All Ivy Tutoring

Problem Identify, name, and correct the error in the following sentence. “Before I got on the Subway, I had realized that I had forgotten my wallet,” whined Jon, who was on the verge of tears. Solution This is an error of verb agreement. The verb realize does not need the past perfect tense, but rather [...]

Problem Choose the best word to complete the following sentence: The students _____ the food in the cafeteria, saying that it was the best-tasting school lunch in the citiy. (A) vilified (B) extolled (C) squandered (D) carped (E) railed at Solution The answer is (B) Extolled, which means to lift up or praise highly. If [...]

Problem Identify, name, and correct the error in the following sentence. Carl, please pick me up from the airport quick so we arrive at the baseball game on time. Solution The word quick modifies the verb pick up, so it should be an adverb. The sentence should read “Carl, please pick me up from the [...]

Problem “To create a diverse and edifying library for his children, Mr. Schultz decided to include ____ titles such as The Brothers Karamazov, Hamlet, and Candide.” (a) homogeneous (b) spurious (c) divergent (d) humdrum (e) sundry Solution The correct answer is (b) sundry which means various or diverse. (c) is a tempting choice, but not [...]

Problem Identify, name, and correct the error. “This weekend I went to a baseball game, made a paper airplane, and running. After that I studied Mathematics.” Solution This sentence contains an error in parallelism. It should read “…and went running.” If you have a tricky or interesting problem that you’d like to see on Problem [...]

A student suggested that I add an English question to Problem of the Week. Here is a challenging SAT English practice question: Problem “After eating their hot dog and running their third relay-race of the day, the athletic girls joined in on a soccer match at the field in the park.” Identify, Describe, and Correct [...]