Parts of Speech
Subject-Verb Agreement
Tricky Word Pairs
Grammatically Correct
Common Sentence Errors
100

Find the nouns: My cat has no teeth in his mouth.

Cat / Teeth/ Mouth

Noun: A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea (e.g., teacher, city, computer, freedom) and functions as a subject, object, or complement in a sentence. 

100

The committe (is /are) planning to announce the new hospital policy tomorrow morning. 

IS!

Collective nouns (committee) act as a single unit unless the members are acting individually. Since the committee is acting together to plan, it takes the singular verb is

Reminder! Subject-verb agreement is the grammatical rule that the subject (the person or thing doing the action) and the verb (the action itself) must match in number

Singular subjects need singular verbs. Plural subjects need plural verbs

100

What is the difference between "Who" and "Whom"?

"Who" is used to ask about a subject, while "Whom" can be answered with an object. 

100

How are you doing today?

I'm doing well. 

“Well” is an adverb, while “good” is an adjective. Using an adjective implies performing morally good actions, rather than indicating that one is healthy, happy, or emotionally well, as it's done with an adverb.

100

Try not to (Breathe / Brath) in the fumes. 

Breath! 

Breath is a verb. Breath is a noun

A verb expresses an action, occurrence, or state of being, while a noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.


200

Find the pronoun: She told them the truth

She 

Pronoun: A word used as a substitute for a noun or a noun phrase. Its main job is to prevent repetitive language. 

Pronouns act as substitutes for specific people, things, or concepts, such as replacing "John" with "he".

200

He (wish/ wishes) he was as good at baking as I am!

Wishes! 

Wishes is the correct conjugation for the present tense third person singular pronoun. Wish would work if the sentence's subject were "I" instead of "he."

Reminder! Subject-verb agreement is the grammatical rule that the subject (the person or thing doing the action) and the verb (the action itself) must match in number

200

What is the diffrence between "Adverse" and "Averse" 

Adverse almost always describes conditions, effects, or reactions.

Averse almost always describes a person’s attitude and is nearly always followed by the word "to."

200

Select the word or phrase in the sentence that is NOT used correctly. "Even though you've had a terrible cough lately, your still smoking this awful pipe at all hours."

Your

It should be "you're" (you are) since it serves as a subject and verb rather than a possessive adjective.

Subject: The person, place, thing, or idea that is "doing" the action or "being" described in a sentence. 

Verb: A word used to describe an action, an occurrence, or a state of being 

Possessive adjective: A word used to describe a noun by showing who or what owns it or is related to it. 

200

The nurse had to choose (between / among) the three different medications.

Among!

Use 'among' when referring to three or more items, while 'between' should only be used for two items.

300

Find the verb: I go to work by train every morning.

Go

Verb: A verb is an action word. It tells you what the subject of a sentence is doing or its state of being. 

It tells you what the noun is physically or mentally doing.

300

There (is / are / was / has been) several reasons for the medication error

Are!

On the HESI, when a sentence starts with "There" or "Here," the word is acting as a "dummy subject." The real subject actually comes after the verb. The subject is the plural "reasons."


Reminder! Subject-verb agreement is the grammatical rule that the subject (the person or thing doing the action) and the verb (the action itself) must match in number. 

Singular subjects need singular verbs. Plural subjects need plural verbs. 

300

The hospital operates on the (Principle / Principal) of 'do no harm.'

Principle!

Principle: A fundamental law, rule, or belief. (Think: Princi-ple and Rule both end in -le). 

Principal: Most important, main, or a person in charge. (Think: the Princi-pal is your pal).

300

Which word is used incorrectly in the following sentence?
My father, from who I have learned so much, has had an immense effect on my career as a nurse.

WHO

Who is a subject pronoun (like he or she). Whom is an object pronoun (like him or her).

Since you are referring to the person from whom you learned (not from he you learned), the correct word is whom.

300

I have (Alot/ Allot/ A lot) of work to do before I can take my HESI.

A Lot 

Alot is not a word; A lot is a phrase meaning plenty or numerous, and Allot is a verb meaning to designate something. 

400

Find the Conjunction: Coach Bollinger presented Shane with the game ball after his record-breaking performance.

After 

Conjunction: Connects words, phrases, or clauses (e.g., and, but, or).

400

Neither the knives nor the ladle (is /are) new. 

Is!

The verb agrees with the singular subject "ladle" and is conjugated accordingly. If "knives" were the subject, the answer would be "are."

Reminder! Subject-verb agreement is the grammatical rule that the subject (the person or thing doing the action) and the verb (the action itself) must match in number!

Singular subjects need singular verbs. Plural subjects need plural verbs

400

The track star could not practice any __(1)___ . She knew that she could run __(2)____ than anyone else.

1. Further 

2. Farther. 

Further refers to metaphorical distance, degree, and time. 

Farther is used to indicate the extent of measurable physical distance between two things.

400

Select the word or phrase in the sentence that is NOT used correctly. "My back pain was so acute yesterday that I lie on the floor for almost three hours."

Lie!

"My back pain was so severe yesterday that I lay on the floor for almost three hours." 

In this sentence, the verb "lay" is the past tense of "lie," which means to recline. The correct usage reflects the timeframe indicated by the word "yesterday."

400

This park is full of ducks (They're / There/ Their) everywhere!

They're 

They're (they are) serves as the subject and verb of the second clause. 

500

What's the preposition: They will meet in the lunchroom after lunch.

In / After

Prepositions: They clarify the relationship between different parts of a sentence, such as identifying where (under), when (before), or how (with), an action occurred.

They generally introduce a prepositional phrase, acting as a connector for nouns or pronouns.

500

The patient’s ( discrete / discreet ) symptoms made it difficult to identify the syndrome immediately.

Discrete!

Discrete means "distinct" or "separate" (the symptoms were separate events). While discreet means quiet or keeping a secret (the two e's are hiding together). Since the symptoms were individual and distinct, discrete is the correct choice 

Reminder! Subject-verb agreement is the grammatical rule that the subject (the person or thing doing the action) and the verb (the action itself) must match in number

Singular subjects need singular verbs. Plural subjects need plural verbs

500

If you don't take the medication as directed, it will not have the desired (Effect/ Affect/ Effectivness / Affectivness) on your health. 

Effect! 

An effect is a noun (result) that means a result of something. Affect is a verb (action) meaning to influence or produce a change. 

500

Select the word or phrase in the sentence that is NOT used correctly. "The designer has started to work on the new logo when the client called her to tell her he had decided to hire a different freelancer."

HAS

Past Perfect requirement: The sentence describes an action completed before another past action. The correct form should have been started to maintain proper tense consistency in the past.

500

We are going to the (Smiths's / Smiths/ Smiths'/ Smith's) house for dinner Saturday night.

Smiths' 

"We are going to the Smiths' house for dinner Saturday night."

Smiths: This is the plural of the name (referring to more than one person in the Smith family).

Smiths': The apostrophe after the 's' indicates plural possession. Since the house belongs to the entire family, you make the name plural first (Smiths) and then add the apostrophe to show ownership (Smiths').