rammar problems exercise 01

This tutorial will test your ability to recognize various types of grammar and punctuation problems. Each of the 10 sentences in this exercise contains some type of problem. You are to select what type of problem from the list below the sentence. When you are finished, follow the directions of your instructor. (Exiting or quitting this screen before your have saved or printed it will likely delete your answers.) 1. Andrs Segovia, one of the finest guitarists of the 20th century and, too, an expert on Johann S. Bach.

2. The hour is too early, the coffee is too cold.

3. The team climbed onto the bus, celebrating their victory with loud singing and shouting.

4. I doubt that whomever stole the watch is going to return it.

5. Both the music and the moon was beautiful that night as ships quietly slipped in and out of the harbor.

6. The president did not get any of his bills through Congress, however, he prevented the opposition from having much success.

7. Dr and Mrs Charles Reynolds were the guests honored by the civic clubs last night.

8. A lawyer can easily handle a problem such as that, but getting an appointment with them is not easy.

9. There were too many books on the shelf; too many papers on his desk; too many magazines on the floor; and too much clutter all over the room.

10. By striking the clock signaled to us that it was time to leave.

rammar problems exercise 01

1. Andrs Segovia, one of the finest guitarists of the 20th century and, too, an expert on Johann S. Bach. sentence fragment This sentence does not have a verb and does not express a complete thought. Therefore, it is a sentence fragment.

2. The hour is too early, the coffee is too cold. run-on sentence This sentence has two independent clauses. They should be separated by either a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon.

3. The team climbed onto the bus, celebrating their victory with loud singing and shouting. pronoun-antecedent agreement The antecedent in this sentence is team, and because it is a singular noun, it should have a singular pronoun. The their is incorrect; it should be its.

4. I doubt that whomever stole the watch is going to return it. misuse of pronoun(s) The whomever in this sentence should be whoever because it is the subject of the subordinate clause.

5. Both the music and the moon was beautiful that night as ships quietly slipped in and out of the harbor. subject-verb agreement This sentence has a compound subject and the coordinating conjunction and. The verb in this case should be the plural was rather than the singular is.

6. The president did not get any of his bills through Congress, however, he prevented the opposition from having much success. incorrect or lack of comma(s) In this sentence, two independent clauses are separated by neither a semicolon nor a coordinating conjunction. The word however is not a coordinating conjunction. A semicolon, instead of the comma, should be placed after Congress.

7. Dr and Mrs Charles Reynolds were the guests honored by the civic clubs last night. other punctuation problem A period should be placed after the abbreviations Dr. and Mrs.

8. A lawyer can easily handle a problem such as that, but getting an appointment with them is difficult. pronoun-antecedent agreement The subject of this sentence is lawyer, a singular noun; its antecedent should also be singular. In this case, the them should be replaced with one.

9. There were too many books on the shelf; too many papers on his desk; too many magazines on the floor; and too much clutter all over the room. other punctuation problem The semicolons are not necessary in this sentence. Even though the items in the series are long one, they can be separated by commas. Instead of semicolons, commas should be placed after shelf and desk. No punctuation is n eeded after floor.

10. By striking the clock signaled to us that it was time to leave. incorrect or lack of comma(s) A comma should be used to separate an introductory phrase from the rest of the sentence. In this case, the comma should be placed after striking. Notice how confusing this sentence is when there is no comma.