Monday, June 21, 2010

GRAMMAR QUESTION, June 21st, 2010

Correct the errors in the following sentence:
A visitor to Vietnam must to remember taking their anti-malaria medicine regular to be affective preventing them from sickness and it would spoil the trip.

(The "problems" will be discussed in the next edition of the blog.)

PUZZLE, June 21st, 2010

Congratulations to Ashlee for solving last week's puzzle.

Previous puzzle: Suggested answers
1. Rode - Can = rod/cane
2. Font - Farce = front/face
3. Tory - Stale = story/tale
4. Dire - Cash = die/crash
5. Self - Shill = shelf/sill

New Puzzle: Five words that contain OD as a letter-pair have had all of their other letters removed and placed into a pool. Put those letters back in their proper places. What are the words?

*OD**, ***OD, *OD***, **OD***, ****OD*

Pool: A, B, C, C, C, E, E, E, H, I, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, T, U, Y
Each asterisk represents one missing letter.

ALL CHANGE! June 21st, 2010

Change the words in the sentence below as indicated. You can only change the exact word in the sequence given; after someone else has posted the next change, then you can post another change. For instance, student 1 writes #1 Subject Noun, and changes the subject noun; Student 2 writes #2 Direct Object Noun, and changes that noun. Each student only makes one change at a time and keeps to the order indicated. If you complete all 7 changes, then start making more changes again from 1 to 7. Each student should build on the changes that the previous students make

Caring parents skillfully nurture their children's talents.

Changes: 1. subject noun        2. direct object noun               3. indirect object noun                4. adjective(s)      5. adverb(s)           6. verb name           7. verb tense

COMPLETE THE SENTENCE, June 21st, 2010

Use the type of clause, phrase, or grammar indicated to complete the following sentence in each of the three ways indicated; you can add the phrase or clause before or after (not both) to the clause below:

Canada Day is on Thursday this week
1. Use a phrase      2. Use a dependent clause      3. Use an independent clause

VOCABULARY, June 21st, 2010

Vocabulary building is important for both reading comprehension and writing. Use the following two words (note the part of speech) in one sentence.

irrevocably (adverb) + propensity (noun)

To further improve your vocabulary, check Word of the Day every day! There are also word games and puzzles on this site.

PLAIN ENGLISH, June 21st, 2010

Writing clear, direct English is particularly important in a business context. Please rewrite the following item; there are many different but correct ways of doing this.

At the end of the day, we would be failing in our responsibility to those other subscribers who have faithfully kept their promise to support our very worthy cause, if we did not request that you similarly fulfill your obligation to us.

Hint: Check Chapter 9 of Barron's Business English, and avoid using the passive voice and other wordy construction!

SENTENCE COMBINATION, June 21st, 2010

Learning to combine ideas into more complex sentences is an important skill in writing. There are many ways to do this--many possible bonus points! Try to combine the following three sentences.
Sentence 1: Canada Day falls in the middle of the week this year.
Sentence 2: The fireworks display is also really good, but it happens very late because of the long daylight hours.
Sentence 3: The July 1st holiday is a great way to start the new month.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

GRAMMAR QUESTION, June 9th, 2010

Correct the errors in the following sentence:
Everyone of the runners who are in the race are here but we can't get started with the first ones until you line up on a starting line.

PUZZLE, June 9th, 2010

Previous puzzle: Congratulations to Colin for solving the previous puzzle. Suggested answers
word pair              answer
1. Flat/Pump       =fat/plump
2. Feather/Crate =father/create
3. Bet/Stop        =best/top
4. Ear/Trip         =tear/rip
5. Lopes/Shills   =slopes/hills

New Puzzle: move a single letter from one word to the other, make a pair of synonyms, or near synonyms. For example: Boast - Hip, move the 's' from 'Boast' to 'Hip' creating two synonyms: Boat - Ship.

1. Rode - Can =
2. Font - Farce =
3. Tory - Stale =
4. Dire - Cash =
5. Self - Shill =

ALL CHANGE! June 9th, 2010

Change the words in the sentence below as indicated. You can only change the exact word in the sequence given; after someone else has posted the next change, then you can post another change. For instance, student 1 writes #1 Subject Noun, and changes the subject noun; Student 2 writes #2 Direct Object Noun, and changes that noun. Each student only makes one change at a time and keeps to the order indicated. If you complete all 7 changes, then start making more changes again from 1 to 7. Each student should build on the changes that the previous students make

My younger brother happily lent his best friend his new bicycle.
Changes: 1. subject noun       2. direct object noun             3. indirect object noun              4. adjective(s)      5. adverb(s)           6. verb name           7. verb tense

COMPLETE THE SENTENCE, June 9th, 2010

Use each (all three) type of clause, phrase, or grammar indicated to complete the following sentence; you can add the phrase or clause before or after (not both) to the clause below:

I welcome the chance to celebrate Father’s Day
1. Use a phrase 2. Use a dependent clause 3. Use an independent clause

VOCABULARY, June 9th, 2010

Vocabulary building is important for both reading comprehension and writing. Use the following two words (note the part of speech) in one sentence.
autonomy (noun) + discredit (verb)
To further improve your vocabulary, check Word of the Day every day! There are also word games and puzzles on this site.

SENTENCE COMBINATION, June 9th, 2010

Learning to combine ideas into more complex sentences is an important skill in writing. There are many ways to do this--many possible bonus points! Try to combine the following three sentences.
Sentence 1: Sita asked if Father’s Day was just another marketing gimmick.
Sentence 2: Cory replied that because his father was the best, he was happy to have an excuse to let him know that.
Sentence 3: Cory also said that it was possible to appreciate fathers without participating in the marketing hype.