HS 1130 ENGLISH

Unit One, Assignment One

UNIT ONE: ASSIGNMENT ONE: QUIZ B

Part One: SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT Instructions: Correct the subject-verb agreement in the following sentences. 1. Either the witness or you is lying about your whereabouts the night of the murder. 2. Parsnip chips, aerosol mustard, clear beer, and 7-Up lip balm was developed and marketed at different times in the past, but none of them were successful. 3. Theres many rumours floating around the office that either layoffs or a plant closing are inevitable. 4. Not popcorn but peanuts is my favourite snack while Im watching TV or doing chores. 5. The programmes, memory, and keyboard on this computer is state of the art, but none of them help me come up with ideas for my essay. 6. Your chances of being killed by terrorists overseas is 1 in 650,000; however, the chances of being killed by an American in Baltimore is greater than 1 in 4,000. 7. Each postponement of the playoffs are just delaying the inevitable defeat that this team, along with its fans, coaches, and sponsors, are going to suffer. 8. Someone who is 18 years of age or older have a 64 per cent chance of marrying. 9. This statistic, along with hundreds of other numbers, figures, and facts were published by Statistics Canada which, like many other government agencies, have suffered significant budget cuts. 10. Neither travel in foreign lands nor cruise vacations in the Caribbean appeals to me; everything about such holidays seem to be too much bother compared to staying home. Part Two: VERB FORMATION Instructions: Find and correct all the verb errors in the following sentences. 1. bid Lewis ________ $200 for the ceramic bear with a clock in its stomach; luckily, someone else had already ________ $225.

GPRC

Page 1

HS 1130 ENGLISH

Unit One, Assignment One

2. ring

The bell is supposed to be ________ every half hour, but the last time it _______ was at nine oclock.

3. see

I would not believe that you ________ a Sasquatch if I hadnt ________it too.

4. break

The talks were ________ off yesterday, just after Canada ________ diplomatic ties with South Africa.

5. fight

Last night, we ________ over issues we have _______ over for years.

6. keep

The snow _______ falling, which meant that the children had to be ________indoors.

7. put

He ________ his paper in the pile in which the other students had______ theirs.

8. write

I finally _______ to my parents, who complained that I should have ________weeks ago.

9. throw

Adam _______ the ball that Emily had_________ over the fence.

10. take

Before anyone else could have ________ it, I _______ the last piece of cake.

GPRC

Page 2

HS 1130 ENGLISH

Unit One, Assignment One

Part Three: TENSES Correct the faulty tense shifts in these paragraphs. Use the underlined verb as your time marker. Please do not rewrite this; write directly on this page. Stan is often labelled a failure by those who knew him. He will work hard at his menial job, is often praised by his boss, by the plant owner, and his co-workers, but whenever a promotion came up, Stan will not apply. He had a wife who was a school principal and was very successful at her job; his two children were happy, well adjusted, and reasonably good at school. He enjoyed gardening, fishing, and carpentry and would be a good neighbour, a thoughtful friend, and a contributing member of his small community. Twice, Stan was offered a chance to move to the head office of his company, but both times he smiles, shakes his head, and declines the offer. Once, his boss takes him aside after the owners have offered Stan a chance to double his salary by moving to the United States. Stan turns them down. The boss is frustrated and asks Stan what is wrong with him. Stan just shrugs his shoulders and says, Im not a failure. The fact is, I started at the bottom, and I like it here!

Part Four: CHOOSING PRONOUNS Revise the following paragraph, correcting all pronoun errors. When my friend Jan and me signed up for a college course called Winter Wilderness Adventure, we werent sure what we were getting into. To be honest, it seemed a pretty easy credit for she and I. At our first class, however, our professor and her two assistants made it clear to we students that there was an academic component to the course in addition to the week-long trip to
GPRC Page 3

HS 1130 ENGLISH

Unit One, Assignment One

a trappers camp up north. Everyone had to present a seminar on an aspect of winter outdoors, so Jan and me chose to talk about tree identification. This was a new topic for we urban dwellers, so there was quite a bit of research involved, especially since we were expected to identify trees from their shape, bark, and branches alone. After three preparatory sessions, our professor, her assistants, and us students all headed north in a bus for a week of snowshoeing, skiing, and exploring the winter wilderness. We had been so well prepared that the -30C temperatures werent a problem for we novice adventurers. Jan and me did well in our seminar, and our classmates gave some interesting presentations on animal tracks, skiing techniques, basic first aid, and ice fishing. Our professor said we were one of the best groups her and her assistants had ever taken on the trip. Both her and the class were really pleased with our week in the wilderness. At the end of our last classroom session back at the college, all of we students thanked our professor for a great course.

Part Five: PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT Correct the errors of pronoun antecedent agreement in the following exercise. 1. One of a teachers most important duties is to make sure that their students get away early on the Friday before March Break. 2. How does the person that runs the snowplow manage to drive their car to work in the morning? 3. Has anyone thought to bring their corkscrew, or are we all the type of people that drink our wine exclusively from a twist-top bottle?

GPRC

Page 4

HS 1130 ENGLISH

Unit One, Assignment One

4. Greta revealed to Molly that she had been seen going to the mall last week with her best friends husband. 5. I prefer a mouse to key commands even though this slows me down. 6. Once Gretzky had scored more goals than Howe, he seemed to have a load off his shoulders. Part Six: SENTENCE ANALYSIS (SVOCA) Instructions: Analyze the following sentences according to the rule of SVOCA (Subject, Verb, Object, Complement, Adverbial). Write the pattern of the sentence in the blank. This part of the quiz is identical in both Quiz A and B.

C SVC ________ ________ ________ _______ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________

Example: I / am / a fool! 1. Janine is kind. 2. She loves everyone. 3. Yesterday, she baked cookies. 4. She gave me one dozen. 5. Usually, I dont eat sweets. 6. Janines baking is so good, I ate all the cookies. 7. Now, I feel terrible! 8. I ate all twelve! 9. Tomorrow, and in the coming weeks, I will exercise. 10. If the weather is good, I will run.

GPRC

Page 5

HS 1130 ENGLISH

Unit One, Assignment One

GPRC

Page 6