The following sentences were written by students from many different language backgrounds. Copy and paste the text below the box into the body of your email or in a text document. Analyze each sentence for grammatical, lexical, and mechanical accuracy. If a sentence is completely correct, write NO CHANGE. If there are any errors, revise the sentence as necessary. Identify each independent (main) clause by marking it in bold or by putting brackets [ ] around it. Alternatively, print out this page and mark it by hand in pen.
The first two items are done for you. Each independent (main) clause is marked in bold.
1. When I visited Hong Kong in last summer, the weather
was so hot that my daughter got sick.
Revision: When I visited Hong
Kong last summer, the weather was so hot that my daughter got sick.
Explanation: When
using an adverb phrase such as "last summer", do not also use a preposition.
Otherwise, you may use a prepositional phrase such as "in summer",
but this does not indicate past, present or future.
2. Although I have been
in the United States for more than ten years, my written and oral English
are still very poor.
NO CHANGE
Explanation: This complex sentence is correct in content,
grammar, vocabulary and mechanics. The first clause is an adverbial DC; the
second clause is the IC.
3. Thanks internet that it can connect us much closer than ever and give us so many conviences, which can not be imagined before.
4. It is so warm and moved when you know your long lost friends are still thinking about you.
5. So I eager to open my mail box when I came into office or back from company for surprise, even though I know most of time it is empty or nothing.
6. Until I began to study ESL970G, I began to understand English grammar.
7. After I finished my homework, I went with my sister and mother to the shoping center.
8. Since I have studied English grammar with Marsha Chan, my grammar doubts have begun to disappear.
9. I met with the Lab manager because I had to explain to him personally in details what have to be done.
10. While I was preparing a test board and set up for high temperature characterization, my coworker was writing the test program.
11. The hardest part of making art is not the skill, which I can improve by practicing, it is the new idea for each painting.
12. A great artist is special because he has a viewpoint that is different from others.
13. I'm taking ESL970LS at mission college because I want to improve my speaking ability.
14. I had an assignment which I had to interview an American about American eating habits.
15. I bought a magazine which introduces about Cowboys and Cowboy Girls.
16. I saw the photoes of Cowboy Girls who decorated in western costums were pretty.
17. I came from Burma which is a small country.
18. I have been in the U.S. for years, since I immigrated here.
19. My kids like to watch TGIF which I don't like that much on every Friday.
20. I was doing my homework while I was listening the music.
21. I had always commuted by bus until I began working at Sony, then I began to take the train.
22. Because I must get up at 3:45 each morning I usually try to get in bed by 9:00 each evening.
23. Living with four cats makes life interesting, since I never know when one of them might decide to present me with a token of his or her affection.
24. My friend Terry who has two dogs kept in her house.
25. If I sold my house, how much I could ask for.
26. I will be glad when I am finished my assignment.
27. The sudent sitting next to me asking a lot of questions that I can't answer.
28. It's dangerous to stand under the tree when it is rainning.
29. The man, whom Alice met in the meeting,
was my Esl teacher.
After you have completed this exercise, check
the Answer Key.
Marsha Chan, Mission College, Santa Clara, CA
Go to class at wvmccd.angellearning.com