Here is study information for each quiz.

English Quiz 1

English Quiz 2

English Quiz 3

English Quiz 4

Quiz 1 on English: Apostrophe, Active-Passive, Accept-Except, Among-Between, Amount-Number

• Misuse of the apostrophe (possessives and contractions)

  For review, see Self Test on the Apostrophe. If you do not do well, go here for information on correct use of the apostrophe. Also look here for info on possessives.

• Avoiding passive voice

  See Active and Passive Voice (explanation and selftest).

• A few common confusions  

  accept / except

  affect / effect

  among / between

  amount / number

Quiz 2 on English: Run-ons and Fragments

• Misuse of the comma

  For review, see Commas (explanation and selftests).

• Your friend the semicolon

• Run-on sentences

  Take the following self-tests to see if you need help:
  Self Test 1 on Run-ons;
  Self Test 2 on Run-ons;
  Self Test 3 on Run-ons (Comma Splices).

• Sentence fragments

  To see if you need help here, take the following self-tests:
  Self Test 1 on Sentence Fragments;
  Self Test 2 on Sentence Fragments;
  Self Test on Fragments and Run-ons.

Quiz 3 on English: Singular-Plural, Danglers, Parallelism, Wordiness, "e.g.", "i.e."

• Errors in singular-plural agreement

  For more info, see Singular/Plural Matching (explanation).

• Danglers (aka "misplaced modifiers")

  O'Conner has a whole chapter on danglers. Read it; it's a hoot! See here for another excellent explanation, and do the Self Test on Danglers.

• Parallel construction

  See Parallelism (explanation and selftest).

• Wordy, fat, redundant sentences

  Most students need work on this! See Writing Concisely (explanation and selftests).

• e.g. / i.e.

Quiz 4 on English: Miscellaneous Common Confusions and Spelling Errors

• The following common confusions:

  accept / except

  affect / effect

  among / between

  amount / number

  cite / site / sight

  chord / cord

  complement / compliment

  compose / consist / comprise

  conscience / conscious

  desert / dessert

  disinterested / uninterested

  do / due ("The paper is due Friday. I know you can do it!")

  each other / one another

  e.g. / i.e.

  everyday / every day

  fewer / less

  imply / infer

  it’s / its

  know / no ("You're kidding! No way! You don't know this?")

  loose / lose

  posses (more than one posse, as in "We'll round up a posse, Sheriff")

  possess (have)

  principal / principle

  sole / soul

  ("Now that I'm dying, my sole concern is the fate of my soul!")

  than / then

  there / they’re / their

  udder / utter (Look this one up if you don't get it: it's too funny!)

  waver / waiver
  A waver is someone who waves. "Waver" is also a verb meaning to be unsteady.

  weather / whether

  who’s / whose

  your / you’re     
  Your is the possessive form of the pronoun you, meaning "belonging to you," while you're is a contraction of "you are." "The New Age guru said, 'You're your best friend.'"

• The following words occur commonly in philosophy papers. Spell these words correctly!

  accommodate
  acquaintance
  argument
  believe
  causal
  conceive
  consistency
  definition
  empirical
  existence
  inherent
  judgment
  knowledge
  necessary
  occurrence
  phenomenon (singular)
  phenomena (plural)
  philosophy
  principal
  principle
  separate
  supersede

Your exam on English, which counts 10% of your grade, will be Thursday March 2. The English exam will NOT consist of multiple choice questions. You will be required to retype and if necessary, correct or rewrite ENTIRE SENTENCES, each possibly containing multiple errors. See the Study Guide for the English Exam for more information.