Another Handout for the ECL-Impaired

(by your Learning-Guide Dog: Mr. Williams)

1. Pay very close attention to SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT. In the grammar questions, always
look for the SUBJECT first, if you are supposed to pick a verb to go with it.

2. Pay very close attention to TIME WORDS, such as

YESTERDAY TOMORROW RIGHT NOW LAST YEAR
NEXT YEAR TWO WEEKS AGO AT THIS MOMENT

These words determine the TENSE of the VERB that goes in the blank.

3. If you have TWO CLAUSES, pay close attention to the VERB TENSE of the completed clause
because that will determine the tense of the verb you need to put in the blank.

4. An extension of this Category will be the IF clauses, where the correct answer for one clause depends
totally on the verb form of the other clause.

5. You must learn how to create proper questions.

6. You must learn how to analyze TAG QUESTIONS.

7. Is it ACTIVE or PASSIVE VOICE? Look for the word “by” to indicate who or what does the action
in a passive voice sentence. Sometimes, however, the agent is missing.

8. You have to learn all the MODALS and their equivalents.

9. You have to learn which form of a verb (gerund? infinitive? simple form?)
I made the children GO to bed early.
I got the students TO DO their homework.

10. PRACTICE: All of the above are mixed for maximum confusion.

11. PREPOSITIONS

We have a few preposition rules, but a log of our preposition phrases are idiomatic. (We can’t explain
WHY we say it that way, only that we do it that way because that’s the way we do it).

12. You have to learn all the PRONOUNS.

We have personal pronouns (subjects and objects), possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative
pronouns, indefinite pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and reflexive pronouns. Unfortunately, you must
learn all of them.
13. You have to use DETERMINERS.

14. You have to learn all the CONNECTING WORDS---the conjunctions and the adverbial connectives.

15. A big problem will be VOCABULARY.

16. IF YOU HAVE THREE ANSWERS THAT ALL MEAN THE SAME THING, THEY CANCEL
EACH OTHER OUT AND YOU ARE LEFT WITH WHAT IS THE CORRECT ANSWER, EVEN IF YOU
DON’T KNOW THE MEANING OF IT.
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17. One aspect of vocabulary is your knowledge of PREFIXES.

18. We learn hundreds of phrasal verbs at DLI. You have to learn as many of them as you can.

19. You need to learn the different parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb), so that you can select
CORRECT WORD FORMS to fill in the blanks.

20. You must learn to use ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS correctly.

21. You have to learn proper SYNTAX (word order).

22. We have thousands of common IDIOMS. You must learn as many as possible, so you can figure out
what they mean in context.

23. You need to learn how to READ PARAGRAPHS for the main idea (skimming) or for specific
information (scanning). Always read the question(s) FIRST, so that you know what you are looking for
when you actually start to read the paragraph.