Section 10: Questions about English language usage and other general knowledge

Question 1

Under what circumstances are nouns capitalized? Can you identify when a word has been capitalized incorrectly? You’ll need to be able to do this.

Answer 1

“Proper” nouns (i.e., names of people, places, and job and honorary titles) are always capitalized.
When you are writing in the first person, “I” is always capitalized.
Titles of works—books, movies, songs, plays, documents, etc. are always capitalized.
The first word of a new sentence is always capitalized.
In acronyms that are titles, every letter of the acronym is capitalized (for example: SAT, NASA, NFL, UN, NAACP, NAFTA, etc.).
When you are listing topics to follow in a paper, you don’t capitalize each one (example: “Causes of World War I include militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism.”
Course subjects like history, math, and physics are not capitalized, but if the subject is itself a proper noun, then it is capitalized, such as English or Spanish. Course titles, such as “History of the Americas” or “Conceptual Physics” are always capitalized.

Question 2

What is the proper usage of the following?
their vs. there vs. they’re

Answer 2

their = possessive, as in “belongs to them.” It’s “their house” or it’s “their armadillo.”
there = location (opposite of here). Also an auxiliary verb for existence, as in “there are three armadillos in my backpack.”
they’re = contraction for “they are.”

Question 3

What is the proper usage of the following?
to vs. too vs. two

Answer 3

to = preposition; used when an action is done and someone or something is the object of the action (“Give those armadillos to me!”). Also part of a future verb (“I am going to eat those yummy looking armadillos.”), and can be used for comparison (“I prefer artichokes to anchovies.”).
too = indicates excessive comparison, as in “you are too young to be eating armadillos, artichokes, or anchovies.” Also used as a synonym for “also.” “I prefer artichokes too.”
two = an integer greater than one and less than three!

Question 4

affect vs. effect

Answer 4

affect = verb. “How will eating armadillos affect me?”

effect = noun. “What is the effect of eating armadillos?”

Question 5

its vs. it’s

Question 6

What is the past tense of the verb
“pay”?

Answer 6

paid

Question 7

What is the correct way to use the word “bias” as an adjective (i.e., where something has a bias, we say it is ________)?

Answer 7

biased

Question 8

What is the correct way to spell the word that is the opposite of the verb “win”? (the simple one-syllable word that rhymes with “choose”!)

Answer 8

lose

Question 9

What is the past tense of the verb cost? (i.e., you are saying what the price of something used to be)

Answer 9

cost

Question 10

What is wrong with each of these sentences?
“We have alot of homework.”

Answer 10

“a lot” is two words, i.e.,
“We have a lot of homework.”

Question 11

“The British soldiers where advancing upon Lexington.”

Answer 11

“The British soldiers were advancing upon Lexington.

Question 12

What is the correct way to make a word plural, and when do you use an apostrophe followed by the letter s?

Answer 12

Most words in English are made plural by adding the letter s. If the word ends in a y, it is usually made plural by changing the y to ie and then adding s. You do NOT make a word plural by adding an apostrophe before the s. Apostrophes are used to indicate possession.

Question 13

Why are “could of”, “should of”, and “would of” non-existent phrases in the English language, never to be used and what is really meant when these are used?

Answer 13

The words “could’ve”, “should’ve”, and “would’ve” are contractions; that is, shortened versions of “could have”, “should have”, and “would have”. There is no “of” in any of them!

Question 14

What is factually wrong with each of these sentences?
The U.S. and Russia were opponents in the Cold War.

Answer 14

During the Cold War, there was no nation called “Russia”. The entity called “Russia” was a state within the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) or “Soviet Union”.
(People from the Soviet Union were referred to as “Russians”, adding to the confusion.),

Question 15

Vladimir Putin is President of the Soviet Union.

Answer 15

After the Cold War ended, the U.S.S.R. split up into 15 separate nations, of which the largest was Russia. Vladimir Putin is President of Russia. There is no “Soviet Union” any more.

Question 16

Today, England is one of the U.S.’s biggest allies.

Answer 16

“England” is one component of a nation called the “United Kingdom” or UK. Although people from the UK are called “English” and the UK is conversationally referred to as “England” or “Britain” or even “Great Britain”, there is no separate nation-state called “England.”

Question 17

England is an island.

Answer 17

The island on which the “England” component resides (which includes “Scotland”) is called “Great Britain.”

Question 18

What is wrong with each of these?

In 2010, then President Obama passed the Affordable Care Act.

Answer 18

Presidents don’t “pass” laws, they “sign” them.

Question 19

What is wrong with each of these?

George Washington was first elected to the presidency in 1789. One of George’s first actions as president was to appoint Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State.

Answer 19

Historical figures are referred to by last name, never by first name, unless
one is talking about their childhood;
the first name is their commonly accepted name (such as “Napoleon” or “Madonna”);
one is referring to an individual in a culture where the family name comes first (such as Korean, where “Kim Jong-un” is “Kim” not “Jong-un”);
one is distinguishing between two historical figures with the same last name (for example, in a comparison of U.S. presidents, one would need to distinguish William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, or Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson).

Question 20

What is wrong with each of these?

The U.S. government requires that 90% of the income tax you owe in a year be paid before the end of the year. To make this happen, they take a certain amount out of each paycheck.

Answer 20

Nations and governments are not “he” or “they.” In older styles of writing, nations were referred to as “she,” but today “it” is used. “To make this happen, it takes a certain amount out of each paycheck.”

Question 21

What is wrong with each of these?

We defeated the Redcoats in the Revolution. We defeated the Nazis in World War II. We will defeat ISIS.

Answer 21

Because a large majority of students in this course identify as Americans, any action taken by the U.S. tends to be seen as “ours,” but in proper historical writing, as opposed to cheer-leading, this makes no sense. Unless you were personally involved in the action, stay away from 1st person plural (“we”). It’s wrong to say “we defeated the Redcoats in the Revolution” because, simply, none of us was there!

Question 22

What is wrong with each of the following hypothetical actions?

You need an extension on an assignment, so you e-mail the teacher. Your e-mail begins “Hey Mr. Hoffman,”

Answer 22

When writing to a person of authority, such as a teacher, college admissions officer, or potential employer, it is incredibly unprofessional to start a message with “hey.” In formal business communication with someone you’ve never contacted before, one starts with an old-fashioned greeting like “Dear…” In a more informal professional setting, like dealing with a teacher, it’s best to start by simply putting the teacher’s name followed by a comma or dash (i.e., Mr. Hoffman, ). If it’s someone who is not a friend and who hasn’t asked you to use his/her/their first name, DON’T address them by first name, but by Mr.___, Ms. ___,
Dr. ___, etc. or other professional title.

Question 23

What is wrong with each of the following hypothetical actions?

In a research paper you’ve written, one of the sources you used was a website. When you cite the source, you place the source’s URL in parentheses after the information, and again place this URL in the bibliography without providing any other information about the source.

Answer 23

Simply giving a URL as a citation is incorrect. Using a URL to identify a source is like naming your friend by his/her address.

Question 24

What is the difference between a “primary source” and a “secondary source”? If given an example of a source, could you identify it as one or the other if given the context in which it is being used?

Answer 24

A primary source is an account of an event from someone who was present at that event, or if one is researching conditions of a time period, someone who experienced that time period. A secondary source is one that appears after the event or time period occurred, often based on primary sources with or without reference to other secondary sources (a source based entirely upon other secondary sources, such as an encyclopedia or wiki entry could be considered a “tertiary” source). Depending upon the research being conducted, some sources could be considered primary in one context and secondary in another (for example, Parson Weems’ biography of George Washington should be considered a secondary source if one is researching George Washington’s life, but a primary source if one is researching early 19th-Century American society.

Question 25

You should be able to figure out the following without a calculator:

any #% of 100
(i.e., what’s 20% of 100, what’s 83% of 100, etc.)
10% of any number
50% of any number (i.e., half)

(important when we look at election statistics and public opinion polls)

Answer 25

Taking a percentage of 100 is super easy, because “per cent” literally means “part of a hundred.”
So 1 % of 100 = 1, 36% of 100 = 36,
99% of 100 = 99, etc.

To take 10% of a number, just divide by 10
(or shift the decimal point one number to the left).

50% = half.