REVIEWER IN ENGLISH

SAMPLE TEST 1
This review will be based on the sample exam that follows. You will be given 10 minutes to complete the sample
exam below. After you have taken the test, we will answer the items one by one and discuss the rules. ·

I. ERROR RECOGNITION: Determine which of the underlined parts in each sentence contains an error. Circle the
part which contains the error. If there is no error, write the letter E.

1. There's many reasons why people choose to pursue higher education.

2. One of the reasons people attend workshops include the desire for self- improvement.
3. Either one of the brothers spent too many time on the internet last night.
4. The panel come out with a verdict only when its decision is unanimous.
5. Neither the doorman nor the security guards is responsible for the break-in.
6. Beleiving in ghosts is often seen by psychologists as a sign of deep trauma.
7. Defending petty criminals was the lawyer's bread and butter.
8. The paper will have been delivered by the newsboy last night.
9. The news coming out of the capital city are not good.
10. The chairman and founder of the company were present last night during the banquet celebrating his
retirement.
11. The sisters had been going to the party at the local diner three hours ago.
12. Many reknowned scientists agree that the world is a sphere.
13. When the mother saw what had happened to her daughter after the experiment, he demanded that the
scientist be arrested.
14. The police was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who showed up at the funeral.
15. Due to the serious nature of the crime, the judge assigned to the case was her.
16. You and me must make certain that all the doors are locked before we leave.
17. The soldiers accosted my sister and l at the checkpoint leading to the border.
18. The tourism company gave each of the travelers their own map of the city.
19. Knowing, learning, and understanding is different from each other.
20. A number of the water bottles to be shipped out the following day was missing from the plantation.

II. SENTENCE COMPLETION: Choose the word that will best complete each statement.

1. The wedding ____over by the time the mayor arrives.

A. was C. will have been
B. is D. was going to be
2. The clock _____ even before the repairman arrived.
A has stopped C. is stopping
B. had stopped D. was stopping
3. Troy ____ every afternoon.
A is jogging C. jogs
B. will have been jogging D. jogged
4. Come July, Mrs. Santos _____ this institution for seventeen years.
A had been serving C. will have served
B. has been serving D. will have been serving
5. None of the workers knew anything about __ __ own constitutional rights.
A his C. her
B. their D. its
6. All of the papaya soup ____ when the head chef resigned.
A was ruined C. has been ruined
B. will be ruined D. had been ruined
7. My father _____ in his shop during last night's game.
A works C. is working
B. worked D. was working
8. The cops _____the perpetrator when the helicopter crashed on the highway.
A had chased C. has chased
B. had been chasing D. have been chasing
9. _____ of the students can get the answer given enough time.
A. Much C. Little
B. Most D. Least
10. _____the documents which can prove my brother's innocence.
A. Here's C. Here is
B. Here're D. Here are
PART ONE: SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT, PRONOUN, ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT, TENSES
A. SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Every sentence has a subject and a verb. In grammar, the verb must agree with the number of the subject. This
means that if the subject is singular, the verb must be singular too. If the subject is plural, then the verb must be
plural too. This problem occurs often in the present tense. The table below shows the types of subject that one
may encounter and the rule that should prevail.
TYPE OF SUBJECT
1. Singular subjects
2. Plural subject
3. Compound subjects
4. Subject with interjectional
phrases
5. Count names
6. Mass nouns
7. Collective nouns
8. Indefinite pronouns
(anyone, anything, none,
nobody, each, nothing, either,
neither, one, somebody,
something)
9. Indefinite pronouns (both,
few, many, several)
10. Indefinite pronouns (all,
some)
11. Subjects are connected by
or and nor
12. Dummy subjects
13. Gerunds and infinitives
14. The number and the
number
15. Titles of books and movies
16. Weights, amounts,
measurements
17. Nouns that end in –s but
RULE
Use a singular verb
Use a plural verb
Use a plural verb except when
the compound subject refers to
the same person or noun.
The verb is not affected by the
interjectional phrase.
The verb will depend on the
number of the subject
Use a singular verb for all mass
nouns except when these nouns
are preceded by plural counters
When a collective noun acts as
one, the verb is plural; when
the constituents of a collective
are not in a agreement, the
noun is plural.
Use a singular verb
Use a plural verb
The of-phrase will determine
whether the verb is singular of
plural
The subject nearest to the verb
determines the number of the
verb
The noun that comes after the
verb
determines the verb's number
The verb is always singular.
The number always takes a
singular verb, a number always
takes a plural verb
Always use a singular verb
Always use a singular verb
Always use a singular verb
SAMPLE SENTENCE
Lito loves to eat ice cream.
The students love studying.
The mayor and the school principal are
coming to the seminar.
The President of the Philippines and the
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is
coming to the school.
The campus director, along with the faculty,
the staff and the students, is going on a field
trip.
Three classrooms were burned by
unidentified men last week.
A classroom was burned by an unidentified
man last week.
Water is essential to life.
Containers of tainted water were found in the
gardener’s house.
The jury unanimously declares a winner.
The jury were still fighting over which
contestant should win.
Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.
Neither party was able to provide a clear
platform of governance.
Several suspicious-looking men were seen
roaming the outskirts of the town just before
the fire in the marketplace.
All of the water in the tank is clean.
Some of the students are cutting classes.
Either Rhea or her brothers are guilty of
placing the frog in the teacher's hair.
Neither her brothers nor Rhea is suspected of
the vandalism in school.
There are a lot of students in school today.
Here is the book you lent me.
Hiking is a great recreation.
To love is a great risk.
The number of failures in my class is alarming.
A number of students are protesting the
rise in tuition fees.
“The Hours” was nominated for an Oscar
award.
Thirty pounds is what my dietician advised me
to lose.
Fifty miles is a long way to go on foot.
Five hundred pesos is what I need to buy a
new pair of surgical scissors.
Economics is an interesting subject.
 are singular in meaning
18. Fractions and percentages
The –of determines the number
of the verb.
Measles is a deadly disease.
Thirty percent of the respondents agree that
government is full of corrupt officials.
Two-thirds of the oil in the world comes from
the Middle East.

B. PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
Pronouns are used as substitute for nouns. The nouns which they stand for are called antecedents. As a rule,
pronouns must be found either in the same sentence as their antecedents appear or the sentence that comes right
after.
Ex. Sally was angry because her salary had been delayed again.
Sally was angry at the school. Her teachers were always ignoring her.

Unlike Subject-Verb Agreement Rules which only take grammatical number into consideration, Pronoun-
Antecedent Rules take four aspects into consideration: Number, Point-of-View, Gender, and Case.

Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns can also be used as antecedents. The chart below shows the grammatical number of each
indefinite pronoun.

Ex: Each of the fishermen must see to it that his net is strong.
Several students were suspended because of their misdemeanors.
All of the sugar has lost its sweetness.
Some of the criminals were turned over to the police by their own relatives.

Special Problems in Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

There are four special problems in Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement. We shall tackle each
through the use of examples.

1. Ambiguous Antecedents - This means that the pronouns in the sentence may refer to several antecedents.
Substandard: Carla and Bernice were talking about her new boyfriend.
Better: Carla and Bernice were talking about their new boyfriends.
2. Missing Antecedents- A pronoun in the sentence doesn't have an antecedent.
Substandard: The students just couldn't get it.
Better: The students just couldn't get the lesson.
3. The Second Person - while not really ungrammatical, sentences which heavily use the second person in writing
are discouraged because of their perceived impoliteness. ·
Substandard: You would be disturbed by the massive cheating in our elections.
Better: A foreigner would be disturbed by the massive cheating in our elections.
4. The Gender Rule- While the use of the masculine pronoun he for antecedents that have no specified gender has
been universally accepted.
Substandard: Each student must know what his/her lessons are.
Better: Students must know what his lessons are.

C. TENSES
The English language makes use of the 12 traditional tenses. Tenses are used in order to refer to the time when an
action takes place. In dealing with tenses, it is important to recall that there are two types of verbs- the regular and
the irregular verbs. Study the verbs in the table below. Fill out the missing forms of each verb.

There are a limited number of irregular verbs. It would be best to find out what they are and the forms they take
especially in the Past Participle. Before we proceed to tenses, let us first take a look at the Be-Verbs and their
various forms.
Be-V in the present tense in the past tense
(am, are is) (was, were)
Be-verbs perform two functions. They can either be linking verbs or helping verbs.
Determine which of the sentences found below use Be-Verbs as linking or helping verbs:
2. The woman was determined to bring her abusive husband to court.
3. The woman was doing the most mundane chores ever devised by her employer.
4. The students are holding a peace vigil in front of the school building.
5. The students are undecided on whether to support the new student council or not.

Now let us go into the tenses. Tenses are important, because as stated earlier, they show the reader the sequence
of actions. They determine whether an action happened in the past, present or in the future.

1. THE PAST TENSES

a. The Simple Past Tense (V-ed)
This tense is used to refer to actions which have already been completed or finished.
Ex. Rina ironed the clothes last night.
b. The Past Progressive Tense (or the Past Continuous) (Be-Ved +V-ing)
This tense is used to show that a past action went on for some time before it was finally
completed.
Ex. Rina was ironing the clothes when I called her last night.
c. The Past Perfect Tense (had+ V-en)
This tense is used to distinguish the first between two past-actions.
Ex. Rina had ironed the clothes before her mother arrived.
d. The Past Perfect Progressive Tense (had + been + V -in g)
This tense shows that one past action went on for a while before a second action took place.
Ex. Rina had been ironing the clothes when her mother arrived.
2. THE PRESENT TENSES
a. The Simple Present Tense (V -S)
This tense is used to show a current state of things, a habitual action, or a general truth.
Ex. Vergel washes his clothes every Sunday.
Vergel is a second year student at PSHS.
The sun sets in the west.
b. The Present Progressive Tense (Be-Vs + V-ing)
This tense shows that an action is ongoing at the moment of speech.
Ex. Vergel is washing his clothes.
c. The Present Perfect Tense (hasjhave + V-en)
This tense shows a recently completed action or an action that started in the past and is still of
consequence to the present.
 Ex. I have watched the latest "Spiderman" movie.
Our elections have always been dirty.
d. The Present Perfect Progressive Tense (hasjhave +been+ V-ing)
This tense is used to show that an action that started in the past is still ongoing.
Ex. The people of this country have been complaining about graft and corruption ever since
the Spanish era.
3. THE FUTURE TENSES (OR ASPECTS)
a. The Simple Future Tense (wilVshall + V)
This tense is used to state a future action.
Ex. The dog will chase the cat when he sees it.
b. The Future Progressive Tense (wilVshall + be + V -ing)
This tense is used to show that an action will be in progress in the future.
Ex. The dog will be chasing the cat later.
c. The Future Perfect Tense {wilVshall +have+ V-en)
This tense shows which of two future actions will be completed first.
Ex. The dog will have chased the cat by sunset.
d. The Future Perfect Progressive Tense (wilVshall + have + been + V -in g)
This tense shows that one future action will be in progress before another future action takes
place.
Ex. The dog will have been chasing the cat for two hours before the master of the house
arrives.

PART TWO: PREPOSITIONS, ADVERBS, ADJECTIVES, PUNCTUATIONS, CONJUNCTIONS

A. PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions are the parts of speech which allow our sentences to have a sense of time and place. Prepositions are
often referred to as the "little devils" because there are no hard and fast rules on how to use them and second-
language speakers often confuse them. However, there are a few guidelines on how t o use prepositions:

B. ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

An adjective is a modifier that describes or limits a noun or a pronoun.
Types of adjectives

Order of Adjectives
When using multiple adjectives, follow this order:
Determiner + Observation + Physical Description* + Origin + Material
Physical Description (Size, Shape, Age, Color)
Ex: four magnificent short red plastic wheelbarrows

Adverbs
An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or artother adverb. It can show:
- the following:
Where? Sent away, went home
When? Slept late, completed before
How? Bowed gracefully, followed obsessively
To what extent? Very embarassed, barely noticeable
-serve as an intensifier
loved her job so much
-when using adverbs in a sequence, follow this order:
Manner + Place + Frequency + Time + Purpose
Ex: Joy studies vigorously in her room every evening after dinner to prepare for theUPCAT.

Degrees of Comparison
Most adjectives and adverbs change their forms in order to show comparatives and superlatives. They
use:
• -er and-es stronger, strongest
• more and most more corrupt, most corrupt
• other words best, worse

Comparatives are used to compare two persons, places, or things.

Ex: In this country, basketball is more popular than soccer.
For Mina, chicken is better than pork.
Superlatives are used to compare three or more persons, places, or things.
Ex: In this country, basketball is the most popular sport.

C. PUNCTUATIONS
1. The Period ( . )
-at the end of a declarative (and sometimes an imperative) sentence.
Ex: Zamboanga City used to be called the "City of Flowers".
Please see me after the class.
-after a letter or a number in an outline or list.
Ex: Characteristics of Mythical Heroes
1. Of noble birth
2. Performs great deeds
-after abbreviations, titles, and initials.
Ex: Dr., Mr., S. Dakota
2. The Question Mark ( ? )
Use a question mark after an interrogative (and sometimes an imperative) sentence.
 Ex: Who are your patrons?
Would you be kind enough to open the door?
3. The Comma ( , )
-to separate words, phrases, or clauses in a series.
Ex: The students were asked to buy manila paper, pens, and erasers.
The janitors waxed the floor, painted the walls, and dusted the chairs.
-to separate the words Yes and No in a short response.
Ex: Yes, I have seen him.
No, you are mistaken.
-to separate long introductory prepositional phrases.
Ex: Across the hall from which the murder occurred, the ghost of the
Young boy wailed mournfully.
-to separate introductory participial phrases and adverbial clauses.
Ex: Dancing like a madman, ;the contestant angered the judges.
When the boy ate, everyone eat.
-to separate nonessential appositives. ·
Ex: Mrs. Reyes, the rna· onsor of the event, backed out at the last moment.
-to separate direct addresses.
Ex: What have you been up to, boys?
If ever you wake up to reality, Liza, you will live a fuller life.
-in quoted statements.
Ex: "She deserved her fate," Mila told Gil.
-to separate two clauses in a compound sentence.
Ex: We received your letter, but we have to decline your offer.
-between the day of the month and the year when writing dates.
Ex: January 9,1978
-between the name of a town or city and the name of a province, or between the name of a
province and the name of a country.
Ex: Diliman1 Quezon City
Miami, USA
-after the salutation and the complimentary close of a letter.
Ex: My dearest Gloria,
Sincerely yours,
-to separate nonessential adjective clauses.
Ex: Jaime, who wears glasses, is a good person.
-after an ordinal number when introducing items in a series.
Ex: Before· my friend can write, he follows this ritual: first, he checks into a
hotel; second, he buys a lot of junk food; then, he .....
-between coordinate adjectives that may be joined by the conjunction and.
Ex: Nasty, brutish, short lives characterized the Borgia family memb~rs.
-separate parenthetical expressions
Ex:· After all, life is short.
-instead of repeating the same elements in parallel word groups.
Ex: Nilo's house is big; Kiko's, small.
4. The Semicolon ( ; )
-to connect two independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction but which are
closely related in thought.
Ex: Joseph hated Kyla; Kyla hated Joseph's brother.
-to connect clauses in a compound sentence that contains commas.
Ex: Mario, the best hunter in the city, fell to the wolves; as a result, none of the r
emaining hunters dared follow his path.
-to separate items with commas.
Ex: The following contestants must attend the orientation tomorrow: Gigi
Fabre, teacher; Jojie Tumo, archeologist; Raven Villanueva, actress; and
Josephine Umali, unemployed.
-before conjunctive adverbs that join the clauses of a compound sentences.
Ex: The team won its first match; however, it was its last victory.
5. The Colon ( : )
-after the greeting of a business letter.
Ex: Ma'am: Dear Students:
-to introduce a list.
Ex: The following items are needed: an egg, a chicken bone, and a rope.
-between numbers indicating hours and minutes.
Ex: 9:12a.m. 22:44 p.m.
 -to introduce a quotation if the words preceding it do not ·have explanatory words like "he said'
or "she said".
Ex: The mob's demand resonated throughout the land: "Resign now."
-to start a long or formal quotation.
Ex: Based on the interview, the president said: "We are all morons."
-to introduce the second independent clause if it explains the first.
Ex: Jill wanted only one thing: the crown.
-between the title and subtitle of a book.
Ex: Twilight Revisited: A Criticism of Stephanie Meyer's Pretensions
-between the volume and number or the volume and pages of a periodical
Ex: Philippine Periodical23: 2-4
-after labels that feature important ideas.
Ex: DANGER: Deep Excavation
6. The Hyphen (-)
-in compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine
Ex: thirty-three weeks Ninety-one dollars
-in fractions used as modifiers.
Ex: two-third margin one-seventh of an ounce
-for some compound nouns.
Ex: man-at-arms editor-at-large
7. The Apostrophe ( ' )
-to form the possessive of a noun.
Ex: Bob's town's Dennis's
-for contractions.
Ex: It's raining. Isn't it a wonder?
-to form the plural of numbers, letters, and words.
Ex: the 80's the A's When's and Where' s
8. The Exclamation Point ( ! )
-Use an exclamation point at the end of an exclamatory sentence and after an interjection.
Ex: Watch out! The sky is falling!
Ouch! You bit me!
9. The Dash ( - )
- to signify an abrupt break in thought.
Ex: The kids want to visit,Sprtng Beach - it's their favorite place - in Camiguin tomorrow.
-to set off a long statement that breaks into the main idea of a sentence.
Ex: PSHS - better know~ as Pisay - has produced a lot of great minds.
-to separate a statement of summary from the rest of the sentence.
Ex: Faith, hope, and charity -these are the things that we must believe in.