Lecture 13: Final Thoughts

As I read all your interesting blog-term-project posts I see a common theme emerging. Many of you find following grammatical *rules* and proofreading arduous work...however, you all recognise their importance.

The Elements of Style by Strunk & White is a classic to which those aiming for elegant prose continually turn.  Have a look at this video rendition by Maria Kalman. Her sentences are examples of what we have learnt (comparatives, pronoun/antecedent, etc...). 

Lecture 11: Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

Outline
Misplaced Modifiers
Dangling Modifiers
Self-Test
Review
Activity
Story Activity

Background
Modifier:
a word or phrase whose function is to give information about another word or phrase in a sentence

Lecture 4: Grammar - Focus on Subjects, Predicates & Complements

Outline

• Review Subjects and Predicates
• Activity
• Review Complements
• Activity
• Review Adjectives and Adverbs
• Newspaper Activity
• Homework

Grammar Test from Daily Writing Tips

Try this test from the blog Daily Writing Tips and see how you do.

Grammar Test 1

Grammar might not be the most exciting of the topics, but you sure need to master the basics of it. Test your skills with the 20 questions below!

1. ______ shall I say is calling?.
Who


Whom


Whose


Who’s






2. ___ hour ago we met ___ history teacher.
a / an


a / a


an / a


an / an




3. Sentences can be broken down into:.
periods


predicates


objects



clauses




4. Charles and ___ are attending the conference.
me


I


myself


mine




5. Homophones are:.
two or more words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings.


two or more words that share the same meaning but have different pronunciations



two or more words that share the same spelling but have different meanings


two or more words that share the same pronunciation but have different spellings




6. He was not thinking well __ that occasion.
at


in


on


when




7. Love, courage, and childhood are examples of:
proper nouns



abstract nouns


relative nouns


countable nouns




8. Microsoft announced ________ releasing a new product next week.
it is


they are


itself is


she is




9. We need three _______ and two _______ for the soup.


fungi / potatos


fungus / potatoes


fungis / potatoes


fungi / potatoes




10. Adverbs can modify:
nouns


adjectives


pronouns


sentences






11. The boy _______ threw the ball was blond.
himself


that


which


who




12. Those are all prepositions, except:.
upon


from


so



like




13. The other boys or Henry ____ to blame.
is


are


were


will




14. The two types of adjectives are:.
attributive and relative


predicative and collective



attributive and predicative


predicative and alternative




15. The cat has ___ the canary.
eat


eaten


ate


eated




16. Which of the following is NOT an article:
a



it


the


an




17. Chairs _______ don’t have cushions are uncomfortable to sit on.
that


which


whose


where




18. Those are all coordinating conjunctions, except:


for


yet


from


but




19. Which of the following is NOT a type of incomplete verb:
auxiliary verb


intransitive verb


semi-auxiliary verb


being verb






20. This will be just between you and ___ .
myself


I


me


mine