Grammar: 1001 Practice Questions For Dummies (+ Free Online Practice). Geraldine Woods
the network _____ (serious, seriously) threatens to cancel it.
380. Jackson’s gift was _____ (extreme, extremely) _____ (generous, generously), even though he considered the donation _____ (minimal, minimally).
381. Dave feels _____ (happy, happily) because the voters _____ (sure, surely) agree with his position on the _____ (controversial, controversially) issue.
382. “Play _____ (nice, nicely),” exclaimed the _____ (over, overly) strict babysitter, but the children continued their _____ (rough, roughly) games.
383. It’s _____ (real, really) _____ (unusual, unusually) for an amateur to discover such a _____ (rare, rarely) fossil.
384. Mina worked _____ (hard, hardly), but the _____ (low, lowly) grade she _____ (sad, sadly) read on her paper did not reflect her efforts.
385. Children who behave _____ (bad, badly) should be scolded _____ (prompt, promptly) and then given a chance to improve with the _____ (gentle, gently) guidance of their caretakers.
386. _____ (Ripe, Ripely) plums taste _____ (sweet, sweetly), but fruit picked too soon may be _____ (bitter, bitterly).
387. Walk _____ (rapid, rapidly) down the hall and turn _____ (sharp, sharply) when you reach the _____ (first, firstly) door on the left.
388. I feel _____ (bad, badly) that I spoke _____ (insulting, insultingly) to my most _____ (important, importantly) client.
389. Eileen appeared _____ (merry, merrily) at the party, but afterward, she sounded _____ (sad, sadly) and _____ (nervous, nervously).
390. Anything _____ (wicked, wickedly) makes us feel _____ (uncomfortable, uncomfortably), at least for a _____ (short, shortly) time.
391. It’s _____ (certain, certainly) true that young children often wait less _____ (patient, patiently) for their turns to play _____ (fun, funnily) games.
392. The _____ (wide, widely) seen broadcast was _____ (sure, surely) helpful to the show’s _____ (dismal, dismally) ratings.
393. The senator _____ (sudden, suddenly) interrupted to declare _____ (firm, firmly) that she was _____ (political, politically) neutral.
Dealing with Articles
394–402 Choose a or an to precede each expression.
394. apple, orange, banana
395. card, printer, outdoor trip
396. bicycle, old-fashioned radio, modern style
397. everyday dish, light, history
398. amusing story, unusual incident, original song
399. initial impression, very happy child, additional payment
400. historic occasion, important dictionary, telephone
401. herb garden, fir tree, balcony
402. orphan, adventure, email
Hyphenating Descriptions
403–411 Identify the description(s) that correctly include or omit hyphens.
403.
1 self-cleaning oven
2 best-dressed list
3 package of blue-pens
404.
1 recently passed law
2 brown-eyed boy
3 poorly-expressed idea
405.
1 third base coach
2 very-shallow water
3 sixth-grade math
406.
1 nine-year-old kid
2 constantly-changing world
3 nearly-enough candy
407.
1 tension-relieving exercise
2 a job well done
3 newly formed committee
408.
1 three-blind mice
2 very-happy puppy
3 less-valid argument
409.
1 elementary school desk
2 Yankees baseball team
3 book review section
410.
1 more interesting story
2 red haired doll
3 extremely difficult problem
411.
1 annual-dental exam
2 language-proficiency test
3 mostly-boring material
Chapter 9
Going Long: Descriptive Phrases and Clauses
Short descriptions — the adjectives and adverbs covered in Chapter 8 — add a lot of meaning to your sentences. Why stop there? Longer descriptive elements, also known as phrases and clauses, can really drive home your message. The good news is that long descriptions are fairly easy to construct. The not-so-good news is that slotting these descriptions into the proper spot can be tricky. The questions in this chapter hone your skill in correctly situating phrases and clauses, as well as a few slippery single-word descriptions.
The Questions You’ll Work On
In this chapter, you work on these concepts:
Recognizing the word or words described by phrases and clauses
Placing phrases and clauses so that they are clear and describe the appropriate word
What to Watch Out For
Keep these points in mind when you’re answering the questions in this chapter:
Prepositional phrases may function as an adjective, describing nouns or pronouns, or as an adverb, describing verbs.
Infinitives and participles may also act as descriptions. Infinitives (to + verb, such as to meet, to greet, to sleep) may describe nouns, pronouns, or verbs. Participles (the part of a verb you use with has, have, or had, such as given, driving, and the like) may describe nouns or pronouns.
Clauses (units of a sentence that contain a subject-verb pair) may describe nouns, pronouns, or verbs.
To find any sort of adjective, ask these questions: How many? Which one? What kind? To locate an adverb, ask the following: How? When? Where? Why? Under what conditions?
Every description, no matter how long or short, must be placed as near as possible to the word it describes. Only, just, almost, and nearly must be placed right before the word or words they apply to, not elsewhere in the sentence.
Steer clear of vague descriptions that may describe one or more words in the sentence. Your meaning must be clear.
When a verbal phrase