Basic Grammar

1. She picked the blue dress because she thought it was ________ than the green dress.

A. more prettier
B. prettier
C. pretty
D. prettiness

2. She felt ill and wanted to ________ down.

A. lay
B. laid
C. lie
D. lain

3. Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

A. Owing to her tardiness she was given detention.

B. Owing to her tardiness; she was given detention.
C. Owing to her tardiness: she was given detention.
D. Owing to her tardiness, she was given detention.

4. Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

A. The student, who is limping; had a broken leg last summer.

B. The student who is limping, had a broken leg last summer.
C. The student who is limping had a broken leg last summer.
D. The student, who is limping, had a broken leg last summer.

5. Knowing correct grammar will help you write ________.

A. good
B. well
C. goodly
D. clear

6. Which of the following sentences is the clearest?

A. I had 30 years of driving experience when I first had an accident.

B. I had been driving for 30 years when I finally had the accident.
C. I was driving for 30 years when I got into an auto accident.
D. I drove for 30 years and then I got into my first accident.
7. Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

A. I don’t want to have to repeat this twice. You better reconsider this again.
B. I don’t want to have to repeat this. You had better reconsider.
C. I don’t want to have to repeat this again. You better think twice and reconsider.
D. I don’t want to have to repeat you better think twice before reconsidering.

8. Which of the following sentences is the clearest?

A. The doctor in his office has photos of his children at different ages.
B. The doctor has photos at different ages of his children in his office.
C. The doctor has photos in his office of his children at different ages.
D. In his office at different ages, the doctor has photos of his children.

9. Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

A. The other witness, which was my brother, arrived later.

B. The other witness, whom was my brother, arrived later.
C. The other witness, what was my brother, arrived later.
D. The other witness, who was my brother, arrived later.

10. This matter is strictly between ________.

A. her and me
B. she and I
C. her and I
D. she and me

Answers – Basic Grammar

1. B: Prettier is the comparative form of the adjective pretty. Adding “more” to a comparative
already ending in “-ier” is redundant and ungrammatical. Pretty, the original form of this
adjective, is not a comparative and does not agree with the construction “…than the green dress.”
“Pretty” could only be used in this sentence with “more” (i.e. “more pretty”). “Prettiness” is a
noun, not an adjective, and hence cannot modify another noun.

2. C: The infinitive of the verb is “to lie.” “Lie” is also the imperative (e.g. “Lie down now”) and
the present tense (“We lie down at night”) form of the verb. “Lay” is the past tense (“She lay
down last night”). “Laid” is not a tense of “to lie” but the past tense of “lay,” a transitive verb
(one that takes an object), as in “He laid down the law” or “She laid the book on the table.”
“Lain” is the past participle of “to lie” used in the present perfect tense (“She has lain on that bed
for hours”) and in the past perfect tense (“We had lain there for an hour before the phone rang”).
The past participle of the transitive verb “lay” is “laid” (“She has always laid the book on that
table”).
3. D: When a dependent or subordinate clause comes before an independent clause, the two
clauses are separated with a comma. Without any punctuation separating its clauses, this
sentence is incorrect. Using a semicolon is incorrect; a semicolon is used to separate two
independent clauses (as in this sentence). Colons are used to introduce lists of items following
complete sentences, to introduce a sentence (or sentences in some cases) that explains or
illustrates the preceding sentence, and in business letter salutations. A colon should not be used
in this sentence.

4. C: When someone is specifically identified, the description in the relative (adjective) clause is
non-essential, and is set off by surrounding it with commas (“Pat, who is limping, had a broken
leg last summer”). In the example given, “student” is a general term and the specific student is
not identified. Therefore, the description is essential and no commas are used. Using a semicolon
is incorrect. Using one comma is incorrect since no commas are needed in this sentence.

5. B: This sentence could be completed with a noun used as a direct object (e.g. “…help you
write books”). However, no noun choices are offered. The correct answer, then, must be an
adverb indicating how the person being addressed in the sentence will write. “Well” is correct.
“Good” is an adjective, not an adverb. “This is good writing” is grammatically correct, but “to
write good” is not. “Goodly” was an archaic form of the adjective “good” that is no longer used,
but it is not an adverb. “Clear” is also an adjective. The adverb form (“to write clearly”) would
be correct, but “to write clear” is not.

6. A: This is the only sentence that clearly expresses the correct meaning. The other choices
make it sound as if the writer drove continuously for 30 years before getting into an auto
accident.

7. B: Because the word “repeat” is used in the sentence, “twice” is redundant. “Repeat this
twice” would literally mean to say it three times. The phrase “you better” (A, C, and D) is
ungrammatical. When giving advice about a specific situation and implying “or else,” the
auxiliary verb “had” is used together with the adverb “better” plus the main verb (“reconsider” in
this example). “Repeat this again” is similar to “repeat this twice” in that it is also redundant.
The phrase “…think twice and reconsider” is redundant as well. Choice D lacks punctuation or a
connector like “that” between the two clauses. Additionally, the meaning of the phrase “think
twice before reconsidering” is unclear. It sounds contradictory and does not make sense.

8. C: The photos are of the doctor’s children; the children are at different ages in different
photos; and the doctor has these photos in his office. Choice C is the only one that clearly
expresses all of this information. The other choices all have misplaced modifiers. “In his office”
does not modify the doctor (as it does in choice A) but the photos. “At different ages” does not
modify the photos (as it does in choice B) or the doctor (as it does in choice D) but the children.

9. D: The relative/adjective clause modifying “witness” should be introduced with the pronoun
“who” since it refers to a person. A common mistake is to use “which.” Using “which” is more
appropriate when referring to a thing. The pronoun “whom” is only used as an indirect object
(e.g. “My brother, with whom I spoke, arrived later”) or as a direct object (e.g. “My brother,
whom I saw, arrived later”). “What” is not used to introduce a relative clause; it is used to
introduce a nominal or noun clause (e.g. “I know what you did”).

10. A: The personal pronouns here are objects modifying the verb “is.” They are connected by
the preposition “between.” In such prepositional phrases as “between you and me” or “between
her and me,” the pronoun is always objective. “Her” and “me” are objective (used as objects);
“she” and “I” are subjective (used as subjects). An easy test is to remove one of the pronouns:
you wouldn’t say “between I” but “between me” (even though “between” makes no sense with
either word), just as you wouldn’t say “without I” but “without me.” You wouldn’t say “with
she” but “with her.”

Punctuation and Capitalization Practice

Questions
1. “She asked me whether I could attend next week’s presentation with her?”
What correction should be made to this sentence?

A. Change the question mark to a period.

B. Change “whether” to “weather.”
C. Change “next week’s” to “next weeks.”
D. Change “I could” to “I can.”
E. No correction is necessary.

2. “Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the only president who served three terms) instituted the
New Deal reforms.”
What correction should be made to this sentence?

A. Place commas before and after the parentheses.

B. Capitalize the word “president.”
C. Make the initial letters of “New Deal” lowercase.
D. Capitalize the word “reforms.”
E. No correction is necessary.

3. “On the TV show, each artist receives a ‘crit’, or critique, from the judges separately.”
What correction should be made to this sentence?

A. Remove the quotation marks from around the word crit.

B. Change the spelling of separately to seperately.
C. Place the comma inside of the quotation marks.
D. Remove the comma following the word crit.
D. No correction is necessary.
Identify the appropriate error in the following sentences.

4. Many jobs today require that the applicant is a College graduate.

A. Grammar
B. Capitalization
C. Spelling
D. Punctuation

5. The applicant had some questions during our interview?

A. Grammar
B. Capitalization
C. Spelling
D. Punctuation

6. The defendant was found guilty of perjury; and obstruction of justice.

A. Punctuation
B. Capitalization
C. Spelling
D. Grammar

Identify the answer choice with an error in punctuation, usage, or grammar. If there are no
errors, select answer choice D.

7.

A. The peoples initiative for banking reform supplanted legislation in this instance.
B. Tomas was distraught over the damage to his painting; he had worked on it for months.
C. The term “subconscious” is often popularly substituted for “unconscious,” which was the
actual term that Freud used.
D. No error

8.

A. In art, the term “pentimento” refers to a sign of previous work painted over by the artist.
B. Anthropology is often interested in the study of Humankind and also of Human Society.
C. In chemistry, the natural noble gases are argon, helium, krypton, neon, radon, and xenon.
D. No error

9.

A. The committee’s report was postponed until a later date due to delays in the evaluation
process.
B. In some parts of the country, the term “median strip,” meaning a highway divider, is referred
to as a “medium strip.”
C. The saying is that time flies when you are busy, we are always busy so time always flies.
D. No error

Identify the correct choice for the following sentence:

10. Our Secretary of state Hillary Clinton has previously been Senator Hillary Clinton,
First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton, and First Lady of Arkansas Hillary
Clinton.

A. Our secretary of state

B. Our Secretary of state
C. Our secretary of State
D. Our Secretary of State

Answers – Punctuation and Capitalization

1. A: Question marks are only used with direct questions, e.g., “Will you go with me?” or with
sentences that are half statement and half question, e.g., “You can go with me, can’t you?” but
not with dependent clauses introduced by subordinating conjunctions (“whether”) as in this case.
“Whether” is spelled correctly (B); “weather” does not mean “if” but refers to climate. “Next
week’s” (C) is correct because “week’s” is a possessive of the object “presentation.” “I can” (D)
is incorrect because “asked” is past tense and “can” is present tense.

2. E: The sentence is correct as is. The non-restrictive/non-essential information should be set off
from the subject it modifies by either the parentheses or commas; using both (A) is redundant. A
title like “president” is only capitalized when used before the name, e.g., “President Roosevelt,”
but when used in place of the name as in this sentence, it is not capitalized (B). “New Deal” is
correctly capitalized (C) as the name of the program. “Reforms” (D) should not be capitalized as
it is not part of the name but simply a descriptor.

3. C: Sentence punctuation marks should be placed inside of quotation marks. The quotation
marks are necessary (A) because this term “crit” is identified as an insider or slang abbreviation
of the word “critique.” “Separately” is the correct spelling; spelling it as (B) indicates is a
common error. The comma after “crit” is necessary (D) to introduce the appositive “or critique”
that defines “crit.”

4. B: The error is in capitalization: “college” is not capitalized when used as a noun but not as a
proper noun, which is a name. Hence “Skidmore College” is capitalized, but not “a good
college.” There are no other errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation.

5. D: The error is in punctuation: there should not be a question mark at the end of the sentence
because the sentence is not a question. There are no other errors in grammar, capitalization, or
spelling.
6. A: The error is in punctuation. Semicolons are used to separate two independent clauses, or to
separate clauses or phrases containing internal punctuation. Neither is the case in this sentence.
The objects “perjury” and “obstruction of justice” are joined by the conjunction “and”; no
punctuation is needed. There are no errors in capitalization, spelling, or grammar.

7. A: In this sentence, “people’s” is a possessive noun modifying “initiative,” and must have an
apostrophe to indicate possession. It was “the people’s initiative” that supplanted legislation.

8. B: The words “humankind” and “human society” should not be capitalized as they are not
names or titles, i.e., not proper nouns. In this sentence, “human” is an adjective in both instances.
“Society” is a noun in this sentence.

9. C: It is incorrect to separate two independent clauses with a comma; a semicolon should be

used. Alternatively, a period can be used, making the second independent clause a separate
sentence. A colon can also be used to introduce a clause/sentence that illustrates or explains the
preceding one. There should also be a comma separating the second independent clause from the
dependent clause (beginning with “so”) that follows it. The correct punctuation alternatives are:
“The saying is that time flies when you are busy; we are always busy, so time always flies.” OR:
“The saying is that time flies when you are busy. We are always busy, so time always flies.” OR:
“The saying is that time flies when you are busy: we are always busy, so time always flies.”

10. D: These words are an official title and immediately precede Hillary Clinton’s name. Both
parts of the title (Secretary and State) should be capitalized. As with all titles, function words like
the preposition “of” within a title are not capitalized.

Reading Comprehension
Have you ever reached the end of a page or a chapter and you do not remember anything that
you just read? Do you sometimes find that even though you have spent an hour reading, you
really have not absorbed what the text was about? Being able to read, understand, and
comprehend material is imperative to learning about any subject. Fortunately, reading
comprehension is a study skill that can be practiced and improved upon so that every moment
spent reading is worthwhile and not wasted.

Being able to fully concentrate and focus on the textbook or reading is necessary if you are to
comprehend what is on the page. Thus, finding a quiet area free from distractions is the ideal
place to read. When you begin to read a chapter in a textbook, a handout, or another reading,
begin by looking it over before you delve into the material. Orientate yourself with what the
chapter will be about by looking for headings, diagrams, bold-faced words, and self-assessment
questions. All of this will help you become familiar with what you are about to read.

Read the first two sentences of every paragraph slowly and carefully. The first two sentences will
usually contain the most important information and the main idea of the paragraph. The rest of
the paragraph may also contain important information, but usually that information is supporting
details for the first two sentences. By paying extra attention to the main idea, you will be able to
begin comprehending the most important features of the article.

As you read, take notes. Begin with the headings and main ideas of each paragraph. When you
are finished reading, these particular notes should be a map of what the chapter was about and
thus will help you comprehend the information. Instead of writing down every word or detail
when taking notes, focus on the main nouns and verbs. This will help you understand who or
what the sentence is about and what the subject of the sentence does. By breaking down the
sentence into its simplest form, you will get to the heart of the idea being presented. Stripping
away the bells and whistles makes it easier to comprehend the important parts.

Once you have finished reading and taking notes, put away the textbook and review your notes.
If you have taken good notes, then you will no longer need the textbook. Look over your notes,
including the headings, main ideas, new vocabulary, and noun-verb connections you have made.
Continue to practice this method of reading and note taking to improve your reading
comprehension skills.

Being a freshman is always challenging, as you step into a new world of exciting adventures.
Maybe you’ve heard a lot about Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare, or perhaps Abraham
Lincoln, but you never had the chance to read or actually have someone tell you about their
works and what they did for society and the entire human race. And so, as you step into college
you should be ready to explore what was once a dormant seed in you and erase the fear of
college and being a freshman. Life is full of new adventures and being a freshman is no different.
Although it may seem a little difficult at first, the key to success is determination and motivation.
Always think positive. Ask questions. Remember, no question is a dumb question. You go to
school to learn, so take advantage of it and go for it.