Comma Drama
"After dinner, we went to the movie, then had some ice cream."
Fill in the blank "To _____ should I address this letter?"
whom
Change this sentence to past perfect:
“She arrives before the workshop starts.”
“She had arrived before the workshop started.”
What is the difference between active and passive voice?
Active voice: The subject does the action.
(e.g., “The tutor revised the draft.”)
Passive voice: The subject receives the action.
(e.g., “The draft was revised by the tutor.”)
Identify the dependent clause in this sentence:
“Although he studied hard, he still felt nervous.”
Dependent clause: “Although he studied hard”
It can’t stand alone as a sentence — it relies on the main clause to complete the thought.
What is the Oxford Comma?
The Oxford Comma is the final comma in a list of things.
Ex. In "I need a pen, paper, and a highlighter" the comma after paper.
True or False: Whom is ALWAYS wrong in casual writing
What tense is used in this sentence?
“By the time he gets here, we will have left.”
Future perfect tense.
Which of the following is NOT a coordinating conjunction:
And, but, since, or?
Since is not a coordinated conjunction -- it's a subordinating one!
Combine these sentences using a relative clause:
“She’s a tutor. She speaks five languages.”
“She’s a tutor who speaks five languages.”
(Relative clause = "who speaks five languages" — describes “tutor.”)
Identify the comma splice in this sentence and correct it: "I love going to the mall, I find all my favorite clothes there."
"I love going to the mall. I find all my favorite clothes there."
OR
"I love going to the mall; I find all my favorite clothes there."
Identify and correct the error:
She’s the person whom helped me with my resume.
She's the person WHO helped me with my resume.
What’s the verb tense error in this sentence?
“I was knowing the answer, but I didn’t say it.”
“Was knowing” is incorrect. “Know” is a stative verb and isn’t typically used in progressive forms (-ing).
Corrected: “I knew the answer, but I didn’t say it.”
What’s wrong with this sentence?
“The tutor gave feedback to the student after they reviewed the essay.”
Ambiguity! “They” could refer to the student or the tutor.
Clarified: “The tutor gave feedback to the student after the tutor reviewed the essay.”
Turn this into a sentence with a noun clause:
“He told the student the answer.”
“He told the student what the answer was.”
True or False: You should always use a comma before 'because.'
False
True or False: Who is used when referring to the object of the sentence
False: Whom is used for the object while who is used for the subject.
What’s the difference between past simple and present perfect tense in terms of usage?
Past simple: I saw the movie.
Present perfect: I have seen the movie.
Past simple refers to a finished action at a specific time in the past.
Present perfect refers to a past action with relevance to the present, or an unspecified time.
What is parallelism? Identify the error in this sentence:
“She likes reading, to paint, and writing essays.”
Parallelism means using the same grammatical structure in a series.
Error: Mixing gerund (“reading,” “writing”) and infinitive (“to paint”).
Fixed: “She likes reading, painting, and writing essays.”
True or False:
A relative clause always begins with "who," "which," or "that."
True. (Those are common relative pronouns.)
Puncuate this sentence correctly: "No thanks I brought my own coffee"
"No, thanks, I brought my own coffee."
Combine these two sentences using a relative clause with “whom”:
That’s the student.
You helped her with her thesis.
That's the student whom you helped with her thesis
Revise this paragraph to maintain consistent verb tense:
“She walked into the room, sees the papers on the desk, and picks one up. She was confused by what she reads.”
“She walked into the room, saw the papers on the desk, and picked one up. She was confused by what she read.”
Is this sentence incorrect because of a grammar rule or a style issue?
“There are many students that struggle with citations.”
It’s stylistic, not strictly grammatical.
Preferred: “…students who struggle…”
(“Who” is generally better for people; “that” is fine grammatically but less elegant.)
Combine these three sentences using at least two different types of clauses:
The tutor gave clear instructions.
The student ignored them.
This led to confusion.
Ex.
“Because the student ignored the clear instructions that the tutor gave, there was confusion.”