ESL quizzes 1

[Dimandja]

The following -- potentially vexing -- quizzes are given to ESL people who wish to know English well, or enter American schools. See if you qualify . No cheating.

___ is used to mark the end of declarative and imperative sentences.
a. A period
b. A comma
c. A semi-colon


When a subordinate clause is followed by the main clause, ___ is required.
a. a dash
b. a semi-colon
c. a comma


When no connecting word is used to connect two independent clauses, one should use ___.
a. a comma
b. a semi-colon
c. a period


In ___ piece of writing, a dash replaces the parentheses or commas.
a. a formal
b. an informal


To enclose cross-references one uses ___.
a. parentheses
b. hyphens
c. question marks


___ are used around a relative clause that defines the noun it follows.
a. Only commas
b. No commas
c. Semi-colons


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[Stella740pl]

I guess,

[white]
1a, 2c, 3b, 4b, 5a, 6b
[/white]

 

[SQLSister]

I go for:

[white]a, c, b, b, a, b[/white]

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[Dimandja]

You sure about No 4?

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[CajunCenturion]

Interesting (but I'm not ESL)

[white]
1 - 'a' is best answer, but the exclamation point [u]may[/u] be used after imperative sentences.
2 - 'c'
3 - 'b'
4 - 'b' for an em-dash but its optional.  For en-dash, the question is not applicable.
5 - 'a'
6 - 'b'[/white]

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[Dimandja]

Star to CC for illustrating the "vexing" aspects of these tests.

No perfect score yet.

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[CajunCenturion]

I'm anxious to learn about the one(s) I missed.

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[Stella740pl]

Do you mean, No 4 is not correct?

Since it's multiple choice test, and only one answer can be chosen, with no explanations, and my answers are the same as 2 well educated non-ESLs here have given, maybe the questions were created by an ESL person?

 

[Dimandja]

All righty then. Number 4 was missed by all (I too missed it originally), according to this page.

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[SQLSister]

HOw did you get the answers to hide automatically?

In ref to number 4, no I am not sure of my answer, but I checked with my favorite grammar freak at work, and he agrees that he would be more likely to use a - in informal writing than formal writing although neither of us have ever explicitly learned that a dash would be unacceptable in formal writing. For me the use of commas, parnetheses or dashes for a phrase which is not necessary to the sentence depends more on the content and emphasis I want to place onteh phrase. A phrase set off by commas is technically not necessary tothe sentence, but it is important enough that I want all the readers to read it, parentheses are used when I want the reader to have some extra e=information or completely unrelated information but want to give themn as ignal that it's ok to skip the info. For me I would use a dash if I wanted to give the information extra emphasis.

So I would use them this way:

Joan, Bob's sister, is a Mormon.
It is important to let you know that she is Bob's sister, probably will help understand something coming in a later sentence. The sentence is grammitically correct with the phrase, but the meaning is incomlete without it.
Joan (Bob's sister) is a Mormon.
The fact that she is Bob's sister is essntially irrelevant to the point I wanted to make. You can skip reading the stuff in parentheses if you want to.
Joan - Bob's Sister - is a Mormon
To me this would say the the fact that she is Bob's sister is important, maybe even more important than her name. Because dashes are not used this way as often as commas it lends them extra emphasis.


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[Stella740pl]

Do they accept appeals? I disagree, and it seems, I am in a good company.

 

[mwolf00]

[ignore]

[white]like this[/white]

[/ignore]

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build better and bigger idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. - Rick Cook

Tsuna​

 

[Dimandja]

I too disagree, but what's an ESL to do?

From the names of the teachers on the leading page, it would indicate that some are ESL (very wild guess).

I did study English from both Americans and ESLs (or at least bilingual) teachers, but I remember equally disagreeing with them on things. Punctuation was of course always quite stormy.

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[CajunCenturion]

On behalf of the appealees, I will try to find reliable evidence, other than that of our own formal education, to support our case.

Stand By.

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[CajunCenturion]

I too disagree, but what's an ESL to do?

Get a second opinion.

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[SQLSister]

I've done a lot of formal writing (I used to be an editor for an audit agency.) and I would never replace the parenthetical commas and parentheses with dashes for formal writing, not would my lawyer co-worker (and grammar freak) and nobody does more formal writing than a lawyer.

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[CajunCenturion]

From The Blue Book, "Use an em dash sparingly in formal writing. Don't use it just because you are uncertain about correct punctuation. In informal writing, em dashes may replace commas, semicolons, colons, and parentheses to indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought."

From University of Calgary, "Use the dash sparingly in formal writing."

From Guide to Grammar and Writing, "A dash is sometimes used to set off concluding lists and explanations in a more informal and abrupt manner than the colon. We seldom see the dash used this way in formal, academic prose."

From EnglishWiz, "(Note. In more formal usage, parentheses or commas replace dashes.)". That is the exact opposite of the question.

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[CajunCenturion]

I have sent an e-mail to the folks at the The Internet TESL Journal asking them to verify their answers. I will keep you posted if I get a response.

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[Stella740pl]

What do you know? It seems that the questions are compiled by teachers that are ESL themselves. The set of questions we've just answered were compiled by Vera Mello, and this person from Brazil

http://lightning.prohosting.com/~vstevens/tfw/profiles/veramell.htm

seems to be the right Vera Mello. At least, this set of questions

http://iteslj.org/v/p/

for Portuguese-speaking English learners is compiled also by Vera Mello.

 

[MakeItSo]

I don't know if I'm repeating anyone here, I'd go for:

[COLOR=white white]1a, 2c, 3c*, 4b, 5a, 6a
*Just because it says "should use". I think, a semi-colon is also valid in this case, although a period is to be preferred.[/color]

[blue]An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. - "Mahatma" Mohandas K. Gandhi[/blue]