Apostrophe Practice

Rewrite the following sentences with apostrophes.

1.) Have you met Susans friend?

2.) About sixty people use the teachers room.

3.) Someone had taken Barbaras purse.

4.) Something was hurting the animals foot.

5.) I'm going to write to the childrens parents.

6.) Jane works in my mothers office.

7.) The dog doesn't like its food.

8.) Mary and Pat stayed at their friends house.

9.) Are you going to the secretaries meeting?

10.) I put the money in the waiters hand.


Remember, the apostrophe has three uses.

1) to form possessives of nouns
2) to form contractions
3) to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters.



I will post the answers later.

Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide

Article Practice

Complete the sentences with a or an, the or no article.

1 'How much are ......... beans?' 'They're 80 cents ......... pound.'
2 I went to ......... wonderful concert by ......... London Symphony Orchestra.
3 ......... local school is going to be closed soon.
4 I usually go to work by ......... train.
5 Is ......... meat in ......... oven?
6 Is this ......... first time you've been to ......... Isle of Man?
7 He's ......... art teacher and she's ......... electrician.
8 A lot of people give ......... money to charity at this time of year.
9 What ......... beautiful face that child's got!
10 ......... British usually have butter on their bread.
11 Life is very difficult for ......... unemployed these days.
12 ......... leader of ......... opposition is in danger of losing her seat at ......... next election.
13 I like to have ......... cup of tea when I wake up in ......... morning.
14 I saw ......... fox this morning. I think it must have been ......... same one that I saw last week.
15 Can I have ......... apple?
16 Have you ever seen ......... Acropolis in Athens?
17 ......... police have had a lot of support from ......... general public over this issue.
18 ......... shirts on ......... washing-line should be nearly dry now.
19 ......... people don't like him because of his selfish attitude.
20 I bought my sister ......... book and bottle of perfume for her birthday but I don't think she liked ......... perfume.




Try to complete all of the following questions. I will be posting the answers later.


Answers

1.) the, a
2.) a, the
3.) a
4.)
5.) the, the
6.) the, the
7.) an, an
8.)
9.) a
10.) the
11.) the
12.) the, the, the
13.) a, the
14.) a, the
15.) an
16.) the
17.) the, the
18.) the, the
19.)
20.) a, the




Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide

Run-on sentences

Here is another grammar tip sent in by Jack.

A run-on sentence is composed of two or more independent clauses. An independent clause is a part of a sentence that can stand on its own. It is not the length of the sentence that makes it a run-on sentence but rather a structural flaw.

When two independent clauses are connected by only a comma, they form a comma-splice. When you use a comma to connect two independent clauses, it must be accompanied by a conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so).

Run-on sentences may happen under the following conditions:

a. When an independent clause gives an order or directive based on what was said in the prior independent clause.
b. When two independent clauses are connected by a transitional expression (conjunctive adverb) such as however, moreover, nevertheless.
c. When the second of two independent clauses contains a pronoun that connects it to the first independent clause.

Good luck with your studies,

ESL Study Guide

Saving time and maximizing your test scores

Once you have finished your writing, never forget to proofread it. In a toefl exam you get 20 or 30 minutes to write an essay. Always leave yourself time to check your work. This practice will ensure you do not lose points to simple mistakes.

Look at the following sentence:

The president ________ the election by a landslide.

(a) won
(b) he won
(c) yesterday
(d) fortunately

Looking at the blank, you should see that the sentence is missing a verb. Looking at the possible answers, the only answers containing a verb are A and B. The sentence already contains a subject, making b an incorrect choice. A is therefore the only possible answer.

Quickly eliminating the obvious is one method of saving time and maximizing your score. While you are proofreading, keeping in mind certain methods or practices can make the most of the time you have available for editing and proofreading.

Good luck with your studies,

ESL Study Guide

Sentence Structure Tip

The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft were the first vehicles of humankind to venture beyond the limits of ours solar system.

Looking at the sentence you should first consider the subject and verb. The sentence is talking about the Pioneer spacecrafts, a plural subject. The verb venture agrees with the subject, so there is no subject verb agreement problems with the sentence. Now, look at the rest of the sentence. What do you notice? Looking at solar system, it is talking about a singular object. What about what comes before it? If you noticed this, you found the mistake in the sentence. Instead of ours, it should say our (forcing it to agree with a singular object).

Always remember to keep in mind whether something is singular or plural. Mistakes like these are common for those learning English, this will affect not only verb conjugation but also pronouns.



Good luck with your studies,

ESL Study Guide

Structure, Structure and Structure

Hi Everyone


This is the first of Jack's posts from abroad. Before I begin going through the interview with Jack, I'll be posting some of the grammar points that Jack has brought up from being overseas. The first thing that Jack has specified as a necessary skill for improving your writing is basic grammar.

Jack: Thanks Amanda, it's great to finally be settled in and begin working with you.
Amanda: Hi Jack, it's great to be able to get started.
Jack: You had asked me previously Amanda about what skill or lack of one I noticed immediately. I would definitely say grammar was the first skill i noticed.
Amanda: How do you mean?
Jack: Many students are familiar with basic grammar rules, but they require more practice than they have been getting. One of the first things I noticed in class was students not using articles properly. Many students are unsure of the difference between using 'a' and 'the'. The next thing I noticed was students using subject and verbs incorrectly. For my first tip I'll be going over subjects and verbs. Take a look at the following sentence:

_______ was ringing continuously for hours.
Loudly
In the morning
The phone
The bells

In this sentence you should immediately notice the verb 'was ringing'. In the sentence one thing you will see missing is the subject. The third answer is the best answer because it is a singular subject that agrees with the verb 'was ringing'. Ensuring the subject agrees with the verb is known as subject-verb agreement. The first two answers are not subjects and are therefore incorrect. Although the fourth answer is a subject, it is a plural subject and does not agree with the verb 'was ringing'. The fourth answer is therefore incorrect.


Amanda: Thank you Jack, I'm looking forward to future posts and interviews.
Jack: Its been a pleasure, thanks Amanda



Stay tuned everyone,

ESL Study Guide