SPECIAL EDITION UWF WRITING LAB
 

ANSWER KEY TO 
"TEST YOURSELF"

If you missed one, you have excellent On-the-Job Grammar; 2 to 7, Good On-the-Job Grammar; 8 to 14, Fair On-the-Job Grammar; 15 or more, Weak to Poor On-the-Job Grammar.

1. INCORRECT Change you having to your having. (Use a possessive with a gerund.)
2. INCORRECT Change myself to me.  (Use a reflexive pronoun such as myself only when its antecedent is the subject of the sentence.)
3. INCORRECT between you and me (Use me, him, her, us, and them after between.)
4. INCORRECT Change I to me. (Use me, him, her, us, and them after with.)
5. CORRECT Use whoever as the subject of is on the list.
6. INCORRECT Use whomever as the object of the board chooses.
7. INCORRECT Change their to his or her. (Each physician is singular; their is plural.)
8. INCORRECT It’s is a contraction for it is.  Use its.
9. INCORRECT Change whom to who (may be interested in attending needs a subject.)
10. INCORRECT Add omitted word(s):  than she [is].
11. INCORRECT Change we to us after the preposition for.
12. INCORRECT They has no antecedent; reword the sentence.
13. INCORRECT Change are to is.  (The subject is support, not parents.)
14. INCORRECT Change are to be.  (Use subjunctive mood.)
15. INCORRECT Change have to has.  (Singular subjects joined by neither…nor are singular.)
16. INCORRECT Change There’s to There are.  (The subject is treatments, not there.)
17. INCORRECT Change focus to focuses to agree with the singular subject The Pensacola Pain & Injury Clinic.
18. INCORRECT Change are to is. (The subject is each, not cars.)
19. INCORRECT Change are to is. (The subject is prognosis, not patients.)
20. INCORRECT Change confirms to confirm.  (Subjects preceded by a number of are plural.)
21. INCORRECT Change have to has.  (Subjects preceded by the number of  are singular.)
22. INCORRECT Change help to helps.  (The subject is recycling, not directories.)
23. INCORRECT Change have to has.  (Singular subjects joined by either…or are singular.)
24. INCORRECT Change are to is.  (The subject is proposal; ignore the phrase as well as the budget.)
25. INCORRECT Change were to was.  (Neither is a singular pronoun.)
26. INCORRECT Change is  to are. (Data is plural.)
27. INCORRECT Change want to wants.  (Who refers to anyone, a singular pronoun.)
28. INCORRECT Change ran to run. (run, runs, running, ran, (has) run)
29. INCORRECT Change began to begun. (begin, begins, beginning, began, (has) begun)
30. INCORRECT Change went  to gone (go, goes, going, went, (has) gone)
31. INCORRECT Change does to do. (Of the people who do not follow policies, he is one of them.)
32. INCORRECT Irregardless is a nonstandard word.  Use regardless.
33. INCORRECT Change due to to because of, meaning “as a result of.”
34. INCORRECT In regards to is nonstandard for in regard to.
35. INCORRECT Change a to an.  (Use an before words or letters with an initial vowel sound.)

 

36. CORRECT Principal in this usage means “major,” “main,” “most significant.”
37. INCORRECT Change principle to principal to mean “major” or “main.”
38. INCORRECT Alumni is plural; use either alumnus or alumna.
39. INCORRECT Leave effected as is; effected  as a verb means “to bring about.”  Change affect to effect; effect as a noun means “result,” “consequence,” “impact.”
40. INCORRECT Change effected to affected, meaning “altered,” “changed.”
41. INCORRECT Capitol is a building; capital is everything else.
42. INCORRECT Always write “the reason…is that.”
43. INCORRECT “To apply…” is a dangling modifier.  Reword:  To apply…you must submit your application….
44. INCORRECT “On our website” is a misplaced modifier.  Move to the beginning of the sentence.
45. INCORRECT Reword dangling modifier: sounds as if the forms are getting the signatures.
46. INCORRECT Change good to well, an adverb.
47. INCORRECT One feels bad, not badly, about something.
48. INCORRECT Use an adverb – quickly.
49. INCORRECT The comparative form of clear  is clearer, not more clear.
50. INCORRECT Change real  to really  or very. (Real means “genuine.”)
51. INCORRECT Use neither  with nor, and either  with or.
52. INCORRECT Illogical:  change year to year’s for last year’s [raise].
53. INCORRECT Change loan officer to loan officer’s.  (Possessive form required.)
54. INCORRECT Add a comma after 2nd.  (Place a comma after each component of a date.)
55. INCORRECT Omit the comma after too.
56. INCORRECT Comma after secure is unnecessary. (Fast and secure are the coordinate adjectives.)
57. INCORRECT Delete colon.  (No colon after a verb or preposition.)
58. INCORRECT Change semicolon to a colon to precede the list.
59. INCORRECT Change comma preceding however to a semicolon to separate the two sentences properly.
60. INCORRECT Use semicolons to separate items in a series with internal commas.

 

THE WRITING LABORATORY (51/157)
UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA

(850) 474-2029 (Paper Reading)
(850) 474-2129 (Grammar Hotline)
(850) 474-2229 (Lab Assistants)
Fax: (850) 857-6305
e-mail: writelab@uwf.edu
Internet: www.uwf.edu/writelab

MAMIE WEBB HIXON, DIRECTOR

The Write Advice is a publication of the University 
of West Florida's Writing Laboratory, 2003.   

Publisher and Editor: Mamie Webb Hixon
Assistant Editors: Joan Hughes, Tina Blaas, Matt Britnell, Nadonnia Jones, Helen Richards, and Josh Britnell
Layout and Design: Jackie Lee, Duplicating Services
Online Conversion: Chris Bui

Go to page 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  Index

Site design and contents © UWF Writing Lab
writelab@uwf.edu