Show:
True or False?
Modifiers
What's wrong?
Sentence Structure
Grammar Vocabulary
100
T or F: 'To be' verbs make for entertaining and strong sentences.
What is false. The use of 'to be' verbs makes sentences vague and boring. Try to replace 'to be' verbs with more specific, active verbs.
100
The name for when two negative modifiers modify the same word or phrase.
What is a double negative?
100
Find the error: Ben lives in the island of Hawaii.
What is Ben lives ON the island, not in it. This is an idiom error.
100
Fragment or sentence? Boys who like baseball.
What is a fragment?
100
This occurs when the subject is acted on.
What is the passive voice?
200
T or F: The more verbose, the better.
What is false. Watch out for wordiness. Cut out unnecessary or repetitious words and tighten up whatever could be put more succinctly.
200
An adverb, like 'almost', 'hardly', 'merely', and 'only'. It limits the scope of what it modifies.
What is a limiting modifier?
200
Find the error: A close look revealed how slow slugs move.
What is slow should be slowly. This is an adverbial error. Slowly describes the verb move.
200
Find the error: The best refrigerator money can buy.
What is a sentence fragment?
200
It's the rule stating that corresponding phrases or clauses of a sentence must begin and end in the same manner.
What is parallelism?
300
T or F: All indefinite pronouns are singular.
What is false. As a general rule, if what's referred to is countable, the pronoun is plural. If it's not countable, the pronoun is singular. Example: Some rain fell on my parrots. (Rain isn't countable, but parrots are.)
300
A modifier that does not describe the word it is actually modifying.
What is a dangling modifier. Example: Baffled by the huge cast of characters, the book confused Stella. This construction implies that the book was baffled.
300
Find the error: Everyone have to come to my party.
What is have should be has. Everyone is a singular pronoun, so it takes a singular verb (has). This is a subject-verb agreement error.
300
It does not contain a subject and a verb.
What is a fragment?
300
This occurs when a word comes between 'to' and the main verb in an infinitive. Example: To briskly trot.
What is a split infinitive?
400
T or F: If the subject is singular, you use a singular verb.
What is true. The verb must agree with the subject. If the subject is singular, then the verb must be singular.
400
A word, phrase, or clause that is vital to the understanding of the sentence. They are not set off by commas.
What is a restrictive modifier.
400
Find the error: Each of the stores are sold out of the blue lipstick.
What is are should be is. Even though stores is plural, each (the subject of the sentence) is singular, so it takes a singular verb (is). This is a subject-verb agreement error.
400
Two independent clauses joined without punctuation or a conjunction.
What is a run-on sentence?
400
A run-on sentence in which two independent clauses are connected by only a comma instead of a comma and a conjunction.
What is a comma splice?
500
T or F: If you use correlative conjunctions (either, or; not only, but also; etc.), parallelism is not necessary.
What is false. The construction of each part of the sentence must be parallel.
500
A modifier that could modify the words before it or after it.
What is a squinting modifier? Example: People who gamble often drink. Does this imply that people who are frequent gamblers drink, or that when gambling, people drink frequently?
500
Find the error: I enjoy eating mints, yelling at my roommate, and trashy daytime T. V.
What is non-parallel construction. The first two parts start with -ing (eating, yelling), but the third does not. To fix it, it should read 'watching trashy daytime T. V. This is a parallel construction error.
500
By adding a conjunction and a comma, using a semicolon, or breaking the sentence into two separate sentences.
What is the way to fix a run-on sentence?
500
Eliminate the other person in the sentence and see what you're left with. Example: He stared at Angela and I. Eliminate Angela. He stared at I. That just sounds weird. Try 'He stared at me'. Much better! The original sentence should be 'He stared at Angela and me'.
What is how to know whether to use 'I' or 'me'.