Grammar For Dummies: 1,001 Practice Questions (+ Free Online Practice)

by Geraldine Woods

Overview

Practice makes perfect - and helps deepen your understanding of English grammar

Establishing good grammar habits will set you up for success. From English class to writing your college essay, from corporatecommunications, to updating your social media sites, good grammar is essential and now you have 1,001 ways to deepen your understanding and practice your skills.

1,001 Grammar Practice Problems For Dummies takes you beyond the instruction offered in a typical English grammar course and offers a hands-on understanding of grammar and its principles.  

• Gives you a chance to practice and reinforce the skills you learn in a typical English grammar course
• Helps you refine your understanding of English grammar
• Practice problems range in difficulty and include detailed explanations and walk-throughs

 
Whether you’re studying grammar at the high school level or just brushing up on your grammar skills, 1,001 Grammar Practice Questions For Dummies offers an on-the-go opportunity to succeed. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118745014
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	05/05/2014
Series:	For Dummies Books
Pages:	312
Sales rank:	1,070,053
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Geraldine Woods teaches English and directs an independent study program for gifted students at the high school level. She has more than 25 years of teaching experience and has helped students prepare for the SAT for more than 30 years. She has written more than 50 books, including English Grammar For Dummies.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

What You’ll Find 1

How This Workbook Is Organized 2

Part I: The Questions 2

Part II: The Answers 3

Beyond the Book 3

What you’ll find online 3

How to register 4

Where to Go for Additional Help 4

Part I: The Questions 5

Chapter 1: Time Travel: Identifying the Verb and Choosing the Correct Tense 7

The Questions You’ll Answer 7

What to Watch Out For 7

Locating the Verb 8

Choosing Simple and Perfect Tense Verb Forms 9

Consistently Choosing the Right Verb Tense 12

Chapter 2: Taking a Look at Irregular, Helping, and Descriptive Verb Forms 13

The Questions You’ll Work On 13

What to Watch Out For 13

Handling Irregular Verbs 14

Dealing with To Be and To Have 16

Adding Meaning with Helping Verbs 17

Creating Questions with Helping Verbs 18

Detecting and Placing Descriptive Verb Forms 19

Selecting Tense for Descriptive Verb Forms 20

Chapter 3: One to Many: Forming Plurals of Nouns and Pronouns 23

The Questions You’ll Work On 23

What to Watch Out For 23

Forming Plural Nouns 25

Sorting Singular and Plural Pronouns 26

Chapter 4: Identifying Subjects and Perfecting Subject-Verb Agreement 29

The Questions You’ll Work On 29

What to Watch Out For 29

Locating the Subject 30

Fine-Tuning Subject-Verb Agreement 31

Chapter 5: Coming to a Clear Agreement: Pairing Pronouns and Antecedents 35

The Questions You’ll Work On 35

What to Watch Out For 35

Identifying Pronouns and Their Antecedents 36

Pairing Pronouns and Antecedents Correctly 37

Avoiding Vague Pronoun References 38

Chapter 6: Solving the Case (of Pronouns) 39

The Questions You’ll Work On 39

What to Watch Out For 39

Sorting Subject, Object, and Possessive Pronouns 40

Using Subject and Object Pronouns Correctly 41

Chapter 7: Forming Complete Sentences 45

The Questions You’ll Work On 45

What to Watch Out For 45

Recognizing Complete Sentences 46

Combining Ideas Correctly 46

Correcting Run-Ons and Fragments 48

Chapter 8: Moving Beyond the Basics: Adding Descriptions 51

The Questions You’ll Work On 51

What to Watch Out For 51

Distinguishing Between Adjectives and Adverbs 52

Placing Adjectives and Adverbs in Sentences 53

Dealing with Articles 54

Hyphenating Descriptions 55

Chapter 9: Taking the Long View: Descriptive Phrases and Clauses 57

The Questions You’ll Work On 57

What to Watch Out For 57

Identifying the Words Being Described 58

Avoiding Misplaced, Dangling, and Vague Descriptions 59

Chapter 10: For Better or Worse: Forming Correct Comparisons 63

The Questions You’ll Work On 63

What to Watch Out For 63

Creating Comparative and Superlative Forms 64

Avoiding Incomplete, Illogical, or Vague Comparisons 65

Chapter 11: Avoiding Capital Punishment: Placing Capital Letters Properly 69

The Questions You’ll Work On 69

What to Watch Out For 69

Capitalizing Names, Titles, Relationships, and Ethnicity 71

Capitalizing Geographical Names, Quotations, and School References 72

Capitalizing the Titles of Artistic or Scientific Works 73

Chapter 12: Exercising Comma Sense: Placing Commas Correctly 75

The Questions You’ll Work On 75

What to Watch Out For 75

Commas in Lists 76

Using Commas with Identifying and Extra Information 77

Creating a Pause in a Sentence 78

Chapter 13: Little Things That Mean A Lot: Apostrophes and Quotation Marks 81

The Questions You’ll Work On 81

What to Watch Out For 81

Creating the Possessive Form of Nouns 83

Creating Contractions with Apostrophes 83

Inserting and Deleting Apostrophes 84

Distinguishing Between Quotations and Paraphrases 84

Placing Quotation Marks and Other Punctuation 85

Punctuating Academic Work 86

Chapter 14: Not Just for Railroad Tracks: Parallelism 89

The Questions You’ll Work On 89

What to Watch Out For 89

Identifying Parallel Elements in Lists 90

Working with Paired Conjunctions 91

Creating Parallel Comparisons 92

Keeping Sentences Parallel 93

Chapter 15: Slimming Down: Cutting Repetition and Wordiness 95

The Questions You’ll Work On 95

What to Watch Out For 95

Cutting Repetitive Words and Phrases from Sentences 96

Writing Concisely 96

Chapter 16: Aiming for Style: Creating Interesting Sentences 101

The Questions You’ll Work On 101

What to Watch Out For 101

Weaving Complex Sentences 103

Varying Sentence Patterns 107

Chapter 17: Spotlighting Verbs: Voice and Mood 109

The Questions You’ll Work On 109

What to Watch Out For 109

Identifying Active and Passive Verb Forms 110

Changing Passive Voice to Active 110

Using Subjunctive Verbs Properly 111

Chapter 18: Dealing with Electronic Media 113

The Questions You’ll Work On 113

What to Watch Out For 113

Presentation Slides 115

Composing E-Mails, Instant Messages, and Texts 117

Chapter 19: Choosing Language to Suit Your Audience 121

The Questions You’ll Work On 121

What to Watch Out For 121

Identifying Levels of Formality 123

The Right Words for the Right Time 123

Chapter 20: Tricky Word Traps 127

The Questions You’ll Work On 127

What to Watch Out For 127

Distinguishing between Words Resembling Each Other 129

Words Incorrectly Seen as Synonyms 130

Chapter 21: Seeing Double: Confusing Word Pairs 133

The Questions You’ll Work On 133

What to Watch Out For 133

Selecting the Correct One- or Two-Word Expression 134

Eliminating Words that Don’t Exist 135

Chapter 22: Steering Clear of Incorrect Expressions 139

The Questions You’ll Work On 139

What to Watch Out For 139

Avoiding Double Negatives and Other Errors 141

Counting and Measuring Words 142

Strange Verb Pairs 143

Part II: The Answers 145

Chapter 23: Answers 147

Index 289