Grammar and vocabulary, Year 8: more practice

B

提示Ask whether some students were on time in each version.

为什么In B the commas make 'who were late' extra information about all of them. In A it picks out only the late ones.

After 'you'

提示You are speaking directly to someone.

为什么A comma separates the name of the person addressed from the rest of the sentence.

Wrongly

提示Think of 'mistake'.

为什么'Mis-' means wrongly or badly. 'Misread' is to read wrongly.

No — 'so' joins the clauses

提示Look for a joining word.

为什么The conjunction 'so' links the two clauses, so the comma is correct. A splice has only a comma.

It was late; I went to bed.

提示Swap one mark.

为什么A semicolon can join two closely linked complete sentences.

It reveals what the thing is

提示The first part promises something.

为什么The colon introduces an explanation or an example.

was

提示Which word is the true subject, 'boys' or 'neither'?

为什么'Neither' is singular, so the verb is singular. 'Of the boys' is only extra detail.

play

提示Everything else is already over.

为什么The story is told in the past, so 'play' should be 'played'.

A job application letter

提示One is formal; the other is relaxed.

为什么Standard English is the variety expected in formal writing. Dialect and informal speech are fine elsewhere.

Dialect

提示A region's own variety of a language.

为什么A dialect is a full variety of language with its own words and grammar.