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Quiz about Its the Pain in the Neck English Teacher

It's the Pain in the Neck English Teacher~ Quiz

Most of these sentences sound correct but to the purist of the English language, they ain't... I mean, are not. Do you know why?

A multiple-choice quiz by DonTozzi. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
DonTozzi

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
371,634

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
625

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. What is wrong with the following sentence? "I was suffering so much that I self-medicated myself!" Hint

It is a run-on sentence

It is redundant

There is a dangling participle

It is a sentence fragment

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Question 2 of 10

2. Which word is misused in the following comment? "My dad experienced symptoms of the flu on his birthday. Now I'm exhibiting signs of the flu on my birthday. Isn't that ironic?" Hint

Signs

Exhibiting

Ironic

Symptoms

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Question 3 of 10

3. Here's one that my students often get wrong: "When you compare Joe and Tom, Tom is the healthiest." What was wrong with that sentence? Hint

You can't compare two separate proper nouns

It should be "healthier" not "healthiest"

The comma should come after the word "compare"

It should be "Whenever", not "When"

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. What's wrong with the following sentence? "Between the three of us, I think Jane looks a little pale." Hint

It should be "Between we three"

It should be "Among" not "Between"

It should be "pail" not "pale"

It should be the numeric "3" not the word "three"

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Question 5 of 10

5. Can you find the common error in the following comment? "Jerry is not as tall as Ben but he is taller then Bill. Therefore, Ben is the tallest of the three." Hint

It should be "Jerry isn't as tall as Ben"

It should be "than" not "then"

There should be a comma after the second "as"

It should be "Therefore, Ben is the taller"

6. There's another often misused word in the following sentence: "When you're working as a waiter, people can be so abusive and impatient that you literally cry your eyes out." Which word was misused? Hint

you're

abusive

literally

impatient

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Public Enemy #1 for the Pain in the Neck English Teacher is the sports announcer. What is wrong with the following comment? "What a great defensive game we're watching. It's the end of the third period, and there's still no score!" Hint

It should be "were" not "we're"

The announcer meant "offensive" not "defensive"

There IS a score--it just happens to be zero to zero.

It should be "Its" not "It's"

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. What is wrong with the grammar of the following sentence? "I don't care what the data says; two aspirin ingested at bedtime won't cure the common cold." Hint

It should be "the data say"

the semicolon should be a question mark

It should be "digested" not "ingested"

"common cold" should be "Common Cold"

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. Sometimes things look so right, you wonder how it can be wrong. Find the error in the following comment:
"The dog seemed bored, so I gave it it's rawhide bone to play with." Hint

It should be "its", not "it's"

You don't need "with"

It should be "seems", not "seemed"

"rawhide" should be hyphenated

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Although the following statement is VERY TRUE, it is also incorrect. What's wrong with it? "The Pain in the Neck English teacher is sagacious and handsome, tries to his upmost ability to impart his wisdom, and has no ulterior motives." Hint

There's no such word as "ulterior"

It should be "expart" not "impart"

There's no such word as "sagacious"

"upmost" is used incorrectly

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What is wrong with the following sentence? "I was suffering so much that I self-medicated myself!"

Answer: It is redundant

The independent clause is redundant. It should simply have been "I self-medicated" or, better yet, "I medicated myself." (You can't self-medicate somebody else, can you?) Now take two aspirin and avoid redundancies.

2. Which word is misused in the following comment? "My dad experienced symptoms of the flu on his birthday. Now I'm exhibiting signs of the flu on my birthday. Isn't that ironic?"

Answer: Ironic

This is not ironic; it is just a coincidence. Irony is one of the most misused words that I hear and read. Irony, basically, is when the opposite result of what was expected or intended occurs. It would have been ironic if the speaker had said, "I did everything I could so that I wouldn't catch the flu on my birthday. Ironically, I caught the worst flu I've ever had." Now, take two aspirin and stop misusing the word irony.

3. Here's one that my students often get wrong: "When you compare Joe and Tom, Tom is the healthiest." What was wrong with that sentence?

Answer: It should be "healthier" not "healthiest"

When using the comparative between two things, the "-er" suffix should be used. The "-est" suffix should be used when comparing three or more. Healthy, healthier, healthiest. Now take two aspirin and get healthier.

4. What's wrong with the following sentence? "Between the three of us, I think Jane looks a little pale."

Answer: It should be "Among" not "Between"

"Between" can only appear when only two things are involved. (Notice that "tw" appears in "two" and "between".) "Among" is to be used when more than two things are involved. Now, between you and me, two aspirin will put some color in Jane's cheeks.

5. Can you find the common error in the following comment? "Jerry is not as tall as Ben but he is taller then Bill. Therefore, Ben is the tallest of the three."

Answer: It should be "than" not "then"

"Than" is used for comparisons. "Then" indicates a time element or a sequence. One simple way to remember (at least it was a simple way when I was younger) was "When? Then?" The time element is common to both. Now take two aspirin. It's better than a kick in the head.

Answer: literally

Come on, now--you can't literally cry your eyes out. That would be messy. People can be abusive and impatient, though. "You're" is the correct contraction for "you are." Now take two aspirin before I literally scream at you.

Answer: There IS a score--it just happens to be zero to zero.

These same guys will also say that "It's a nothing-nothing game". Grrr. There IS something there: a zero. Just because "no score" and "nothing" have been used since sports broadcasting began, it doesn't mean they're grammatically correct. Now I need two aspirin.

8. What is wrong with the grammar of the following sentence? "I don't care what the data says; two aspirin ingested at bedtime won't cure the common cold."

Answer: It should be "the data say"

"Data" is the plural of "datum" and, therefore, should get the plural form "say". This same confusion occurs when people talk about "the media". "Media" is the plural of "medium". I don't care what the media and the data say--take those aspirin and hit the sack!

9. Sometimes things look so right, you wonder how it can be wrong. Find the error in the following comment: "The dog seemed bored, so I gave it it's rawhide bone to play with."

Answer: It should be "its", not "it's"

"It's" is the contraction for "it is". "Its", as used here, indicates the possessive. The bone belongs to the dog. This is confusing for some because the apostrophe does also indicate the possessive, as in "this is the dog's bone." Now, take two aspirin. It's good advice!

Answer: "upmost" is used incorrectly

Ah, I have tried my "utmost" to be beneficial to all of you! "Utmost" is believed to be derived from the Old English "out-most" meaning "highest", "limitless", etc. Now, if you try your utmost to improve your English language skills, you can stop taking aspirin. The Pain in the Neck English teacher is leaving now.

Source: Author DonTozzi

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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