Follow That Rule Trivia Quiz

Answer: y'all

Follow that rule! You can't place the apostrophe in contractions just anywhere!

The rule for apostrophes in contrations is to place the apostrophe where the missing letters are. The contraction for "you all" is y'all with the apostrophe replacing the o and the u. The most common misspelling of the word is ya'll but that would imply there are missing letters between the a and the first l. Additionally, only a single apostrophe is needed no matter how many consecutive letters you take out of the words. For y'all, two letters (o and u) are taken out but since they are consecutive, only one apostrophe is needed.

Answer: After I hit the brake pedal, the light turned from red to green.

Follow that rule! Make sure the dangling participles modify the correct word! You wouldn't want a reader to be confused on what the statement is saying!

This is an example of a dangling participle. In this case, the participle modified the object rather than the subject. The rule about dangling particles is to make sure it modifies the correct word (the subject of the sentence). In the original sentence, I am the subject and the light is the object. Therefore, the dangling participle should modify "I" and not "the light".
The sentence should read "After I hit the brake pedal, the light turned from red to green." This way it is understood that I, not the light, who was the one who hit the brake pedal.

Answer: Either this answer is correct or it is incorrect.

Follow that rule! Either use the pairing "either/or" or the pairing "neither/nor". Neither "either/nor" nor "neither/or" is correct grammar.

The rule is that either goes with or and neither goes with nor. Therefore, the correct sentence would be "Either this answer is correct or it is incorrect."
Additionally, the placement of the word "either" is important. The statement "We either wanted to buy a birdhouse or a doghouse" is not correct. That statement implies that the two options are 1) a doghouse and 2) to buy a birdhouse. The two options should have been 1) buy a doghouse and 2) buy a birdhouse. The correct sentence should be "We wanted to buy either a birdhouse or doghouse".

Answer: No

Follow that rule! Remember that the word "there" is not the subject!

In this case, the subject is "Samuel and his friends". Since this subject is plural, then the singular verb "go" is the correct verb to use. If the sentence was just referring to Samuel, then it would read "There goes Samuel to the store".
The thing that makes this sentence somewhat confusing is that the verb comes before the subject and some may try to use "there" as the subject.
The rule is to make sure that you do not mistake "there" for the subject.

Answer: He likes to brag about his grades; it gets really annoying.

Follow that rule! Sometimes two sentences can be merged into one; that is when you can use a semicolon!

The rule for semicolons is that it should be used to separate two complete clauses. In other words, if you wish to combine two closely related sentences into one, you can use a semicolon. "He likes to brag about his grades" and "it gets really annoying" are two closely related sentences-two complete clauses-therefore, a semicolon can be used.

A semicolon can also be used to separate group of words in a sentence if a comma is already used in that group of words. For example, "I have been to Albany, New York; Springfield, Illinois; and Honolulu, Hawaii".

Colons are used to separate an incomplete sentence (such as a list) from a complete sentence. Therefore, a colon wouldn't work in this case. There is no indication that "He likes to brag about his grades" is a quotation. Therefore, no quotation marks are needed. Question marks are used when asking a question. "He likes to brag about his grades" is not a question, so no question mark is needed.

Answer: There are less students in my science class than my Spanish class.

Follow that rule! Fewer and less aren't interchangable!

The rule is that fewer should be used with countable objects. Less should be used with objects that can't be counted. Examples of objects that can't be counted include clutter, money (as an abstract concept--you can count dollars and coins but not the general concept of money), time (again, as an abstract concept--there is less time but fewer hours), and rain.

Students can be counted, so the term used should be fewer and not less. There are fewer students in my science class than my Spanish class.
Time can't be counted, so less should be used. There is less time to play outside in December as opposed to April.
Money can't be counted, so less should be used. I do not want to work at a job that pays me less money.
Individual pieces of mail can be counted, so fewer is the correct word to use. I have fewer pieces of mail than my neighbor.
Additionally, if objects are used in the plural, the word fewer should be used. Fewer computer disks are being used now than in the past.

Answer: Yes

Follow that rule! Don't confuse a single subject with multiple subjects!

The rule is if the subject is singular, so is the verb. If the subject is plural, the verb is plural In this case, the subject is singular, since only one person is being described. Therefore, the verb should be singular. The third person singular form of "to want" is wants.

At first glance, it may appear that there is more than one person (piano player being one person and principal being the other). However, it is really two descriptors of the same person. If it were two people, then the correct phrasing would be "the piano player and THE principal". The presence or lack of the second "the" indicates how many people are being described.

Answer: has

Follow that rule! The phrase "the number" is singular! The number of people who make this mistake is high. A number of you are probably going to learn something new!

The rule regarding "the number" is that it is treated as singular, since it is referring to a specific (albeit unknown) number. Since it is singular, it requires the verb "has".
If the word was "a number", then it is treated as plural, and the verb that should be used would be "have". (For example, "A number of days have passed since I went on-line.)

Answer: statement #1

Follow that rule! Just because a word ends in s doesn't make it plural!

A singular subject requires "is" while a plural subject requires "are". Although measles ends in s, it is singular--one illness. Therefore, "is" is the correct word to have. This also includes branches of knowledge such as physics or types of food such as beans.
Objects that are considered a pair (for example: scissors, pants, tongs) are considered plural. You wouldn't say pant or one pants but rather a pair of pants.

Answer: Nothing is wrong with the statement.

Follow that rule! Make sure that the verb agrees with the closest subject not each and every subject!

The rule involving dealing with or/nor is that the verb agrees with whichever subject is closer. Therefore, the statement is correct as it is. Since the verb is closer to the word "teachers", then the verb should be "are". If "teachers" and "principal" were swapped, then the verb should be "is", since the singular "principal" is closer to the verb. That would make the sentence "The teachers or the principal is punishing the student".