Sample test questions
a. The man went into town and he bought a car.
b. The man went into town, and he bought a car.
Define and give an example of an appositive. An appositive is a word or set of words that restate a noun. Example: John, my brother, left home for the Army. The phrase "my brother" is an appositive.
What is the difference between the active and the passive voice? The active voice directs the action to an object. Ex: John throws the ball. The passive voice directs the action back toward the subject. Ex: The ball was thrown by John.
Choose the correct sentence:
a. Everyone ate their cake.
b. Everyone ate they’re cake.
c. Everyone ate there cake.
d. Everyone ate his or her cake.
Define the following terms:
Redundancy A redundancy uses more words than necessary. Examples are "Easter Sunday," "8 p.m. tonight," and "incumbent Congressman."
Agreement Agreement refers to words that are singular or plural. Singular subjects take singular verbs; singular nouns take singular pronouns.
What is the difference between "its" and "it’s?" Give examples of how each is used. "Its" is the possessive of it. Ex: The cat has not had its dinner. "It’s" is a contraction for "it is." Ex: It’s time to feed the cat.
One of the ways in which commas are used is the "arbitrary" use referred to in the lecture. Give an example of the "arbitrary" use of a comma. Nashville, Tenn.; Nov. 15, 1980
The major use of punctuation in writing is to
a. slow the reader down b. help the reader through the story
c. bring the reader to a stop d. confuse the reader
Put the letter next to the sentence which indicates the kind of error contained in the sentence. Some errors may occur more than once.
a. Cliché
b. Spelling error
c. Error in agreement
d. Redundancy
e. Punctuation error
f. Wrong use of a word or words g. No errors
_E_____Hiram Jones, secretary of state resigned last night.
_F_____The university has over 18,000 students enrolled. more than
_C_____The Supreme Court issued their opinion on the case yesterday. its
_F_____Hopefully, the plane will land safely. I hope
_D____The incumbent congressman will speak tonight at 8.
Home • About the book • If you are a student • If you are an instructor • About the author
ab_webmaster@abacon.com
©2000 Allyn & Bacon
A Pearson Education Company
Legal Notice