Concise writing and grammar

Question 0

12 noon

Answer 0

Noon

Question 1

12 midnight

Answer 1

Midnight

Question 2

3 am in the morning

Answer 2

3 am

Question 3

A person who is honest

Answer 3

An honest person

Question 4

A total of 14 birds

Answer 4

14 birds

Question 5

Close proximity / consensus of opinion

Answer 5

Proximity / consensus

Question 6

frank and honest exchange

Answer 6

frank exchange or honest exchange

Question 7

Free gift

Answer 7

Gift

Question 8

he/she is a person who

Answer 8

he/she

Question 9

in spite of the fact that

Answer 9

Although

Question 10

in the event that

Answer 10

If

Question 11

one and the same

Answer 11

the same

Question 12

period of four days

Answer 12

four days

Question 13

we are in receipt of

Answer 13

we have received

Question 14

Instead of
the reason for
for the reason that
due to the fact that owing to the fact that considering the fact that on the grounds that
this is why

Answer 14

Because, since or why

Question 15

despite the fact that regardless of the fact that

Answer 15

Although / even though

Question 16

in the event that
if it should transpire/happen that under circumstances in which

Answer 16

If

Question 17

Instead of
on the occasion of
in a situation in which
under circumstances in which

Answer 17

When

Question 18

as regards
in reference to
with regard to concerning the matter of where . . . is concerned

Answer 18

About

Question 19

it is crucial that
it is necessary that
there is a need/necessity it is important that
it is incumbent upon cannot be avoided

Answer 19

Must or should

Question 20

is able to
has the opportunity to is in a position to
has the capacity for has the ability to

Answer 20

Can

Question 21

it is possible that
there is a chance that it could happen that the possibility exists for

Answer 21

May, might, can or could

Question 22

prior to
in anticipation of subsequent to following on
at the same time as simultaneously with

Answer 22

Before, after or as

Question 23

What is the active voice?

Answer 23

In the active voice, the subject of a sentence performs the action. In the passive voice, though, the subject is acted on or receives the action. To fix this, ask yourself who or what performs the action. Once identified, make the person or thing that performs the action the subject of your sentence.

Question 24

Turn this sentence into the active voice: The kitten was helped out of the tree by the firemen.

Answer 24

The firemen helped the kitten out of the tree.

Question 25

Is this sentence in the active voice? The man must have eaten the hamburger.

Answer 25

Yes. The man (subject) is doing the eating (verb)

Question 26

Is this sentence in the active voice? Marilyn mailed the letter

Answer 26

Yes. Marilyn (subject) is doing the mailing (verb).

Question 27

Is this sentence in the active voice? Colourful parrots live in the rainforest

Answer 27

Yes. The parrots (subject) are doing the living (verb)

Question 28

What is the passive voice?

Answer 28

In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Instead of saying, "Steve (subject) loves (action) Amy (object)," I would say, "Amy is loved by Steve." The subject of the sentence becomes Amy, but she isn't doing anything. Rather, she is just the recipient of Steve's love. The focus of the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy. If you wanted to make the title of the Marvin Gaye song passive, you would say “It was heard by me through the grapevine,” not such a catchy title anymore.

Question 29

Turn these sentences into the active voice: The letter was mailed by Steve The pen is held by me. The bone is loved by the dog. Several suspects are being interrogated by the police.

Answer 29

Steve mailed the letter. I hold the pen. The dog loves the bone. The police are interrogating several suspects. In each sentence, the subject (Steve/I/Dog/Police) are doing the action (Mailing/holding/loving/interrogating) on the object (the recipient of the action)

Question 30

Why is the active voice usually better than the passive voice (3 points)?

Answer 30

The passive voice is often wordy. When sentences are in the passive voice, it is easy to leave out the person or thing doing the action (hidden subject), eg, 'Amy is loved.' The passive voice can be harder to understand because the subject taking the action is not at the start of the sentence, eg, 'John (subject) is running a marathon'.

Question 31

Why do politicians often use the passive voice? (Give three examples)

Answer 31

Politicians often use passive voice to intentionally obscure the idea of who is taking the action. Ronald Reagan famously said, “Mistakes were made,” when referring to the Iran-Contra scandal. Other examples of passive voice for political reasons could include “Bombs were dropped,” and “Shots were fired".

Question 32

What is a normal possessive and a double possessive?

Answer 32

You use possessives to indicate who owns what. If Squiggly owns a car, you say, “This is Squiggly's car.” You use an apostrophe plus an "s" on the end of “Squiggly.” You can also form a possessive by using the word “of,” such as “The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.” (Of course, you could also say, “the United Kingdom’s Crown Jewels.”) These examples are just normal possessives. There’s nothing double about them. The confusion arises when you use both ways of making possessives at the same time, as in “a friend of Fred’s.” Here you have an apostrophe plus an "s" plus an “of.” Although such a double possessive is allowed, I personally prefer “Fred’s friend” over “a friend of Fred’s.” Why not just say, "He's Fred's friend"?

Question 33

When is it correct to use double possessives?

Answer 33

Here’s a clear-cut rule that helps explain this: When you’re talking about inanimate objects—objects that aren’t alive, such as “the United Kingdom”—you can’t use a double possessive (2). According to The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, for a double possessive to be legal, the object of the preposition “of” has to be “definite and human.” In other words, it’s fine to say, “a friend of my uncle’s” but not “a friend of the museum’s.” You have to say, “a friend of the museum.” However, according to this rule, it would be OK to say, “He's a friend of a friend’s,” but we’ve all heard the common expression “a friend of a friend.” I guess double possessives don’t always work.

Question 34

What are infinitives?

Answer 34

To understand split infinitives, we first have to clearly define the word “infinitive.” Wikipedia defines “infinitive” as the unmarked form of a verb (1), but you really need examples to understand what that means. In English, there are two kinds of infinitives: bare infinitives and full infinitives. Bare infinitives are the kind of verbs you usually see in a dictionary, such as go sprinkle run split Full infinitives are made up of two words, usually putting the word “to” in front of the bare verb: to go to sprinkle to run to split

Question 35

What is a split infinitive?

Answer 35

A split infinitive puts an adverb between the two parts of the full infinitive. “To generously sprinkle” is a split infinitive because “generously” splits the word “to” from the word “sprinkle.” If you want to remember what a split infinitive is, just remember what might be the most famous example: Star Trek's “to boldly go where no one has gone before.” “To boldly go” is a split infinitive. “Boldly” splits “to go.”