas—the ancient Mayan empire 23. a symphony by Mozart—a Mozart symphony 24. a pyramid in Egypt—an Egyptian pyramid 25. a store in Paris—a Parisian store Reminder: Possessive adjectives are pronouns that imply something belongs to someone. Demonstrative adjectives (1) consist of the four words this, that, these, and those, which are always followed by a noun; and (2) answer the question Which one(s)? about the nouns they are modifying. 26. This is . . . (demonstrative pronoun) . . . its eyes. (possessive adjective) 27. That toothbrush . . . (demonstrative adjective) This one . . . (demonstrative adjective) . . . is his (possessive adjective) 28. . . . my payment . . . (possessive adjective) . . . this company (demonstrative adjective) 29. These are . . . (demonstrative pronoun) 30. their bag . . . (possessive adjective) these . . . (demonstrative pronoun) our bag . . . (possessive adjective) Reminder: The comparative degree makes a comparison between only two nouns, and the superlative degree is used when more than two nouns are compared. 31. Victoria’s dog, Shadow, is the friendliest dog I’ve ever met. 32. Which is cuter, the yellow purse with flowers or the pink purse with stripes? 33. President Lincoln is one of the most famous U.S. presidents. 34. Jack’s piano lesson went well because he practiced every day. 35. Sheila is happiest when she gets to nap during the afternoon.


Reminder: The comparative degree of the adverb is used when comparing only two persons or things; the superlative degree of the adverb is used when comparing three or more persons or things. 36. Mariah can hold her breath longer than her sister, Tanya. 37. In my family, I can shower the fastest, which gives me more time to eat breakfast in the morning. 38. Most students sleep later during the summer break than during the school year. 39. Mr. Thomas reminded the class that the sooner they finished the lesson, the quicker they could start their homework. 40. Unfortunately, the group behaved so poorly in the museum that they were asked to leave. Reminder: Adjectives modify only nouns and answer What kind? Which one? and How many? about the nouns they are modifying. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, and answer Where? When? How? How much? How often? and How long? 41. My plane will fly straight (adverb) to Chicago and arrive late (adverb) on Saturday evening. 42. Daily (adjective) doses of vitamin C will help prevent colds during the winter. 43. We saw many high (adjective) buildings from our hotel room, which was situated high (adverb) on the top floor. 44. It was a close (adjective) call when my kitten, sitting close (adverb) to the open window, decided to move onto the sill. 45. “Open wide (adverb),” said the dentist playfully, holding the huge toothbrush. My wide-eyed (adjective) stare made him grin.

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6 Agreement

A Matter of Compatibility

I

n polite settings, such as school and work, you are expected to use a socially acceptable form of grammar, but sometimes, you can make an inadvertent mistake. One of the most obvious blunders in socially acceptable grammar is poor subject-verb agreement, and it sticks out like a big nose on your forehead when you do it! I is having a bad day today. My alarm clock be going off late this morning and I be getting to school late. I hope Mr. Smith don’t get mad because I weren’t there for class. Singular subjects must be coupled with singular verbs, and likewise, plural subjects with plural verbs. A singular subject, usually a noun, refers to one person, place, or thing. class, hamburger, book report, locker, child, woman, mouse A plural noun refers to more than one. Most nouns become plural just by adding an -s or -es to the end of the word. classes, hamburgers, book reports, lockers

108 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Other nouns take a different form when made plural. children, women, mice

FUEL FOR THOUGHT SOME NOUNS KEEP the same spelling whether plural or singular. deer, moose, sheep, scissors, species, series, jellyfish Use the meaning of the surrounding words to determine whether these nouns are meant to be plural or singular.

WANTED A gang of wild moose, sheep, and deer are wanted for a series of coupon-clipping crime sprees. Considered armed and dangerous, they are known to roam neighborhood streets in the early morning hours pilfering newspapers from the driveways and front porches of unsuspecting victims. Wielding sharp scissors, the hooligans swiftly snip away at the highly valued shopping coupons and leave behind piles of shredded paper to blow about the streets haplessly. A reward is offered for the capture of these elusive felons. Verbs have singular and plural forms as well (see Chapter 4), in both regular and irregular forms.

Agreement

Regular Verb

Singular

Plural

First person

I study, studied

we study, studied

Second person

you study, studied

you study, studied

Third person

he, she, it studies, studied

they study, studied

Irregular Verb

First person

I go, went

we go, went

Second person

you go, went

you go, went

Third person

he, she, it goes, went

they go, went

When you write a sentence, your subject and verb have to be compatible in number and person. For instance: Singular: Plural: Singular: Plural:

She [singular subject] dances [singular verb] every day. They [plural subject] dance [plural verb] every day. She [singular subject] goes [singular verb] to dance class every day. They [plural subject] go [plural verb] to dance class every day.

INSIDE TRACK WHEN MAKING A regular verb singular, add an -s or -es to the end of the word. score scores

cheer

cheers

study

drum

drums

studies

For the most part, the subject-verb agreement rule is pretty straightforward. There can, however, be some tricky situations. Let’s take a look at them.

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THE VERB FORM TO BE Most verbs are easy to recognize and, when used improperly, are exceptionally harsh on the ears and eyes. It is especially true of the most widely used verb in the English language: words formed from the verb to be (which often don’t look anything like be, oddly enough, except being and been). For instance: Subject

Present

Past

Past Participle

I

am

was

have been

you

are

were

have been

he, she, it

is

were

has been

we

are

were

have been

they

are

were

have been

Do not use the verb be after a subject. Incorrect: Correct:

I be going to the school dance. They be going, too. The teacher be asking us to read. I am going to the school dance. They are going, too. The teacher is asking us to read.

PRACTICE LAP Can you identify the verb that agrees with the sentence subject? Check your answers at the end of the chapter. 1.

Ian and Dawn (live, lives) in Washington.

2.

They (be, are) siblings.

3.

Every summer, their parents (take, takes) them white-water rafting on the Colorado River.

Agreement

4.

Last year, Ian (got, gets) thrown from the raft into the river.

5.

Luckily, he could (swim, swims) well and was strong enough to (pull, pulls) himself back into the raft.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES Sometimes, the subject of the sentence is followed by a prepositional phrase (phrases that start with prepositions such as of, at, between, on, under, beside, etc.). If you’re not careful, these phrases can confuse you into picking the wrong verb form to agree with the subject. When a subject is followed by a prepositional phrase, ignore that phrase and look only at the subject to determine the correct verb. For instance: The box of staples (was, were) in the cabinet. The plural word staples may lead you to choose the plural verb were, but you must ignore the phrase of staples because box, not staples, is the subject. Therefore, the sentence would read as follows. The box [singular subject] of staples was [singular verb] in the cabinet. Let’s look at another one. The clothes in the hamper (are, is) dirty. Again, ignore the prepositional phrase in the hamper, and focus on the subject, clothes. Then, the sentence should read as follows. The clothes [plural subject] in the hamper are [plural verb] dirty. Other prepositional phrases—such as along with, as well as, including, and in addition to—can also throw you off. For instance: Daniel, along with Stephen and Anthony, (are, is) a member of the school marching band. Vegetables, in addition to fruit, (is, are) a healthy choice for a snack.

111

112 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR If you disregard the phrases along with Stephen and Anthony and in addition to fruit, you are able to focus better on the subjects Daniel and vegetables and choose the correct verb to agree with them. Daniel [singular subject], along with Stephen and Anthony, is [singular verb] a member of the school marching band. Vegetables [plural subject], in addition to fruit, are [plural verb] a healthy choice for a snack. Prepositional phrases with plurals in them can create subject agreement havoc, too. Take a look at the following. Every one of these cards (are, is) ruined because of the sticky spill. The subject of these four research reports (is, are) the Alaskan wilderness. When you disregard the prepositional phrases of these cards and of these four research reports to find the subject of each sentence, the sentences should read as follows. Every one [singular subject] of these cards is ruined [singular verb] because of the sticky spill. The subject [singular subject] of these four research reports is [singular subject] the Alaskan wilderness.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS Indefinite pronouns take the place of nouns with words like everyone, both, few, and all. Determining whether these words are singular or plural is sometimes easy. Several from the group are walking to the movie, while a few others are staying behind to chat. The plural verb are agrees with the plural subjects several and few.

Agreement

Each of the students is encouraged to share a little bit about himor herself. Anyone was allowed to volunteer to share first. The singular verb is agrees with the singular subjects each and anyone. Indefinite Pronouns

Singular

Plural

Both

anybody

anyone

several

all

anything

each

both

more

either

everybody

others

some

everyone

everything

few

most

much

nobody

many

none

neither

no one

any

nothing

one

other

somebody

someone

something

When you encounter the indefinite pronouns all, more, none, most, any, and some before a prepositional phrase, don’t ignore the phrase. Instead, use the noun at the end of the prepositional phrase, called the object of the preposition (OOP), to help you decide whether to use a singular or plural verb. For instance: Some of the cars [OOP] are driving slowly. The noun cars following the pronoun some is plural, so a plural verb is needed. Some of the road [OOP] is slippery. The noun road following the pronoun some is singular, so a singular verb is needed. Most of the desserts [OOP] are delicious.

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114 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR The noun desserts following the pronoun most is plural, so a plural verb is required. Most of the pie [OOP] is frozen. The noun pie following the pronoun most is singular, so a singular verb is needed.

INSIDE TRACK THIS IS THE only time that you should break the “ignore the prepositional phrase” rule stated earlier and not ignore it in the sentence. The OOP will determine what kind of verb will follow.

PRACTICE LAP Identify the verb that will agree with the indefinite pronouns in the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 6.

All of the flowers in the vase (were, was) beautiful.

7.

Some of the tourists (were eating, was eating) pizza with cheese and pepperoni.

8.

Yesterday, each of the trains (was, were) on time for once.

9.

It is likely that everyone from the class (are, is) going on the trip to the planetarium.

10.

Both of the pears in the basket (is, are) ripe.

Agreement

COLLECTIVE NOUNS Collective nouns are words that name groups of people, animals, and objects as a single unit, such as team or dozen. A collective noun can take on either a singular or a plural form, depending on how it is used in the sentence. For instance: Singular: Plural:

The soccer team places its logo on the banner. The team, as a single unit, has a logo. The soccer team place trophies in the display case. The team’s members have trophies to display and place them in the case.

Let’s look at another one. Singular: Plural:

A dozen roses is such a thoughtful gift. The roses are purchased by the dozen, as a single unit. A dozen friends are coming over tonight. Friends don’t come by the dozen, like roses. They come as individuals.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT THE TERM THE number is a singular collective noun, where a number is the plural form. Singular: The number of cats in the shelter has grown since September. One by one, the number of cats in the shelter increased since September. Plural:

A number of cats were brought to the shelter last night. Several cats were brought to the shelter last night.

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WORDS EXPRESSING MEASURE Expressions of measure include words like dollars, cents, tons, pounds, ounces, grams, days, weeks, months, years, gallons, quarts, pints, cups, pieces, slices, cartons, etc. These words denote a quantity of money, weight, time, volume, food, and fractions. Determine whether the words are referring to a single unit or to separate items, to determine what type of verb is required. Words falling into this category can often trick you because they look plural, even though they imply a single unit, which makes them singular. Two gallons of milk is all that is left in the refrigerator. The gallons are considered a single unit and require a singular verb. Two one-gallon containers of milk are all that is left in the refrigerator. This time, the milk is referred to as separate units, containers, so you would use a plural verb to complete the sentence. Nine dollars is a lot of money for a toll. Again, the nine dollars are being lumped together as a single unit, so you would use a singular verb. Five one-dollar bills are all I have in my pocket. Here, the dollars are separated into smaller units, bills, so the verb is plural. Let’s try one more. Singular: Plural:

Nine hours of sleep is ideal for teens. Ideally, nine hours of sleep are needed for teens.

Agreement

PRACTICE LAP Identify which verb properly completes each sentence. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 11.

Look! A herd of cows (are, is) crossing the road ahead.

12.

Nan saw schools of colorful fish (swim, swims) around her while she was snorkeling.

13.

A number of geese (has made, have made) their home by the pond in my backyard.

14.

Fifty-two weeks (make, makes) up a year.

15.

Three cups of flour (is, are) needed to make the cake batter.

COMPOUND SUBJECTS AND VERBS When two or more subjects share the same verb, that sentence has a compound subject. Compound subjects are connected with the conjunctions and, or, or nor. When the conjunction and is used, the verb will be plural. For instance: My sister and brother go to the same college. Annabelle, Molly, and Taylor sit by one another in class.

INSIDE TRACK THE EXCEPTION TO this rule is when the subjects are thought of as a single unit, even though they are joined by the conjunction and. For instance: Spaghetti and meatballs is one of my favorite meals, as is macaroni and cheese.

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118 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR When singular subjects are joined by the conjunctions or or nor, the verb used will be singular, and when plural subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb used will be plural. For instance: Singular: Plural:

A cat or a dog is a good choice for a pet. Neither a bear nor a lion makes a good choice for a pet. Musicians or dancers may attend the musical arts convention. Neither landscapers nor masons would likely be interested in attending.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT OH, NO! YOU have a sentence that uses a singular and a plural subject. What kind of verb do you choose now—singular or plural? The answer is simple: Choose the verb that agrees with the subject you mention last in the sentence (the one closest to the verb): Neither fries nor a hot dog is offered for lunch today, only salad. Neither a hot dog nor fries are offered for lunch today, only salad.

PRACTICE LAP See if you can identify the correct verb to complete the following sentences with compound subjects and predicates. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 16.

Alexa and Maya (enjoys, enjoy) camping.

17.

Dolphins and turtles (is, are) Lindsay’s favorite animals.

18.

Peanut butter and jelly (was, were) all that we ate for lunch.

19.

Either Richard or Chelsea (plan, plans) to help with the school play.

20.

Neither eggplant nor carrots (is, are) on the menu.

Agreement

AGREEMENT BETWEEN ANTECEDENTS AND PRONOUNS How important are pronouns? Let’s see: Every now and then, Tom liked to play a round of golf. Tom would bring Tom’s golf bag and Tom’s cart to the course Tom belonged to, and Tom would often meet with Tom’s golf partner, Joe. Tom and Joe would usually warm up at the putting green before Tom and Joe played an 18-hole round. Then, Tom and Joe would grab a bite to eat at the clubhouse. Afterward, Tom and Joe would drive Tom’s and Joe’s cars back home to Tom’s and Joe’s families. This sounds ridiculous, right? Without pronouns, though, this is how you would have to tell about an event. Pronouns take the place of a noun (the name of a person, place, or thing). An antecedent is the word to which the pronoun refers. For instance: Brianna studied all day, and she was too tired to go out with friends. The pronoun she refers to Brianna in the sentence, making Brianna the antecedent. Because Brianna is one girl, the pronoun she is used, as opposed to, say, he or they. A singular noun must agree in number with its pronoun. Let’s look at another one. Jimmy and Penny went to the statehouse to visit a friend. Later, they had lunch and walked through the park. They, a plural pronoun, agrees with the compound subject it is referring to, Jimmy and Penny. Common English Pronouns

all

another

any

anybody

anyone

anything

both

each

either

everybody

everyone

everything

few

he

her

hers

herself

him

himself

his

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Common English Pronouns

I

it

its

itself

many

me

mine

my

myself

neither

no one

nobody

none

nothing

one

others

our

ours

ourselves

she

some

somebody

someone

something

that

their

theirs

them

themselves

these

they

this

us

we

what

which

who

whom

whose

you

your

yours

yourself

yourselves

Pronouns must be compatible in gender, number, and person with their antecedents. Singular

Plural

First person

I, me, my, mine

we, us, our

Second person

you your, yours

you, your, yours

Third person

he, she, it

they, them, their

Before going downstairs to dinner, Meredith placed his skirt, pompoms, and flags for cheerleading into the closet. Needless to say, Meredith is not a male but a female. The pronoun he should agree with the subject. Therefore, she would be the correct pronoun. James likes to read, and you is always carrying a book with them. You, a second-person pronoun, does not work here. The writer is referring to a male, James, so the pronoun needs to be third-person male, or he. Also, the pronoun them is plural, and James can be only one person. The correct pronoun, then, would be him. The indefinite pronouns anyone, anybody, either, neither, everybody, everyone, everything, no one, nobody, somebody, someone, each, none, and one are considered singular in number and are compatible only with singular pronouns.

Agreement

Incorrect: Somebody left their phone on the table. Somebody is a singular pronoun, and their is plural. Even though this is probably the way most people would say this, it is grammatically incorrect. Okay: Somebody left his or her phone on the table. This is grammatically correct, but a bit stuffy. Best: Somebody’s phone was left on the table.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT THESE DAYS, PEOPLE try to be more sensitive in their formal writing and public speaking. They try to not generalize by using he when referring to just anybody in general (which had previously been fairly customary). If anybody wants seconds, he should just ask for it. There’s plenty to go around. In casual conversation and writing, though, using he to refer to some person in general is generally accepted. You need to decide what is best for your particular situation. So, how would you handle this sentence in a less casual situation? Let’s see. Okay:

If anybody wants seconds, he or she should just ask for it. There’s plenty to go around.

Like the previous example, this is grammatically correct, but awkward. Better:

If you want seconds, just ask for it. There’s plenty to go around.

Change the subject to you. It is still neutral in gender and includes everyone in the reading or listening audience.

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122 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR When using pronouns, you must be cautious that the antecedent-pronoun agreement be clear to avoid confusion on the listener’s or reader’s part. For instance: Michael texted Mark, who IM’ed Jaleel about a video they rented last week. He said it was boring and wanted to go bowling instead. Who thought the movie was boring: Mark, Jaleel, or Michael? Let’s look at another one. Carol and Julie went to the mountains for a weekend of skiing with Doug and Edward. They were having a great time until she got hurt when they collided on the slopes. They are going to try snowboarding next time. My, that’s confusing. Who collided: Carol and Doug? Julie and Doug? Carol and Edward? Julie and Edward? Is they referring to Carol and Julie? Carol and Doug? Carol, Doug, and Julie? Only Julie and Doug? Carol, Doug, and Edward? Maybe Julie, Doug, and Edward? Perhaps just the boys, or just the girls, or just maybe the entire group? Whew! Get the point? When using here’s or there’s in a sentence, keep in mind that these contractions mean here is and there is—both contain the singular verb is. Therefore, the subject has to be singular. It’s not uncommon to hear sentences like the following: “Here’s the pages we did for homework,” Carla said to Rebecca. “Awesome! There’s only a few days left of school before summer break!” While they may sound okay, they are wrong. They should be said or written like this. “Here are the pages we did for homework,” Carla said to Rebecca. “Awesome! There are only a few days left of school before summer break!”

Agreement

PRACTICE LAP See if you can identify the mistakes in the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 21.

Alyssa tried to tie her shoes by himself.

22.

Everybody should fasten their seatbelt before takeoff.

23.

Janice told her mom that she had a stain on her blouse.

24.

There’s some ants crawling on the sidewalk.

25.

Each student signed their name to the petition.

ANSWERS Reminder: (1) Singular subjects must be coupled with singular verbs and, likewise, plural subjects with plural verbs; and (2) do not use the verb be after a subject. 1. Ian and Dawn live in Washington. 2. They are siblings. 3. Every summer, their parents take them white-water rafting on the Colorado River. 4. Last year, Ian got thrown from the raft into the river. 5. Luckily, he could swim well and was strong enough to pull himself back into the raft. Reminder: (1) When a subject is followed by a prepositional phrase, look at the subject to determine the verb’s form; and (2) when you encounter the indefinite pronouns all, more, none, most, any, and some before a prepositional phrase, use the noun at the end of the prepositional phrase to decide whether to use a singular or plural verb. 6. All of the flowers in the vase were beautiful. 7. Some of the tourists were eating pizza with cheese and pepperoni. 8. Yesterday, each of the trains was on time for once.

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124 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR It is likely that everyone from the class is going on the trip to the planetarium. 10. Both of the pears in the basket are ripe. 9.

Reminder: Determine whether the words are referring to a single unit or separate items to determine what type of verb is required. Singular nouns must be coupled with singular verbs, and, likewise, plural nouns with plural verbs. 11. Look! A herd (singular) of cows is crossing the road ahead. 12. Nan saw schools (plural) of colorful fish swim around her while she was snorkeling. 13. A number (singular) of geese have made their home by the pond in my backyard. 14. Fifty-two weeks (plural) make up a year. 15. Three cups (plural) of flour are needed to make the cake batter. Reminder: (1) When the conjunction and is used to join two subject nouns, the verb will be plural; (2) when singular subjects are joined by the conjunctions or or nor, the verb will be singular; and (3) when plural subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb will be plural. 16. Alexa and Maya enjoy camping. 17. Dolphins and turtles are Lindsay’s favorite animals. 18. Peanut butter and jelly was all that we ate for lunch. (Note: Peanut butter and jelly is thought of as a single unit and is, therefore, singular.) 19. Either Richard or Chelsea plans to help with the school play. 20. Neither eggplant nor carrots are on the menu. (Note: Choose the verb that agrees with the subject mentioned last in the sentence.) Reminder: (1) Pronouns must be compatible in gender, number, and person with their antecedents; (2) indefinite pronouns are considered singular in number and are compatible only with singular pronouns; (3) antecedentpronoun agreement must be clear to avoid confusion; (4) here’s and there’s mean here is and there is, and the subject has to be singular. 21. Alyssa tried to tie her shoes by herself. 22. Everybody should fasten his or her seatbelt before takeoff.

Agreement

Janice had a stain on her blouse, and she told her mom. Janice’s mom had a stain on her blouse, and Janice told her. 24. There’s an ant crawling on the sidewalk. There are some ants crawling on the sidewalk. 25. Each student signed his or her name to the petition. 23.

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7 Modifiers

Does It Dangle or Squint or Split?

I

n addition to single-word adjectives and adverbs, modifiers include phrases and clauses that behave like adjectives and adverbs. Without these modifiers, writing and speech would be dull, dry, and boring. Writers use all types of modifiers to enhance their writing by making it more vivid in order to help their readers understand more clearly what they are saying. Of course, you want to present your readers with writing that is interesting and meaningful. Otherwise, why write? Let’s see how you can use these other modifiers to enliven your writing that much more.

PHRASES AND CLAUSES Any group of words that expresses an incomplete thought is a phrase. Phrases do not have both a subject and a predicate (a verb). For instance: my favorite team [no verb] eat popcorn every night [no subject] Clauses are heavier hitters than phrases. Like phrases, clauses act like a particular part of speech, but they do have a subject and a predicate (verb).

128 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

Prepositions and prepositional phrases show how words relate to one another. Typically, these words will tell where something is or where something is going, with some exceptions. Here are some common prepositions. Common Prepositions

about

above

across

after

against

along

among

around

as

at

before

behind

below

beneath

beside

between

beyond

but

by

concerning

despite

down

during

except

for

from

in

into

like

near

next

of

off

on

onto

out

outside

over

past

since

through

throughout

to

toward

under

underneath

unlike

until

under

up

upon

with

within

without

There are some compound prepositions as well. Compound Prepositions

prior to

next to

on top of

because of

in addition to

in place of

according to

in front of

aside from

on account of

INSIDE TRACK TO HELP YOU decide whether or not a word is a preposition, you can plug many of them into this sentence, and they should make sense. The mouse went

it to get the cheese.

Obviously, not all of the prepositions will work. How can a mouse went concerning it? Or except it? Or of it?

Modifiers

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. The noun or pronoun at the end of the phrase is called the object of the preposition (OOP). For instance: across the meadow (OOP) under the bridge (OOP) beyond the Milky Way (OOP) for him (OOP) after it (OOP) A prepositional phrase can function as an adjective or an adverb in a sentence, adding color and depth to your writing. For instance: An adjective phrase can tell what kind or which one. His report about tsunamis was well written. (adjective phrase) His tsunami report was well written. (adjective) The prepositional phrase about tsunamis behaves like an adjective and modifies the noun report. An adverb phrase can tell where, when, or how. The tennis ball landed on the court. (adverb phrase) The tennis ball landed there. (adverb) The prepositional phrase on the court behaves like an adverb and modifies the verb landed.

PRACTICE LAP Can you identify the prepositional phrases in the following sentences? Check your answers at the end of the chapter. 1.

The mysterious container in the corner of the attic had not been opened for many years.

2.

After school, many of the students stayed to practice for the play.

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Do you plan to travel over spring break?

4.

The wooden chair beside the desk had splinters.

5.

I watched the ants scurry back and forth over the deck rails and across the patio for food.

Appositives

An appositive is a word or phrase that directly follows a noun with the sole purpose of identifying that noun. For instance: Martha, George Washington’s wife, died on May 22, 1802. George Washington, our first president, took his oath of office on April 30, 1789. Participial Phrases

Participial phrases begin with a participle (an -ing verb in present tense or an -ed , -en, -t, or -n verb in past tense) and act like an adjective, describing a noun or pronoun in your sentence. For instance: Wielding his sword, the chivalrous knight bravely defeated the dragon. Wiped out from his run, he took a dip in the pool. The participial phrases wielding his sword and wiped out from his run behave like adjectives and modify the noun knight and the pronoun he, respectively. Infinitive Phrases

Infinitive phrases begin with the word to and end with a verb or a verb plus an adverb. Let’s take a look. To answer confidently was the least he could do. The infinitive to answer and the adverb confidently make up the infinitive phrase, which acts as the subject of the sentence.

Modifiers

His plans to go to Europe after graduation fell through. The infinitive verb to go makes up the infinitive phrase, which acts like an adjective and modifies the plural noun plans. Gerunds

A gerund is a group of two or more words that contains an -ing verb that acts as a noun. For instance: Cramming the night before a test is never a good idea. The gerund phrase cramming the night before a test acts like a noun and is the subject of the sentence. Benjamin enjoys climbing mountains. The gerund phrase climbing mountains acts like a noun and is the direct object of the sentence.

PRACTICE LAP Correctly identify the types of phrases in the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 6.

Marty, Angelina’s cousin, is attending Brown University next fall. (a) prepositional phrase (b) appositive phrase (c) gerund phrase

7.

The abandoned building at the end of the road will be razed for the construction of a new community center. (a) adverb phrase (b) adjective phrase (c) appositive phrase

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“To close, I would like to thank Michelle for her assistance in making the program a success.” (a) participial phrase (b) prepositional phrase (c) infinitive phrase

9.

Excusing the boys from their irresponsible behavior is not an option. (a) gerund phrase (b) adverb phrase (c) adjective phrase

10.

Shaken by the fall, the youngster ran to his mother and cried. (a) participial phrase (b) adverb phrase (c) gerund phrase

Independent Clauses

Sometimes referred to as a main clause, the independent clause has its own subject and verb and can stand alone (independently) as a sentence. Here is an example. The magician’s helper stood at his side to assist. This is a simple enough sentence. Now, let’s look at another one. The magician’s helper remained at his side to assist, and with poise, she held his magic hat. This longer sentence is made up of two independent clauses. The first one—the magician’s helper remained at his side to assist—contains a subject and verb, helper and remained. The second independent clause—with poise, she held his magic hat—also contains a subject and verb, she and held. The second independent clause could also stand alone as a simple sentence.

Modifiers Subordinate Clauses

Subordinate clauses, also called dependent clauses, contain a subject and a verb, but they differ from independent clauses because they can’t stand by themselves as simple sentences. They depend on another clause in the sentence. Look at this sentence. The assistant had just placed the magic hat into the magician’s hand when he, POOF, disappeared into thin air. The clause, when he, POOF, disappeared into thin air, contains a subject and verb, he and disappeared. It cannot stand alone as a sentence, however, because it’s not a complete thought. If you said to someone, “When he, POOF, disappeared into thin air,” they would first look at you like you had six heads, and then probably say something like, “He who? And why?” That’s because the subordinate clause you said lacks important information that a complete sentence would have. Make sense? Adjective Clauses

A subordinate clause can act as an adjective when it describes or modifies a noun or pronoun (just as adjectives do). These clauses will answer the questions what kind and which one about the noun they are modifying. Adjective clauses begin with who, whom, that, which, when, where, or why. For instance: Evan, who began practicing magic when he was seven, was now a celebrity magician. Who began practicing when he was seven is a subordinate clause (the subject is who, and the verb is began) that acts as an adjective modifying the noun Evan. It gives us more information about the subject of this sentence.

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134 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Adverb Clauses

When a subordinate clause can answer where, when, how, or why, it is behaving as an adverb and is called an adverb clause. Adverb clauses begin with words such as because, although, once, until, and after. Take a look at this sentence. Chris had a hard time convincing Nancy that he would make a good DJ for her party because he had a chronic case of the hiccups. The adverb clause is because he had a chronic case of the hiccups. Let’s check to see that it has a subject and a verb. because he [subject] had [verb] a chronic case of the hiccups Noun Clauses

Last, a subordinate clause that behaves as a noun in a sentence is called a noun clause. Because noun clauses act as nouns, they share the same qualities that a noun would and, therefore, can be the subject, object, or appositive, among others, in a sentence. A noun clause answers who, whom, or what. For instance: The recipe is confusing. Here, the noun recipe is the subject of the sentence. You can determine the subject by asking, Whom or what is confusing? The word recipe is the answer, making it the subject. What the recipe says to do with the mixture is confusing. In this sentence, what the recipe says to do with the mixture is the subject of the sentence. Again, you can determine that when you ask, Whom or what is confusing? The noun clause what the recipe says to do with the mixture is the answer, making it the subject.

Modifiers

PRACTICE LAP Correctly identify the type of subordinate clause in each sentence: adjective, adverb, or noun. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 11.

People who read often are well informed. (a) adverb clause (b) noun clause (c) adjective clause

12.

The Canada geese, which flew overhead, were headed south. (a) noun clause (b) adjective clause (c) adverb clause

13.

When the last guest had arrived, the ship set sail for the small island. (a) adverb clause (b) adjective clause (c) noun clause

14.

The swimmer swam laps until he was tired. (a) adverb clause (b) noun clause (c) adjective clause

15.

The balloon that was drifting higher in the air became a tiny speck in the sky. (a) adjective clause (b) noun clause (c) adverb clause

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MISPLACED MODIFIERS If modifiers are supposed to be so helpful, then how do they become misplaced? It’s not hard. When you are writing, you know what you mean to say, and overlooking misplaced modifiers is easy. Reading with a critical eye is essential. If you apply the following simple placement rules, many of these misplacement mishaps can be avoided. Let’s see how this works. Here is a simple sentence: The bus rode. There is little information here. Is this a city bus? A school bus? Perhaps a charter bus? And where did it go? Without more information, you don’t know. This is a better sentence: The yellow school bus rode slowly up the hill. Okay, the adjectives yellow and school make it clearer, as do the adverb slowly and the phrase up the hill. Your mental picture of what the writer is telling you should be less ambiguous. Huh?: The yellow school bus rode slowly up the hill with children bouncing in their seats. That’s odd; have you seen many hills strewn with bouncing children? This sentence has a misplaced modifier. Can you tell where it is? In its current spot in the sentence, the phrase with children bouncing in their seats modifies the hill, making it sound as though the children were bouncing in their seats on the hill, not on the bus. The sentence needs to be reworded. Here are a couple of ways that can be done. The yellow school bus, with children bouncing in their seats, rode slowly up the hill. With children bouncing in their seats, the yellow school bus rode slowly up the hill. In both sentences, the children are where they should be—on the bus, not on the hill.

Modifiers

DANGLING MODIFIERS Just like single-word adverbs, adverb phrases need to be placed near the word they are modifying to maintain clear sentence meaning. For instance: My science teacher showed me a book about mummification at the library. Do the librarians moonlight as Egyptian embalmers and, at closing, transform the library into a mummification chamber? Instead, the sentence should read as follows. My science teacher showed me a book at the library about mummification. At the library, my science teacher showed me a book abut mummification. Sometimes, you may try to start a sentence with a phrase to add detail to, or clarify, your message. The phrase appears to be related to the subject of the sentence, but it really isn’t, and so it unfortunately creates the opposite effect for readers. Take a look at these sentences. While singing in the shower, Jackie’s mom [subject] vacuumed the living room drapes and washed the kitchen windows. Wow, what a multitasker! Jackie’s mom is a very talented and flexible lady, wouldn’t you agree? Chained to the post, Scott [subject] saw the motorcycle he’s always dreamed of. Hmm . . . why was Scott chained to the post as he admired a motorcycle? Badly stained, Angelica [subject] tossed the expensive blouse into the trash with disgust.

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138 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Why was Angelica stained? Did a bucket of paint or ink fall on her? These sentences need to be reworded so that the phrases add to the meaning, not take away from it. While Jackie sang in the shower, her mom vacuumed the living room drapes and washed the kitchen windows. Scott saw the motorcycle he had always dreamed of chained to a post. Disgusted, Angelica tossed the stained, expensive blouse into the trash. Let’s try another one. When the cool breeze blew, Martin closed the window in his pajamas. Do your pajamas have a window in them like Martin’s? How can you fix the sentence to make it correct? In his pajamas, Martin closed the window when the cool breeze blew. Martin, in his pajamas, closed the window when the cool breeze blew. Incorrect: Martin closed the window when the cool breeze blew in his pajamas. It should be fairly obvious that this won’t work. The phrase in his pajamas is still misplaced, so it sounds as if the cool breeze was now blowing in Martin’s pajamas.

SQUINTING MODIFIERS When a modifier could be describing the words or phrases on either side of it, it is called a squinting modifier. For instance: Not studying notes regularly keeps students from being successful. Does the word regularly describe how infrequently notes aren’t studied? Not regularly studying notes keeps students from being successful.

Modifiers

Or does it describe how the practice often keeps students from being successful? Not studying notes keeps students from regularly being successful.

PRACTICE LAP Rewrite each sentence so that the modifier is properly placed. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 16.

While turning left at the light, the baby began to cry.

17.

She stared at the spider on the wall with wide eyes.

18.

Alice served prime rib and baked potatoes to her guests on her best china.

19.

Did you see a boy with a dog riding his bike?

20.

The expensive diamond necklace was reported stolen by the Middletown police.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT MANAGING YOUR MODIFIERS Rule 1: Place a simple adjective before the noun it is modifying. Wearing a green raincoat, the exhausted student walked home in the rain. Rule 2: Place phrases and clauses acting as adjectives after the noun being modified. The surfer with long blond hair rode the ten-foot wave with ease. Rule 3: The placement of simple adverbs is flexible. The blue suede shoes got dirty quickly; the blue suede shoes quickly got dirty; quickly, the blue suede shoes got dirty.

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Rule 4: Place the words only, barely, just, and almost before the noun or verb they are modifying. Sentence meaning can vary widely depending on where you place these special limiters. Only she says she likes sushi. [No one else says it . . . only her.] She only says she likes sushi. [She may like something else . . . but won’t say so.] She says only she likes sushi. [No one else likes it but her.] She says she only likes sushi. [She doesn’t love it . . . just likes it.] She says she likes only sushi. [It’s sushi . . . or nothing.]

ANSWERS Reminder: A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. 1. The mysterious container in the corner of the attic had not been opened for many years. 2. After school, many of the students stayed to practice for the play. 3. Do you plan to travel over spring break? 4. The wooden chair beside the desk had splinters. 5. I watched the ants scurry back and forth over the deck rails and across the patio for food. Reminder: (1) An appositive is a word or phrase that directly follows the noun it is identifying; (2) participial phrases begin with a participle (an -ing, -ed , -en, -t, or -n verb); and (3) infinitive phrases begin with the word to and end with a verb or a verb plus an adverb.

Modifiers

6. 7.

8.

9. 10.

Marty, Angelina’s cousin, is attending Brown University next fall. (b) appositive phrase The abandoned building at the end of the road will be razed for the construction of a new community center. (a) adverb phrase “To close, I would like to thank Michelle for her assistance in making the program a success.” (c) infinitive phrase Excusing the boys from their irresponsible behavior is not an option. (a) gerund phrase Shaken by the fall, the youngster ran to his mother and cried. (a) participial phrase

Reminder: Subordinate clauses (1) can’t stand by themselves as simple sentences; (2) can behave like adjectives when they answer what kind or which one; (3) behave as adverbs when they answer where, when, how, or why; and (4) can behave as nouns in a sentence when they answer whom or what. 11. People who read often are well informed. (c) adjective clause (answers what kind of people) 12. The Canada geese, which flew overhead, were headed south. (b) adjective clause (answers which geese) 13. Once the last guest had finally arrived, the ship set sail for the small island. (a) adverb clause (answers when the ship sailed) 14. The swimmer swam laps until he was tired. (a) adverb clause (answers when the swimmer swam) 15. The balloon that was drifting high in the air became a tiny speck in the sky. (b) noun clause (answers what became a tiny speck) Reminder: Modifiers need to be placed near the word they are modifying to maintain clear sentence meaning. 16. Turning left at the light, the baby began to cry. The baby began to cry as I turned left at the light. As I turned left at the light, the baby began to cry. 17. She stared at the spider on the wall with wide eyes. With wide eyes, she stared at the spider on the wall.

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142 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Alice served prime rib and baked potatoes to her guests on her best china. Alice served prime rib and baked potato to her guests, using her best china. Using her best china, Alice served her guests prime rib and baked potatoes. 19. Did you see a boy with a dog riding his bike? Did you see a boy riding a bike with his dog? Did you see a boy riding his bike with a dog? 20. The expensive diamond necklace was reported stolen by the Middletown police. The Middletown police reported that an expensive diamond necklace had been stolen. An expensive diamond necklace was reported stolen, according to by the Middletown police. 18.

8

Sentence Structure From the Simple to the Complex

A

s a student, and even later in life as an adult, you need to know how to write coherent (sensible) sentences and paragraphs. And being able to do so well is especially desirable, particularly if you aim to excel in your education and achieve your career goals. What, you may ask, does writing well have to do with my potential level of success? A lot, if you think about it. Take school, for example. What good teacher lets you write your essays in any way you want, using slang, poor grammar, or misspellings? If your grade on a test or an essay is based on your teacher being able to understand your message, then it would be in your best interest to write well, wouldn’t you agree? Now, that same teacher has to read not only your essay, but the essays of all the other students—probably numbering anywhere from 20 to more than 100, depending on the grade level. When your essay is well written, it stands out to your teacher, like a breath of cool, fresh air. If you think that this is not important, think again! It can mean the difference between receiving an okay grade and a terrific grade! Which would you like to have? Now let’s see how you can apply what you’ve learned to make some awesome sentences and paragraphs! First, let’s look at some basic sentence structure.


BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE Every sentence must have a subject and a verb called a predicate. The subject of a sentence is who or what the sentence is about. For instance: Isaac went to baseball practice. In this sentence, the proper noun Isaac is who the sentence is about, so it is the subject. A subject can also be a common noun. The ice cream cone melted. Or it can be a pronoun. He was tired after his long day at school. The predicate, or verb, moves the sentence along and tells you what the subject is doing or what condition the subject is in. For instance: Isaac went to baseball practice. You know what Isaac did—he went. The ice cream cone melted. You know what happened to the ice cream cone—it melted. Sometimes, sentences have more than one subject, known as a compound subject, or more than one verb, known as a compound verb. For instance: Halley and Jon are starring in this year’s school play. The compound subject is Halley and Jon. Snickers, my cat, climbed the fence and walked along the top of it. The compound verbs are climbed and walked.

Sentence Structure

Jan and Martin played cards and ate pizza last night. This sentence has a compound subject—Jan and Martin—and two compound verbs—played and ate.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT IN MORE COMPLEX sentences, finding the subject can be tricky. An easy way to find it is to ask yourself who or what performed the action of the verb. The subject(s) will answer that. Many people, if given the chance to do so, would jump at the opportunity to travel abroad. The verb in this sentence is jump. Ask yourself, Who or what would jump? The answer, people, is the subject.

Sometimes, sentences have a subject that is not written. Look at this example. Wash the dishes before watching television. When you have a sentence that is telling you to do something (an imperative), the subject is implied or understood to be you. So, the sentence really means (You) wash the dishes before watching television. To make this even more confusing, even if someone’s name is mentioned in the imperative sentence, the subject is still you. Kelly, wash the dishes before watching television. This really means: Kelly, (you) wash the dishes before watching television. The subject, again, is you.

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FUEL FOR THOUGHT FINDING A SUBJECT in a question can be tricky, too, because the subject often follows the verb in this sentence form. The easiest way to find the subject is to turn the question into a statement, which brings the subject before the verb. Here’s an example. What time does Nicholas go to swim practice on Thursdays? Now, change the question into a statement and identify the verb. Nicholas goes to swim practice on Thursdays at

.

Ask yourself, Who goes? Nicholas is the subject.

Last, another tricky situation is finding subjects in sentences that start with the words here and there. Let’s look at this sentence: There are no monsters in your closet or under your bed. The verb is are, but if you try to ask yourself, Who or what . . . are?, it appears as though there is the answer (there are). This is incorrect, though, because here and there are adverbs, not nouns. So, you have to rearrange the sentence to move or eliminate the word there. No monsters are in your closet or under your bed. Now, you can easily tell that the subject is monsters.

Sentence Structure

PRACTICE LAP Underline the simple subject once and underline the predicate twice in the following sentences. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 1.

Rosemary was glad to see her best friend, Joanne.

2.

Here is your new pencil case that I bought this afternoon.

3.

Molly, please bring this note to the office.

4.

Is there any ice cream in the freezer?

5.

His favorite place to relax was in the hammock.

6.

My bicycle is in the garage.

7.

Potato chips taste great with or without dip.

8.

Jerry, my uncle, is taller than Jerome.

9.

Does Elisabeth get her driver’s permit next month?

10.

I should have bought that video game when I had the chance.

TYPES OF SENTENCES In the last chapter, you learned that an independent clause is a simple sentence, meaning that a simple sentence must have a simple subject (one word) and a simple predicate (one word), as follows. Shane runs. Dennis tosses. Judy jumps.

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148 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Thankfully, you don’t have to limit your sentence writing to just two words—which leads to compound subjects and predicates. Here, multiple subjects or verbs appear in one complete thought, or sentence. Shane, Dennis, and Judy enjoy running, hiding, and jumping. This sentence structure allows you to liven up your writing a bit, but it’s still rather limiting. So you can get more complex in your sentence structure by joining two complete sentences together with a conjunction, a sentence structure called a compound sentence. Here, you have two independent clauses joined by a semicolon or by words like and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and so. For instance: Shane and Dennis run and hide, but Judy jumps rope. Or, let’s kick it up a notch. Shane and Dennis ran around and tossed a football in the yard; Judy jumped rope in the driveway. Notice how just adding one or two prepositional phrases adds more detail to the sentence, making it more interesting to read. Let’s tweak it a bit more. Shane and Dennis, who are best friends, run around the yard and toss a football, but Judy jumps rope with her sister at the top of the driveway. An adjective clause was added (who are best friends) to give more information about the boys, and several phrases were added to give more information about what Judy was doing. Notice that the subjects (Shane, Dennis, and Judy) stay the same, as do the verbs (run, toss, and jump) in some form. Also, there are the complex sentences, which really aren’t so complex. They are made up of at least one independent clause and one subordinate (dependent) clause. Here is an example of a complex sentence.

Sentence Structure

Jumping rope with her sister at the top of the driveway [subordinate clause], Judy watched Shane run and tackle his friend Dennis after Shane tossed the football [independent clause]. Last, here is an example of a compound-complex sentence, which has at least two independent clauses and one subordinate clause. Jumping rope in her driveway [subordinate clause], Judy pretended not to be interested in Shane tossing the football with Dennis [independent clause], but she couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he almost ran into a tree [independent clause]. Starting a sentence off with a participle (an -ing verb being used as an adjective) is a great way to bring action into the sentence right away and draw your reader into your writing. Notice that the subjects (Shane, Dennis, and Judy) are the same, as are the verbs (run, toss, and jump) in some form or other. One more verb was added for detail; do you know what it is?

PRACTICE LAP Can you identify the simple, compound, and complex sentences? For extra practice, underline the subject once and underline the predicate twice. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 11.

Yesterday, Brittany arrived at school late. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

12.

Somehow, her alarm clock time was mysteriously reset to one hour behind. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

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Brittany suspects her brother Luke. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

14.

His trick wasn’t very nice of him, but she felt that she kind of deserved it. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

15.

Yesterday afternoon, she and her friends were being loud and rather obnoxious. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

16.

Luke was studying for his midterm exams for two of his hardest classes, chemistry and geometry, and he was writing a term paper for his French class. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

17.

After he asked Brittany to quiet down three times, he finally gave up and went to the library to study. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

18.

Brittany just ignored Luke, acting as though he wasn’t even there. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

Sentence Structure

19.

Brittany should have suggested they go somewhere else to hang out, but unfortunately, she didn’t do that. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

20.

Now she must stay after school to get the classwork and notes she missed. (a) simple (b) compound (c) complex

FRAGMENTS Fragments are incomplete sentences. She runs faster than anyone on the team. Even faster than you. Better:

She runs faster than anyone on the team, even faster than you.

Or they can be phrases and clause that are punctuated like a sentence. Tad walked to the store. To pick up a gallon of milk for his mother. Better:

Tad walked to the store to pick up a gallon of milk for his mother.

As a student, you are forever told to write in complete sentences; fragments are forbidden. So, is it ever okay to use fragments in your writing? Well, yes and no. (Did you notice the fragment here?) Formal writing should rarely, if ever, contain fragments, and in general, if they’re used in informal writing, they should be used sparingly. Sometimes, they can be used intentionally in your writing for special effect. For instance:

151

152 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Thomas looked at the clock. Three hours. Not so long. Only three hours before he was able to walk through the doors to freedom from bells, homework, and studying. Summer vacation was almost here, and Thomas was reeling with anticipation. You also find fragments when you write bulleted lists, like this one. My Summer To-Do List ➥ Sleep in ➥ Hang out with friends ➥ Play video games, tennis, and bike ➥ Read a book . . . maybe

FUEL FOR THOUGHT BECAUSE OF HEAVY space restrictions and costly advertising, the newspaper is the perfect place to find fragments—just look at headlines, captions, titles, and ads! Because the fragments have to be concise, they tend to be catchy and easy to remember—the perfect combination for that kind of medium.

RUN-ON SENTENCES When I write quickly I sometimes forget to put punctuation where I should I end up having one long sentence that makes little sense at all I’m sure this drives my teachers crazy! This fused sentence is one kind of run-on. In a run-on sentence, two or more complete sentences are merged together without the necessary punctuation marks. The preceding example can be written in a number of ways. Let’s see how.

Sentence Structure

With periods inserted: When I write quickly, I sometimes forget to put punctuation where I should. I end up having one long sentence that makes little sense at all. I’m sure this drives my teachers crazy! With a semicolon inserted: When I write quickly, I sometimes forget to put punctuation where I should; I end up having one long sentence that makes little sense at all. I’m sure this drives my teachers crazy! With a comma and a conjunction (aand, or, but, for, nor, yet, so) inserted: When I write quickly, I sometimes forget to put punctuation where I should, so I end up having one long sentence that makes little sense at all. I’m sure this drives my teachers crazy! Another type of run-on sentence is called a comma splice. Here, a comma is used in place of end punctuation or a conjunction. For instance: When I write quickly, I sometimes forget to put punctuation where I should, I end up having one long sentence that makes little sense at all. If the comma is simply removed, you would still wind up with a run-on sentence. In order to fix the error altogether, you would need to exchange the comma with an appropriate conjunction. When I write quickly, I sometimes forget to put punctuation where I should, so I end up having one long sentence that makes little sense at all. Or with another punctuation mark: When I write quickly, I sometimes forget to put punctuation where I should; I end up having one long sentence that makes little sense at all.

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154 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR One final way to fix a fused sentence, or comma splice, is to reword the sentences in order to make a complex sentence (one independent clause with at least one subordinate clause). For instance: When I write quickly [subordinate clause], I sometimes forget to put punctuation where I should [independent clause], leaving me with one long sentence that makes little sense at all [subordinate clause].

PRACTICE LAP Rewrite each sentence to make corrections. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 21.

This is an interesting movie I think I’ll watch it again.

22.

What’s your name where do you live?

23.

The gray squirrel hopped along the top of the fence, down the post.

24.

My brother would not open the door when I knocked it made me angry so I left.

25.

Halfway to our destination two of our tires went flat we had to get towed.

Sentence Structure

ANSWERS Reminder: (1) Every sentence must have a subject and a verb, called a predicate. The subject of a sentence is who or what the sentence is about; (2) the predicate, or verb, moves the sentence along and tells you what the subject is doing or what condition the subject is in. 1. Rosemary was glad to see her best friend, Joanne. 2. Here is your new pencil case that I bought this afternoon. 3. Molly, (you) please bring this note to the office. 4. Is there any ice cream in the freezer? 5. His favorite place to relax was in the hammock. 6. My bicycle is in the garage. 7. Potato chips taste great with or without dip. 8. Jerry, my uncle, is taller than Jerome. 9. Does Elisabeth get her driver’s permit next month? 10. I should have bought that video game when I had the chance. Reminder: (1) A simple sentence must have a simple subject (one word) and a simple predicate (one word); (2) a compound sentence is two complete sentences joined together with a conjunction; (3) a complex sentence is made up of at least one independent clause and one subordinate (dependent) clause. 11. Yesterday, Brittany arrived at school late. (a) simple 12. Somehow, her alarm clock time was mysteriously reset to one hour behind. (a) simple 13. Brittany suspects her brother Luke. (a) simple 14. His trick wasn’t very nice of him, but she felt that she kind of deserved it. (d) compound 15. Yesterday afternoon, she and her friends were being loud and rather obnoxious. (c) simple

155


17.

18. 19.

20.

Luke was studying for his midterm exams for two of his hardest classes, chemistry and geometry, and he was writing a term paper for his French class. (a) compound After he asked Brittany to quiet down three times, he finally gave up and went to the library to study. (c) complex Brittany just ignored Luke, and she acted as though he wasn’t even there. (c) compound Brittany should have suggested they go somewhere else to hang out, but unfortunately, she didn’t do that. (b) compound Now she must stay after school and get the classwork and notes she missed. (a) simple

Reminder: (1) One kind of run-on sentence has two or more complete sentences merged together without any punctuation mark; (2) another type of run-on sentence has a comma used in place of end punctuation or a conjunction. 21. This is an interesting movie; I think I’ll watch it again. This is an interesting movie. I think I’ll watch it again. 22. What’s your name? Where do you live? 23. The gray squirrel hopped along the top of the fence and down the post. 24. My brother would not open the door when I knocked; it made me angry, so I left. 25. Halfway to our destination, two of our tires went flat; we had to get towed.

9 Paragraphs

As Easy as Announce-Build-Close

P

aragraphs are groups of sentences centered on a focused topic. The writer of a good paragraph makes sure to include a topic sentence, descriptive detail sentences, proper organization, and a central focus. When you have to write only one paragraph, you should also include a summary sentence at the end that restates or reviews the main idea, using different words. Let’s look at these components more closely.

THE TOPIC SENTENCE Every paragraph must identify its topic or purpose for the reader. This is one of its most important components. Although the topic or purpose doesn’t have to be found in the paragraph’s first sentence, it usually is. However, you could find it in the middle or even the end of a paragraph. ➔ Spelunking, or cave exploring, is a sport with many avid followers. Spelunkers, as the cave explorers are called, have formed clubs worldwide to promote and support the unusual, and sometimes extreme, sport.


PRACTICE LAP For each of the following topics, write a topic sentence you could put in a paragraph. Then, check out some sample sentences at the end of the chapter. 1.

What you may be doing ten years from now

2.

Making a root beer float

3.

A review of the last movie you saw with a friend

4.

A trip to the Grand Canyon

5.

Your favorite music

DETAIL SENTENCES Detail sentences provide support and elaborate on the ideas in your paragraph. With these sentences, you can flesh out your topic with vivid details and explain or clarify your paragraph’s main idea by including facts or proof. Detail sentences that don’t fulfill this purpose should be eliminated because they distract the reader from your main point. Once done out of necessity for shelter or under the guise of scientific study, cave exploring has now been taken to an entirely new level of safety and expertise. ➔ For the sport’s athletes, from novice to expert alike, stamina and strength are a necessity. Spelunking requires the cave explorer to be a good crawler and climber, be able to negotiate well in small openings and crevices, and traverse safely in vertical spaces with the use of ropes. In recent decades, spelunking equipment and protective gear have been introduced and improved in light of its growing popularity.

Paragraphs

PRACTICE LAP Write two possible detail sentences for the following topics. Then, check out some sample sentences at the end of the chapter. 6.

Pizza is more nutritious than you think.

7.

Is there really a bigfoot?

8.

Making your bed is easy.

9.

Riding in the space shuttle

10.

Limiting phone use among teens

PARAGRAPH ORGANIZATION The order of your sentences in your paragraph is important. Your readers expect your ideas to be presented a logical, linear (A-B-C) order. If your ideas don’t flow properly, your reader will get lost in the confusion. Think of it this way: If you were going to write a paragraph explaining how to make a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich, you would not begin by writing Throw away the banana peel.

PRACTICE LAP: UNITY OF THE PARAGRAPH Identify any sentences that interfere with the unity of the following paragraph and eliminate them. You may reorder the sentences where necessary. Then, compare your paragraph to the one at the end of the chapter. I woke up in my cozy wooden cabin at sunrise, hearing the birds chirping outside in the trees. The water glimmered with a deep blue color. I did not have to hunt, gather firewood, or pick up in the cabin. Because nobody lived within ten miles of me, the lake was completely clear and unpolluted. I trotted down the 50 yards to the shoreline, grabbing my raft on the way there. I have assigned things to do for every day of the week so I can keep up with my daily neces-

159

160 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR sities, and today was a work-free day for me. I arose excitedly because I knew today was my kick-back day of the week.

PARAGRAPH FOCUS Besides order, your paragraph must have focus and symmetry. Like a balance scale you use in school, your topic sentence is the calibrator, and the trays on either side of it hold your supporting details. If your paragraph is about the leafand-shoot diet of the three-toed sloth, and your sentences remain on topic, the scale will remain balanced because you are focused. If, however, you begin elaborating on the sloth’s innate ability to suspend itself motionless on a single branch for 20 hours, then you’ve strayed off topic, and your balance scale begins to tip.

PRACTICE LAP: FOCUS OF THE PARAGRAPH Revise the following paragraph to amend mistakes that interfere with its focus. If necessary, you may reorder the sentences. Then, compare your paragraph to the one at the end of the chapter. I started off my morning by removing the bones of a fresh sea bass I had caught the day before with my homemade wooden knife. When I finished, I used a large, flat stone from the stockpile I kept indoors, set it over my fireplace, and began frying my fish. By the time I had finished, my mind was made up. When I had first started living in the cabin, it took me nearly 20 minutes to start a fire on my own with two sticks. I always loved working with wood in shop class in school when I was younger, and I had gotten better at it with years of practice. Now that I have been doing it for nearly five years, starting a fire takes less than ten seconds. As I sat at the wooden table, thoroughly enjoying my fresh fish, I began thinking about what I wanted to do with my free day.

Paragraphs

THE FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY What if you need to write more than one paragraph? Then what? In school, you are usually expected to write essays upward of five paragraphs in length. You write book reports, research reports, and reaction papers for classes and are expected to write persuasive and narrative essays on standardized tests. The format for the five-paragraph essay is, for the most part, fixed: an opening paragraph (to Announce your topic), three body paragraphs (to Build your topic), and a concluding paragraph (to Close your topic). This is the common A-B-BB-C pattern. For the most part, your paragraph components remain the same, with a few exceptions. Let’s examine this more closely. The Opening Paragraph

Like a topic sentence, the opening paragraph of an essay is going to inform your reader of the essay’s main idea. It should also include, however, an interesting opening sentence to hook your reader’s attention, and a brief (nondetailed) sketch of your essay’s three subtopics, and end with a value statement (a sentence that conveys your—the writer’s—stance on the topic) or a transition into the next paragraph.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT THERE ARE MANY interesting ways to begin your essay so your readers “bite” and continue to read your work. Throw away the ineffective In this essay, I am going to tell you about . . . This is not only boring, but also poor writing. Here are just a few ways you can kick things up a notch. A question: What has three toes, hangs out on a limb all day, and grows algae on its fur? Three adjectives: Slow, sleepy, stationary. The three-toed sloth lives an almost motionless life high in the canopy of the rainforest.

161


Three gerunds: Hanging, sleeping, eating. Suspended for up to 20 hours a day on one branch, the male three-toed sloth is known to inhabit only one tree for its entire life. Onomotopoeia: “Ay-eee!” The shrill whistle of the three-toed sloth sounds from high above in the rainforest canopy.

PRACTICE LAP For each of the following topics, write a hook that will make your readers want to read more. Then, check out some sample sentences at the end of the chapter. 11.

I’ve invented a robot!

12.

I rubbed the lamp and have been granted three wishes.

13.

Did you vote in the last election?

14.

Babysitting tips for newbies

15.

Do you dread giving presentations as much as I do?

Build Paragraphs

Your three build paragraphs are meant to elaborate on your essay’s main idea, each touching upon one of the three subtopics that support your main topic. Why three? Because three subtopics should provide enough support to give the reader a full picture of your topic or to persuade the reader to your point of view. Besides, after your opening and closing paragraphs, the fiveparagraph essay leaves room for only three more paragraphs. Each of those paragraphs will explain the three subtopics you introduced in your opening paragraph, one paragraph at a time. And just like a single-paragraph essay, each of your build paragraphs will have a topic sentence to inform your reader about the specific subtopic that paragraph will elaborate on.

Paragraphs

To guide your reader along and provide fluidity to your writing, you need to include transitional words and phrases in your paragraph. These cue words help your reader follow movement and time, and create connections between your thoughts, sentences, and paragraphs.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT HERE ARE SOME common transitional words and phrases: Sequence first, next, last, additionally, afterward, further, furthermore, in addition, likewise, meanwhile, moreover, overall Concession admittedly, although, certainly, naturally, no doubt, surely, undoubtedly Example for instance, for example, for one thing, clearly, by all means, in other words, of course, such as, thus, this can be seen, to illustrate Cause/Effect accordingly, consequently, as a result, due to, because, because of, for that reason, hence, therefore, since, so, then, thus, to this end, with this in mind Similarity also, and, as well as, besides, likewise, moreover, similarly, too Summary all in all, in conclusion, to conclude, in other words, in summary, to summarize, on the whole, therefore Time after, while, when, before, after, afterward, later, at last, at the same time, initially, immediately, once upon a time, in the future, tomorrow, thereafter, from now on, whenever, until, until now, until then

163


PRACTICE LAP Read the following sentences and insert transitional words or phrases where appropriate. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. 16.

I started off my morning by removing the bones of a fresh sea bass with my homemade wooden knife. I used a large, flat stone from the stockpile I kept indoors, set it over my fire, and waited for it to get hot. I began frying my fish.

17.

when I started living in the cabin, it took me nearly 20 minutes to start a fire on my own with flint and sticks. I have been doing it for nearly five years, and starting a fire takes less than ten seconds.

18.

I sat at the wooden table thoroughly enjoying my fresh fish, I began thinking about what I wanted to do with my free day. I had finished my fish, I had decided what I wanted to.

The Concluding Paragraph

The concluding paragraph should never introduce new information (which will leave your reader confused), but should summarize in a few sentences, what you have written about—a recap. Begin your concluding paragraph with one of the summary words from the Fuel for Thought, and review your subtopics, using different words. Finally, end with a value statement that is along the same lines as the one in your opening paragraph (again, worded differently). If you do your job well, you will have provided your reader with a sense of satisfaction at the conclusion.

Paragraphs

FUEL FOR THOUGHT IF A WELL-WRITTEN essay could be likened to a painting, it would be like Michelangelo’s fresco paintings: every word a stroke of paint elaborating the scene it is depicting, the colors and shading working together to form a balanced, beautiful picture. On the other hand, an unbalanced, choppy essay could be likened to Picasso’s Cubist paintings, with blocks of colors and distorted faces that have noses and ears placed where chins and foreheads should be.

PRACTICE LAP: A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION Read the following paragraph and try to identify what would keep this conclusion from being successful. Then, check your answers at the end of the chapter. I really did love living in the wilderness with nature and animals around me. I was at peace with no one to bother me. That day, I had continued working on a large bear sculpture that I had started the week before. I am, however, glad to be back home now after many years. A lot has changed, and it will take some getting used to. It’s nice, though, to have people to talk to, instead of just keeping everything to myself. When I was younger, I always loved working with wood in shop class in school, and I had gotten good at it with years of practice. I could make all kinds of sculptures, including the ones I had already done over the years such as a dog, a swan, and a squirrel. All in all, I am sure I will have moments where I’ll miss living in the wilderness, but it was definitely time for a change.

165


ANSWERS 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

What you may be doing ten years from now (1) Life at 25 is looking better every day now that my career as a graphic advertiser has taken off. (2) I’m a millionaire at age 20, and it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. Making a root beer float (1) This old-fashioned treat has not lost its popularity and is as easy to make today as it was 50 years ago. (2) With a tall glass, a few scoops of vanilla ice cream, and a can of your favorite root beer, you can make a delicious treat. A review of the last movie you saw with a friend (1) Movies these days just aren’t worth the ten dollars you pay. (2) I can always pick an Academy Award winner, and this one has it in the bag. A trip to the Grand Canyon (1) It’s no wonder that the Grand Canyon is sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the World. (2) Camping at the bottom of the Grand Canyon is truly an experience of a lifetime. Your favorite music (1) If Beethoven could hear this music, he’d turn over in his grave for sure. (2) Classical music transcends centuries and will forever. Pizza is more nutritious than you think. (1) Not only can you put fresh vegetables on it, but also, it’s baked, not fried. (2) It contains all your food groups: grains, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and sometimes meat. Is there really a bigfoot? (1) Sightings of Sasquatch date back to the 1920s. (2) Most scientists consider bigfoot to be a legend that remains unproven.

Paragraphs

Making your bed is easy. (1) Put the tagged side of your pillow into the pocket of the pillowcase. (2) Tucking the ends of your sheet in tightly will prevent them from being pulled out. 9. Riding in the space shuttle (1) You are one of up to seven astronauts aboard. (2) The shuttle launches vertically but lands horizontally. 10. Limiting phone use among teens (1) Cellular phone bills are costly. (2) Overuse of cellular phones can lead to constant distraction from homework and studies. 8.

PRACTICE LAP: UNITY OF THE PARAGRAPH I woke up in my cozy wooden cabin at sunrise, hearing the birds chirping outside in the trees. I arose excitedly because I knew today was my kick-back day of the week. I did not have to hunt, gather firewood, or pick up in the cabin. I trotted down the 50 yards to the shoreline, grabbing my raft on the way there. I have assigned things to do for every day of the week so I can keep up with my daily necessities, and today was a work-free day for me. Eliminate: The water glimmered with a deep blue color. Because nobody lived within ten miles of me, the lake was completely clear and unpolluted.

PRACTICE LAP: FOCUS OF THE PARAGRAPH I started off my morning by removing the bones of a fresh sea bass with my homemade wooden knife. When I finished, I used a large, flat stone from the stockpile I kept indoors, set it over my fireplace, and began frying my fish. When I had first started living in the cabin, it took me nearly 20 minutes to start a fire on my own with two sticks. I always loved working with wood in shop class in school when I was younger, and I had gotten better at it with years of practice. Now that I have been doing it for nearly five years, starting a fire takes less than ten seconds. As I sat at the wooden table, thoroughly enjoying my fresh fish, I began

167


11.

12. 13.

14. 15.

16.

17.

18.

thinking about what I wanted to do with my free day. By the time I had finished, my mind was made up. Eliminate: I had caught the day before I’ve invented a robot! Tired of cleaning your room, doing wash, taking the dog for a walk, and taking out the trash? I rubbed the lamp and have been granted three wishes. It was the genie that made me do it. Did you vote in the last election? I know what you’re thinking: My vote doesn’t count. Well, you’re wrong; it does! Babysitting tips for newbies I can change a diaper in 23 seconds flat. Do you dread giving presentations as much as I do? I’ve tried everything from imagining the audience in their birthday suits to telling ridiculously hideous jokes to my audience—but it’s just not working. First, I started off my morning by removing the bones of a fresh sea bass with my homemade wooden knife. Then, I used a large, flat stone from the stockpile I kept indoors, set it over my fire, and waited for it to get hot. Finally, I began frying my fish. Initially, when I started living in the cabin, it took me nearly 20 minutes to start a fire on my own with flint and sticks. Now I have been doing it for nearly five years, and starting a fire takes less than ten seconds. As I sat at the wooden table thoroughly enjoying my fresh fish, I began thinking about what I wanted to do with my free day. By the time I had finished my fish, I had decided what I wanted to.

Paragraphs

PRACTICE LAP: A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION I really did love living in the wilderness with nature and animals around me. I was at peace with no one to bother me. That day, I had continued working on a large bear sculpture that I had started the week before. I am, however, glad to be back home now after many years. A lot has changed, and it will take some getting used to. It’s nice, though, to have people to talk to, instead of just keeping everything to myself. When I was younger, I always loved working with wood in shop class in school, and I had gotten good at it with years of practice. I could make all kinds of sculptures, including the ones I had already done over the years such as a dog, a swan, and a squirrel. All in all, I am sure I will have moments where I’ll miss living in the wilderness, but it was definitely time for a change.

169

10 Tricky Words

Bee a Wear of Why Lee Words

HOMONYMS Now that you understand basic spelling rules, let’s take the correct usage of words one step further. It is not unusual to come across words that are spelled differently and have dissimilar meanings, but are pronounced exactly the same. Such words are called homonyms. The Greek words homo, meaning “the same,” and onyma, meaning “name,” make up the word homonym. The following sample paragraph is full of homonyms. Can you tell what this paragraph is trying to say? Ewe mite knot awl weighs sea yore riding miss takes write a weigh, sew ewe halve two Czech care fully. Men knee mite yews tulles, like ay computer, two tri two fined and altar thee mist aches, butt sum thymes it seas write thru them. Likewise, you will frequently encounter words that are spelled exactly the same way, but have completely different meanings. Such words are called homographs, from the Greek words homo and graph, which means “same writing.” So, not only being able to spell a word to write it correctly—but knowing which correctly spelled word to use and how to pronounce it—is essential, as well! Following are some familiar English homonyms and homographs.

172 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Homonyms

ad/add

The ad in the newspaper for the jacket was colorful. Can you add the tip into the total please?

allowed/aloud

He is allowed to cross the street alone now. You should read your spelling words aloud daily.

aunt/ant

Aunt Jean collected coins. The ant carried the crumb up the tree.

ate/eight

He ate six hot dogs for lunch. The basketball player was almost eight feet tall.

bear/bare

The brown bear hibernated all winter. Charlotte can ride her horse bareback.

blue/blew

The house with blue shutters is mine. He blew the horn to warn the swimmers.

break/brake

If you break the dish, Mom will be angry. Apply the brake gently when stopping.

by/buy

I live by the ocean. She must buy milk and bread at the store.

cent/sent/scent

I received only one cent change after my purchase. He sent roses to his sweetheart for Valentine’s Day. The heavy scent of her perfume was overwhelming.

chews/choose

Be careful, his dog chews on shoes. He will choose to attend either Rutgers or Drew University.

colonel/kernel

My uncle is a colonel in the army. I found a kernel of popcorn on the floor by the chair.

deer/dear

There are many deer in the woods behind the school. My dear friend Alice came to visit me.

do/dew/due

I do not like licorice. The morning dew lightly covered the grass. My library book was due yesterday.

ewe/you/yew

The ewe stayed close to her lamb all the time. Have you seen the Liberty Bell? The yew, a small evergreen, is found on almost all continents.

eye/I

I’m not crying; I think I have something in my eye. I am going out tonight.

Tricky Words

PRACTICE LAP Can you find and correct the mistakes in the following sentences? Check your answers at the end of the chapter. 1.

Dad woke up in such a sour mood this morning that Mom called him a bare.

2.

With so many different cents to chews from, Chloe will be in the perfume store for hours!

3.

Henry, ate, is too years older than Sue.

4.

Due yew see the dear over buy Ant Jean’s new blew car?

5.

If ewe brake the toy, you won’t be aloud to play anymore.

flew/flu/flue

They flew to the Caribbean Islands for spring break. Unfortunately, Jesse caught the flu and is in bed. The chimney sweeper cleaned the flue well.

flour/flower

Use flour to make the gravy thick. The flower I chose for her corsage was a yellow rose.

for/fore/four

Let me hold the door for you. She saw the golf ball headed toward the crowd and shouted “Fore!” We stayed up until four in the morning.

grate/great

Mom asked me to grate the cheese for the salad. You did such a great job on that solo.

he’ll/heal/heel

He’ll make it if he tries hard enough. Your scratched elbow should heal quickly with the medicine. My heel is bruised from jumping off the stair.

here/hear

Here is your homework. Can you hear me?

him/hymn

Help him finish his chores. The choir sang a traditional hymn.

hole/whole

The hole in his sock got bigger. Two halves make a whole.

hour/our

Within the next hour, we will leave. Our backyards are connected.

173

174 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR I’ll/aisle/isle

I’ll write you soon. The bride walked down the aisle with her father at her side. The small isle in the gulf was a popular vacation spot.

knew/new

I knew we shouldn’t have gone this far north. The new student made friends quickly.

knot/not

The girl tied a knot in her shoestring. You should not stay too late.

know/no

Do you know how to spell his name? No, I do not.


After recovering from the flew, Romie new she would knot be able to run for a while.

7.

Xavier was sew hungry that he eight the hole pair quickly.

8.

Hour family drove for over an our two get too the flour show at City Hall.

9.

Aisle be walking down the isle with my father at hour knew church.

10.

I’m knot sure heal he’ll fast enough to be able two travel to the aisle.

meet/meat

My swim meet was delayed. Vegetarians don’t eat meat.

need/kneed/knead

I need a softer pillow. Michael got kneed in the leg by his opponent. After you knead the bread dough, let it rise in a bowl.

one/won

Harry spent one hour picking out a CD. Merlandia won the school raffle.

pair/pear

This pair of pants is too small. She likes to eat a pear with her lunch.

peace/piece

It was no surprise that she said all she wanted was world peace. Can I have a piece of pie?

Tricky Words

principal/principle

Mr. Kostula is the school principal. He is a man of principle.

rain/rein/reign

The weather forecast is calling for rain. The cowboy held on to the rein as his horse galloped. Queen Elizabeth’s reign over England lasted 45 years.

real/reel

You’re being a real pain! Reel that fish in so we can go eat!

right/write/rite

Turn right at the intersection of Eyland and Hillside Avenues. James has to write a research report on King Tut. The tribe celebrated the boy’s rite of passage to manhood.

sail/sale

Columbus set sail for the Americas in 1492. The sale of game systems increases 40% each year.

scene/seen

The scene from the top of the Grand Canyon is breathtaking. Have you seen a tornado before?

so/sew

That paper cut hurt so much. Will you teach me how to sew my dress?

stationary/stationery

Guards at Buckingham Palace stand stationary for hours at a time. Monogrammed stationery is an old-fashioned tradition.


Unfortunately, we cannot sale do two to much rein.

12.

The seen too the write was of a patient principle standing stationery wading to meat his grate ant.

13.

Class, please right your spelling words for times each four homework over spring brake.

14.

The women stood rite hear in the reign waiting four the annual meet sail to begin.

15.

It seams as though the king rained with much principal and rite threw out his rein.

175

176 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR there/their/they’re

There is a spider on the wall. Their favorite restaurant is Merandino’s. They’re going to play touch football at the park.

threw/through/thru

Morgan accidentally threw the Frisbee over the fence. Sarah went through the entire school year without an absence. You can pick up your order at the drive-thru window ahead.

thyme/time

The recipe calls for thyme and sage. What time is it?

to/too/two

To try something and fail is better than not trying at all. I ate too much ice cream and got a stomachache. The two kitties romped and played happily.

wading/waiting

Wading through the crowd made her nervous. I’ve been waiting for that movie sequel!

wood/would

Chopping and stacking wood is a tough chore. Would you mind helping me?

which/witch

I can’t decide which I like better, grape or orange. Dorothy must outsmart the bad witch in The Wizard of Oz.

weather/whether

Sometimes inclement weather causes schools to close. Whether or not you like it, you’re going to have to decide.

whose/who’s

Whose CD is this? Who’s going bowling Saturday night?


Whose going two take the thyme too go threw all these complicated steps?

17.

Eye can’t tell weather or knot the would is reel.

18.

Witch stationary do ewe think is better, the read one or the blew won?

19.

His parents are trying to help hymn chews a knew car.

20.

Their wood halve been more peaces, but Geoff was aloud two bring only these.

Tricky Words

Homographs

address

Be careful to address the envelope to the proper address.

bass

Before becoming a bass fisherman, he played bass in a band.

bow

Bow to the king, and he’ll reward you with a bow and some arrows.

close

I live close by, so I can close up the store if you like.

conflict

The reports about the conflict seem to conflict.

desert

The soldier would not desert his unit in the desert.

does

The hunter does not want to get fined for shooting any does.

dove

The dove flew high and dove toward the pile of crumbs below.

house

The house next door has cages to house up to six dogs at once.

lead

The contestant lost his lead when the lead broke on his pencil.

live

Live bait doesn’t live long when the fish are hungry.

minute

The discussion about the minute changes lasted a minute.

moped

She moped all day after her moped got stolen.

number

The number of ice skaters with number toes than mine is nil.

present

I was asked to present this special present to you by an admirer.

produce

Few farms produce any produce during the cold winter months.

read

Yesterday, I read the paper; today, I will read a magazine.

record

When did the Beatles record their first record?

resume

I suggest that you resume writing your resume before it’s too late.

separate

Separate the eggs, and place the whites and yolks in separate bowls.

tear

My eyes began to tear when I saw him tear the check in two.

use

If you can find any use for this, feel free to use it!

well

Well out here, we get our water only from a well.

wind

Wind the kite string, then let it out slowly as the wind blows.

wound

His small wound festered, and it wound up infected.

WORD CHOICE Sometimes when writing, you may find it difficult to choose between words or phrases that are so similar that the only difference between them is a simple space or an extra letter. For instance, which of the following sentences would receive high marks from your English teacher? a. James thought he was already until he looked down and saw that he was wearing one black sock and one blue sock. b. James thought he was all ready until he looked down and saw that he was wearing one black sock and one blue sock.

177

178 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Answer: b. Why not a? Because already means “previously” or “before now.” The sentence implies that James was all [completely] ready [prepared] to do something until he noticed his mismatched socks. Let’s look at another one. a. Every day Charlotte helps her sister with her homework. b. Everyday Charlotte helps her sister with her homework. Answer: a. Why not b? Because everyday means “ordinary” or “typical.” Choice b implies that “ordinary Charlotte” helps her sister, whereas choice a implies that Charlotte helps her sister every (each) day with her homework. Let’s try one more. a. Bill Gates maybe the richest man in the world. b. Bill Gates may be the richest man in the world. Answer: b. Why not a? Because maybe is an adverb meaning “possibly,” and in choice a, maybe appears where a verb should be. It really says Bill Gates possibly the richest man . . . There is no verb in the sentence. On the other hand, may be in choice b is a verb phrase meaning “could be.” It really says Bill Gates could be the richest man . . . This sentence is grammatically correct. Following are other words that are commonly mixed up. altogether/all together alright/all right anyone/any one anyway/any way apart/a part every one/everyone

anymore/any more awhile/a while sometime/some time


My dog chases his tail everyday.

22.

May be Stuart wants to be apart of the school play this year.

Tricky Words

23.

Let me see if any one is all ready finished.

24.

Altogether, there are more than 300 million people in the United States.

25.

Some time in the near future, astronauts may fly to Jupiter.

OTHER TRICKY WORDS AND PHRASES TO CONSIDER A or An?

Both words are adjectives called articles. When you have to use one or the other, base your decision on the sound of the first letter of the word it will precede, not whether the word is spelled with a vowel as the first letter. For instance: One-way begins with the consonant sound /w/, so a is the correct article to use; however, open door begins with the long vowel sound o¯ , so an would be the correct choice. Unicorn begins with the consonant sound /y/, so a is the correct article, whereas an would be the correct article to use before umbrella because it begins with the short vowel sound u˘. Affect or Effect?

These two words really throw people for a loop. Affect, pronounced a-FECT, is a verb meaning “to influence.” The scary accident scene affected us the rest of the way home. When pronounced AFF-ect, it is a rarely used noun meaning “emotion.” The student’s flat affect during the exciting train ride was baffling. Effect, as a noun, means “result or outcome.” The effect of brushing your teeth twice a day is a cavity-free mouth. As a verb, it means “to cause or to create.” As class president, she will effect a change in school policy that allows students to attend home games for free.

179


INSIDE TRACK YOU CAN THINK of it this way: When you affect something, you have an effect on it. When you successfully influence your parents’ position on increasing your allowance (affecting their point of view), the outcome (effect) is more cash in your piggy bank.

Alot or A lot?

Would you write alittle or a little if you wanted to mean “not much”? Why, a little, of course! Let that help you remember that you shouldn’t write alot, but a lot. In fact, alot isn’t even a word in the dictionary! Among or Between?

When you are referring to three or more people or things in your sentence, use the word among. There were several red tulips among all the daffodils and irises. When you are referring to only two people or things in your sentence, use between. You may pick any chair between Marie and Harry.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT YOU MAY SAY between when you are looking at similarities and differences between any number or people and things. We were asked to research the similarities and differences between trumpets, cornets, and bugles.

Tricky Words Can or May?

How many times has your teacher replied, “I’m sure you’re capable of going,” or “I don’t know, can you?” after you ask if you can go to your locker, get a drink, or go to the bathroom? Too many, right? Why do they always say that? Here’s why. Can means “having the ability.” When you say, “Can I . . .?” you’re really asking if you have the ability of going or doing what you asked. May means “having permission to do something.” Permission is what you really want from your teacher, not his or her assurance of your being able to walk, drink, or whatever. Except or Accept?

By virtue of the fact that these two words sound so alike, their misuse is common. Except means “excluding or unless,” and accept means “to approve, agree, or willingly receive.” Except for anchovies, I will accept almost anything on my pizza.

INSIDE TRACK CONFUSED ABOUT WHETHER to use except or accept? Remember, when you’re agreeing to something, you’re “cc-eeing” eye to eye with someone. When making exceptions, you’re “x-cluding” something.

Good or Well?

The adjective good is used to describe a person, place, or thing (a noun). Strawberry ice cream tastes good. Well, on the other hand, is an adverb that describes something being done (a verb). The choir sang well in the practice today.

181

182 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Have or Of?

Of all the mistakes students make in writing, confusing these two words is one of the most common. Perhaps you have written this once or twice: I should of gone, I could of had that, I would of done it if . . . What you really meant is I should have gone, I could have had that, I would have done it if . . . Sit or Set?

When you tell your dog to sit, you want him to sit down. When you set the table, you are placing plates, forks, glasses, on the table. When you put something on your desk, you’re not sitting it on the desk, you’re setting it. When your mom put you in time-out, she may have made you sit in the corner, not set in it. Than or Then?

When comparing two pairs of jeans at the store, you’re looking for some features you like more than others. When making a sandwich, first you spread the peanut butter, then you put on the jelly. Who or Whom?

Although whom is slowly making its way out of usage, it is still important to know when to use it and when not to. One quick way to know is to replace the words who and whom with he and him. When he is the correct choice, use who. When him is the correct choice, use whom. For instance: Who/whom owns that soccer ball? When you place he and him in a reply, you get: a. He owns the soccer ball. and b. Him owns the soccer ball.

Tricky Words

Which reply sounds correct? He owns the soccer ball does, so you would use the word who. Let’s try another. My uncle, who/whom I haven’t seen in years, is coming for a visit. If you replace he and him in the clause, you get: a. I haven’t seen he in years. and b. I haven’t seen him in years. Which reply sounds correct? I haven’t seen him in years does, so you would use the word whom. My uncle, whom I haven’t seen in years, is coming for a visit.


Every one should know about the negative affects of smoking.

27.

I should of handed my paper in earlier.

28.

We split the pepperoni pizza between the three of us.

29.

I except your apology. Thank you.

30.

Maddie draws good, but sings better.

183


ANSWERS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Dad woke up in such a sour mood this morning that Mom called him a bear. With so many different scents to choose from, Chloe will be in the perfume store for hours! Henry, eight, is two years older than Sue. Do you see the deer over by Aunt Jean’s new blue car? If you break the toy, you won’t be allowed to play anymore. After recovering from the flu, Romie knew she would not be able to run for a while. Xavier was so hungry that he ate the whole pear quickly. Our family drove for over an hour to get to the flower show at City Hall. I’ll be walking down the aisle with my father at our new church. I’m not sure he’ll heal fast enough to be able to travel to the isle. Unfortunately, we cannot sail due to too much rain. The scene to the right was of a patient principal standing stationary waiting to meet his great aunt. Class, please write your spelling words four times each for homework over spring break. The women stood right here in the rain waiting for the annual meat sale to begin. It seems as though the king reigned with much principle and right throughout his reign. Who’s going to take the time to go through all these complicated steps? I can’t tell whether or not the wood is real. Which stationery do you think is better, the red one or the blue one? His parents are trying to help him choose a new car. There would have been more pieces, but Geoff was allowed to bring only these. My dog chases his tail every day. Maybe Stuart wants to be a part of the school play this year. Let me see if anyone is already finished.

Tricky Words

24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

All together, there are more than 300 million people in the United States. Sometime in the near future, astronauts may fly to Jupiter. Everyone should know about the negative effects of smoking. I should have handed my paper in earlier. We split the pepperoni pizza among the three of us. I accept your apology. Thank you. Maddie draws well, but sings better.

185

11 Posttest

J

ust like the pretest, the posttest contains 70 questions. It contains the same types of questions that you answered in the pretest, and again, it should take you no longer than one hour to complete. After taking the posttest and checking your answers against the answer key that follows, you will see how much you have learned from the lessons in this book. For each question you answer incorrectly, go over the answer explanation and refer back to the chapter that discusses that particular topic. Good luck!

CAPITALIZATION Correct the words that require proper capitalization. 1.

the cat yawned lazily.

2.

i have been awake for hours.

3.

his books usually get good reviews.

4.

delaware was the first state in the union.

5.

my grandmother sent me money for my birthday.


sam’s neighbor’s dog barks at night.

7.

i read the chronicles of narnia this past summer.

8.

italian food seems to be the most popular.

9.

“my, what big eyes you have,” said little red riding hood.

10.

“all the better to see you with,” replied the big bad wolf.

PUNCTUATION Insert proper punctuation into the following sentences. 11.

It was cold today

12.

How many people were at the dance

13.

She leisurely walked through the store

14.

Ouch that really hurt

15.

I didnt hear you clearly

16.

None of this game equipment belongs to me

17.

How was I supposed to know

18.

When the bell rang Kelly ran to the door

19.

Today is March 6 2007

20.

Drew a real estate broker is always taking phone calls

21.

Today you must wash the clothes dust vacuum make the beds and iron

Posttest

22.

After studying her flash cards Julie tried to remember the answers

23.

It was late very late so I went to bed

24.

Her ankle was swollen it was more than she could bear

25.

I missed my dentist appointment at 400 yesterday

26.

After driving all that time about six hours she still hadn’t reached her destination

27.

Please buy the following colors red white yellow blue orange pink and green

28.

The Force played hard they deserved to win

29.

I have forgotten the combination sighed Tina

30.

Austin replied Dont worry I wrote it down in my binder

MODIFIERS Adjectives

In each sentence, circle the adjective(s). 31.

Jennifer, your recital was outstanding.

32.

The Florida sunshine is warm and inviting.

33.

Christian was elated to finally have a work-free weekend.

34.

Fourteen girls lined up in front of the green door.

189

190 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Adverbs

In each sentence, circle the adverb(s). 35.

Harry’s best friend moved away this summer.

36.

Nathan ran hard to train for the tournament.

37.

Anthony is sometimes careless with his belongings.

38.

There are too many names on the list now.

39.

The gondola gradually climbed the steep hillside.

40.

Stacy is sometimes late for class.

Prepositional Phrases

In each sentence, circle the prepositional phrase(s). 41.

Place the dirty dishes in the sink, please.

42.

After the movie, do you want to get ice cream at the diner?

43.

Go down the street about six blocks and turn right at the stoplight.

Tricky Words

In each sentence, circle the tricky word(s). 44.

It seams like ewe due knot want two bee hear write now.

45.

What blew and read shirt are ewe talking about?

46.

The mane point is that hour concerns are herd.

47.

The principle will sea ewe now.

48.

We have had two much reign this thyme.

Posttest

49.

Actually, the boat sets sale early inn the mourning.

50.

The dog’s tale wagged excitedly when I through the bawl to hymn.

SENTENCE STRUCTURE Identify each sentence as simple, compound, or complex. Underline the subject once and underline the predicate twice. 51.

The librarian stamped the books and placed them on the cart.

52.

Patty’s research paper had a table of contents, an index, and a glossary.

53.

The group of tourists walked eagerly through the museum and admired the paintings on the wall.

54.

Betsy Ross, the maker of the first American flag, was a hero.

55.

Paula enjoyed working with animals, a job she had dreamed about since she was a child.

56.

Cowboys of the Wild West rode horses in rodeos, and many worked on ranches.

57.

Jupiter has dark rings—a fact that scientists only recently discovered— that cannot be seen well.

58.

Victoria plays the trombone in the school band, and Lucas plays the French horn.

59.

As we flew over the Atlantic Ocean, our plane encountered heavy turbulence.

60.

Making snowmen is fun, but snowball fights are better.

191


COMBINING SENTENCES Choppy sentences in a paragraph are unappealing. Combine the following sentences, rewriting them when necessary, to create more informative, interesting sentences. Although there are many possible combinations, a sample of each question is provided for you at the end of the posttest. 61.

Julia Cooper was going to Fargo Junior High School, a new school. It was going to be a dreadful year for her. She had to leave all of the friends she’d ever had in Phoenix, Arizona. She had to leave behind the only home she’d ever known.

62.

Her dad was George Cooper. He worked for an international car company called Global Autos. He had a job that was sending him and his family to North Dakota. Julia thought that she’d never be able to have good friends again.

63.

It was the morning of her first day of school at FJHS. Julia prepared for the day ahead of her. She was filled with trepidation and hoped for the best. She walked into her classroom and sat in the back corner of the room.

Posttest

64.

Another girl in her class walked up to Julia and started talking to her. She seemed very nice. Her name was Charlotte.

65.

They sat and talked to each other until the bell rang. Julia and Charlotte compared schedules and realized that they had classes together almost all day. At lunch, Charlotte introduced Julia to some of her friends.

66.

Julia thought about her old house and her old friends in Arizona. She started to wonder if she’d ever fit in or even get used to North Dakota.

67.

When school ended, Julia took the bus home. She went to her room, ate a snack, and did her homework until she was called for dinner. She smelled the delicious meal her mother had cooked. She saw her favorite, spaghetti with meatballs.

193


Another few weeks had gone by, and Julia was starting to like Fargo. She couldn’t believe the number of friends she already made. She couldn’t have been happier with the new place that they had moved to.

69.

The next night, when her father came home, he started to loosen his necktie. He had an uneasy look on his face. Julia knew that something was wrong. She went upstairs to her room and started her homework. But she couldn’t concentrate on her work because she was worried about her dad. Had he been laid off? She could think of nothing else that could have gone wrong.

70.

When she sat down at the dinner table, everyone started eating. It was quiet. She was about to start a conversation, but her dad started to speak. “I’m afraid there’s been a change of plans,” he said. “Ben Casey, president of the plant in Sweden, has left, and Central is putting me in his place.”

Posttest

ANSWERS Capitalization

Reminder: We capitalize (1) the first word of every sentence, (2) the first word of a direct quotation, (3) the pronoun I and all contractions made using the word I, (4) proper nouns, (5) proper adjectives, and (6) the first word and all key words in titles. (To better understand capitalization, please see Chapter 2.) 1. The cat yawned lazily. 2. I have been awake for hours. 3. His books usually get good reviews. 4. Delaware was the first state in the Union. 5. My grandmother sent me money for my birthday. 6. Sam’s neighbor’s dog barks at night. 7. I read The Chronicles of Narnia this past summer. 8. Italian food seems to be the most popular. 9. “My, what big eyes you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood. 10. “All the better to see you with,” replied the Big Bad Wolf. Punctuation

Reminder: (1) Periods signify the end of declarative and imperative sentences; (2) question marks are used after a question; (3) exclamations signify strong feelings or emotion. (To better understand punctuation, please see Chapter 2.) 11. It was cold today. 12. How many people were at the dance? 13. She leisurely walked through the store. 14. Ouch, that really hurt! 15. I didn’t hear you clearly. 16. None of this game equipment belongs to me. 17. How was I supposed to know?

195

196 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Reminder: Use commas (1) to separate series of three or more items or phrases in a sentence, (2) with an introductory word or phrase, (3) before and after a word or phrase that is meant to rename or describe a noun that precedes it (an appositive), and (4) in dates and addresses. 18. When the bell rang, Kelly ran to the door. 19. Today is March 6, 2007. 20. Drew, a real estate broker, is always taking phone calls. 21. Today, you must wash the clothes, dust, vacuum, make the beds, and iron. 22. After studying her flash cards, Julie tried to remember the answers. 23. It was late, very late, so I went to bed. Reminder: Use colons to (1) introduce a list, (2) introduce the subtitle of a movie or book, or (3) separate hours from minutes when writing the time. Use a semicolon (4) to separate two related sentences and (5) between two complete sentences that are separated by transitional words or phrases. 24. Her ankle was swollen; it was more than she could bear. 25. I missed my dentist appointment at 4:00 yesterday. 26. After driving all that time, about six hours, she still hadn’t reached her destination. 27. Please buy the following colors: red, white, yellow, blue, orange, pink, and green. 28. The Force played hard; they deserved to win. Reminder: Direct quotations require the use of opening and ending quotation marks. 29. “I have forgotten the combination,” sighed Tina. 30. Austin replied, “Don’t worry, I wrote it down in my binder.” Modifiers Adjectives

Reminder: Adjectives (1) modify only nouns; (2) answer What kind? Which one? and How many? about the nouns they are modifying; (3) imply something belongs to someone; and (4) are sometimes proper nouns that behave like adjectives. (To better understand adjectives, please see Chapter 5.) 31. Jennifer, your recital was outstanding. 32. The Florida sunshine is warm and inviting.

Posttest

Christian was elated to finally have a work-free weekend. 34. Fourteen girls lined up in front of the green door. 33.

Adverbs

Reminder: Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, and answer Where? When? How? How much? How often? and How long? (To better understand adverbs, please see Chapter 5.) 35. Harry’s best friend moved away this summer. 36. Nathan ran hard to train for the tournament. 37. Anthony is sometimes careless with his belongings. 38. There are too many names on the list now. 39. The gondola gradually climbed the steep hillside. 40. Stacy is sometimes late for class. Prepositional Phrases

Reminder: A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. (To better understand prepositional phrases, please see Chapters 6 and 7.) 41. Place the dirty dishes in the sink, please. 42. After the movie, do you want to get ice cream at the diner? 43. Go down the street about six blocks and turn right at the stoplight. Tricky Words

Reminder: Words that are spelled differently and have dissimilar meanings, but are pronounced exactly the same, are called homonyms. (To better understand tricky words, please see Chapter 10.) 44. It seems like you do not want to be here right now. 45. What blue and red shirt are you talking about? 46. The main point is that our concerns are heard. 47. The principal will see you now. 48. We have had too much rain this time. 49. Actually, the boat sets sail early in the morning. 50. The dog’s tail wagged excitedly when I threw the ball to him.

197

198 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Sentence Structure

Reminder: (1) A simple sentence must have a simple subject (one word) and a simple predicate (one word); (2) a compound sentence is two complete sentences together with a conjunction; (3) a complex sentence is made up of at least one independent clause and one subordinate (dependent) clause. (For more help with sentence structure, please see Chapter 8.) 51. The librarian stamped the books and placed them on the cart. simple 52. Patty’s research paper had a table of contents, an index, and a glossary. simple 53. The group of tourists walked eagerly through the museum and admired the paintings on the wall. simple 54. Betsy Ross, the maker of the first American flag, was a hero. simple 55. Paula enjoyed working with animals, a job she had dreamed about since she was a child. complex 56. Cowboys of the Wild West rode horses in rodeos, and many worked on ranches. compound 57. Jupiter has dark rings—a fact that scientists only recently discovered— that cannot be seen well. complex 58. Victoria plays the trombone in the school band, and Lucas plays the French horn. compound 59. As we flew over the Atlantic Ocean, our plane encountered heavy turbulence. complex 60. Making snowmen is fun, but snowball fights are better. compound

Posttest Combining Sentences

(For more help with combining sentences, please see Chapters 8 and 9.) 61. Julia Cooper was going to a new school—Fargo Junior High School— and it was going to be a dreadful year. She had to leave all of the friends she’d ever had in Phoenix, Arizona, and was going to leave behind the only home she’d ever known. Avoid choppiness by combining sentences and ideas that complement each other. Many times, sentences share the same subjects, which means they can be fused easily. 62. Her dad, George Cooper, worked for Global Autos, an international car company. His job was sending him and his family to North Dakota, and Julia, crushed, thought that she’d never be able to have good friends again. We made four sentences into two by finding similarities and combining ideas. Three sentences involved Julia’s dad. 63. It was the morning of her first day of school at FJHS, and Julia prepared for the day ahead of her. She was filled with trepidation but hoped for the best as she walked into her classroom. Feeling out of place, she took a seat in the back corner of the room. The other sentences lacked fluidity and were dry. Notice that three of the four sentences have Julia as the subject. Take advantage of that and combine. 64. A girl in her class, Charlotte, walked up to Julia and started talking to her. She seemed very nice. The last two sentences are very choppy. All three can easily be combined to make one interesting thought. 65. They sat and talked to each other until the bell rang. At Julia’s locker, they compared schedules and realized that they had classes together almost all day. Charlotte couldn’t wait to introduce Julia to some of her friends at lunch. Adding a little detail for the reader (at Julia’s locker and Charlotte’s anticipation) makes this sentence more interesting. 66. Julia thought about her old house and friends in Arizona and started to wonder if she’d ever fit in or even get used to this new place called North Dakota. Combining and shortening a few details (old house and friends) does the trick.

199

200 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR When school ended, Julia took the bus home, went to her room, and did her homework until she was called for dinner. She smelled the delicious meal her mother had cooked; it was her favorite dinner: spaghetti with meatballs. She, she, she . . . yikes. Fuse ideas and subjects together. 68. Another few weeks had gone by, and Fargo was finally beginning to sink in. Julia couldn’t believe the number of friends she already made; she hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. 69. The next night, when her father came home from work, he loosened his necktie and had an uneasy look on his face. Julia knew that something was wrong. She went upstairs to her room and started her homework, but she couldn’t concentrate because she was worried about her dad. Had he been laid off? She could think of nothing else that could have gone wrong. You can combine her dad’s actions easily. Leaving the next sentence by itself adds emphasis and some apprehension for the reader. 70. It was quiet at the dinner table. To break the silence, Julia was about to speak when her dad started. “I’m afraid there’s been a change of plans,” he said. “Ben Casey, president of the plant in Sweden, has left, and Central is putting me in his place.” You can just as easily say in one sentence what was originally said in two. Rearranging and replacing some words improves the overall feel of the sentences. 67.

Glossary Action verb: A verb that expresses thought or activity.

A part of speech that modifies a noun or pronoun. Adjectives answer What kind? Which one? How much? How many? about a noun.

Adjective:

Adverb: A part of speech that modifies a verb, an adjective, or other adverb.

Adverbs answer Where? When? How much? How many? about the verb, adjective, or other adverb. Antecedent: The word or words to which a specific pronoun refers. Appositive: A word or words that describe the noun or pronoun that comes

before the appositive in the sentence. Audience: The reader(s) of your writing. When writing, you should always

consider your audience’s age, experience, and position on the topic, and then adapt your word choice, style, and tone for your essay. Body paragraph: Sentences that develop or explain one of the ideas stated

in the introduction. Clause: A group of words that has a subject and a verb. Colon (:): The punctuation mark that comes before a series, a lengthy quo-

tation, or an example, or after the salutation in a business letter.

202 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Comma (,): The punctuation mark that separates words, phrases, and items

in a series. Comma splice: A sentence in which two sentences have been improperly

joined together by a comma. Comparative: A form of an adjective or adverb that implies the greater degree

when compared to something else. Comparatives end with the suffix -er. Complex sentence: A sentence that is made up of an independent clause and

subordinate (dependent) clause. Compound-complex sentence: A sentence that is made up of more than one

independent clause and at least one subordinate clause. A sentence that contains at least two independent clauses with no subordinate (dependent) clauses.

Compound sentence:

Compound subjects: Two

or more subjects that share the same verb in a

sentence. Compound word: Two or more separate words put together to create a new

word. Compound words may be joined, separate, or hyphenated. Conclusions: The final paragraph in an essay, in which the writer restates

the main idea, summarizes the main points, and closes with a value statement to bring effective closure to the essay. Conjunction:

A word or phrase that connects words or groups of words

together. Dangling modifier: A word or phrase that is meant to modify a specific part

of the sentence, but has not been written next to that part, thus altering the meaning of the sentence. Dash (—): A punctuation mark that indicates a strong pause, to emphasize

a point or set off a comment or short list within a sentence. A word such as this, that, these, and those that is used to replace a specific noun in a sentence.

Demonstrative pronoun:

Direct object: The noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb.

Glossary Direct quotation: The exact spoken or written words of a person written by

another person and enclosed in quotation marks. Ellipsis ( . . . ): The punctuation mark that indicates that words have been

omitted, or that indicates a pause between thoughts or words. Exclamation point (!): The punctuation mark that indicates strong emotion. Future tense: A verb tense that implies that something hasn’t happened yet,

but will. Gerund: A verb ending with -ing that functions as a noun in a sentence. A

gerund can act as a subject, a direct object, or an object of a preposition (OOP). Two distinct words with their own meanings but identical pronunciations.

Homonyms:

Hyphen (-): The punctuation mark that joins or separates numbers, letters,

syllables, and words for specific purposes. Imperative sentence: A sentence that expresses a request or command. The

subject of any imperative sentence is always you. Indefinite pronoun: A part of speech such as no one, anyone, anybody, or some-

body that refers to a noun, but not a specific one. Independent clause: A group of words that contains a subject and a predi-

cate (verb) and can stand by itself as a sentence. Infinitive: A verb written in the form of to plus the verb (e.g., to walk) that

acts as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb in a sentence. Interjection: A word or phrase that expresses strong emotion or feelings. Introduction: The opening paragraph of an essay that hooks the reader and

introduces the main idea and subtopics that will be explored. Irregular verb: A verb that does not use an -ed ending when written in past

tense. The past tense endings for irregular verbs do not follow any specific pattern and need to be memorized. Linking verb: A verb that conveys a state of being or condition and that links

a noun with either another noun or an adjective.

203

204 Express Review Guides: GRAMMAR Misplaced modifier: A word or phrase that is placed too far from the noun or

verb it is modifying, thus altering or confusing the meaning of the sentence. Modifier: A word that describes or clarifies another word. Adjectives mod-

ify nouns. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. A part of speech that names a person, place, or thing (including ideas and feelings).

Noun:

Object of a preposition (OOP): The noun or pronoun that follows a prepo-

sitional phrase. A group of sentences that share a common topic and focus upon a single idea.

Paragraph:

Parentheses [( )]: The punctuation marks that set off information that is not

necessarily pertinent to the surrounding sentence or words. Participle: A verb form that can be used as an adjective. Past tense: A verb tense that implies something that already happened. Period (.): The punctuation mark found at the end of a declarative sentence,

an imperative sentence, or an indirect question, or in abbreviations. Personal pronoun: A part of speech such as I, you, me, he, him, she, her, it, they,

them, and we that refers to the speaker, the person, or thing being spoken about, or the person or thing being spoken to. Phrase: A

group of words that does not have a subject and verb. Phrases can act like various parts of speech (a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, or preposition).

Predicate: The action that the subject performs in a sentence; a verb. Preposition: A part of speech that shows the relationship of a noun or pro-

noun to another word in the sentence in terms of time and/or space. A phrase beginning with a preposition and ending with a noun or pronoun (the object of the preposition).

Prepositional phrase:

Present tense: A verb tense that implies action happening in the present or

an action that happens constantly.

Glossary Pronoun: A part of speech that takes the place of a noun in a sentence. Proper noun: A specific noun that is capitalized. Punctuation: A set of special symbols that helps convey the tone and pace

of a writer’s voice to the reader. Question mark (?): The punctuation mark that appears at the end of an inter-

rogatory sentence (a question). Quotation marks ( “ ” ): The punctuation marks that indicate the exact words

of a speaker or that convey hesitation or irony in a writer’s words. A sentence in which two or more complete sentences have been improperly punctuated and joined together.

Run-on sentence:

Semicolon (;): The punctuation mark that joins two independent clauses that

share a similar idea and are not already joined by a conjunction. Sentence: A group of words that has a subject and predicate and expresses

a complete thought. Sentence fragment: An incomplete thought that has been punctuated as a

complete sentence. Simple sentence: An independent clause. Subject-verb agreement: The rule that the subject and verb of a sentence

must agree in number and in person. Subordinate clause: A group of words that has a subject and a verb but can-

not stand alone as a complete thought; also known as a dependent clause. Superlative: A comparative form of an adjective or adverb that implies the

greatest degree when compared to something else. Superlatives end with the suffix -est. Topic: The subject or main idea of an essay. Thesis: A statement in an essay that conveys the main idea or point. Verb: A part of speech that expresses action or the condition of the corre-

sponding noun or pronoun. Verb tense can indicate the time of the action or condition.

205

Notes

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Notes

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Notes

Notes

Notes

Notes

Express Review Guides: Grammar

Express Review Guides: Vocabulary

Express Review Guides: Writing

Express Review Guides: Spelling

Express Review Guides: Fractions, Percentages, & Decimals

Grammar Express (with Answer Key) (Grammar Plus)

Relational Grammar (Linguistic Theory Guides)

People Express (Express Exec)

Leadership Express (Express Exec)

Organizations Express (Express Exec)

Enterprise Express (Express Exec)

Finance Express (Express Exec)

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Innovation Express (Express Exec)

Essential German Grammar (Dover Language Guides Essential Grammar)

Teach Yourself Irish Grammar (TY: Language Guides)

Express Review Guide: Basic Math and Pre-Algebra

Grammar Essentials, 3rd Edition (Learning Express: Basic Skills)

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Sunset Express

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Express Review Guides: Grammar

Express Review Guides: Vocabulary

Express Review Guides: Writing

Express Review Guides: Spelling

Express Review Guides: Fractions, Percentages, & Decimals

Grammar Express (with Answer Key) (Grammar Plus)

Relational Grammar (Linguistic Theory Guides)

People Express (Express Exec)

Leadership Express (Express Exec)

Organizations Express (Express Exec)

Enterprise Express (Express Exec)

Finance Express (Express Exec)

Strategy Express (Express Exec)

Innovation Express (Express Exec)

Essential German Grammar (Dover Language Guides Essential Grammar)

Teach Yourself Irish Grammar (TY: Language Guides)

Express Review Guide: Basic Math and Pre-Algebra

Grammar Essentials, 3rd Edition (Learning Express: Basic Skills)

Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express

Sunset Express

Sunset Express

Sunset Express

Panty Express

Transsibirien-Express

Express Male

121 Express

Vampir-Express

Sunset Express

Sunset Express

Interplane Express

Freedom Express

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