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Us and them are going to join together for the greater good.
The pronouns "us" and "them" are actually the object forms of their respective pronouns, but are used as the subjects of the sentence. Both words need to be changed into the subject forms. The correct answer choice is "They and we."
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Adapted from The Discourse on Method by René Descartes (1637; 1899, ed. Eliot)
From my childhood, I have been familiar with letters; and as I was given to believe that by their help a clear and certain knowledge of all that is useful in life might be acquired, I was ardently desirously for instruction in them. But as soon as I had finished the entire course of study, at the close of which it is customarily to be admitted into the order of the learned, I completely changed my opinion. I found myself involved in so many doubts and errors and was convinced that I had not advanced in all my attempts at learning. At every turn, ignorance and unknowing was to be discovered. And yet, I was studying in one of the most celebrated Schools in Europe. I thought there must be learned men in it, at least if such were anywhere to be found. I had been taught all that others learned there. However, not contented with the sciences actually taught us, I had, in addition, read all the books that had fallen into my hands, studying those branches that are judged to be the most curious and rare. I knew the judgment that others had formed of me. I did not find that I was considered inferior to my fellows, although there were among them some whom were already marked out to fill the places of our instructors. And, finally, our era appeared to me as flourishing and fertile with powerful minds as any preceding one. I was thus led to take the liberty of judging of all other men by myself. Furthermore, I concluded that there was no science in existence that was of such a nature as I had previously been given to believe.
Which of the following is the best form of the underlined selection "some whom were already marked out to fill the places of our instructors"?
When dealing with relative pronouns, we need to pay attention both to the antecedent and to the function of the pronoun in its relative clause. In this selection, the relative pronoun "whom" has "some" as its antecedent. "Some" is a substantive adjective implying the fuller expression "some people"—a plural antecendent. In the clause itself the "whom" is actually the subject of the verb. The people were marked out for future academic posts. Therefore, the pronoun must be "who," not "whom." Likewise, since relative pronoun is the subject, refering to a plural antecedent, the verb must be plural—i.e. "were."
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"Our Family Trip to Hawaii" by Jennifer Mings (2013)
Last summer, my mother, sister, brother, and me took a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii. We were excited to see everything, and couldn’t wait to arrive. After our lengthy plane ride, we stepped off of the plane in a daze. There was two flight attendants who immediately greeted us, putting flower wreaths around our necks. We then met up with our tour guide; and he told us that we would be going straight to Pearl Harbor.
On our way to Pearl Harbor, there was a largely immense amount of traffic, something that aggravated my mother. Luckily, the tour guide was a native of the island, and he was able to calm my mother down.
When we finally arrived at Pearl Harbor, there was many tourists and natives of different nationalities. The first thing we did when we arrived was watching a movie about the history of Pearl Harbor, which included the story of the USS Arizona. During the movie, everyone had been excited to see the USS Arizona Memorial and wanted to get on the boat. After, we all got on a boat and we were driven to the USS Arizona Memorial. It was an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous, and great experience for everyone.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
The comma placement is correct in the passage, but “me” must be changed to “I” in order for the sentence to be grammatically correct.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
I run more than him, so I should beat him in the race.
The first clause compares the pronouns “I” and “him,” which are in different cases. To properly compare them, you must match “I” with “he.” Another way to remember this rule is that the clause has colloquially dropped the verb “does.” When added back in, this would correctly read as “I run more than he does.”
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
When Margaret got back from the business meeting, she excitedly told me whom she had sat next to: the company’s CEO.
In this case, it is necessary to use “whom” instead of “who.” An easy way to remember which to use is to rearrange the sentence to see if you can replace the noun in question with either “he” or “him.” If you can do so, you should use "whom," not "who." Here, the rearranged sentence might read: “Margaret excitedly told me about the CEO and about how she had sat next to him,” which indicates the usage of “whom” (and “he” would correlate with using “who.”)
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The witness turned and pointed a shaky finger at the person that had fired the gun into the air.
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
"Who"is used for people. "That" and "which" are used for things. In addition, "person that fired" changes the tense of the verb "fired," and introduces confusion into the sentence.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Every Thursday night, Eric, Alex, and me get together to see a movie.
The comma usage is correct but “me” must be changed to “I” in order for the sentence to be grammatically correct. A good way to break this down is to use just the last two nouns to see what sounds right (“Alex and me get together” vs. “Alex and I get together”).
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As the class entered the museum, Ms. Johnson noticed that two of her students had fallen behind the group. After all of the tickets had been secured, she approached the two girls, saying: “what on Earth is causing you to go so slow?” The taller girl, whose name was Ashley, was the first to respond:
“Veronica and I were just discussing something very private. Nobody can hear what her and I are discussing.”
“Well, Ashley, I think that our tour guide, Dr. Mitchell, will be offended by your behavior. You and Veronica should find separate places in the group and you should pay attention to him and me.”
The two girls reluctantly joined the rest of the class. Ms. Johnson looked to see if another student was out of their place, but everything seemed to be in order. The tour guide, Dr. Mitchell, introduced himself to the class:
“Hello everyone! My name is Dr. Mitchell. I’m so glad that you have all come to the Museum of Natural History today; I think you’ll really enjoy our exhibits, which have been curated with the utmost care. The museum has three distinct types of exhibitions. Permanent exhibitions, temporary exhibitions, and space shows. The permanent exhibition and the space show is always available for viewing, but the temporary exhibition changes seasonally.“
Having finished his introduction, the permanent exhibition was the first thing that Dr. Mitchell showed to the class.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Veronica and Ashley are the subjects doing the discussing, so we must use a pronoun that functions as a subject, not an object. These pronouns are I, you, she, he, we, and they. In this case, the correct answer is "she and I."
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As the class entered the museum, Ms. Johnson noticed that two of her students had fallen behind the group. After all of the tickets had been secured, she approached the two girls, saying: “what on Earth is causing you to go so slow?” The taller girl, whose name was Ashley, was the first to respond:
“Veronica and I were just discussing something very private. Nobody can hear what her and I are discussing.”
“Well, Ashley, I think that our tour guide, Dr. Mitchell, will be offended by your behavior. You and Veronica should find separate places in the group and you should pay attention to him and me.”
The two girls reluctantly joined the rest of the class. Ms. Johnson looked to see if another student was out of their place, but everything seemed to be in order. The tour guide, Dr. Mitchell, introduced himself to the class:
“Hello everyone! My name is Dr. Mitchell. I’m so glad that you have all come to the Museum of Natural History today; I think you’ll really enjoy our exhibits, which have been curated with the utmost care. The museum has three distinct types of exhibitions. Permanent exhibitions, temporary exhibitions, and space shows. The permanent exhibition and the space show is always available for viewing, but the temporary exhibition changes seasonally.“
Having finished his introduction, the permanent exhibition was the first thing that Dr. Mitchell showed to the class.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
In the phrase "pay attention to __________," the blank represents the place where we need to insert two pronouns. Because the blank follows a preposition ("to"), the blank is the object of the preposition. This means that we need to use one of the following pronouns: me, you, her, him, them, us (rather than "I," "you," "she," "he," etc.).
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
Between you and I, we could not send you to that private high school because the tuition was so expensive.
After the preposition "between," one uses the objects pronouns "you" and "me."
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
Me and the general always took a stroll in the morning.
The underlined portion is an incorrect usage of "me." A good rule of thumb, and the best way to find the answer, is to see which pronoun is appropriate alone, "me" or "I." "The general and I" is the correct answer.
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
She and him do not dance under any circumstances.
Using "she and him" is always incorrect, as "she" is a subject and "him" is an object. The best way to fix this is to use "they" and its correct verb usage, "do not."
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The newspaper was delivered every morning to him and I.
The underlined portion of the sentence is the object, and both words need to be in the objective form. "Him" is objective, but "I" should only be used as a subject. The correct answer is "to me and him."
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Me and you have never seen eye to eye on any issue.
The problem with the sentence is in the two pronouns underlined. The correct usage of the first person pronoun as an object is "I," not "me." Additionally, "you" should come before "I."
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices repeats the underlined portion as it is written.
Me and him were just coming up the hill when we saw it.
Both "me" and "him" are objective pronouns, and as such can only be used as objects; however, in this sentence, they are the subjects. The proper subject forms are "he" and "I," and should be used accordingly. The correct answer is "He and I were."
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Rounding the corner, the pedestrian quickly saw the entirety of the cities skyline.
The underlined portion of the sentence has an issue with the word "cities." The word is actually used as a possessive, instead of the plural form that is written in the sentence. The appropriate form is "of the city's skyline."
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
Our dad's detailed lectures were rarely understood by my brother and I.
The key issue in the underlined portion of the sentence is the use of the first person pronoun, "I." "I" is the subjective form, but is used as an object in the sentence. Thus, it needs to be changed to the object form "me," making "for me and my brother" the correct answer choice.
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
Me and my best friend always went down to the river on Saturdays in the summer.
The use of "me" as a subject in a sentence is always incorrect. As a subject, "I" is the correct first person singular pronoun, and should always be the final subject when more than one is mentioned; therefore, "My best friend and I" is the correct answer choice.
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In the sentence below, select the phrasing of the underlined portion that produces the best sentence.
I know that Trudy is generally a kind girl, but I and her have never enjoyed spending time together.
The speaker and Trudy together form the subject of the underlined clause, and so both pronouns need to be subject pronouns. Of the options given here, "she and I" is the only one where this is the case ("we," of course, would also work).
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Me and the boys are going to travel there once the weather is better.
The use of the pronoun "me" is incorrect, as it used as the subject of the sentence, but is only correctly used as an object. The form needs to be change to "I." The only choice which does this and is grammatically correct is "The boys and I are going."
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