501 Grammar and Writing Questions (501 Series) —which can be used alone, along with another writing-skills text of your choice, or in combination with the LearningExpress publication, Writing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day—will give you practice dealing with capitalization, punctuation, basic grammar, sentence structure, organization, paragraph development, and essay writing.
It is designed to be used by individuals working on their own and for teachers or tutors helping students learn or review basic writing skills. Practising 501 Grammar and Writing Questions will greatly alleviate writing anxiety.
501 Grammar and Writing Questions Overview
Many people grimace when faced with grammar exercises. But to communicate with others, pass tests, and get your point across in writing, using words and punctuation effectively is a necessary skill. Maybe you’re one of the millions who found memorising grammar rules tedious as elementary or high school students. Maybe you were confused by all of the exceptions to those rules. Maybe you thought they would just come naturally as you continued to write and speak.
First, know you are not alone. Indeed, some people work very hard to understand the rules, while others seem to have a natural gift for writing. And that’s okay; we all have unique talents. Still, it’s a fact that most jobs today require good communication skills, including writing. The good news is that grammar and writing skills can be developed with practice.
Learn by doing. It’s an old lesson, tried and true. The 501 grammar and writing questions included in these pages are designed to give you lots of practice. As you work through each set of questions, you’ll understand basic grammar and usage rules. And all without memorizing! This book will help you improve your language skills through encouragement, not frustration.
501 Grammar and Writing Questions Contents
501 Grammar and Writing Questions is divided into six sections:
- Section 1: Mechanics: Capitalization and Punctuation
- Section 2: Sentence Structure
- Section 3: Agreement
- Section 4: Modifiers
- Section 5: Paragraph Development
- Section 6: Essay Questions
Each section is subdivided into short sets consisting of 8–20 questions.
The book is specifically organized to help you build confidence as you further develop your written language skills. 501 Grammar and Writing Questions begins with the basic mechanics of capitalization and punctuation and then moves on to grammar and sentence structure.
By the time you reach the section on paragraph development, you’ve already practised almost 300 questions. You will then continue practising the skills you’ve already begun to master in the previous four sections, this time in combination. When you get to the last section, you’ll be ready to write your essays.
How to Use This Book
Whether you’re working alone or helping someone brush up on grammar and usage, this book will allow you to practice, practice, practice.
Working on Your Own
If you are working alone to review the basics or prepare for a test in connection with a job or school, you will probably want to use this book with a basic grammar and usage text or with Writing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day. If you’re pretty sure of your basic language-mechanics skills, however, you can use 501 Grammar and Writing Questions by itself.
Use the answer key at the end of the book to find out if you chose the correct answer and learn how to tackle similar questions next time. Every answer is explained. Ensure you understand the explanations before returning to the questions and moving on to the next set.
Tutoring Others
This book will work well with almost any basic grammar and usage text. You will probably find it most helpful to give students a brief lesson in the particular skill they’ll be learning—capitalization, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement, sentence structure, and style—and then have them spend the remainder of the session answering the questions in the sets.
You will want to impress upon them the importance of learning by doing, checking their answers, and reading the explanations carefully. Make sure they understand a particular set of questions before you assign the next one.
Download 501 Grammar and Writing Questions
Due to copyright reasons, you can’t download IELTS books directly on our website, but in this file. Please like and recommend our 9IELTS Fanpage to motivate us to keep up the good work.