develUP Your Skills

1. Apostrophe? (answers)

   1. It’s
       a dog’s life. (wrong)
   2. Explanation
   3. ‘Its’ indicates possession. ‘It’s’ means ‘it is’ or ‘it has’.
   4. The dog is wagging 
      its
       tail.
   5. Who’s or whose? (answers)
   6. Whose
       shoes are these?
   7. Who’s
       coming shopping?
   8. Explanation
   9. ‘Whose’ indicates possession. ‘Who’s’ is a contraction (shorter version) of ‘who is’.
   10. Whether or weather? (answers)
   11. I’m not sure 
       whether
        to go to Spain or Greece.
   12. The 
       weather
        in England is unpredictable.
   13. Explanation
   14. ‘Whether’ and ‘weather’ are homophones, which means they sound the same. ‘Weather’ refers to the temperature. ‘Whether’ is a conjunction with a similar meaning to ‘if’.
   15. Your or you’re? (answers)
   16. I admire 
       your
        courage.
   17. You’re
        very brave.
   18. Explanation
   19. ‘Your’ indicates possession. ‘You’re’ is a contraction (shorter version) of ‘you are’.
   20. I or me? (answers)
   21. The car beeped at Jon and 
       me.
       
   22. Karen and 
       I
        went on holiday.
   23. Explanation
   24. The rules around the use of the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘me’ can be tricky. A simple way to test whether you’re using the right one is to think about whether a statement would still make sense if you removed the other person. You wouldn’t say, “The car beeped at I” so the correct pronoun is ‘me’.
   25. Apostrophe? (answers)
   26. I will be 30 in two 
       years’
        time.
   27. I will be 29 in one 
       year’s
        time.
   28. Explanation
   29. Expressions of time are also known as ‘temporal expressions’. When used in temporal expressions, the apostrophe is placed before the ‘s’ for single units and after for multiple units.
   30. That or which? (answers)
   31. Phones 
       that
        have cameras are generally more expensive.
   32. My bedroom, 
       which
        is currently pink, needs painting.
   33. Explanation
   34. You can remove the clause containing ‘which’ from a sentence without changing the meaning. ‘That’, however, is necessary.
   35. Have or of? (answers)
   36. They should 
       have
        arrived by now.
   37. They could 
       have
        arrived earlier.
   38. Explanation
   39. ‘Of’ should never follow the words ‘could’, ‘would’ or ‘should’. Always use ‘have.’
   40. Fewer or less? (answers)
   41. We need 
       less
        furniture in this office.
   42. Could we get by with 
       fewer
        desks?
   43. Explanation
   44. If you can count the number of items (count nouns) use ‘fewer’. If not, you’re probably referring to mass nouns so use ‘less’. Time, money and distance are exceptions – use ‘less’ for these too. So even if you can count how many hours a meeting lasted for, you’d say, “The meeting lasted for less than two hours.”
   45. There, their or they’re? (answers)
   46. They’re
        going to Spain to stay in their holiday home.Hopefully it’ll be hot 
       there!
       
   47. Explanation
   48. ‘There’ is a place, ‘their’ indicates possession, and ‘they’re’ is a contraction (i.e. a shorter version) of ‘they are’.
   49. Affect or effect? (answers)
   50. She was really 
       affected
        by the mood of her newborn son.
   51. The 
       effect
        of less sleep was taking its toll.Explanation
   52. ‘Affect’ is a verb. ‘Effect’ is a noun.
   53. i.e. or e.g.? (answers)
   54. Some animals are really cute, 
       e.g.
        kittens and puppies.
   55. The primary colours ( 
       i.e.
        red, yellow and blue) are my favorites.
   56. Explanation
   57. ‘E.g.’ is used to give an example. ‘I.e.’ is used to give more information.
   58. Hear or here? (answers)
   59. It’s so loud in 
       here.
       
   60. I can’t 
       hear
        you!
   61. Explanation
   62. ‘Hear’ and ‘here’ are homophones, which means they sound the same. ‘Hear’ means ‘perceived by the ears’, whereas ‘here’ refers to a place.
   63. Who or whom? (answers)
   64. Whom
        did you see at the bar last night?
   65. I can’t think 
       who
        would have eaten all the doughnuts.
   66. Explanation
   67. ‘Whom’ is used when referring to the object of a sentence. Use ‘who’ when referring to the subject of a sentence. There’s a trick to help you remember: If you can answer with ‘he’, use ‘who’ (e.g. ‘he ate all the doughnuts’). If you can answer with ‘him’ use ‘whom’ (e.g. ‘I saw him at the bar’). Just remember that ‘him’ and ‘whom’ both end in the letter m.
   68. Lay or lie? (answers)
   69. Why don’t you go and 
       lie
        down?
   70. I’m going to 
       lay
        the book on the table.
   71. Explanation
   72. ‘Lay’ requires a direct object (e.g. in the sentence above, the direct object is the table) and ‘lie’ does not.
   73. Bored of, bored by, or bored with? (answers)
   74. I’m bored 
       with
        this.
   75. I’m bored 
       by
        math class.
   76. Explanation
   77. Although ‘of’ is commonly used after ‘bored’, this is technically incorrect. Always use ‘with’ or ‘by’ in formal writing.