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How's Your Grammar?


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21 out of 22 -- got hung up on the "that/which" thing. But I cheated before I got to the third question on it -- I backed up and looked at the other two questions. (I had missed the first one and guessed, correctly, at the second.) I saw a pattern and figured out the right answer to the third.

 

Feeling very self-satisfied with how I did :D -- there's nothing like an Internet quiz to boost (or kill) your self-esteem. :lol: (I don't dare take the science one...)

Edited by Maverick_Mom
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Wow, I stunk at it. I got 18/22. The sad part is that I knew most of the answers I got wrong, but I kept thinking it was somehow a trick question and picked the opposite of what I thought. I should have gone with my first instinct. :glare:

 

Me tooo! Makes me want to go back and review a few things even though I was trying to outguess them on some.

 

Lucinda

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20/22

 

I need to brush up on that and which.

 

 

:iagree: However, I thought the sentences clumsy and would have said "Reports marked priority should be marked quickly" not "Reports that are..."

 

I hate those constructs and don't use them if at all possible.

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22 correct. I always said that light-touch grammar wasn't the end of the world. I had no grammar instruction (outside of that necessary for foreign language learning) at school and have always used low grammar programmes with my boys.

 

Laura

 

Perhaps you grew in an environment of correct grammar. I listen to "I don't got none" all day at work, have a hubby who is full of errors, and a kiddo who plays at a playground of children who repeat the local errors. I grew up with exacting parents who corrected every little error until we were old enough not to make them any more. Even then, I did it "all by ear" and without confidence. I am a MUCH happier camper now that I'd taking on grammar (using diagramming as my crutch).

 

I try to be uber-correct with my son, but I am one lone voice. If he wants to grow up and speak slang to his friends, fine, but as people can be bilingual, I think he should also be able to lapse into language fit for the Queen, and decline to have his future hindered by improper grammar.

 

Perhaps a better analogy is "natural" readers. Some kids pick it up and take off with "whole language", but some need more systematic instruction. Given his environment/talents, I don't think kiddo is going to pick up proper grammar by osmosis.

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FWIW...I had a mediocre education at mediocre schools. My family growing up sounded like a bunch of uneducated hillbillies (in fact, many were). But I read like mad. I educated myself beyond the levels of my family.

 

I still, however, write much better than I speak. My undereducated hillbilly comes out in force sometimes, especially if I am nervous or fighting a migraine. My mind sits back and gasps in horror while my mouth butchers the english language.

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Perhaps you grew in an environment of correct grammar. I listen to "I don't got none" all day at work, have a hubby who is full of errors, and a kiddo who plays at a playground of children who repeat the local errors. I grew up with exacting parents who corrected every little error until we were old enough not to make them any more. Even then, I did it "all by ear" and without confidence. I am a MUCH happier camper now that I'd taking on grammar (using diagramming as my crutch).

 

I try to be uber-correct with my son, but I am one lone voice. If he wants to grow up and speak slang to his friends, fine, but as people can be bilingual, I think he should also be able to lapse into language fit for the Queen, and decline to have his future hindered by improper grammar.

 

Perhaps a better analogy is "natural" readers. Some kids pick it up and take off with "whole language", but some need more systematic instruction. Given his environment/talents, I don't think kiddo is going to pick up proper grammar by osmosis.

 

That's funny, bilingual with fit for the queen grammar and street slang:lol:

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That's funny, bilingual with fit for the queen grammar and street slang:lol:

 

I knew a fellow who worked at a state college tutoring inner city freshmen on standard English. They picked him because his dad had been a "missionary" in a very bad part of town, and he was "bilingual". (Remember June Cleaver in Airplane!) He said he started with pronunciation and worked on to the Be verbs.

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I knew the principal is your pal rule but there was another question where the answer was principal that I was incorrect in answering. Is there another rule I don't know?

 

Yes, me too. The first "principal" question wasn't about the principal of a school, it was about the principal thing - meaning the first or most important thing. I chose principle instead of principal, which is wrong.

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I knew the principal is your pal rule but there was another question where the answer was principal that I was incorrect in answering. Is there another rule I don't know?

 

Principle is a noun.

Principal can be a noun or an adjective. If the sentence requires the adjective, it is always principal, such as in "principal parts".

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Ok, so I couldn't help myself. I took it. I actually got 20 right. Which and that was a problem, and one of the principle ones was as well. Still, depressing. I shouldn't be making any errors at this point. I can know the rule, and be swayed. I almost always question myself. Doesn't make for the greatest hs parent. I need those answer keys. Its can be an issue for me as well. I don't know how I can know one day, but forget the next.

Edited by LibraryLover
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Principle is a noun.

Principal can be a noun or an adjective. If the sentence requires the adjective, it is always principal, such as in "principal parts".

 

 

Yes. I am printing this out and sticking it on my bathroom wall.

 

Got one for that/which?

 

Its/It's?

 

Was/Were? I don't make blatant mistakes such as, "She were going to the ball." It's more a question of "If I were to go to the ball/ If I was to go to the ball".

I always have to check that sort of thing. Every darn time.

Edited by LibraryLover
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Wow, I stunk at it. I got 18/22. The sad part is that I knew most of the answers I got wrong, but I kept thinking it was somehow a trick question and picked the opposite of what I thought. I should have gone with my first instinct. :glare:

 

Me too. I got 19 out of 22 but tricked myself out of at least two of the answers. :lol:

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Yes. I am printing this out and sticking it on my bathroom wall.

 

Got one for that/which?

 

 

I had to look this up because I do not know WHY I am using it correctly, it just sounds right when I do. A nice explanation is here:

Here’s what The Times’s stylebook says:

 

that, which.
Use
that
, not
which
, in a restrictive clause — a clause necessary to the reader’s understanding of the sentence:
The town that the pitcher calls home is tiny Hawley, Pa.
(The sentence serves no purpose without
that the pitcher calls home
.) Note that there are no commas around the clause. In a nonrestrictive clause — one providing added information, not essential to understand the sentence — use
which
, preceded by a comma:
Hawley, Pa., which the pitcher calls home, is tiny.
(The sentence is understandable without
which the pitcher calls home
.)

 

Its/It's?

 

Contraction overrules possessive. It should bethe apostrophe for possessive, but that's already used to contract "it is" into "it's". That's how I remember it.

 

Was/Were?

I don't make blatant mistakes such as, "She were going to the ball." It's more a question of "If I were to go to the ball/ If I was to go to the ball" I always have to check that sort of thing. Every darn time.

I do this correctly by feel, but I looked and found this explanation of the subjunctive:

 

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-subjunctive.htm

 

The subjunctive of be is always were.

Edited by regentrude
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