Grammar and Sentence Structure Quiz

Study Notes

Clauses

Clauses are groups of words containing a subject and a verb.
Independent clauses express a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.
Dependent clauses cannot stand alone as a sentence; they depend on an independent clause to complete their meaning.

Sentence Type

Declarative sentences state a fact or an idea.
Interrogative sentences ask a question.
Imperative sentences give a command or make a request.
Exclamatory sentences express strong emotion.

Sentence Problems

Fragments are incomplete sentences lacking a subject, verb, or both.
Run-on sentences join two or more independent clauses without proper punctuation.
Comma splices join two or more independent clauses with only a comma.

Subject-Verb Agreement

The subject and verb of a sentence must agree in number. A singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb.

Fragment

A fragment is a group of words that may contain a subject and a verb, but does not express a complete thought.
Example: Walking down the street. (lacks a complete thought)
Example: Because the dog was hungry. (dependent clause)

Run-on and Comma Splice

Run-on sentences join two or more independent clauses without proper punctuation.
Example: I went to the store I bought milk.
Comma splices join two or more independent clauses using only a comma.
Example: The dog barked, it scared the cat.

Parallelism

Parallelism is the use of similar grammatical structures to express related ideas.
This creates balance and flow in writing.
Example: I like swimming, hiking, and reading. (all gerunds)
Example: She enjoys going to the movies, playing video games, and painting. (all verbs with "ing")

Tenses

Tenses show the time of an action or state of being.
Different tenses are used to express different points in time (past, present, future, present perfect, past perfect, future perfect).
Understanding tense is vital to conveying the timing of events correctly.

Vocabulary - Word Forms

Words have different forms (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) and can have different meanings depending on the context.
Understanding different word forms helps with effective communication and expands vocabulary.
Knowing prefixes and suffixes can help in determining the meaning of new words and expanding your vocabulary.

Description

Test your knowledge on clauses, sentence types, and common sentence problems. This quiz covers essential grammar rules such as subject-verb agreement and identifying fragments. Perfect for students looking to strengthen their writing skills.