Stop! It's grammar time.

Underlined answers are incorrect

Exercise #1 Sentence Fragments

Exercise #2 Fused sentences

1. F   
2. F
3. C
4. F
5. C
6. F
7. F
8. F

9. F
10. C
11. C
12. C
13. F
14. F
15. C
16.F

Results: 11/16
I seemed to have trouble identifying the dependent clauses when they came after the initial statement.

1. He enjoys walking through the country, and he often goes backpacking on his vacations.
2. He often watched TV when there were only reruns; however she preferred to read instead.3. They weren't dangerous criminals; they were detectives in disguise.
4. I didn't know which job I wanted, for I was too confused to decide.
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On the first I had eliminated the "he" from the second statement. And on number 4 I used "for" instead of "so". I believe them both to be valid interpretations of the answer. *Pending discussion to understand if there is a rule of why my choices would be incorrect. 

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Exercise #3 Subject and Verb Agreement

1. Annie and her brothers are at school.

2. Either my mother or my father is coming to the meeting.

3. The dog or the cats are outside.

4. Either my shoes or your coat are always on the floor.

5. George and Tamara don't want to see that movie.

6. Benito doesn't know the answer.

7. One of my sisters is going on a trip to France.

8. The man with all the birds lives on my street.

9. The movie, including all the previews, takes about two hours to watch.

10. The players, as well as the captain, want to win.

11. Either answer is acceptable.

12. Every one of those books is fiction.

13. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen.

14. Is the news on at five or six?

15. Mathematics is John's favorite subject, while Civics is Andrea's favorite subject.

16. Eight dollars is the price of a movie these days.

17. Are the tweezers in this drawer?

18. Your pants are at the cleaner's.

19. There were fifteen candies in that bag. Now there is only one left!

20. The committee debates these questions carefully.

21. The committee leads very different lives in private.

22. The Prime Minister, together with his wife, greet the press cordially.

23. All of the CDs, even the scratched one, are in this case.
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22/25 Not bad! My confusions were for the most part due to not reading the sentence thoroughly. Once I saw the answer (of course!) I realized why I had got them wrong and immediately realized what I missed. 

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Eliminating Wordiness 1

Eliminating Wordiness 2

Eliminating Wordiness 3

1. Many local farmers plan to attend next Friday's meeting.

2. Although Bradley Hall is regularly populated by students, close study of its structure is seldom undertaken.

3. He dropped out of school because it was necessary for him to help support his family.

4. It is expected that the new bus schedule will be announced within the next few days.

5. There are many ways in which a student interested in meeting foreign students may come to know one.

6. It is very unusual to find someone who has never told a deliberate lie.

7. Trouble is caused when people disobey the rules established for general safety.

8. A campus rally was attended by more than a thousand students. Five were arrested for disorderly conduct, while several others are charged  with organizing a public meeting without being issued a permit.

9. The subjects that are considered most important by students are those they find to be useful to them after graduation.

10. In the near future, college freshmen must become aware that there is a need for them to make contact with an academic adviser concerning the matter of a major.

11. There are wide-open opportunities for professional growth with our company which enjoys an enviable record for stability in the dynamic atmosphere of aerospace technology.

12. Some people believe in capital punishment, while others are against it; there are many opinions on this subject.

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In general I did horribly on this first exercise. I didn't know I could be that reductionist with the sentences.

1. The reefs below the steep cliff were barely visible through the fog.

2. The car is ready for the long, overnight drive.

3. Sometimes, Stan goes running with Blanche who has been a very good athlete since high school.

4. The candy Taylor brought back from Europe was very different from the ones in America. 

5. Government leaders often mention that new jobs indicate a strong economy but they don't mention the kind of jobs that are replacing the good ones.
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I just can't seem to get these right. I either eliminate too few, or too much and lose the ideas that are important.

Many people enjoy reading murder mysteries regularly. As a rule, these people are not themselves murderers, nor would they really enjoy seeing an actual murder, nor try to solve one. They probably enjoy reading murder mysteries because they have found a way to escape from the monotonous, routine of everyday existence.

To such people this reading is a realistic fantasy. It is realistic because the people in the book are believable. The hero that solves the murder does so by using a high degree of logic and reason. It is essential that people who enjoy murder mysteries have an admiration for the human faculty of logic.

But murder mysteries are also fantasies. The people who read such books play a game. It is a game in which they suspend certain human emotions, such as pity. If the reader were to stop to feel pity for each victim  or felt a terrible horror that such a thing could happen, that person will never enjoy reading such books. The devoted reader keeps in mind at all times the goal of arriving through logic and observation at the solution to the mystery. It is a game with life and death and whodunits that help the reader to hide from the hideous horrors of the real world.

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I think I could have done a little better condensing the last paragraph.

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Prepositions #1

Prepositions #2

1. B
2. A
3. C
4. B
5. A
6. C
7. B
8. A
9. C
10. C
11. A
12. C
13. B
14. A
15. C
16. B
17. B --> C
18. A
19. C
20. A

19/20
Not bad! Again, not reading the sentences thoroughly is the main cause for my silly mistakes. 

1. Anna has returned to her home town.

2. The dog jumped into the lake.

3. Are the boys still swimming in the pool?

4. Thomas fell on the floor.

5. The plane landed on the runway.

6. We drove toward the river for an hour but turned north before we reached it.

7. The kids climbed onto the monkey bars.

8. Joanna got into Fred's car.

9. The baby spilled his cereal onto the floor.

10. We cried to the man on the ladder, "Hang on!"

11. I went to the gym.

12. Matthew and Michelle moved the table into the dining room.

13. Allan left your keys on the table.

14. Dr. Karper apologized for interrupting us and told us to carry on with our discussion.

15. I walk to the amusement park.

16. Pat drove Mike to the airport.

17. Glenn almost fell into the river.

18. The waitress noticed that there was no more Diet Pepsi in Marty's glass.

19. Lee and Sarah took the bus that was heading toward the university.

20. Mary Sue jumped onto the stage and danced.

19/20
I didn't know about that one. But it makes sense. In general I'm pretty good at knowing what are the correct prepositions to use. Mainly because of how the sentence looks/sounds than actually following any rule.

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More Prepositions #1

12/14 

More Prepositions #2

19/20
Repeated quiz! And I got the exact same one wrong again!