GRAMMAR REVIEW

A. GRAMMAR

Each of the questions or statements below is followed by four choices or completions. Write the letter
of the one that is best in each case.

1. In the Philippines, an increasing number of commuters ______ immune from the perils of city life.
A. that believe their families are
B. believes their families are
C. who believe their families to be
D. believe their families to be

2. For behavioral psychologists in the 1950’s, knowledge of linguistic features ____ very necessary for
comprehension to take place.
A. is C. are
B. was D. were

(1) The themes of liberty and freedom are central to much of American literature, particularly the
literature produced during the American Renaissance. (2) As the issues of women’s rights and abolition came
to the forefront of the American consciousness, writers delved deep into an exploration of the meaning of
freedom for the country and for individuals. (3) Three such writers from this time period who focus on issues
of freedom are Margaret Fuller, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Harriet Jacobs. (4) Each of these writers develop
an answer to the question posed by Stowe in Uncle Tom’s Cabin: “Liberty! – electric world! What is it?”

3. Which of the following sentences should be revised in order to correct an error?

A. Sentence 1, to correct an error in comma use
B. Sentence 2, to correct an error in apostrophe use
C. Sentence 3, to correct an error in comma use
D. Sentence 4, to correct an error in agreement

4. The following sentences observe correct subject-verb agreement EXCEPT:

A. The red clown together with the blue and yellow clowns looks pathetic.
B. Sam is the only one of the trainees who has applied.
C. Neither pins nor tape was holding the pieces.
D. Ten thousand pesos is very hard to earn nowadays.

5. Either the sister, who is in Canada for a two-week training, or the brother, who is in Singapore for a one-
year M.A. program, does not agree to _______ idea of spending summer vacation in the Philippines.
A. his father’s C. his/her father’s
B. her father’s D. their father’s

6. The following questions are prescriptively correct EXCEPT:

A. Whom are you writing to?
 B. For whom did you buy this gift?
C. Who can we turn to in a time of crisis?
D. Who sat down at the kitchen table?

7. Which of the following combination of person, number and case is shown in the underlined pronoun?
“It is you who should be held accountable.”
A. second person, plural, subjective
B. second person, singular, objective
C. second person, singular, subjective
D. second person, plural, objective

8. _____ a present to the party.

A. Except for you and I, everyone has brought
B. Except for you and I, everyone brought
C. Except for you and me, everyone brought
D. Except for you and me, everyone had brought

9. The transferee speaks more fluently than _____.

A. me C. mine
B. I D. my

10. The following sentences are grammatically correct EXCEPT:

A. She read it in a book.
B. Did you see the picture of the president in today’s newspaper?
C. I heard a new song on the radio.
D. We found American English resources in the Internet.

11. My friend answers a question as if she ____ an expert in the field of language teaching and learning.
A. is C. has been
B. was D. were

12. _____, the contractor would have had no difficulty in finishing the renovation of the restaurant on time.
A. If the construction strike has not occurred
B. If the construction strike would have not occurred
C. If it not been that the construction strike had occurred
D. If the construction strike had not occurred

13. Former President Noynoy Aquino complained that he was not given the 100-day honeymoon from
carping __________.
A. critiques C. criticism
B. critics D. critically

14. Which of the following words is prescriptively correct in the blank within this sentence?
“He _____ in bed all day yesterday because he had the flu.”
 A. lay C. laid
B. lie D. lain

15. Which of the following sentences expresses correct negation?

A. The good leaders rarely don’t need advice.
B. We barely recognized no one at the reunion.
C. I couldn’t scarcely recognize her after all these years.
D. The President did not really declare “no classes.”

16. Which can correctly complete this question?

“Did this Period of Imitation which began in 1910 when the College Folio made its appearance in the
University of the Philippines ___ to the conventional forms of literature?”
A. adhere B. adheres
B. adhered D. has adhered

17. Had they, my partners for this highly classified investigative work, _____ the instructions before they kept
the mobile phone?
A. write C. wrote
B. writes D. written

18. I _____ to Mom before Dad came home.

A. talked C. had talked
B. have talked D. will have talked

19. The circus audience _____ round of applause for the perfectly timed acrobatic stunt.
A. received a well-deserved
B. had given a well-deserved
C. did give a well-deserved
D. received a deserving

20. The incorrectly matched word from this direct speech with the part of speech is _____.
President Duterte said, “Do not bullshit with me, but do your duty.
A. do - verb
B. bullshit - adjective
C. but - conjunction
D. not - adverb

21. Which of the following uses ‘either’ as adjective?

A. It won't make much difference either way.
B. I refuse to meet either of them.
C. Either there's a problem or there isn't.
D. I don't want to go either.

22. I gave my younger brother _______.

 A. classy latest black pure-leather Gibi shoes
B. black pure-leather latest black Gibi shoes
C. Gibi black pure-leather latest classy shoes
D. pure-leather classy latest black Gibi shoes

23. Elsa is fast, _____ in her track and field batch on the National
Team.
A. if not as faster as anyone
B. if not faster than anyone else
C. if not faster than anyone
D. if not faster as anyone else

24. Which of the following is the most appropriate yes-no question for this sentence?
“The President has three to six months to address the problems on illegal drugs.”
A. Did the President have three to six months to address the problems on illegal drugs?
B. Does the President have three to six months to address the problems on illegal drugs?
C. Will the President have three to six months to address the problems on illegal drugs?
D. Had the President have three to six months to address the problems on illegal drugs

25. What is true of the following example?

“My goal, to be independently wealthy by the age of fifty, is looking increasingly unrealistic.”
A. It contains a gerund phrase.
B. It contains a participial phrase.
C. It contains an absolute phrase.
D. It contains an appositive phrase.

26. The following sentences contain linking verbs EXCEPT:

A. Winning the election appears unlikely at this point.
B. The transferee is quite eloquent.
C. The book becomes quite popular.
D. She is working hard for her family.

27. Which of the following best describes why good writers avoid passive-voice sentences?
A. Passive-voice sentences have more words than active-voice sentences.
B. Passive-voice sentences have fewer words than active-voice sentences.
C. Passive-voice sentences use verbs that are too colorful for ordinary writing.
D. Native speakers of English rarely use passive-voice sentences.
 
28. All of the following contains phrasal verbs EXCEPT:
A. The Board winded their meeting up quite early.
B. We look up to him as our role model.
C. Do not lean against the wall.
D. Am I going to round off the number?
29. A sentence that contains one independent clause and three dependent clauses is best described as
_____.
A. Simple sentence
B. Compound sentence
C. Complex sentence
D. Compound-complex sentence

30. Which of the following is the correct transformation of this direct statement into indirect or reported
statement?
“Does the government punish avengers of environmental laws?” he asks.
A. He asks if the government punishes avengers of environmental laws.
B. He asks when the government punishes avengers of environmental laws.
C. He asked if the government punished avengers of environmental laws.
D. He asked whether the government punish avengers of environmental laws.

Identifying Error
Directions: Identify the letter of the underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If
there is no error, encircle letter E.

31. Before the advent of modern surgical techniques, bleeding

A
patients with leeches were considered therapeutically effective
B C D
No error
E
32. The masterpiece which was auctioned so successfully depicts a
A
Biblical scene in which the king is on his throne with his
B C
counselors respectively standing below. No error
D E
33. The effort to create appropriate theatrical effects often result in
A B

settings that cannot be effective without an imaginative lighting

C D
crew. No error
E
34. The President together with his department secretaries is in
A B C
Central Luzon distributing relief good. No error
D E
35. If they will not start on time, they will be late. No error
A B C D E