English Conventions
Choose the correct option:
Neither my sister nor my parents [is/are] home right now
are - we have to agree the verb with the noun that comes right before it ie. my parents
Yesterday I [see/saw/will see] a giant yellow bird
saw - yesterday is the key word telling you this happened in the past so we need a past tense verb
One of my aunts recently sold [their/her] business
her - because we are saying one of my aunts which is singular feminine
What is the difference between an adjective and an adverb?
Bonus 100 points: what do adjectives usually end in?
Adjectives modify nouns (eg. The car is quick). Adverbs modify verbs (eg. I ran quickly.
Adverbs usually end in -ly (eg. quickly)
Is this sentence grammatically correct, in regards to parallelism:
Being present is not the same as to participate.
Bonus 100 points: explain why
No - there’s a gerund (being) then an infinitive (to participate). They should be the same (parallel) eg. Being present is not the same as participating
A number of musicians [is/are] performing tonight
are - a number of (anything) is always plural
Janiyah, along with her friends, [is going/are going] paint balling this weekend
is going - this has to agree with Janiyah who is singular
Why didn’t you tell my sister and [I/me] about dinner tonight?
me - me is the object so it goes from I to me
There are [fewer/less] classes today because of the after school event
fewer - because we can count the number of classes. Less is used for something you can't count eg. less noise, less heat.
Correct the sentence (in relation to parallelism): if you learn these rules, one will ace the SAT!
If you learn these rules, you will ace the SAT! Parallelism is staying consistent eg. using the same pronouns throughout the same sentence
Each of the students [is/are] present today
is - each of anything is always singular
Class has already [begin/began/begun]. Where is everyone?!
begun - I begin, yesterday I began, I have/had begun
My friends and [me/I] love going to the mountains
I - because this is in the subject position
She plays the guitar so [good/well] I thought she was a professional
well - we need an adverb here to modify how she plays (verb) so we choose well. Good is an adjective used to modify nouns.
She aspires to become a singer, songwriter and [dance, a dancer, dancer]
dancer - should match the previous words in the list: singer and songwriter (both nouns)
Name the subject and noun in the following sentence: I love watching basketball games.
Noun: Games
I [did not go/have not been/do not go] to the beach since my last my vacation
have not been - since always has the present perfect which is have + past participle. This is an action that started in the past but is ongoing to the present
Everyone should submit [his or her/their] homework on time
his or her - everyone is singular so the pronoun has to match
Of all the books I’ve read, this one is the [best/better]
best - when you are comparing among 3 or more items, you choose superlative (eg. best)
Does this sentence show parallelism?
You can either do homework or read a book.
Yes - after either we have verb + noun for each option: do + homework or read + book
Describe the difference between an independent and a dependent clause
Independent clauses are complete sentences with subject + predicate (must contain verb) that can stand alone. Dependent clauses are not complete sentences and need to connect to an independent clause.
By the time the bell rang, I [have taken, took, had taken] the test and [have drank, drank, had drunk] my whole water bottle.
had taken and had drunk - these things happened before the bell rang so we need to use the past perfect (had + past participle)
me and its
Of the two cooks, Sandra is the [best/better] one
better - when comparing between 2 people/things, choose modifiers like better, faster, stronger (hint: they usually end in -er)
Wildcard: Name 3 punctuation marks that can separate two independent clauses.
comma, period, semicolon