Practice Quiz # 1
Part I: Identify the bolded words in the following sentences as a noun, an article, a pronoun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, a preposition, a conjunction, or an interjection: 1. Jimmy plotted his revenge against his traitorous friends. 2. Jenny is an avid reader of mystery novels. 3. Jimmy decided on a plan, but he didn’t know to execute it.
Part II: Identify the independent (or main) clauses, subordinate clauses, and/or phrases in the following sentences: 1. In a perfect world, the Ottawa Senators would have Roberto Luongo or Martin Brodeur as their goaltender. 2. After he had a heart-to-heart talk with his therapist, Martin Gerber realized that he had missed his calling, so he finally retired from hockey to drive the zamboni. 3. Gerber pursued his new career energetically, although he was unsure of himself and didn’t know exactly how to proceed.
Part III: Classify the following sentences according to their structures (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex): 1. Although I’ve tried numerous ways to get students excited about sentence structures, I almost always fail. 2. I want to do well in this class, so I’m going to study hard, even if it means missing the next Sens game. 3. Writing this practice grammar quiz really isn’t all that much fun, but I know it will help me do well on the upcoming quiz.
Part IV: Focusing on punctuation, identify whether or not the following sentences are grammatically correct, and revise those that are not. Make minor changes only: add / subtract punctuation, add / subtract a missing / unnecessary coordinating conjunction, subject, or verb, and so on. Do not substantially rewrite the sentence. 1. This winter has been very long, I think it might never end.
2. I went for a bicycle ride along the Ottawa River pathway which was particularly beautiful that day. 3. I went to a baseball game, and afterwards met up with a few friends downtown. 4. I never realized how many students read Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, before coming to university. 5. When I was at the game, I met: my aunt Melinda; my aunt Valerie; and my cousin Katrina. 6. The player’s were frustrated; it’s hard to win a game when your goalie can’t stop a puck. 7. I’ve only got one thing on my mind this semester; writing a good final essay for ENG 1120. 8. Learning about commas isn’t terribly fun, interesting or engaging but I’m staying focused because I want to become a better writer.