An article is a word that defines a noun as either specific or non-specific. Articles come just before nouns. There are three types of articles; they are “a”, “an”, and “the.” These words are always used before a noun and are therefore determinants of the specificity of the noun in the sentence.

Also known as an essential clause, a restrictive clause defines the essence of a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence. It is not separated by commas from the rest of the sentence. Generally, restrictive clauses are very common in writing when compared to nonrestrictive clauses. “They decided to meet where the band was performing” contains a restrictive clause.

Option B and option C both make sense and this can be seen in statements like “I hate his cooking” and “I hate him cooking.” Option C however fits more clearly in the statement as it describes John’s hatred for Kenny’s singing in the bathroom. He might prefer him singing in the kitchen or any other place but he dislikes his singing in the bathroom.

A declarative sentence simply declares something. In other words, it is more of a statement than an interrogative, imperative, or exclamative sentence. The structure of a typical declarative sentence is a subject added to a verb. With this, a statement is made and the sentence is ended with a period.

A verb that comes before a lexical verb is called a helping verb. In other words, they assist the main verb in a sentence by extending its meaning. They complete the structure of the sentence by adding more detail to the main verb. “Janice will be taking dancing lessons for the last time” has “will be” as its helping verb. In this sentence, the helping verb forms a progressive tense in the sentence.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs were made in the past but are still very applicable to society today. As a result of this, a present perfect tense is most appropriate. Using “has become” means the revolutionary legacy left by Wright on architecture is still in use even till this day. Therefore still making him an icon of modern architecture.

Only option D uses the hyphen correctly. In the other options, the words there do not need hyphens. In option A, two adjectives can be hyphenated but not after a noun. In other words, the phrase “well-behaved little sister” is correct unlike “my little sister was well-behaved” which is not allowed in the rules of the English language.

A subordinating conjunction can be a word or a phrase used to link the main clause to a subordinate clause. Some examples of subordinating conjunction include after, that, wherever, while, why, unless, in order to, even though, even if, etc. these words and phrases can be used to join the main clause to a subordinating clause. They always come at the beginning of the subordinating clause and they tend to talk about time, condition, comparison, cause, concession, and place. In the sentence “Charlotte swept the floor after she finished cooking”, the word “after” acts as subordinating conjunction and it helps in linking the main clause (Charlotte swept the floor) to the dependent clause (she finished cooking).

When a word or phrase is placed between a particle and a to-infinitive, such grammatical construction is called a split infinitive. When there is an adverb between a “to” and a verb in a sentence, it becomes a split infinitive. Some examples are “to clearly see”, “to further develop”, “to more than double”. “Our mission is to boldly go where no one has gone before” has in it a split infinitive. The correct answer is option A

Homophones are words pronounced the same way but with different spellings and meanings. In the question, “there”, “their”, and “they’re” are common homophones but not all of them are placed correctly to make sense in their respective sentences. Option B used a “their” at the very beginning of the sentence instead of a “there”, option C used a “there” mid-sentence instead of a “their”, while option D used a “their” instead of a “there” at the end of the sentence. All of these words have the same pronunciations but with different spellings and meanings.

Non-specific word choices are those words that are not specific and when used in sentences, they lack detail. Words and phrases like everyone, every man, they, them, soon, cheap, more than, rumor has it, not quite, virtually, etc. These words are vague and thus can be applied to a wide spectrum of things. In verbal communication, they are used as a way to postpone a meaningful answer when the speaker is not ready to provide it.

The transition word best suited to connect the clauses is “However”

Transition words and phrases are vital tools in communication. They help to link clauses to establish coherence within a discuss; hence, making it more interesting. Transitional words and phrases can express agreement (e.g., likewise), contradiction (e.g., nevertheless), cause (e.g., with this in mind), emphasis (e.g., that is to say), effect (e.g., therefore), conclusion (e.g., in essence), sequence (e.g., henceforth) and location (e.g., nearby)

“However,” is used to express contradiction and in the question, the clauses were contradictive.

When forming the superlative degree of adjectives, the suffix that is most commonly added to the root word is -est. The suffixes used to form the plural forms of most words are known to be either -s or -es (options B and D), whereas option C (-er) is the suffix that is most commonly used in forming the comparative degree of most adjectives.

An essential appositive is a phrase or short description placed before a noun or pronoun, as an explanation. It is an important part of a sentence since the sentence will have a different meaning than it originally would, and so it does not need to carry a comma.

Options A, B, and D all have elements that can be done away with and carry commas in the indicative positions, so they are wrong.

The statement above refers to the past. Therefore it needs a verb in the past tense to complete it. The most suitable verb among the options provided is “became”. “Had become” would have been the correct Answer if the statement had begun with “by” instead of “during”.

The exclamation point is closely associated with interjections. This is rightly so because interjections are words or phrases which often express emotions. The exclamation point is a punctuation mark that can be used to show emphatic utterances in writing. That is, exclamation points can describe emotions in writing.

“It” correctly completes the sentence because a telephone is a singular object which is also a noun. The term “it” can be used to replace a singular object and noun. The other options are incorrect because they don’t fit properly.

Temporal words are time-related. They function as helpers and prompters for the next series of events. Even though the majority of temporal words consist of one word -usually prepositions- (e.g. on, by, before, after, etc), some phrases (e.g. after that, soon after, before that, etc) also function as temporal words.

In essence, temporal words help to show how time passes, or the position an event occupies in the sequence of things.

“Hence” can be replaced with “therefore”, “as a result”, etc., and should be immediately followed by a comma usually when a semicolon precedes it.

When used to mean “from now”, it doesn’t require a comma.

For example, “Mary likes to pick flowers, to play with butterflies, and to walk in the park” exhibits perfect parallelism, unlike “Mary likes to pick flowers, play with butterfly, and to walk in the park”.

In American English, “center” is used, while British English users say “centre”.

In emails, “PS” is usually written after the sender’s signature, and can be used in both formal and informal contexts.

Generally, “PS” is used to add something that was excluded in the main body.

Both “PS” and “P.S” are correct when used.

For example:

“Mildred has finally chosen to accept the truth.”

The word “except” is used when excluding something or a group from the rest.

For example:

“Share the pies among the children except those at the back row.”

E.g.

Do not talk whilst eating (British)

Do not talk while eating (American)

For an uncertain amount of time, “while” is most commonly used.

Both can be used to refer to dreaming while asleep, and can be used interchangeably, depending on where you live. If you live in the U.S, for example, you’re more likely to say:

“I dreamed of libraries last night”

When referring to an aspiration, an abstraction that connotes hope, “dreamt” is more commonly used in Britain.

For example,

“Tobi has always dreamt of becoming an astronaut”.

For example,

“When cooking, Frank uses not only the kosher salt, but he also includes the table salt.”

– “Not only… but also” can be used to connect nouns as well. In such cases, it is wrong to use a comma, especially when the second clause is a dependent clause.

For example,

“His favourite instrument is not only the recorder but also trumpets and trombones.”

Italics are used for titles of longer works. e.g. song albums, book and movie titles, etc.

On the other hand, “latter” is used to refer to the most recently mentioned part of a pair of something that has also been previously mentioned.

Former: before

Latter: after.

For example, “I don’t like bread because of its aftertaste.”

The word “because” serves to connect both sentences.