English grammar
4 Name___________________________ Directions: Rewrite the following sentences to make sentence elements parallel in form. (2 pts. per sentence) 1. Not only was she noisy and rude but also rather stupid. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Andre did not like Liberals and especially to have one in the family. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. I spend too much time both playing bridge and in talking. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. At about noon every day the siren blows and warning the residents of another big explosion at the quarry. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. The constant nibbling away of the rats and to hear them running across the foot of the bed undermined Craig’s confidence. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Mrs. Grimm likes to water her garden, walking her fox terrier, and to yell at her husband. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. That afternoon she changed two diapers, did the ironing of two shirts, and watched two soap operas. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Later that year, having lost his job and unable to find another, he had to sell his car. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. My Uncle Julian wrote his autobiography which was uninteresting because nothing had ever happened to him. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. Students too often come to class with pencil and paper, carrying notebooks and texts, and an unquestioning mind. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11. The admiral was told he was either a liar or he was a fool. ______________________________________________________________________________ 12. Lola plans to become a model, lawyer, or to go into nursing. ______________________________________________________________________________ 13. When I saw my roommate with my girlfriend, I felt worried, angry, and embarrassment as well. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14. Mark is not only talented as a pianist but also at acting. _____________________________________________________________________________ 15. Billy Joe didn’t like the tacos but eats them anyway. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16. The horse reared in the starting gate and throws his rider. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 17. No one enjoyed the haying, the milking, or to plow except Bill. ______________________________________________________________________________ 18. If one wants a quick refund, you should file your tax return early. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19. Emily always wants to stay up for the late show but always fell asleep watching it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 20. His breakfast never varies; it consisted of yogurt and prune juice. _____________________________________________________________________________ Directions: Read the items below. If you believe a comma belongs in the space, then add a comma. If you believe no punctuation is necessary, put an X on the line. (1 pt. per blank) 1. Tasting the air ___with its tongue___the snake lay on the warm concrete___enjoying the mild ___spring day ___and meaning no one any harm. 2. Diane promised herself ___that she would eat only three caramel candies___but her fingers kept digging into the bag___pulling out another treat___unwrapping the cellophane___and popping the chewy square into her mouth. 3.Stacked on the desk ___huge piles of books___and printed web pages ___lay ignored by Josephine ___who should have turned in her research paper___two days ago. 4.Because Shawn is so tall___he must keep the driver's seat almost fully reclined___so that his head doesn't bump___the roof of his small car. When he can afford it___he plans to buy a convertible___so that he does not have to worry about a roof at all. 5. Despite three cups of coffee___Danny could not keep his eyes open___for another one of Dr. O'Sullivan's long___dreary lectures on Egyptian pharaohs. Therefore___ he doodled in his notebook___wishing that he had chosen a different class___to satisfy his history requirement. SENTENCE FRAGMENTS, RUN-ONS, AND COMMA SPLICES Label each of the following numbered items. If it is a complete and correctly punctuated sentence, put C in the blank by the number. If it is a run-on, put RO in the blank. If it is a comma splice, put CS in the blank. If it is a sentence fragment, put F in the blank. Revise each run-on, comma splice, or sentence fragment on the blank lines below it. (2 pts. per sentence) _____ 1. The sometimes painful difficulty of knowing when a sentence is complete and when it is a fragment or a run-on. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 2. It is sometimes difficult to ascertain whether a sentence is complete or whether it is a fragment or a run-on. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 3. I can always recognize a complete sentence, but sometimes I cannot tell the difference between a run-on and a fragment. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 4. Although I have been speaking and writing English for many years, I still have some trouble with punctuation, especially commas. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 5. Punctuation is an entertaining challenge to me, I love trying to decide where to put those expressive little dots and marks. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 6. A semicolon, that fancy period that is sometimes mistaken for a fancy comma. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 7. Do you ever use a colon, it almost always goes after a complete sentence. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______8. It is important to proof read, one can avoid many small errors. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 9. I occasionally browse through books on punctuation, they help keep me confident. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 10. I am very confident, I review often. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 11. Because I review often, I am very confident when I punctuate my essays and letters. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 12. As I get more writing practice, I get better at punctuation. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 13. I write much more these days, I am getting better at punctuation and grammar. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______ 14. However, writing is never going to be easy, not as long as I am trying to communicate complicated and important ideas. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________