Junior Final Exam 2015 Grammar Review Packet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Pronoun agreement
Commas, semi-colons, colons
Number agreement
Mixed modifiers
Passive and active voice
Words often confused
Parallelism
1. Pronoun agreement (see chart for pronoun case)
A. Case Agreement
A pronoun should agree with its antecedent (the word it refers to) in gender and number.
Use singular pronouns to refer to the antecedents each, either, neither, one, everyone,
everybody, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody, someone, or somebody. Use a singular pronoun to
refer to two o r more singular antecedents joined by or or nor. Use a plural pronoun to refer
to two or more antecedents joined by and. Knowing which case of a pronoun to use
(subjective/nominative or objective) is also a part of accurate pronoun agreement—to figure
this out, you will need to know the parts of a sentence. Note also that you use the subjective
case for pronouns that accompany implied verbs: My brother is taller than I (am).
The Pronouns Who & Whom
Who and whoever are the subjective (nominative) cases of the pronoun; whom and
whomever are the objective cases.
Ex.
Who moved my cheese?
Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Exercise: Underline the correct pronoun in each sentence below.
1. The university presented the honor to David and (he/him).
2. Margaret Mead, (who/whom) I read about in class, wrote interesting books.
3. Take this book to Frieda, (who/whom) you met yesterday.
4. He is more energetic than (I/me).
5. The other cheerleaders and (her/she) needed to practice on the weekend.
6. The ballpark is always a favorite place for Dave and (I/me).
7. Justine and (I/me) have always been close friends.
8. After the game, we all agreed that no one had played harder than (he/him).
1
B. Number Agreement
Make pronouns and their antecedents agree in person and number. The antecedent of a
pronoun is the noun or other pronoun it refers to. Pronouns and their antecedents should
agree in person (first, second, to third) and in number (singular or plural).
Compound antecedents are joined by and usually take plural pronouns. Ex. Ann and Grace
sold their texts.
Exemptions to this are if both antecedents are a single person, or if the antecedent is
preceded by each or every. Ex. Every boy and man sang his loudest.
Generally, use a singular pronoun when the antecedent is an indefinite pronoun. Ex. None
of the Boy Scouts paid his dues. Each of the women succeeded in her chosen career.
Traditionally, the pronoun he has been used as an indefinite pronoun, but there are other
options. Ex. Everyone took his seat. Everyone took his or her seat. All the students took their
seats.
Collective noun antecedents take singular or plural pronouns depending on meaning.
The herd of wildebeests is too cramped in its small pasture.
The couple divided their belongings evenly into the suitcase.
Exercises: Underline each personal pronoun in the sentences below and draw an
arrow to its antecedent. If the pronoun does not agree with its antecedent, cross out
the pronoun and write the correct form above it. If the sentence is correct as given,
write OK above it.
1. Neither Tom nor Bud enjoyed their vacation.
2. No one can know if they will get a job in June.
3. The union lost their right to bargain.
4. Anyone who turned in a late paper had their grade reduced.
5. The audience voiced its approval loudly.
2
6. The herds of sheep wandered in all directions from its pasture.
7. An elephant never eats a leaf or bark that has fungus growing on them.
8. Every dog on the block barked themselves hoarse that night.
9. The College of Arts and Sciences changed their entrance requirements.
10. Neither of the two cars is known for their fuel economy.
2. Commas, semi-colons, colons
A. Commas (see handout on next 3 pages for rules)
Exercise: Little, Brown Workbook page 281
3
4
5
6
;
B. Semi-Colons
When a comma and a conjunction are not used, a semicolon can work well between the
clauses in a compound sentence:
We cooked the roast; our guests provided the dessert.
Conjunctive adverbs such as however, therefore, nevertheless, consequently, and moreover
can be used after a semicolon to show a relationship between main clauses. A comma
generally follows the connector:
She had written several novels; however, none of them were published.
Do not use a semicolon to separate a main clause and a subordinate clause.
Exercise: Rewrite each of the following sentences correctly. If the sentence is correct,
write “Correct.”
1. A cluttered desk is a sign of genius, however, a clean desk is the sign of a boring
mind.
2. Eddie really enjoyed the circus; but he refused to admit it.
3. Once I thought I was wrong; I was obviously mistaken.
4. Because Ted went to the meeting late; he was fined one dollar.
5. I may not be totally perfect; but parts of me are excellent.
6. They can’t fire Mary; she has six months left on her contract.
7. Don’t honk, we’re pedaling as fast as we can.
8. Leave Fred alone, he needs to catch up with his studying.
9. I’d enjoy the day better; if it started later, I’m allergic to mornings.
10. Make new friends; but keep the old, one is silver; and the other is gold.
7
C. Colons: A colon is a rather formal mark of punctuation. It alerts the reader to the
information that follows. It is used in the salutation of a business letter, to separate
hours from minutes when writing time in numbers, and to introduces lists, such as a list
of appositives.
Exercise: Correct each of the following sentences. If a sentence is correct, write
“Correct.”
1. The chairman then introduced the other committee members Tydvil Thomas,
Robert Cannava, and John Worthing.
2. There are five surviving Celtic languages; Welsh, Irish, Gaelic, Cornish, and
Breton.
3. The interior decorator had only three suggestions to offer, wallpaper the
bedroom, but a new rug for the living room, and dye the dining room curtains
blue.
4. To make this scarf, you will need: eight ounces of woolen yarn.
5. The most common American surnames are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, and
Jones.
3. Number agreement
Make pronouns and their antecedents agree in person and number. The antecedent of a
pronoun is the noun or other pronoun it refers to. Pronouns and their antecedents should
agree in person (first, second, to third) and in number (singular or plural).
Antecedents joined by and usually take plural pronouns. Ex. Ann and Grace sold their texts.
Exemptions to this are if both antecedents are a single person, or if the antecedent is
preceded by each or every. Ex. Every boy and man sang his loudest.
Generally, us a singular pronoun when the antecedent is an indefinite pronouns. Ex. None
of the Boy Scouts paid his dues. Each of the women succeeded in her chosen career.
Traditionally, the pronoun he has been used as an indefinite pronoun, but there are other
options. Ex. Everyone took his seat. Everyone took his or her seat. All the students took their
seats.
Collective noun antecedents take singular or plural pronouns depending on meaning.
The herd of wildebeests is too cramped in its small pasture.
The couple divided their belongings evenly into the suitcase.
8
Exercises: Underline each personal pronoun in the sentences below and draw an
arrow to its antecedent. If the pronoun does not agree with its antecedent, cross out
the pronoun and write the correct form above it. If the sentence is correct as given,
write OK above it.
11. Neither Tom nor Bud enjoyed their vacation.
12. No one can know if they will get a job in June.
13. The union lost their right to bargain.
14. Anyone who turned in a late paper had their grade reduced.
15. The audience voiced its approval loudly.
16. The herd of sheep wandered in all directions from its pasture.
17. An elephant never eats a leaf or bark that has fungus growing on them.
18. Every dog on the block barked themselves hoarse that night.
19. The College of Arts and Sciences changed their entrance requirements.
20. Neither of the two cars is known for their fuel economy.
9
4. Modifiers
A misplaced modifier does not clearly modify the word intended by the writer.
CONFUSING: The teacher said that she expected us to do well on the exam during her
lecture.
CLEAR: During her lecture, the teacher said that she expected us to do well on the exam.
Place limiting modifiers (such as almost, even, just, only, and simply) carefully near the
words or word groups that immediately follow them. Ex. Aaron sold only one car today.
Only Aaron sold one car today.
Avoid separating a subject from its verb or a verb from its object or complement.
AWK: The old papers were, just as I had suspected when I found them in the attic, valuable.
BETTER: The old papers were valuable, just as I had suspected when I found them in the
attic.
Avoid separating the parts of a verb phrase or the parts of an infinitive.
AWK: The boys had, with their own money, bought firecrackers. [verb phrase split]
BETTER: With their own money, the boys had bought firecrackers.
AWK: The aides were expected to without delay do whatever the nurses ask. [Infinitive
split]
BETTER: The aides where expected to do without delay whatever the nurses ask.
However, it is sometimes natural and acceptable to split an infinitive with a single-word
modifier when the alternative would be awkward.
Exercise: Little, Brown Workbook pages 215-216
10
11
5. Passive and active voice
Verbs can indicate whether subjects are acting or are acted upon. When the subject is the
actor, the verb is in the active voice: John opened three presents. When the subject is the
recipient of the action, the verb is in the passive voice: Three presents were opened by John.
The passive voice consists of the verb’s past participle and a form of be. Only transitive
verbs—verbs that take objects—can form the passive voice.
S
V
O
ACTIVE: A foul ball struck a fan.
S V V
PASSIVE: A fan was struck by a foul ball.
Though the passive voice is useful when the verb’s actor is unknown on unimportant (ex.
Mr. Jones was elected), normally the active voice is preferable because it is more concise
and forthright.
Exercise: Identify each of the following sentences as active or passive wry writing an
A or a P next to each. Rewrite in the active voice each sentence that is in the passive.
Sometimes you will need to supply a subject not mentioned in the original.
1. Dance music was played by the band until midnight.
2. The police chief was fired.
3. Declining circulation was suffered by the paper.
4. The secretary distributed the ballots.
5. The question was not understood by the students.
6. The steps had been worn down.
12
7. Her car was parked in the public lot yesterday.
8. A heavy rain prevented us from arriving on time.
9. The shop was closed down a year ago.
10. A subscription to Time was given to each student.
11. The package has been mailed.
12. We were never introduced.
6. Words Often Confused—see list in the NSHS Writing Handbook
Exercise 1: Underline the correct word in parenthesis that completes each of the
following sentences. See NSHS Writer’s Handbook for definitions.
1. The horse mentioned in the text is clearly an (allusion/illusion) to the Trojan horse.
2. The magician created the (allusion/illusion) of a disappearing coin.
3. (Among/between) the paintings was an original Picasso.
4. I am stuck in traffic (among/between) Newtonville and Newton Centre.
5. The (affect/effect) was catastrophic.
6. He (affected/effected) the change in the existing document.
7. This greatly (affected, effected) his mental state that evening.
13
8. There were (fewer/less) customers than anticipated.
9. I have (fewer/less) patience than Ted.
10. I am going to (lay/lie) down.
11. I will (lay/lie) the book on the table.
12. I like vanilla ice cream more (than/then) chocolate.
13. I went to the store, and (than/then) I returned home to make dinner.
14. (Their/They’re/There) dog was in the backyard.
15. The books are over (their/they’re/there).
16. (Their/They’re/There) going to the amusement park on Saturday.
17. (Who’s/Whose) car are we taking?
18. (Who’s/Whose) going to the concert?
7. Parallelism
See Language: Structure and Use pages 382-386
14