SCAN the question quickly. If you have a choice of questions, decide which one you can answer best. See how much time you have to spend on each answer. Find the key verb in each question. Revise as you write to tighten and clarify. Proofread for mistakes in spelling, mechanics and usage.
Examples of some key verbs: “Analyse” is a task asking you to take something apart to see how it works. Compare and contrast tells you to discuss similarities and differences. Discuss means examining something in detail. Explain means give reasons for something. Interpret asks you to give the meaning or significance of something. Summarise asks you to give an overview of the main points.
This is a rundown of parts of speech you might want to have a look at while relaxing at home. “Noun” names a person, place or idea. Examples; captain, swimmers, Brian, Mary, Elliot, justice, honesty. “Pronoun” takes the place of one or more nouns or pronouns. “Personal” refers to one(s) speaking (first person), spoken about (third person). Examples: I, me, mine, we, us, ours, you, yours, your, he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, their, theirs.
“Reflexive refers” to the subject and directs action of the verb back to the subject. Examples: myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves. “Intensive” refers to and emphasises a noun or another noun. Examples are the same as those under reflexive.
“Demonstrative” refers to specific one(s) of a group. Examples are: this, that, these, those. “Interrogative” introduces the question. Examples: what, which, who, whom, whose. “Relative” introduces subordinate clause and refers to noun or pronoun outside the clause. Examples: that, which, who, whom, whose. Indefinite refers to one(s) not specifically named like all, any, anyone, both, each, either, everybody, many, none, nothing. An adjective modifies noun or pronoun by telling what kind, which one, how many, or how much. Examples: an old, flea-infested cat, that one, the twelve red roses, more tea. “Verb” (action linking), shows action or state of being; expresses physical or mental activity; connects subject with word identifying or describing it. Examples: appear, be, seem, become, feel, look, smell, sound, taste.
“Helping”(auxiliary) combines with another verb to form a verb phrase. Examples: be, have, may, can, shall, will, would.
“Adverb” modifies verb, adjective, or adverb by telling how, when, where or to what extent. Examples: drives carefully, quite dangerous, shortly afterward, arrived there late. “Preposition” relates noun or pronoun to other words like across, between, into, near, of, on, with, aside from, instead of, next to.
“Conjunction” joins words or word groups. “Co-ordinating” joins words or word groups used in the same way. Examples – and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet. “Correlative” is a pair of conjunctions that join parallel words or word groups like both, and, either . . . or, neither . . . nor, not only . . . but (also)
“Subordinating” begins a subordinate clause and connects it to an independent clause. Examples such as, as, though, because, if, since, so that, than, when, where and while. Interjection expresses emotion like hey, oops, ouch, wow. Remember, such examples are meaningless on their own unless used in sentences.
Determining parts of speech – The way a word is used in a sentence determines the word’s part of speech. Examples: The fine feathers of young birds are called down. (noun). She wore down a vest. (adjective). Did the tackle down the ball in the end zone? (verb). Her hat fell.(adverb). My brother lives down the street from my home. (preposition). Let’s get a drink of water. (noun. Did you water the plants? (verb). Most water sports offer good exercise. (adjective) That shirt didn’t cost much. (adjective) I never said that. (pronoun).
Agreement of subject and verb. A verb should always agree with its subject in number. Singular subjects take singular verbs. Plural subjects take plural verbs. Singular – She searches for her daughter’s necklace. Plural –They search for her daughter’s necklace. Singular –Mr Nkomo’s vegetable garden was destroyed. Mr Nkomo’s tomatoes were destroyed by the frost.
The number of the subject is not changed by a phrase following the subject. Singular – The sign near the metal doors explains the theme of the exhibit. Singular – Romeo, together with Benvolio and Mercutio goes to lord Capulet’s party. Plural – The shoes made of pure rubber were expensive. A collective noun takes a singular verb when the noun refers to the group as a unit and takes a plural verb when the noun refers to the individual parts or members of the group.
A collective noun is singular in form but names a group of persons or things. Singular –The class has chosen its monitors. (class = a unit). Plural – The class has completed their Cala projects. (class + individual students). Examples of collective nouns: army, assembly, audience, band, cast, club committee, couple and so on.
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