Conventions of Standard Written English

Question 1

Parts of Speech:

What are “a” “an” and “the”?

Answer 1

articles

Question 2

Parts of Speech:

What is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun?

Answer 2

Gerund

Question 3

Parts of Speech:

What is a verbal used as an adjective and mostly ends in -ing or -ed. ?

Answer 3

Participle

Question 4

Parts of Speech:

What is a verbal ending in -ing and used as an adjective ?

Answer 4

present participle

Question 5

Parts of Speech:

What is a verbal used an adjective and ending in -ed, -en, -d, -t, -n, or -ne as in the words asked, eaten, saved, dealt, seen, and gone.?

Answer 5

past participle

Question 6

Parts of speech:

What is a verbal beginning with the word “to” and functioning as a noun, adjective, or adverb. ?

Answer 6

an infinitive

Question 7

Parts of Speech:

What’s the difference between an infinitive that begins with “to” and a prepositional phrase that begins with “to”?

Answer 7

In an infinitive, the “to” is followed by a verb.

In a prepositional phrase, the “to” is followed by a noun, pronoun, or any modifiers.

Question 8

Parts of speech:

What is a word that joins 2 independent clauses (and, but, for, or, nor, so, and yet)?

Answer 8

a conjunction

Question 9

Parts of speech:

These work in combination with a noun or pronoun to create phrases that modify verbs, nouns/pronouns, or adjectives and convey a spatial, temporal, or directional meaning. (“Across the pond”, “Before I got this job”, “When we were young”)

Answer 9

Prepositions

Question 10

Sentence Clarity:

In what order should you use old information and new information?

Answer 10

Start with old, then introduce new

Question 11

Sentence Clarity:

Words or phrases that help carry a thought from one sentence to another, from one idea to another, or from one paragraph to another and link sentences and paragraphs together smoothly so that there are no abrupt jumps or breaks between ideas

Answer 11

transitional devices

.

Question 12

Sentence Clarity:

List some transitional devices used to add.

Answer 12

and, again, and then, besides, equally important, finally, further, furthermore, nor, too, next, lastly, what’s more, moreover, in addition, first (second, etc.)

Question 13

Sentence Clarity:

List some transitional devices used to compare?

Answer 13

whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, by comparison, where, compared to, up against, balanced against, vis a vis, but, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast, although this may be true

Question 14

Sentence clarity:

List some transitional devices are used to prove.

Answer 14

because, for, since, for the same reason, obviously, evidently, furthermore, moreover, besides, indeed, in fact, in addition, in any case, that is

Question 15

Sentence Clarity:

List some transitional devices used to show exception,

Answer 15

yet, still, however, nevertheless, in spite of, despite, of course, once in a while, sometimes

Question 16

Sentence clarity:

List some transitional devices used to show time.

Answer 16

immediately, thereafter, soon, after a few hours, finally, then, later, previously, formerly, first (second, etc.), next, and then

Question 17

Sentence clarity:

List some transitional devices used to repeat.

Answer 17

in brief, as I have said, as I have noted, as has been noted

Question 18

Sentence clarity:

List some transitional devices used to emphasize.

Answer 18

definitely, extremely, obviously, in fact, indeed, in any case, absolutely, positively, naturally, surprisingly, always, forever, perennially, eternally, never, emphatically, unquestionably, without a doubt, certainly, undeniably, without reservation

Question 19

Sentence clarity:

List some transitional devices to show sequence.

Answer 19

first, second, third, and so forth. A, B, C, and so forth. next, then, following this, at this time, now, at this point, after, afterward, subsequently, finally, consequently, previously, before this, simultaneously, concurrently, thus, therefore, hence, next, and then, soon

Question 20

Sentence clarity:

List some transitional devices to give an example.

Answer 20

for example, for instance, in this case, in another case, on this occasion, in this situation, take the case of, to demonstrate, to illustrate, as an illustration, to illustrate

Question 21

Sentence clarity:

List some transitional devices used to summarize or conclude.

Answer 21

in brief, on the whole, summing up, to conclude, in conclusion, as I have shown, as I have said, hence, therefore, accordingly, thus, as a result, consequently

Question 22

Parts of Speech:

What part of speech describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a concept.

Answer 22

A modifier

Question 23

Proper Grammar:

What is meant by dangling modifier?

Answer 23

Example:

Incorrect: Having finished the assignment, the TV was turned on.
Correct: Having finished the assignment, Jill turned the TV on.

Question 24

Proper Grammar

What is parallel structure?

Answer 24

Using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance.

Example: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and bicycling.

Question 25

What is a particle?

Answer 25

verbs followed by an adverb or a preposition; also called phrasal verbs, are different from verbs with helpers.

Examples: catch on, drop off, gets around

Question 26

What is an intransitive phrase?

Answer 26

Can’t take a direct object.

Example:

Correct: After I explained the math problem, she began to catch on.

Incorrect: She began to catch on the math problem. (catch on cannot take a direct object in this meaning.)

Question 27

What is an appositive?

Answer 27

a noun or pronoun — often with modifiers — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it. Here are some examples of appositives.

Example:

Your friend Bill is in trouble. (Bill)

The chief surgeon, an expert in organ-transplant procedures, took her nephew on a hospital tour. (An expert…)

Question 28

When are commas used with appositives?

Answer 28

Only to separate non-essential information.

Example:

(Essential) The popular US president John Kennedy was known for his eloquent and inspirational speeches.

(Non-essential) John Kennedy, the popular US president, was known for his eloquent and inspirational speeches.

Question 29

When are commas used to separate independent clauses?

Answer 29

when they are joined by any of these seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.

Question 30

How are commas correctly used with introductory clauses, phrases, or words?

Answer 30

Used to separate it from the main independent clause:

Examples:

While I was eating, the cat scratched at the door.

Because her alarm clock was broken, she was late for class.

Question 31

Should you put a comma after the main clause when a dependent (subordinate) clause follows it? Any exceptions?

Answer 31

No, except for cases of extreme contrast.

Example:

INCORRECT: The cat scratched at the door, while I was eating.
CORRECT: She was still quite upset, although she had won the Oscar. (This comma use is correct, because it is an example of extreme contrast.)

Question 32

What clauses are not set apart with commas?

Answer 32

Clauses starting with “that” or “who/whom” or “which”

Other examples:
Students who cheat only harm themselves.
The baby wearing a yellow jumpsuit is my niece.
The candidate who had the least money lost the election

Question 33

How do you determine whether adjectives are coordinating and non-coordinating?

Answer 33

Coordinating if the sentence make sense, if the adjectives are written in reverse order, or
if the adjectives are written with and between them.

Question 34

What’s the rule of thumb for direct vs. indirect quotation marks?

Answer 34

Use an indirect quotation (or paraphrase) when you merely need to summarize key incidents or details of the text.

Use direct quotations when the author you are quoting has coined a term unique to her or his research and relevant within your own paper.

Question 35

Where are commas and periods placed when using quotations?

Answer 35

Inside the quotation mark.

Question 36

Where are colons and semicolons placed when using quotation marks?

Answer 36

Outside the quotation marks

Question 37

When are block quotations used and how are they formatted?

Answer 37

When the quote is 4 or more lines.

Indented 1” from the main margin, double spaced, no quotation marks

In poetry, if there are 3 or more lines.

Question 38

What is the format for quoting less than 3 lines of poetry?

Answer 38

One line, just like any other quoted phrase or sentence.

ONe to three lines, divide each line with a forward slash.

Question 39

What is an analysis or analytical paper?

Answer 39

An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.

Question 40

What is an expository paper?

Answer 40

An expository (explanatory) paper explains or teaches something to the audience.

Question 41

What is an argumentative paper?

Answer 41

An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

Question 42

What are expletives?

Answer 42

It is; There are; There was

Question 43

Give an example of how an expletive can make a sentence wordy, and show how to make it more concise.

Answer 43

There are four rules which should be observed.

Four rules should be observed.

Question 44

How can this sentence be rewritten more concisely by eliminating noun forms (nominalizations)?

The function of this department is to run payroll.

Answer 44

This department runs payroll.

Question 45

Make this sentence more concise by eliminating the use of too many infinitives.

The duty of a clerk is to check all incoming mail and to record it.

Answer 45

A clerk checks and records all incoming mail.

Question 46

What are circumlocutions? Give some examples.

Answer 46

commonly used roundabout expressions that take several words to say what could be said more succinctly.

Example:
“Because” “since” or “why” could replace “due to the fact that” “for the reason that” and “in light of the fact that”

“About” could replace “in regard to”