Parts of Speech
Identify the word class of that in “I believe that she is innocent.”
Subordinating conjunction
Identify the subordinate clause in “Although the evidence was convincing, the jury remained doubtful.”
Although the evidence was convincing — adverbial subordinate clause expressing concession.
Classify “The lights flickered, and the audience fell silent.”
Compound sentence — two independent clauses joined by the coordinating conjunction and.
Correct “Neither of the explanations were convincing.”
Neither of the explanations was convincing.
Explain the difference between “She stopped to speak” and “She stopped speaking.”
Stopped to speak means she paused another activity in order to talk. Stopped speaking means she ceased talking.
Identify the grammatical functions of exhausted and running in “The exhausted runners continued running.”
Exhausted is an adjective modifying runners. Running is a gerund-participle functioning as the complement of continued.
Identify the relative clause in “The novel that you recommended was unexpectedly moving.”
that you recommended — defining relative clause modifying novel.
Classify “The audience fell silent when the lights flickered.”
Complex sentence — one independent clause and one subordinate time clause.
Correct the comma splice in “The storm intensified, the hikers continued climbing.”
The storm intensified, but the hikers continued climbing.
Alternatively: The storm intensified; the hikers continued climbing.
Explain the difference between “Students who revise regularly improve” and “Students, who revise regularly, improve.”
Without commas, the relative clause identifies the students who revise regularly. With commas, it adds supplementary information, suggesting that the students being discussed all revise regularly.
Explain why fast is an adjective in “a fast car” but an adverb in “She runs fast.”
In the first sentence, fast modifies the noun car. In the second, it modifies the verb runs.
Identify the clause functioning as the subject in “What the witness revealed shocked everyone.”
What the witness revealed — a nominal (fused relative) clause functioning as the subject.
Classify “Although the lights flickered, the audience remained calm, and the performance continued.”
Compound-complex sentence — two independent clauses joined by and, plus one subordinate clause beginning with Although.
Correct “Having completed the experiment, the results were recorded.”
Having completed the experiment, the scientists recorded the results.
The original contains a dangling modifier.
Correct “If I would have known about the examination, I would have revised.”
If I had known about the examination, I would have revised.
This is the third conditional.
Identify the word class and function of only in “Only Maya told her brother the truth.”
Only is a focusing adverb that restricts the statement to Maya, suggesting nobody else told her brother the truth.
Identify all finite clauses in “Although he was tired, Daniel continued working because the deadline was approaching.”
Three finite clauses:
Although he was tired — subordinate clause.
Daniel continued working — main clause.
because the deadline was approaching — subordinate clause.
Explain the grammatical error in “Running down the corridor, the bell rang,” and rewrite it correctly.
Dangling modifier. The sentence incorrectly suggests that the bell was running.
Corrected: Running down the corridor, I heard the bell ring.
Correct the parallelism in “She enjoys debating, to write essays, and analysing poetry.”
She enjoys debating, writing essays, and analysing poetry.
All three activities now use the same grammatical form.
Correct both errors in “Each of the students have submitted their assignment, which were checked yesterday.
Each of the students has submitted their assignment, which was checked yesterday.
Each takes the singular verb has, and which refers to the singular assignment, so was is appropriate.
Analyse the different grammatical functions of before in these sentences:
A. Leave before sunrise.
B. Leave before the sun rises.
C. I have seen this before.
In traditional school grammar, A is a preposition, B is a subordinating conjunction introducing a time clause, and C is an adverb.
Explain the grammatical difference between “I know the student who won” and “I know who won.”
In the first sentence, who won is a relative clause modifying student. In the second, who won is an embedded interrogative clause functioning as the complement of know.
Identify and classify the clauses in “The book that I borrowed yesterday was fascinating, but I returned it before I had finished reading it.”
Compound-complex sentence.
Main clause 1: The book that I borrowed yesterday was fascinating.
Main clause 2: I returned it before I had finished reading it.
Relative clause: that I borrowed yesterday.
Adverbial time clause: before I had finished reading it.
Rewrite “The teacher told the student that she was mistaken” in two different ways to eliminate ambiguity.
Student mistaken: The teacher told the student, “You are mistaken.”
Teacher mistaken: The teacher told the student, “I was mistaken.”
Rewrite using a fronted negative adverbial and subject–auxiliary inversion: “I had never witnessed such extraordinary behaviour.”
Never had I witnessed such extraordinary behaviour.
The negative adverbial never is placed first, causing inversion of the subject I and auxiliary had.