Grammar quiz

[glinda]

www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/mayo.shtml

Some questions are very easy - others have got me stumped!

Oh sorry. Why won't the link work?

try this

here

They seem pretty simple to me!

glinda, you have to put two square brackets round links to make them clickable

ditto CD... I was expecting something arcane!

I don't get 2 or 6 - they look OK to me

The sentences in 2. have extraneous words - they should be 'I took a day off work.' and 'Put that back on the table.'

Explain 6 to me please!

CountessD??

1. Where do the apostrophe(s) go in this sentence?

Theres lots of debate about an apostrophes uses.

2. These two sentences both contain the same sort of mistake. What is it?

I took a day off from work. Put that back down on the table.

3. One of these sentences is incorrect and should have a semicolon or a full stop instead of a comma. Which?

The show was over, but the crowd refused to leave. I find punctuation difficult, I?m sure lots of people feel the same. I work a long way away, so I need to get up very early.

4. What?s wrong with this sentence?

Walking down the high street, the new shoe shop caught her eye.

5. "The next couple to dance is?" or "The next couple to dance are?"?

6. What?s wrong with this sentence?

Mrs Brown and Mrs Jones disliked their neighbours.

7. Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Can you identify it and correct the others?

Cematery, definate, embarrass, priviledge

8. Why shouldn?t supermarkets say "five items or less"?

9. What?s wrong with this sentence?

He did the work good and I was real impressed.

10. Should it be "Thank you for listening to Simon and I" or "Thank you for listening to Simon and me?"

Pasting it in seemed easier!

I don't think you need "down" or "from" in 2), but I must admit I think 6) is ambiguous - I'm not sure whether that is the problem though. Are we supposed to think they don't like each other?

The next couple are seems better to me, as they have names which are plural, but perhaps I am wrong?

Thanks for listening to Simon and me is right here I think.

The others I can see what to do, I think...anyone got a definitive list of answers?

I would say the next couple is as there is only one couple.
I would not say, "There's lots of debate..." at all. I think "There's much debate ..." sounds better.

I think because it's one couple, it has to be "the next couple is". They say the answers will be put on at 3pm.

10 Definitely "Simon and me" - you would say "Thank you for listening to me", so adding the extra person doesn't change it.

and 4 - it does imply that the shoe shop was doing the walking down the street

Still don't get 6 though...

All are quite easy, except for 6, which does sound odd, though I'm not sure why though.

It would sound better as:

Neither Mrs Brown nor Mrs Jones liked their neighbours.

Not sure if that is the answer they are looking for though.

6. could it be her instead of their ??

Or even

Both Mrs Jones and Mrs Brown disliked their neighbours?

I thought of that too Brangelina

It think it could be one or the other. I must admit style wise I prefer your neither version.

I guess "Mrs Brown and Mrs Jones disliked their neighbours." suggests that there's only one set of neighbours, not a set for each of the ladies. But that could be true, depending on the circumstances.

Are the sentences in 2 actually wrong though? Who says you have to have the minimum number of words? I'm generally considered a pedant, but I can't actually work out whether I'd use those phrases or not!

2. • too many prepositions in the sentences?

2 is bad style - the extra prepositions are redundant.