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About This Quiz
Okay, grammar geeks, here's how it works: We'll show you a sentence, and you tell us what the error is. The examples will start out relatively easy, but they'll get tougher as you go. Got it? Ready ... set ... nitpick!
Your not going to get very far on half a tank of gas.
"get" should be "go"
"Your" should be "you're"
"You're" is a contraction for "you are." "Your" is the possessive pronoun for "you." They sound alike, but most people see the problem when it is written down.
"on" should be "with"
no error
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Gemma and me were at the top of our class at the Academy.
"were" should be "was
"at" should be "in"
"me" should be I
The speaker is the joint subject of the sentence. A first-person subject is "I," not "me."
no error
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I was late for the job interview, I got stuck in the elevator.
this is a run-on sentence
this is a comma splice
both #1 and #2
A run-on sentence occurs when two sentences (or, to be fancy, independent clauses) are mashed together as one. When they are linked by a comma, it's called a comma splice. To make this sentence grammatically correct, though, you only need a semicolon or the word "because" between the clauses. An easy fix!
no error
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Its easier to know what's good grammar than to know the names for rules of grammar.
"what's" should be "what is"
"Its" should be "It's"
"Its" is a possessive pronoun. If you want to contract "it is," that requires an apostrophe.
"good" should be "well"
no error
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Oh man, I wish I could of seen it!
"could of" should be "could've" or "could have"
there should be a comma after "Oh"
definitely #1, maybe #2
Writing "could of" for "could've" will definitely get you in trouble. "Oh man" can be split up with a comma, or not, depending on whether you want the reader to "hear" a pause after "Oh."
no error
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If Jane likes the blind date we've set her up with.
this sentence needs a verb
It's easy to see this sentence is complete. It'd be harder to explain to a new learner *why* it's incomplete. After all, every sentence needs just two things, a noun and a verb, right? And this has those, in "Jane" and "likes". But the word "If" turns this into a dependent clause -- a clause with subject and verb that nonetheless can't stand along. It's now an introductory phrase, a lead-in.
this sentence needs a question mark
"we've" should be "we have"
no error
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As a prank, he disappeared my car keys.
"disappeared" should be "hid" or similar
"Disappeared" is not transitive: things or people disappear; they can't "be disappeared." Note: some human rights and amnesty groups do use "disappeared" when referring to repressive governments causing political opponents to vanish. It hasn't gained widespread acceptance, but it does make a point.
"As a prank" should be at the end of the sentence
"my" should be "mine"
no error
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We went to the store for: paper, scissors, glue, and glitter.
the final comma is unecessary
the colon is unnecessary
A colon cannot follow a dependent clause, and the one above is dependent because of the word "for," which signals more to come.
"for" should be "to buy" or similar
no error
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Will you like to get a drink with me, Joe?
"Joe" should come at the beginning of the sentence
"Will" should be "Would"
"Will" is the future tense; "Would" the conditional. If you're committed to using the future tense, for whatever reason, you'd say, "Will you get a drink with me?"
"get" should be "have"
no error
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Rather than switch roles at the last minute, she quit the play altogetherly.
"altogetherly" should be "altogether"
You probably saw right away that "altogetherly" is wrong. To be specific about why, though, "altogether" is already an adverb, making the -ly ending redundant.
you can't start a sentence with "Rather"
"Rather" should be "Instead of"
no error
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Being a professional astronomer, we were afraid to challenge his assertion that he saw a UFO.
"a UFO" should be "an UFO"
"were" should be "was"
"being a professional astronomer" doesn't go with "we," the subject of the sentence
This is a problem akin to subject-verb agreement. To make this sentence correct, you could write, "Being a professional astronomer, he seemed like a credible witness when he said he saw a UFO."
no error
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But we really didn't believe him when he said he saw an unicorn.
"an unicorn" should be "a unicorn"
Some people will argue with you about this rule -- they've been taught that a word starting with a vowel always requires "an." But the actual rule is that when a beginning vowel is pronounced like a consonant, it does not. So you'd say, "an unkind act," but "a unicorn."
a sentence cannot start with "But"
"when" should be "because"
no error
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In the city park, we found a studded dog's collar.
"In the city park" should go at the end of the sentence
"In the city park" doesn't match "we"
"studded dog's collar" is a dangling modifier
Technically, this needs to be "dog's studded collar." After all, it's not the dog that was studded. We say "technically" because the meaning here is clear, and when that's the case, this rule isn't one you should lose sleep over.
no error
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Stop exercising if you feel pain, dizziness, faint or short of breath.
this sentence lacks parallelism
This phrase, usually found on cardio equipment, bothers us every time we go to the gym. The words "pain" and "dizziness" are nouns. "Faint" and "short of breath" are adjectives (the latter being an adjective phrase). When you're creating a list like the one above, all the items should be the same part of speech. Don't mix and match.
this sentence has no subject
this sentence needs a comma after "faint"
no error
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Running can be really hard on your joints.
this sentence has no subject
"Running" should be preceded by "the activity of" or similar
"your" should be "you're"
no error
"Running" is a gerund, a present-participle verb that acts as a noun. So it absolutely is the subject of the sentence and needs no appositive or "helper" noun.
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My grandfather Jeb can still split his own wood at 80.
"80" should be eighty
"own" is unnecessary
"My grandfather" is redundant with "Jeb"
no error
When someone is identified in two ways -- often as a proper noun that follows a common noun, as above -- the second noun is called an appositive. Some people would put a comma before and after "Jeb," but that's a matter of personal preference.
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Meg, my grandmother, is learning to code at 78.
the commas are unecessary
"Meg" and "my grandmother" are redundant with each other
"Meg" and "my grandmother" should be reversed
no error
This example inverts the one previously given of "My grandfather Jeb." In this sentence, commas are essential to "hearing" the pause after "Meg." That's the essential purpose of punctuation -- to convey to the reader the pauses or inflections that they'd hear if the sentence were spoken. The classic example of this is the question mark, reflecting the upward lilt a question has, but commas do similar work.
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I went with her to the movie's opening night.
"movie's" means "movie is" in this context
"her" is a possessive pronoun
"her" has no proper-noun antecedent
no error
The key is that "her" is an unusual pronoun -- the same whether it is personal or possessive. There's a little schoolyard rhyme based on this: "She's got freckles on her, but she's cute!" (Say it aloud a time or two and you'll get the joke.)
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In "The Wizard of Oz," Dorothy is accompanied by the tin man, the scarecrow, and the cowardly lion.
the final comma is totally unnecessary, and pretentious to boot!
how dare you say that Oxford comma is unnecessary!
life's too short to care about this
If you're ever seen the "Onion" headline that reads, "4 Copy Editors Killed in Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang War," you'll have an sense of how seriously some grammarians take the Oxford (or serial) comma. Its detractors call it snobbish, a marker of belonging to an educated elite. Its supporters say without it, the second-to-last item is rendered slightly less important than previous ones. Cooler heads, trying to prevail, call it a matter of personal preference and leave it at that.
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We opened the door for the dancers, Pope Francis and Clint Eastwood.
"We" has no antecdent
this sentence needs an Oxford comma
Here's an example of a sentence in which the Oxford or serial comma really is needed (and the humorous "can't possibly" choice above hints at why). The way the above sentence is written, it looks like Pope Francis and Clint Eastwood *are* the dancers! An Oxford comma, though, turns the sentence back into a short list -- which is what is is.
Pope Francis, Clint Eastwood and dancers can't possibly be in the same sentence
no error
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We had to stop at the bakery; Alice loves croissants.
a comma should replace the semicolon
a colon should replace the semicolon
this needs to be two separate sentences
the semicolon should be replaced with a word like "because"
no error
Does it make us grammar geeks that we think the semicolon is the most elegant of all punctuation marks? It take two independent clauses that could be their own sentences, but links them to each other, subtly underscoring the fact that they are thematically linked or sequential. While a colon or the word "because" could work, the semicolon is arguably the best choice.
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The deer was in my garden, eating all my roses.
"was" should be "were"
"was" should be "had been"
no error
it's very hard to tell if there is an error or not
"Deer" is that rare word that is the same singular as plural, so listeners and readers must rely on context. Here there isn't enough context to know whether it was a single deer or several, so there might or might not be a subject-verb agreement problem here.
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It was me who let the dogs out!
"me" should be "I"
"is" is a linking verb, setting "it" and "me" on equal footing as the subject of the sentence. Therefore, "me" should be "I". That's also why "who" is correct here, not whom.
"who" should be "whom"
"It" needs an antecedent
no error
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Cutting corners was an anathema to her.
the word "an" should be "a"
the word "an" is unnecessary
Anathema is a noun, but a non-count noun, meaning it is a concept, not a tangible or quantifiable thing. It helps to think of it like an adjective: "Cutting corners was [repugnant] to her."
"Cutting" should be "to cut"
no error
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Our children play together all the time.
"Our" should be "Us"
"play" needs a direct object
"together" is unnecessary
no error
Here, "play" is an intransitive verb -- it requires no direct object. The children aren't playing a game called "together," they're just playing. The sentence would work equally well as "Our children play all the time," suggesting that they just play, not necessarily together.
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The assistant chef fried.
"assistant chef" should be hyphenated
"fried" requires an object
The issue here is that "fry" is a transitive verb, needing an object. "The assistant chef fried some fish" is grammatically correct. An indirect object ("for the hungry crowd") isn't needed.
"fried" requires an indirect object
no error
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The boss rained praise on him.
"rain" is impersonal " (a human cannot rain)
"rained" should be "rains"
"him" should be "he"
no error
While "rain" is an impersonal/defective verb, only the most rigid of grammarians would not accept its use here, which is metaphorical. If you really don't like it, though, you can always use "shower."
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The classroom aide handed out milks to the children.
"milk" is a non-count noun
"out" is unecessary
no error
either #1 or #3 is acceptable
Yes, "milk" is a non-count noun -- it's usually quantified only by the containers or units it's divided into (buckets, quarts, etc). However, we're not going to be sticklers here, since English speakers have been making non-count nouns into count nouns at least as long as Shakespeare! ( "... before we reckon with your several loves," Macbeth, Act V).
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So beautiful, so solitary, my old homeland!
this is a sentence fragment
It's tempting to mark "no error" here because the line looks like it's taken from poetry, and poets get away with this kind of thing. But we just made it up for this quiz, and when we average folks write a sentence without a verb, it's just a plain old fragment.
this is a run-on sentence
semicolons are required after "beautiful" and "solitary"
no error
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To be the bank robber, he would have had to have done his first heist at 14.
"To be" is an infinitive without an object
"To be the bank robber" is a dangling modifier
"would have had to have done" is wrong -- you can't speculate about the past
no error
The phrases "would have had to have done" is complicated, but it's not grammatically wrong; you certainly can speculate about the past. " ... to have committed" might make the sentence sound a little more elegant, but it's not necessary.
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Get out of my garden, right now!
this sentence needs a subject
"right now!" should be a separate sentence
this sentence needs a colon, not a comma
no error
In the imperative mood, the one that conveys commands or orders, "you" can be omitted. It's understood, and is the subject of the sentence.
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I wish I was a judge, and could just wear a robe to work every day!
"I" needs to precede "could just"
"could just" should be "would just"
"was" should be "were"
The subjunctive mood -- which deals with wish, hope, might-have-beens, and so on -- sometimes uses different verbs than the indicative. In the first person, "was" becomes "were."
no error
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However, I left the party fairly early.
the comma is not needed
you can't start a sentence with "However"
There's a popular but incorrect belief that you can't start a sentence with a conjunction, like "but," "and," "so" ... or "however." However, this is wrong: if the sentence is clear and the context understood, it's fine.
"fairly" and "early" should be separated, as both look like adverbs
no error
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She had yet to pick her Maid of Honor.
"had yet" is an obsolete phrase
"Maid of Honor" should be all lowercase
English already capitalizes far more words than many other languages do. Not content with this, English speakers tend to promote words to capitalized status that don't merit it. Editors spend a lot of time correcting this tendency in the work of inexperienced writers.
"her" should be "a"
no error
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In his spare time, he likes to lager beer.
this sentence is missing a verb
the comma is unnecessary
the comma should be a semicolon
no error
Sorry -- we were just winnowing out the home brewers from the casual beer drinkers! Home brewers will know that "lager" is a verb; to casual drinkers, it's an adjective.
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The new student, Storm, said they were gender-nonbinary.
"they" should be "he" or "she"
"gender-nonbinary" should not be hyphenated
no error
it's kind of too early to say ....
Welcome the forefront of the culture wars, 101st Grammar Battalion! It's long been okay, at least in informal conversation, to use "they" to refer to a theoretical person of unknown gender. It's only recently that gender-nonbinary individuals have begun to claim "they" for a single, known person. On liberal-arts college campuses, people are likely to bristle if you don't want to use it; in more conservative settings, people are likely to bristle if you do (unless they're just confused). Stay tuned to see how this one shakes out.
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