GSP Exam

Farther, further

"Further" Versus "Farther" The quick and dirty tip is to use "farther" for physical distance and "further" for metaphorical, or figurative, distance. It's easy to remember because "farther" has the word "far" in it, and "far" obviously relates to physical distance.

Crash vs. collide

A collision involves two moving objects. A car does not collide with a lamppost; it crashes into a lamppost.

Verb

A verb is a word that describes action or a state of being. The second part of this definition is important, as many believe that verbs are always action words that can be visualized. This is true of action verbs: run, walk, play, jump, sing, scream, etc. However, there are also linking verbs, and these types of verbs do not express action; instead, they express identity, classification, or existence. (The following are the most common linking verbs: is, am, was, were, are, and verb phrases ending in be, been, being.) Verbs often change their form as different endings are added to them. These endings are changed to show a verb's relationship to time. This is referred to as verb tense.

Less vs. fewer

According to usage rules, fewer is only to be used when discussing countable things, while less is used for singular mass nouns. For example, you can have fewer ingredients, dollars, people, or puppies, but less salt, money, honesty, or love. If you can count it, go for fewer.

Discreet vs. discrete

Discreet means prudent, circumspect: "I'm afraid i was not very discreet," she wrote. Discrete means detached, separate: there are four discrete sounds from a quadraphonic system.

Because of vs. due to

Due to is a predicate adjective + preposition that means "the result of" or "resulting from." It is always used after a form of the verb to be. E.g. Her headache was due to the enormous elephant peculiarly perched on her head. Because of is a preposition used to introduce an adverbial phrase and means "as a result of." It is not used after a form of the verb to be. E.g. She had a headache because of the enormous elephant peculiarly perched on her head. THE TRICK Due to has to follow some form of the verb to be.

Subject/verb agreement

Each of the children _________________ the piano at Christmas. Play Plays

Names/titles/classes

For all people (adults and students), use full names on first reference. On second reference, use only the last name. Jane Smith, a high school junior, ... later Smith realized ... If two people with the same last name are quoted in a story, use first and last names. ... Jane Smith explained. Jenny Smith also believes ... Formal titles are only capitalized when they appear immediately before a name. Just make sure it's a formal title and not merely a job description (teacher, coach, counselor, etc.) Barack Obama is president. first year, sophomore, junior, senior and freshman are lowercase unless at the start of a sentence. For sophomore Sarah Smith, it was... Titles of departments and names of classes are not capitalized unless they are also a language or nationality. math, science, English, Spanish

Active Voice

In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Instead of saying, "Steve loves Amy," I would say, "Amy is loved by Steve." The subject of the sentence becomes Amy, but she isn't doing anything. Rather, she is just the recipient of Steve's love. The focus of the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy. If you wanted to make the title of the Marvin Gaye song passive, you would say "It was heard by me through the grapevine," not such a catchy title anymore.

Hanged vs. hung

One hangs a picture, a criminal or oneself. For the past tense or the passive, use hanged when referring to executions or suicides, hung for other actions

Punctuation and quotes

Periods and commas ALWAYS go INSIDE quotation marks. Her nickname was "Stinky." Question marks, semi-colons and exclamation points don't go inside quotation marks unless they are part of the actual quote. "Did you see "Bad Moms"?

Saw/seen

Saw is the PAST TENSE of the verb see, and usually comes immediately after NOUNS and PRONOUNS. Seen is the PAST PARTICIPLE of the VERB see. Generally, seen is used alongside have, has, had, was or were in a sentence to make COMPOUND VERBS. USAGE: saw : This word is a stand-alone VERB

PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT

She went to Target to buy sandals, but they didn't have any in her size. She went to Target to buy sandals, but it didn't have any in her size. The case for the use of singular they. The pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number. Rule: A singular pronoun must replace a singular noun; a plural pronoun must replace a plural noun. Thus, the mechanics of the sentence above look like this: Here are nine pronoun-antecedent agreement rules

Compound Modifiers

She worked part time. Sally worked in a part-time position

That VS. Which

That- restrictive- needs to be there No comma Which-non-restrictive- doesn't need to be in the sentence for it to make sense Needs a comma The monster that has been scaring the residents of Pilarz Hall turned out to be a raccoon. The oldest store in town, which has been on Mulberry Street for almost 100 years, will close next summer.

Oxford Comma

The AP says no, no, no! AP: The colors of the American flag are red, white and blue. Exception: When you have a coordinating conjunction. Carmine's favorite foods are broccoli, chicken, and peanut butter and jelly.

Ensure, insure, assure

To "assure" a person of something is to make him or her confident of it. According to Associated Press style, to "ensure" that something happens is to make certain that it does, and to "insure" is to issue an insurance policy. Other authorities, however, consider "ensure" and "insure" interchangeable

Between vs. Among**

you can use the word "between" when you are talking about distinct, individual items even if there are more than two of them.

Noun

A noun is generally defined as a person, place, or thing; however, ideas are also nouns. For example, love is not a tangible thing that can be seen or held, but clearly it exists, so it is a also a noun. Nouns can be divided into two main categories: proper nouns and common nouns. Proper nouns are the names of people or places that are capitalized (Aims Community College, John Smith, etc.). Common nouns are names that do not require capitalization (book, chair, school, etc).

Preposition

A preposition shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some other word in the sentence. This relationship is spatial, temporal, or directional. For instance, in the sentence Mark walked towards the house, the word towards is a preposition since it shows direction. When linked with nouns or pronouns, prepositions create word groups referred to as prepositional phrases. (In the previous example, towards the house is a prepositional phrase.)

Pronoun

A pronoun is a word that is used to replace a noun For example, instead of saying "Sam likes pizza" we can use "He" as a substitute for Sam. Writers need to be careful with pronoun use, as pronouns should only be used after a noun has been used first, and it must be clear which noun the pronoun is replacing

Months/dates/times

Abbreviate months with six or more letters if they are used with a specific date. Spell out those with five or fewer letters. Aug. 13, June 6, May 31 Spell out the month when it is used without a specific date. In September the football team ... The class begins in February 2015. For days of the month, use only numerals. Do not use nd, rd or th. Aug. 2, Sept. 3, April 4. Do not abbreviate days of the week. You usually do not need both a day of the week and a date. Wednesday, Monday The next game is Oct. 13. Use numerals, a space, lowercase letters, and periods for a.m. and p.m. Do not use extra zeroes on times. 7 p.m., 10 a.m., 1:45 p.m. Use noon and midnight rather than 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. The club will meet at noon.

Number vs. amount

Amount is used in reference to mass nouns (i.e., uncountable nouns such as bravery, water, and charisma). Number is used in reference to count nouns (i.e., countable nouns such as dog, year, and eyeball). For example, because the noun person can be counted, the phrase amount of people might be considered incorrect. The distinction tends to weaken, however, when we're talking about great numbers. The amount of people in the room would sound wrong to many careful speakers of English, while the amount of people in China would not seem so glaringly wrong (though many English-speakers would still consider it questionable). In any case, it's always safer to use number in situations like this.

Adjective

An adjective modifies (limits or describes) a noun or a pronoun. Essentially, it provides more information about a person, place, or thing. For instance, in the sentence Frank is a tall, skinny man, both tall and skinny are adjectives as they are used to describe Frank.

Punctuation/abbreviations/quotes

Apostrophes usually show possession, so usually you shouldn't use them to make acronyms and numbers plural. An exception is with individual letters such as in grading. 1970s; ABCs; she received six 4s; she received six A's. Place quotation marks around almost all composition titles, but not reference, newspaper or magazine names. "American Idol"; "Born This Way"; Time magazine Capitalize the first letter of a full-sentence quote. Jones said, "All of us were excited." When a full-sentence quotation is introduced or followed by attribution, place a comma between them, unless the quote is a question. "All of us were excited," Jones said. "Were we all excited?" Jones asked. When using a sentence fragment as a quotation, do not set it off with a comma unless the sentence requires one for proper grammar. Do not capitalize the first letter of a sentence fragment quote. Jones told the crowd to "get pumped up" about the pep rally

Misplaced Modifiers

Are too far away from the words they modify: Incorrect: Having predicted a sunny morning, the downpour surprised the weather guy. Correct: Having predicted a sunny morning, the weather guy did not expect the downpour. WRONG: The torn students book lay on the desk (Misplaced adj modifies student) Correct: The students torn book lay on the desk (Adjective modifies book)

Unique vs. unusual

As adjectives the difference between unique and unusual is that unique is (not comparable) being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched while unusual is unlike what is expected; differing in some way from the norm. As a noun unique is a thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled.

Conjunction

Conjunctions are used to link words or parts of sentences together. There are four different types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, adverb, and correlative.

Gone vs. went

Gone is the past participle of to go. Used as the verb of a sentence, it must always be preceded by an auxiliary verb such as has, have, had, is, am, are, was, were, be, or one of their contractions. Went is the past tense of to go. It never takes an auxiliary verb

Active Vs. Passive Voice

I edited the paper. The paper was edited by me. I burned the toast. The toast was burned by the high heat in the toaster.

Passive Voice

I'll start with active voice because it's simpler. In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action. A straightforward example is the sentence "Steve loves Amy." Steve is the subject, and he is doing the action: he loves Amy, the object of the sentence. Another example is the title of the Marvin Gaye song "I Heard It through the Grapevine." "I" is the subject, the one who is doing the action. "I" is hearing "it," the object of the sentence.

Different from vs. different than

If writing for a publication, use different from. Otherwise, when comparing two nouns, feel free to use either different from or different than. My picture turned out different than yours. My picture turned out different from yours. Both fine! When directly comparing a noun to a clause, use different than. The movie's ending is different than I remember it. In order to use different from in this sentence, you would need to add a few words. The movie's ending is different from the way I remember it. This way, the comparison is between two nouns: 'ending' and 'the way.'

Imply vs. infer

Imply and infer are opposites, like a throw and a catch. To imply is to hint at something, but to infer is to make an educated guess. The speaker does the implying, and the listener does the inferring.

Numbers/money

In most usage, spell out numbers under 10. Exceptions beyond dates and times shown above: • Addresses: 6 Maple St. • Ages, even for inanimate objects: Beth, a 15-year-old; the 2-year-old building • Dollars and cents: $5; 5 cents. • Measurements (such as dimensions and speed): 6 feet tall, 9-by-12 rug; 7 miles per hour • Temperature: 8 degrees • Millions, billions: 3 million people • Percentages: 4 percent (and spell out "percent") Spell out any number that appears at the beginning of a sentence. The one exception to this rule is a year: 1981 was the last time the high school won a state title. Do not spell out monetary amounts or use extra zeros: $6 or $2.30, but NOT $6.00 or six dollars.

Dangling Modifiers

Incorrect: Working in the yard, the sun burned her badly. Correct: Working in the yard, she became badly sunburned.

Clauses

Independent clauses can stand alone. Kim is a teacher. Dependent clauses can't stand alone. Because she teaches so enthusiastically, A dependent clause is a group of words that also contains a subject and a verb, but it is not a complete thought. Because it is not a complete thought, a dependent clause cannot stand on its own as a sentence; it is dependent on being attached to an independent clause to form a sentence

Know the Usage

It's its They're, there, their

Loath, loathe

Loath is an adjective meaning "unwilling." It ends with a hard th and rhymes with growth or both. Loathe is a verb meaning "to hate intensely." It ends with a soft th like the sound in smooth or breathe.

Comma Splices

NO: Kim went to the store, she bought bread and milk. YES: Kim went to the store, and she bought bread and milk. Kim went to the store. She bought bread and milk. Kim went to the store; she bought bread and milk Add a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) after the comma. Change the comma to semicolon. Change the comma to a period.

Personal Pronoun

Nominative Objective Possessive YOU CAN NEVER, EVER USE ME AS THE SUBJECT OF A SENTENCE! GERUNDS TAKE THE POSSESSIVE FORM OF THE PERSONAL PRONOUN! They are used as subjects, predicate nominatives, and appositives when used with a subject or predicate nominative. Objective case pronouns are me, her, him, us, them, and whom. ... Possessive case pronouns are my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, your, yours, their, and theirs.

Absolutely do not

Pluralize with an apostrophe! Correct: CDs TVs DVDs One exception: Letter grades i.e., She earned six A's on her report card.

Adverb

Similar to adjectives, an adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. In the sentence Susan walked slowly towards the door, the word slowly serves as an adverb since it describes how she walked.

Like Vs. As

The confusion in using like or as is caused by a lack of understanding of the words' roles. In formal writing, like is used as a preposition, telling where, when or how the noun in the sentence is doing whatever it may be doing. As is used as a conjunction, joining two clauses. Most of the time, like compares two things.

Convince vs. persuade

The key takeaway is that convincing is limited to the mind. I am convinced of the truth of something, but I am not convinced to do something. Persuasion leads to action, while convincement stays in the mind of those convinced.

Bad vs. badly

The word bad is an adjective used to modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs often end in ly. The word badly is an adverb that answers how about the verb. Example: She was hurt badly in the accident.

Suppose vs. supposed

To suppose something means to assume something. When used in a passive construction, you use a form of the verb to be plus the past participle of to suppose, which is supposed. To be supposed to means to be expected to, to be obliged to.

May vs. might

Trouble arises mainly when "may" and "might" convey possibility. Both words can carry this meaning, but there's a difference in nuance. "May" simply states the possibility or likelihood, while "might" emphasizes the conditional nature of the possibility, introducing a greater level of uncertainty. He may go to the theater tonight (stating the possibility). He might go to the theater tonight (raising some doubt). The same nuance arises in conditional constructions: If you are nice to him, he may help you out (the chances are good). If you are nice to him, he might help you out (but then again, maybe not).

Compare to vs. compare with

Use compared to when the intent is to assert, without the need for elaboration, that two or more items are similar: She compared her work for women's right to Susan B. Anthony's campaign for women's suffrage. Use compared with when juxtaposing two or more items to illustrate similarities and/or differences: His time was 2:11:10, compared with 2:14 for his closest competitor.

Use vs. used

Use to + verb is a regular verb and means something that happened but doesn't happen any more. It uses -ed to show past tense. But since it always means something that happened in the past, it should always use past tense. For example- I used to go to school in Paris.

Who/whom/whose

Used for people That and which are for inanimate objects

Anxious vs. eager

While anxious is used when there is a state of uneasiness in mind, eager is a better choice when no sense of uneasiness is attached to the situation. Someone who is eager has a positive outlook on a situation in which he or she is enthused. Someone who is anxious has bleak outlook on the same situation.Anxious describes unease or concern. Eager describes excitement and positive anticipation.

Lie vs. lay

lay requires a direct object and lie does not. So you lie down on the sofa (no direct object), but you lay the book down on the table (the book is the direct object). Lay is an action that takes a Direct Object. Laid is its past tense. Lie is the act of reclining that does not take a Direct Object. Lay is its past tense. Lie meaning to make untrue the verb forms are lie, lied, lying. LIKE, AS: Use like as a preposition to compare nouns and pronouns. It requires an object: Jim blocks like a pro.

Each other vs. one another

the first person to state that "each other" should refer to only two people and that "one another" should refer to more than two