Grammar-Quizzes.com

Julie Sevastopoulos earned a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from San Francisco State University.  She has taught at English Language Services, UC Berkeley Extension and the San Mateo Community College District. She is a strong advocate for computer assisted learning and life-long learning. She currently resides in Palo Alto, California, USA  with her husband, a native of Greece.

 

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Grammar-Quizzes — past to present

The practices in Grammar-Quizzes were developed over several years, from 1998 to the present, for community college level students studying English as a Second Language. The practices present simple grammar concepts and are appropriate for non-native speakers as well as native speakers. The goal of this web site is to unburden instructors from having to develop online practices and to offer students a resource that complements their course activities.

The contrastive analysis approach, used in this web site, presents one grammatical point in contrast (comparison) to another already-known point.  The usage of the grammar point can be deduced from the paired examples.  Contextual examples and practices on each page are designed to help users test their understanding of the material.  The brief explanations are "descriptive" of English as it occurs rather than "prescriptive", how one might think it should be.  The grammar terms and explanations have been phrased in plain English to maintain accessibility to the greatest number of users.  Academic resources are listed below for expert grammatical descriptions of the English language.

Messages regarding typos or coding errors are very much appreciated. (Please note the precise location of the page error when referring to it in your e-mail.)  Also, if you are using a particular platform or device that cannot display a page, please let me know specifically which operating system you are using and the part of the page that is not displaying well.

Note:  Previously, this web site was named "Grammar Check"  when it resided on the San Mateo Community College District server from November 1998 - April 2008.  In May of 2008, it was renamed "Grammar-Quizzes" (an available domain name) and moved to its current host server May 2008 – present.  Please do not reproduce the content of these pages for personal profit.  You are welcome to link to any page.

Web address cards for grammar-quizzes.com are available in PDF or DOC formats.

 

Navigation

Information on accessibility, keyboard commands and iPad navigation is given on the Keyboard Options page.

 

 

Resources

 

Linguistic Description

Biber, Douglas, and Stig Johansson, et al. Longman Grammar Of Spoken And Written English (LGSWE). Harlow: Pearson Education, 1999. Print.

Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K. Pullum, et al. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CaGEL) . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.

Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K. Pullum. A Student's Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005 Print.

Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage (PEU). 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.

Quirk, Randolph and Sidney Greenbaum. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (CoGEL) . 7th ed. New York: Longman Group, 1989. Print

(Note dates of publication)

 

Traditional Grammar Description

Azar, Betty Schrampfer, and Stacy A. Hagen. Understanding and Using English Grammar (UUEG) . White Plains, New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print.

Krohn, Robert. English Sentence Structure. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1971. Print.

Strunk, William Jr. and E.G. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.1999. Print.

 

Word Use

Fowler's Modern English Usage. Ed. R. W. Burchfield. Rev. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print.

Garner, Bryan A.. Garner's Modern American Usage. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press. 2009. Print

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (MWDEU). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1994.Print.

 

Style Manuals

AP Stylebook. The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. 42nd ed. New York: Basic Books, 2007. Print. 

The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Print. 

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. NewYork: Modern Language Association of America. 2009. Print

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed. Washington, D.C:  American Psychological Association, 2010. Print.   

Sabin, William A., The Gregg Reference Manual:A manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting. 11th ed. New York: McGraw–Hill, 2011. Print.