Below is a copy of the TRCC flyer announcing our new grammar hotline

Introducing TRCC’s 
GRAMMAR HOT LINE
 Are you grammatically challenged?
 

Don’t know when to use
who or whom
its or it’s
I or me
students’ or student’s
a period or a comma

 Call
886-0177 x6501
12 to 2 on M and W
with your question.

 At other times, leave a voice mail.
Or e-mail your grammar question to

Grammarhotline@trcc.commnet.edu

You’ll get a speedy reply.

Think you’re grammatically correct already?

Take the grammar challenge.

(Find the error or select a choice. Some sentences have more than one error.   Answers appear at the end.)

1.     Just between you and (I, me, myself), I hate the study of grammer.

2.     After putting on a jacket, the room didn’t seem as cold.

3.     Madame Curie discovered radium, and later applied her work on radioactivity to medicine.

4.     The Fall semester began the day after Labor Day, and the Spring semester began the day after Martin Luther King Day.

5.     Zoos large enough to give animals freedom to roam, are becoming popular.

6.     The technician tested the batteries; the machines were tested by the engineers.

7.     I polished the car’s fenders with a chamois, but it still didn’t shine

 brightly.

8.     The bacon was fatty, grease was on the potatos, and the eggs

 were cold.

9.     You can insult me if you want, however I suggest you do so

at a distance.

10.            Its not going to work, its’ point is too dull.

_______________________________________________________

Answers Below

1.  me         grammar

2. After I put on a jacket, the room didn’t seem as cold.  (According to

    the challenge sentence, the room put on a jacket.

3. Delete the unnecessary comma.

4. Do not capitalize the names of the seasons.

5.  Delete the unnecessary comma that separates the subject from its

     verb.  In other words, do not use a comma to show a pause.

6. The technician tested the batteries; the engineers tested the

    machines.  OR  The batteries were tested by the technician; the

    machines were tested by the engineers.  (Make this sentence

    parallel by using the active voice or passive voice for both

    independent clauses.  Choose the active voice when possible.)

7.  Use They, not it, because fenders is plural.

8.  Make the sentence parallel by writing The potatoes (add an e)

     were greasy.

9.  This sentence contains a comma splice.  Change the comma to a

 semicolon or period.  Most grammar texts would advise adding a

      comma after the word however.

10. Add an apostrophe to the first It’s to show a contraction.  Delete

      the apostrophe in the second its to show possession; its’ is not a

      word.  Change the comma to a period.

Three Rivers Community College is still working in collaboration with the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium and several Connecticut universities and community colleges to provide FREE online tutoring to our students. This semester, we are offering tutoring in math (through calculus) and statistics, accounting, and writing for any discipline.

We are using a new platform this semester and now, all students have to do to establish an account is log on to www.eTutoring.org and submit a short form. Please encourage your students, advisees, clients, etc. to try this service.

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