READING subset MTEL

In the following sentence, identify the misplaced modifier and why it doesn't work. "The Senator nearly spoke for two hours about the somewhat unfair tax increase before the committee tiredly voted on the motion."

'Nearly,' because it should appear before the words 'two hours.'

In the following sentence, identify the phrases that correctly modify the word 'sheep.' Startled by the explosion, the sheep began racing around the pen, ignoring the crowds.

'Startled by the explosion' and 'ignoring the crowds.'

What are the ways apostrophes are used?

-Non-possessive plurals -Contractions -Possessives

For adjectives with one or two syllables and one-syllable adverbs, the superlative is formed by adding the ending _____ to the word.

-est

What suffixes do most adverbs have?

-ly

How many different types of idioms are there?

2

Oxymoron

2 words of opposite meanings are used together example- Sweet sorrow Real phony Civil war Big baby

Idiom

A common, often-used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally. break a leg

Analogy

A comparison of two different things that are similar in some way ex- Death is to sadness as rain is to flood (cause and effect) The chapter is to book as a finger is to hand (part-whole) Tango is to dance as the bear is to a mammal (classification) ex- blind as a bat

How could the following sentence be altered to be clearer? Without help I would not finish this assignment

Add a comma after 'help.

Which of the following is the correct way to show possession with a plural noun ending in ''s''?

Add an apostrophe at the end.

You're reading a book, and you come across a passage where a lot of words begin with the same consonant. What kind of figurative language did you just see?

Alliteration

Run-on sentence

Also known as a fused sentence, is a sentence that is missing the right punctuation to make it flow properly. This happens when 2 independent clauses ex- (wrong) Clark has vanished he left his eyeglasses and coat in the telephone booth. (correct) Clark had vanished; however, he left his eyeglasses and coat in the telephone booth. OR Clark had vanished. He left his eyeglasses and coat in the telephone booth.

How would a person express the plural possessive of the word 'child'?

Children's

Adverb

Describes a verb/ describes, or modifies, a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Many adverbs end in ly. ex- Quietly or slowly

Which of the following is an overstatement or exaggeration?

Hyperbole

Sentence fragment

Incomplete sentences. e.g. While the students were taking the test. "The students were taking the test" is a complete sentence

What is wrong with the following sentence?" Most of the movies I like don't have a lot of explosions, sometimes I like horror movies though."

It has a comma splice.

catch-22

It's more generally used to refer to a paradox or dilemma. Example: to get a certain job, you need work experience. But to get that work experience, you need to have had a job. It's a Catch-22.

What is the proper way to contract the possessive form of 'it'?

Its

Does the following sentence contain the correct verb? The reason for my decisions is complicated.

No. Because the word 'decisions' is a plural subject, it should be followed by a plural verb. explanation- In this sentence, the subject is the word 'reason.' Since the subject is singular, the verb must also be singular. Remember, a word that is part of a prepositional phrase can never be the subject of the sentence in which the phrase appears.

Which of the following gives animals or inanimate objects human qualities or characteristics?

Personification

Which of the following is the correct use of the apostrophe?

The Sampsons' dog barked at us.

What is wrong with this sentence: When they got home. They decided to cook pork chops for dinner.

There is a sentence fragment

What is wrong with this sentence: "When they got home. They decided to cook pork chops for dinner."

There is a sentence fragment

Which of the following is a correct sentence featuring an infinitive?

To climb the tallest mountain in the state.

When should you use 'if I were' instead of 'if I was'?

When you're referring to something contrary to the fact

homonyms

With homonyms, the spelling or the pronunciation remains the same, but the words have different meanings, such as 'rose' (to rise up) and 'rose' (a flower), which are also homographs, and 'accept' (to receive) and 'except' (to omit something), which are also homophones.

Which of the following best describes a collective noun?

Words that refer to groups, such as jury, committee, and faculty

Preposition

a part of speech that shows how nouns or pronouns in a sentence are related to other words in the sentence. A word in a prepositional phrase can never be the subject of the sentence in which the phrase appears

Gerund

a verb ending in "ing" that serves as a noun

Pronoun

a word that takes the place of or refers to a noun/ words that stand in for nouns or proper nouns He, she, him, ours, theirs, etc

not only

also

'John is the most handsome boy in the class' is an example of the superlative form of _____.

an adverb- Because 'the most handsome' describes a person, 'John,' it is the superlative form of an adjective, and is used to describe John within the larger group of 'boys in the class.'

Metaphor

an analogy that compares 2 unlike objects to each other ex- Life is a highway

both

and

Structure analysis

breaking words apart to understand meaning

Suffix

changed end of the word example- the word close add d becomes closed (d is the suffix)

Comparative

compare 2 things use er or are

Simile

comparison between unlike objects has words like or as ex- My dog is like you monkey

Infinitive

consists of the word 'to' plus the base form of a verb ex- TO worry, TO drive

Looking at the words surrounding an unknown word to determine its meaning is an example of using _____

context clues

Adjective

describes or modifies a noun or pronoun example- enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast.

Connotations

emotional association or secondary meaning of a word Positive and negative notations words have- for example home is happy and cozy

The misleading use of a word or a string of words, often using alternate meanings is called a(n) _____

equivocation

Verb

expresses an action or occurrence

Which of the following verb forms is a past participle?

frozen

Which verb would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? Either my sister or my brother _____ my math textbook.

has

misplaced modifiers

is a modifier that finds itself in the wrong part of the sentence ex- we ran from the hideous mutants we saw quickly. -1st find modifier- quickly -2nd figure out what action you did quickly- here refers to seeing mutants quickly not running -3rd Change accordingly- put quickly in right spot Correct sentence - we ran quickly from the hideous mutants we saw.

modifier

is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies (or describes) another word ex- The tin (modifier- adjectives) man and the cowardly (modifier-adjectives) lion

Dangling modifiers

is just like a misplaced modifier except that the thing it's supposed to modify is missing Example- if elected, Obama's main opposition will not come from republicans. If elected modifying phrase... who is getting elected? Correct sentence- if Obama is elected, his main opposition will not come from the republicans.

Vehicle

is the idea that is conveying the metaphor ex- life is a highway - highway is the vehicle

Colon (:)

is the way of letting the reader know there is more to come to further illustrate a thought after the main clause. Today was turning out like one of his nightmares: everyone was frowning and no one was wearing pants. Also used for titles sometimes

Prefix

letter or groups of letters to change the word example- the word Agree add dis disagree (dis is the prefix)

He was a steam engine, chugging down the field towards the end zone. This line is an example of which type of figurative language?

metaphor

Which is a synonym for soft?

mushy or squishy

neither

nor

Collective nouns

nouns that refer to groups

Comma spice

occurs any time a comma is inserted between two main clauses without coordinating conjunction to connect them. Just a miss used comma ex- (wrong) most of us liked to eat fish, jerry preferred to devour the still-beating hearts of fresh artichokes. (correct) Most of us liked to eat fish, but jerry preferred to devour the still-beating hearts of fresh artichokes.

either

or

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This quote is an example of a(n) __

paradox

Read these lines by William Wordsworth: When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;...Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.What type of figurative language do you spot in those lines?

personification

Interrogative pronouns

pronouns that help ask questions

Possessive pronouns

pronouns that show possessions

Paronomasia

pun

homophones

same pronunciation but different meanings can be spelled differently. Example- to (towards), two(number), and too Dew, do, and due

Homographs

same spelling regardless of their pronunciation example- Bow and bow One is a tie one is to bend at the waist Bass and bass Lead and lead Close close Wind and wind

Homonym

spelling or pronunciation remains the same but has different meanings example- Some good homonyms examples include 'bear', which is both the name of an animal and a word meaning 'tolerating something'.

Personification

the comparison that gives human qualities to something that is not human ex- Sun smiled down at us

Paradoxes

the contradiction that makes sense at first but is wrong ex-All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others

Denotation

the direct meaning of a word and it is often what you would find in the dictionary Has no emotion just a definition

A word's connotation is _____.

the emotional association or secondary meaning of a word

clique

the overused phrase lost impact ex-hair like silk

Tenor

the subject of a metaphor ex- life is a highway - life is the tenor

As a general rule, use the suffix -able when _____, and -ible when _____.

the word can stand alone without the suffix; it can't

Antecedents

the word that a pronoun takes the place of or refers to ex- A good teacher will make sure that all of their students understand the material. 1st- find pronoun- their- possessive pronoun- this is plural 2nd find antecedent- teacher - this is a singular noun Fix sentence- A good teacher will make sure that all of their students understand the material. OR A good teacher will make sure that all of his or her students understand the material.

Preposition

the word that describes the relationship of one thing to something else Example- before and after describe time Above and below describe the space

Superlative

to compare more than two things or people Use est or most

Semicolon (;)

used to connect 2 clauses together that are connected, Connect transitional words and phrases, and Keep items in a list

Superlative form

used to describe one or more people, places or things within a larger group of people, places, or things, or to state that an action is performed to the highlighted degree within a group of actions just like it ex- Katie is the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. Prettiest is describing one person among a group

Correlative conjunctions

used together ex- Neither and nor

Equivocations

uses a word or words wrong ex- Soil is natural. Natural things are good for you. So it's okay to ingest soil.

Past participle

usually ends with -ed or -d

Present participle

verbs ends in -ing

Which is an antonym for fire?

water

subject of a sentence

who or what the sentence is about

Breaking apart a word into its component parts is an example of using _____.

word structure

Synonyms

words that have similar meanings to each other Example- thin (positive connotation) and skinny (negative connotation) Humid is too muggy as find is to locate Bad: awful, terrible, horrible. Good: fine, excellent, great. Hot: burning, fiery, boiling. Cold: chilly, freezing, frosty.

indefinite pronouns

words that replace something non-specific ex- Anyone, anything, everything, nobody, nothing, something

antonym

words with opposite definitions ex- Argue - Agree. All - None. Amateur - Professional. Alive - Dead. Advanced - Elementary. Adult - Child.