GRAMMAR & RULES & EXERCISES
COLLECTED BY"GUELLIL MABROUK"
Contents (click below links).................................pro. English/high education
I/exercises
Unit One: articles and NounsII/answers key
Unit One: articles and Nouns
Answer Key
Additional Proofreading Exercises
Essay One
Correct the errors in the use of articles, nouns, verb forms (including infinitives, gerunds, and present and
past participles), punctuation and sentence structure, and word forms in the following essay (The types and
numbers of errors are indicated at the end of each paragraph of the essay):
I am an only child in my family, so I have thought about if I had a brother or sister, how my life would be
different. Maybe I would not feel lonely when my parents went to work; maybe I would not feel helpless
when I suffered from some problems. However, having brothers or sisters is both good and bad.
I remember my friend told me that her older brother took care of her a lot. He would cook for her when
their parents left home, teach her when she had some questions about her homework, and he bought a
laptop for her when she attended college. Having an older brother or sister is good in the family, because
they will take care of their younger brothers and sisters and help them solve some problems. Even though
parents have more ideas and experience to help their children, they have less time to stay at home because
of their work. So the older brother or sister will be a good teacher. They can offer some ideas and share their
experience with their brothers and sisters. According to the play “The Glass Menagerie,” Laura is Tom’s
older sister. She always helps Tom when Amanda blames him, and tries to convince Tom to listen when
Amanda tells her stories.
Having brothers or sisters, you will not feel lonely, because they can always cheer the family up. I have
a friend who has a sister. She tells me that she has a good relationship with her sister and always feels
happy. They like to shop on weekends, cook dinner and face ___ problems together. I remember a time
when my friend told me that her sister got in trouble in her class. Her sister felt sad and did not know how to
solve this problem; however, my friend comforted her sister and tried to help her. Also, her family has
parties for holidays each year. So they would assign each person work to prepare for the party and have fun
with the family.
On the other hand, having brothers or sisters is not good, because they will make noise and quarrel
when they have different thinking. One of my high school friends told me that she hated her brother, because
he always liked to play games instead of studying and made so much noise when she was studying. She
argued with him many times, but he did not want to listen to her. Also, her brother did not like his sister
either, because he thought his sister talked too much and always used the computer and television. If there is
only one child in the family, their life will be different, because they can do whatever they like and will not
quarrel about each thing. I read some stories which said that having a good friend is better than having a
brother or sister sometimes. Sisters and brothers live together all their life. They have to share everything,
especially share their parents’ love. Therefore, some children’s personality will be changed by parents’
different treatment. They feel it is unfair when their parents treat them differently from their sisters and
brothers, so they will be angry at their sisters and brothers. For example, in the ancient ages, there were
children of the King who fought and killed their brothers to be the King. However, ___ friends are different
from brothers and sisters; they do not need to share parents’ love, and good friends usually have the same
opinions about solving problems, so they will not have so many quarrels.
Having brothers or sisters is good or bad; it depends on what a person ___ thinks about ___
brotherhood and sisterhood. If the person ___ does not want to learn new things or do anything by himself,
he will like having brothers or sisters, because he can follow the experience that his brothers or sisters had
without thinking. If the person ___ has ambition and wants to pursue his dream by himself, then he will not
need brothers or sisters to help him.
Essay Two
Correct the errors in the use of articles, nouns, verb forms (including infinitives, gerunds, and present and
past participles), punctuation and sentence structure, and word forms in the following essay (The types and
numbers of errors are indicated (The types and numbers of errors are indicated at the end of each paragraph
of the essay):
I have heard people say that the mother is a very important part in the family because she always
does all the housework and takes care of the children, such as washing clothes, cooking food, teaching
children to do their homework, and controlling the behavior of the children. About this point, I strongly agree,
but how about the father? I think fathers are always ignored in families because they like to keep quiet, and
rarely share ___ feelings with the children at home, so most children are closer to their mothers than to their
fathers. However, it doesn’t mean the father is not very important. Now, I want to introduce my Chinese father
to you.
I am Chinese, so I have ___ strong feelings about the traditional Chinese father. In my experience,
most Chinese fathers are grave. They don’t like to do ___ housework because they think ___ women have to
do housework at home. And also, they prefer ___ males to females. Thus, males have a special position and
power at home. That is the reason why I don’t like the Chinese style. However, my father is different from
other traditional Chinese fathers. In my mind, he is a good father.
A strong reason why I appreciate and respect my father is that he treats my older brother and me the
same. In China, this is a major and sensitive problem in most families. In my neighborhood, many Chinese
girls don’t have any opportunities to study; also, they have a lower level at home and have to do all the
housework. But in my family, my father never treats me like that. I have the same position as my brother, such
as the same opportunity to study, the same pocket money, and the same punishment when we do wrong.
My mother is different. She treats me better than my brother. I remember when I was twelve years old, my
mother went shopping with me and bought me many clothes, but she didn’t give money to my brother. My
father knew about this thing later. He gave some money to my brother for shopping. At that time, my father
established a great and special picture in my mind.
In addition, my father is a good cook. At home, my mother almost does all the housework, so my father
rarely cooks, but he always enjoys cooking food. Usually, my father always complains about my mother
making the same food every day, and also that the food styles are not good. In his mind, he is concerned
about ___ food cutting and styles. He thinks the good appearance of food can increase ___ enjoyment.
Therefore, when he wants to cook, he would like to do special food cutting, such as cutting radishes like
flowers, and cutting ___ green onions like ___ small leaves. When he is done, he would put the food on a
beautiful plate. He makes ___ food deliciously too, not only as an ornament. All the time, I enjoy his cooking,
maybe because he always makes a new style or he rarely cooks. I am not sure what the reason is, but I
understand that when he cooks something, I feel warm in my heart.
Moreover, my father has many different abilities, such as healing, repairing, and accounting. When I
was five years old, he worked in a small clinic. After that job, my family opened a store, and then my father
became an accountant. Furthermore, when my family has trouble with electronic equipment, he is able to fix
it. Thus, I am proud of him. On the other hand, he has many defects. For example, he always keeps quiet at
home, so sometimes, I think he isn’t concerned about me very much. And also, he likes to use ___ physical
punishment when I do something wrong, so he is a violent man. Thus, sometimes, I have a conflict with him
in my heart, although he is good.
I usually hear people talk about how good a father they have, but I rarely am concerned about it
because I know my father is the best. This is my father.
Essay Three
Correct the errors in the use of articles, nouns, verb forms (including infinitives, gerunds, and present and
past participles), punctuation and sentence structure, and word forms in the following essay (The types and
numbers of errors are indicated at (The types and numbers of errors are indicated at the end of each
paragraph of the essay):
During my short life, I can say that I have been happy most of the time. When I was a child, I was
surrounded by people that loved me a lot. My family was composed of my father Luis, my mother Maria,
and my sisters Marta, Rosa and Yvonne. Like every other family, we had our arguments and different
situations in the house, but nothing out of control. The relationship between all of us is amazing. Even now it
is stronger than ever. This family is what makes me be the person that I am today. It is true that jealousy
between siblings does exist, but what would have been my life without my fabulous sisters?
When we were children, we used to go every summer vacation to my grandmother’s house. There we
didn’t even have to call anybody to entertain us, because we were enough to do it ourselves. Many times I
was in trouble in school but didn’t have to fight any of the girls, because they knew that we were four and
nobody wanted to have that kind of problem.
My oldest sister Marta, was the one in control of the whole situation. In school she was the mother, the
person in charge and responsible for all of us. Now as an adult, she works driving trucks between New York
and New Jersey. She is a single mother. Rosa, she was quiet but dynamite at the same time. She was the
kind of girl you think you can mess with, and then you realize you were completely wrong judging her.
Nowadays, she is a nurse, ready to help everybody that needs her. She is married, the mother of three.
Yvonne, she is the crazy one and baby of the house. She was a terrible child. She is the one that I’m
more close to, probably because we are closer in age. She recently married her fiancé in August.
The best time that we all enjoy being together is during Christmas. We all get together in Rosa’s
house in New Jersey and we all have fun. We dance with each other, eat, drink and play Bingo. Every day I
thank God for the great opportunity of being part of the Hernandez family.
I have had a few different situations where I felt bad and in a certain way even lost, but they gave me
the positive thoughts and strength necessary to keep going. I remember not that long ago, I was dating
Miguel. Things between us didn’t work out, and I felt bad about it. When they found out what just had
happened between him and me, they came out with the fantastic idea of a women’s getaway. That weekend
we departed for Cancun, and it was awesome. We had so much fun, that I completely forgot the reason
why we were there.
Definitely, my life wouldn’t be the same without my sisters. They are the backbone of my entire life.
Essay Four
Correct the errors in the use of articles, nouns, verb forms (including infinitives, gerunds, and present and
past participles), punctuation and sentence structure, and word forms in the following essay (The types and
numbers of errors are indicated (The types and numbers of errors are indicated at the end of each paragraph
of the essay):
My father has the excellent potential to become two kinds of fathers. One is the ruling father; the other
one is the kind father. And although “father” and “dad” can have the same meanings, they still are different in
some ways. “Father” represents rule and respect. And “Dad” represents ___ kindness and niceness. So how
do you introduce your father to your friends? For me, I would say, “He is my father.”
My father never forces me to be “Number One,” like the father in the story we just read, because he is
the “Number One” of our family. He always tries his best to do everything perfectly. My father is the most
powerful person of our family and the super idol of my life. I love him and I respect him, but I am also afraid of
him. He looks like the god of our family. When he says, “Yes,” we are not allowed to say “No.” He always
loves to intone from the head of the dinner table, and says, “I am going to buy a new TV… We are going to
go out to dinner tomorrow … I am going … .” And this is not a family meeting; this is only his personal
determination. Thus, we could not say “No” to him. If we do, he would give us “the punishment eye,” which
means he is mad. When my father is mad, he will have “evil eyes.” And when he watches us with his “evil
eyes,” we would feel nervous and anxious, and forget to be brave.
Sometimes, my father is a ruling father, but sometimes he also is a kind father. Every time when he
reads the newspaper and knows tomorrow will be a bad rainy day, he would say, “It is going to rain
tomorrow -- do not forget your umbrella.” Especially in winter, he would tell us all the time, “Do not come home
late today, wear more clothes, and call after you leave the school and … .” Compared to other fathers, my
father is really different. For example, last Friday I had to go to the immigration office about American
citizenship. When my father knew, he would not sleep for the whole night. In addition, he was the first person
to wake me up, and told me, “Do not be late, hurry up …” However, my appointment was at ten o’clock and
he woke me up at six o’clock. Then, I told him, “My appointment is at ten o’clock father, let me sleep …”
When he knew my appointment time, he did not say anything; he just sat on the sofa and kept bothering me
every fifteen minutes, “Get up, do not be late …” These six words annoyed me all the day.
In conclusion, different people have different personalities. And different fathers have different
policies. My father’s policy is to protect us all the time and to prepare the best future for us.
Essay Five
Correct the errors in the use of articles, nouns, verb forms (including infinitives, gerunds, and present and
past participles), punctuation and sentence structure, and word forms in the following essay (The types and
numbers of errors are indicated at the end of each paragraph of the essay).
In people’s life, everyone is a traveler, choosing a road and following it. Actually, there are no straight
roads; people have to make a right decision and try it. The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
tells about important choices in life.
In the beginning of the poem, Frost mentions that it is difficult to make a decision about two roads:
“Two roads diverged in a hollow wood, and sorry I could not travel both …” However, Frost has to choose the
road that he wants to follow: “And looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth.” For
one of the roads, it is difficult to see the end, and there may be danger in the undergrowth. So Frost wants
to take the other one, which less people have taken before. Most people want to take a road that many
people took, because they think that it is easier to pass through. On the other hand, people will get more
challenge from a road that less people have taken, because people will learn new things and get new
experience from it. Eventually, Frost decides to take this road, and he knows there is no chance to come
back, because when he takes this road, everything will be changed: “I took the one less traveled by, and
that has made all the difference.”
“The Road Not Taken” talks about choosing a life path. The road symbolizes people’s life. In the
middle of two life paths, people find it difficult to make a decision because they cannot see the end of each
path, and do not want to lose the chance to take the other one. It is an important decision. People cannot
come back if they take a wrong path. It is what my mother always tells me “You have to know exactly what
kind of path you want to take, because your decision will affect your whole life.” I read some articles from a
newspaper, which talked about some people who used terrible and illegal tricks to make money, such as
robbing, selling drugs, and kidnapping. That was a dangerous path they chose. Some of them may face
death. In our life, we can see that parents try to make a good life path for their children, especially immigrant
parents. Because of their older age, many immigrants have a language problem when they live in a foreign
country, and they know that it is a big problem. Therefore, they want their children to go to school to get
higher education, which will overcome this problem and give them a good future. Also, parents hope their
children will be better than others, so they would like to buy a piano or violin, or to give classes for their
children to learn more things. It is a path that parents give to us; we also can choose a path for ourselves. For
example, a mother hopes her son will be a lawyer, so she gives many law classes to him and wants him to
go to law school. However, it is the dream of the mother, not his. The son is interested in medicine and
thinks to be a doctor will give more benefits to people. Finally, he achieves his dream and lets his mother
know that is the path he wants.
Making a decision between two paths is difficult and important because we have to follow it without
coming back, and it will make a difference in our life.
Essay Six
Correct the errors in the use of articles, nouns, verb forms (including infinitives, gerunds, and present and
past participles), punctuation and sentence structure, and word forms in the following essay (The types and
numbers of errors are indicated at the end of each paragraph of the essay).
Someone once told me that I have so much to give, but I am too scared to. Yes, now women, and me
included, are afraid to give something up for a relationship with ___ men. Why should we? We were pressed
down under men’s power for so long that now we want something just for us. We want to take, not to give.
Sometimes, women try to rescue themselves with the help of marriage. To rescue themselves from bad
circumstances or financial pressure, thinking that if he loves me, he’ll make me happy. And sometimes it
works out: unfortunately, not always. We have so many examples when women embrace themselves under
men’s will for god knows what reasons. Then troubles start. They are not happy, and the women think it is the
man’s fault. And men think, “She saw me the way I was before we got married. What does she want now?”
Indeed, what does she want? What does she want when she sees her expectations collapse into little
pieces? She does not know herself; most of the time she wants freedom. To be able to breathe with all the
strength she has. Man, then, seems an obstacle in her way, and she does everything to clear the way: to end
the relationship and to get out. These relationships seem like a cage which grows smaller and smaller: so
small as to choke at any minute. You are scared. You want to finish it as soon as you can. Your man does
not let you go - he gave something, wasted years of his life maybe. But the two of you want ___ different
things now. In some cases, if one of you dies, maybe the other will feel free.
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes the feelings of a woman when her husband dies.
This returns us to the question “If death comes to one of you, who will feel free?” Speaking of ___ women’s
liberation, it would be good to mention how the lady in this story feels: “When she abandoned herself, a little
whispered word escaped her parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: ‘free, free, free.’ The
vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her
pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” The woman felt joy. Isn’t
it fascinating? Her husband died and she felt free and happy. Something that we cannot understand, because
we all carry childish ideas throughout the years: ideas that say - man and wife should be in love, and so on.
Here we meet something different and disturbing. Mrs. Mallard in this story says, “There would be no one to
live for her during those coming years: she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending
hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will
upon a fellow creature.” Yes, women tend to live for someone else: kids, husband, but rarely for themselves.
They are used to bending themselves under someone else’s will. In my opinion, men imposed these “rules”
on women. We know until the 19th century, women had to deal with men’s will. They didn’t have the right to
anything. It doesn’t mean they were not smart; most likely, it was very convenient for ___ men to keep women
this way. It was because of our differences in gender, especially in those days, when men did not
understand what women needed. For us women, it is so simple. We need tender love, care, and a bit of
security. We want to see the person we love often. But men are different. They
can not stay at home more
than a few hours a day. They are rougher, stricter, and tougher. In the end, men and women simply have
different expectations from each other. For example, women are mad when they hear, “Yes you cook, you
clean, you work forty hours a week, and you study full time, but I don’t understand why your nails are not done,
and you should put some makeup on.” How tender and understanding is that?
We speak about the beginning of the 19th century and what situation we have now. I believe we have
the same situation now, maybe veiled a bit, but mostly the same. Yes, women are stronger now, and we have
a feminist movement now. But women may want to be women again. Some women live like men, but it is
tough to be a man, to live men’s role every day of your life. A lot of women don’t feel like women any more.
We have families where the husband is currently a housewife. But it doesn’t sit right in our head. What do
women want? Will they feel free if death visits their partner?
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