What would you think of an employer who posted a job ad full of obvious grammar mistakes? Does that sound like someone who might mess up your paycheck too? Or how about a political candidate who dropped off a “vote for me” flyer filled with spelling errors? Is that someone you would trust to be careful with your tax dollars?
Proper use of the English language isn’t just about grammar or punctuation—it’s also about clarity and credibility. It’s about getting your message across and inspiring confidence in the skill and accuracy people can expect from you. If you don’t care whether your résumé is written clearly and correctly, why should an employer spend time figuring out what it says? If you don’t bother putting proper sentences together on a loan application, why would the lender trust you to make the effort to repay it on time?
Your language use can reveal a lot about yourself; you want it to make the best impression.
You’re about to explore one of the two ways the GED® test evaluates your language skills: the Language assessment. It consists of two passages, each containing four places where you need to select from four possible ways to complete a sentence correctly. Those two passages could be mixed in with the reading passages or they might appear at the end. Either way, you will have 95 minutes to do the six to eight reading passages and two language passages, before the 10-minute break.
Since the GED® test aims at skills that demonstrate readiness for a career or college, the language passages are drawn from the real world: workplace documents, professional communications, and messages to consumers. You might see business letters or emails, flyers, advertisements, or employee notices. Like the reading texts, these passages reflect different high school levels. They’re shorter (350–450 words) and less complex than the reading passages, though, to allow you to focus on the language issues.
Why are there only two language passages? It’s because part of your essay score in the Extended Response section is based on language use, too, so your language skills are being tested in both editing tasks (that’s this section of the test) and in writing.
The GED® Language assessment targets eight areas of language use that have been identified as the most important for a career or college. Don’t panic when you see the list below, though—in the next chapter, you’ll learn how the question format on the GED® test makes it easier to reach the correct answer.
Language Skills on the GED® Test
Word choice: avoiding words that are often confused or used in a nonstandard way
Agreement: of subject and verb, of noun and pronoun
Pronoun use: clear antecedents, correct case
Modifiers: correctly placed
Joining thoughts: proper coordination, subordination, and parallel construction
Sentence construction: avoiding wordiness, run-on sentences, and fragments
Logic and clarity: effective use of words and phrases that mark a clear path for the reader
Punctuation and capitalization
You don’t even need to know the names of any of these areas of language use, either. For the Language assessment, you simply need to be able to recognize when something is wrong—for whatever reason—and when it’s correct. Looking at the eight target areas simply shows you what kind of errors you can expect to see on the test so you can eliminate them more quickly from the four answer choices.
Of course, you’ll also be expected to know how to express your ideas clearly and concisely when you write an essay for the Extended Response section. (See Chapter 11 on this page.) Reviewing the language skills covered in this chapter can help you improve your Extended Response score, too, because part of the essay is evaluated on how well you demonstrate these skills.
First let’s look at some brief examples of what those eight language targets look like in practice. Then in the next chapter, we’ll explain how the GED® question format will help you find the right answer. This chapter isn’t a complete grammar review—there are plenty of thorough grammar textbooks and reliable online grammar resources already. Instead, it’s a brief refresher to help you recognize if there is a key area in which you know you have difficulty, so you can focus on that aspect of language use when you’re preparing for the test.
Some words are commonly confused or easily used in a nonstandard way, especially when you’re working under time pressure. Here are some examples:
They’re (contraction for “they are”) putting their (possessive) coats over there (location).
The effects (noun) of climate change will affect (verb, action) us all.
It’s (contraction for “it is”) amazing how quickly the tree shed its (possessive) leaves when it’s (contraction for “it is”) still so warm at night.
That report is due on Friday. If you submit it then (a point in time), the boss will be more willing to consider a raise than (a comparison) if you hand it in late. If you’re even later than (a comparison) Steve usually is, then (“in that case”) you can probably forget about any raise this year.
You should try to see (“to see” is the infinitive form of the verb “see”) him before he leaves (not “try and see…,” which is a nonstandard, incorrect use).
You’re the best one to make a list of the words that you sometimes confuse or use incorrectly. Research them in a good grammar book or online resource before the test, so you can choose the correct word with confidence, in spite of the time pressure.
Other Commonly Confused Words
accept/except
allusion/illusion
cite/site
complement/compliment
fewer/less
ensure/insure
principal/principle
stationary/stationery
whose/who’s
Other Nonstandard Uses
anyway (not “anyways”)
couldn’t care less (not “could care less”)
a couple of (not just “a couple”)
regardless (not “irregardless)
supposed to (not “suppose to”)
would have (not “would of”)
Subject-verb agreement is fairly straightforward: If the subject is singular, so is the verb. Here are some examples:
John learns quickly.
Beth and Marc learn (plural, now there are two subjects) more slowly.
Neither Sam nor Anita learns (singular again, because we’re dealing with only one singular subject at a time) much at all.
The entire class, which will be going on a camping trip this weekend, is learning (singular because “class” is singular; don’t get tripped up by the words stuffed in between the subject and the verb) how to read a compass.
Noun-pronoun agreement is a common difficulty, though. Try this one:
The company released __________ quarterly results before the board members announced __________ intention to raise the dividend.
The first answer is “its” because “company” is singular. The second is a plural pronoun, “their,” because we’re talking about more than one board member. If the sentence said “…before the board of directors announced…,” the pronoun would again be “its” because “board” is singular. “Board” is the subject; “of directors” is simply a phrase that describes it.
Another common error occurs when people try to avoid using “his or her”:
Each student should buy __________ own books.
If you said “their,” you’re making that common mistake. The answer is actually “his or her” own books because we don’t know the gender of the student. The student is singular, though, so the pronoun must be singular, too. If you find “his or her” awkward, you can avoid using it by making the subject plural: Students should buy their own books.
There are a couple of flavors of correct pronoun use on the GED® test. The first is that every pronoun must have a clear antecedent (the noun that the pronoun is replacing). Things can get rather confusing when it’s difficult to figure out which noun should be paired with the pronoun. Consider the following example:
Jorge asked Tony if he had found his wallet yet.
Well, whose wallet is missing? Has Tony been searching for his own wallet, or had he offered to find Jorge’s wallet for him? The antecedent of “his” (Jorge or Tony) isn’t clear.
The other aspect of pronoun use is correct case. The old comedy line “Whom shall I say is calling?” is actually incorrect. Reword the sentence “I shall say whom is calling,” and it becomes apparent that the correct version would be “I shall say who is calling,” because “who” is the subject of the verb “is calling.” (Similarly, it would be correct to write, “I should say she is calling,” using the subjective “she.”) On the other hand, in another phrase—“To whom am I speaking?”—the pronoun “whom” is in the objective case, because it is the object of the preposition “to.”
A modifier describes a noun, as in “the golf ball that went into the sand trap.” It’s not the golf ball in the caddy’s hand or the one at the bottom of the water feature; it’s the one in the sand trap. The problem arises if a modifier is misplaced—not clearly beside the noun it’s (there’s that “it is” contraction again) modifying. That can make things confusing for the reader. Take a look at this example:
The delivery man left a package at the door that looked as if it had been used as a football by the night crew.
Just what was the night crew kicking around here—the door or the package? To fix this confusing sentence, you could either omit “at the door” (after all, where else would he leave it?) or else start a new sentence (“The beaten-up package looked as if…”).
That’s called a misplaced modifier—it’s placed too far away from what it’s describing. Just as confusing is the dangling modifier. That occurs when a sentence starts with a modifier but the thing that comes right after it is not, in fact, what the modifier is describing. The modifier just dangles there at the beginning of the sentence without being attached to anything sensible. Here’s an example:
Determined to cut the budget, salaries were lowered by 12 percent after the new governor took office.
So the salaries are determined to cut the budget? No; those words must be describing the new governor, not the salaries:
Determined to cut the budget, the new governor lowered salaries by 12 percent after she took office.
There are two sides to this coin. The first is parallel construction, and you can see it most easily in bulleted lists. To guide the reader smoothly through the list, each bullet point should be built the same way. Try to figure out which bullet point needs to be changed in this example:
When you go on the wilderness survival course, you’ll learn
how to start a camp fire
how to canoe
tree climbing
how to hunt
There are three “how to” bullets and one oddball “…ing,” which needs to be changed to “how to climb trees” in order to make the structure of the bullets the same, or parallel.
The second aspect of joining thoughts is coordination and subordination. What’s the difference? Well, in coordination, the two thoughts are equally important; in subordination, one is more important than the other. The choice of coordination or subordination—and the choice of which thought is subordinated—can have a profound impact on the meaning.
Take a look at two brief statements that someone might be including in a cover letter for a job application:
I have no paid work experience in marketing.
I chaired the volunteer marketing committee for a charity.
Coordinating those two thoughts (using “and”) would just plain confuse the employer:
I have no paid work experience in marketing, and I chaired the volunteer marketing committee for a charity.
What is this applicant trying to tell the employer? By coordinating the two facts, the applicant is presenting them as equal in importance. It seems as if the statements on either side of the “and” are fighting each other, though. Now see what a different impression you can create by subordinating each of those statements:
Although I chaired the volunteer marketing committee for a charity, I have no paid work experience in marketing.
What does the employer see and remember? “No paid work experience in marketing.” Now consider this sentence:
Although I have no paid work experience in marketing, I chaired the volunteer marketing committee for a charity.
Now what does the employer see and remember? This applicant is being honest about his lack of paid experience, but he’s downplaying it by subordinating it (with “although”), and highlighting his volunteer leadership experience instead.
Here we’re looking at three things: wordiness, run-on sentences, and sentence fragments. All three can torpedo a clear, concise expression of your ideas.
Let’s start with wordiness. Here’s part of a letter from a cellist who blew her audition for the local symphony orchestra:
I hope you will reconsider and think again about giving me another chance to audition. I was extremely tired and nervous that day because I hadn’t slept much the night before. I was too anxious and excited to sleep. If you’ll just give me another chance, I’ll show you how well I can play because I won’t be as nervous the second time.
Now how’s that for saying the same thing several times in slightly different ways? That’s wordiness, and it puts readers to sleep. Say it once, say it concisely and move on.
Run-on sentences also make good sleeping potions:
Ingrid might make a good addition to the volleyball team, I guess, except that she hasn’t been playing for very long and she doesn’t have a car, so someone else would always have to take her to out-of-town games and besides, she never has any money so she couldn’t go out with us after the games, so maybe we shouldn’t ask her to join the team after all.
There are several separate sentences in that monster run-on, and that’s how they should be presented.
Watch out, too, for complete thoughts that are being held together only by a comma, like this:
Industries are using less coal, natural gas is often the replacement of choice.
There should be a period after “coal” and a new sentence starting with “Natural” or, if the writer really wants to stress the connection between the two ideas, a semicolon after “coal.” A comma never connects two complete thoughts.
Sentence fragments are the opposite of run-ons: Instead of having too much in them, fragments aren’t all there. A complete sentence needs a subject and a verb, at minimum, and it must stand on its own. Fragments don’t have both a subject and verb (sometimes they don’t even have either one), and they need something else added before they can stand alone.
The conductor ran. (That’s a complete sentence.) Being cold and wet from the howling storm that threatened the train’s very survival. (That’s not—there is no subject and no verb.)
Communication that is clear and logical is easy for the reader to follow. It guides the reader with transition and signal words that indicate a change in direction, perhaps, or a more detailed explanation of a point just made. The skilled use of these road signs allows the reader to concentrate on the writer’s argument instead of struggling to figure out exactly what that argument is. See how easy you find it to read this example:
Deep water drilling promises to unlock rich sources of untapped energy. There are environmental concerns. A major storm could damage a drilling rig, leading to an oil leak that would threaten the surrounding ecosystem.
Now see how much more sense that example makes if you simply add “however” before the second sentence and “for example” before the third, telling the reader that you’re changing direction and then that you’re going to elaborate on a point.
For a list of common transition and signal words, see this page in Chapter 5.
Every sentence must begin with a capital letter and conclude with end punctuation (a period, question mark, or exclamation point). Capitalize the names of specific people, places, national holidays, months, days of the week, and titles when used with a person’s name (Dr. O’Reilly). Read the answer choices carefully, though. Don’t let time pressure trick you into missing the lower case “t” on “tuesday.” The GED® Language assessment could very well have a question like that because the ability to take in and process information carefully is very much part of readiness for a career or college.
In addition to those general punctuation and capitalization rules, the GED® test focuses on three specific punctuation items. One is the correct use of an apostrophe in possessives. “The banker’s bonus” (apostrophe “s” if the noun is singular: the bonus of the banker) and “the boys’ skateboards” (“s” apostrophe if the noun is plural and ends in “s”: the skateboards of the boys) are fairly straightforward cases. How about “the people’s choice,” though? Even though there are a lot of individuals in that noun, “people” doesn’t end in an “s”; therefore, the possessive form is apostrophe “s,” just as if the noun were singular. Another special case is possessive pronouns (such as hers, theirs, and its) that do not have apostrophes.
A second focus is the use of commas in a series or in apposition (we’ll explain that one):
She stopped off at the grocery store for bread, eggs, milk, and cheese. (That’s a series of three or more items separated by commas.)
Wheeling General, the largest employer in town, is building another new plant next year. (That’s apposition: “Wheeling General” and “the largest employer in town” both refer to the same thing and share the same function in the sentence—both work as the subject. “The largest employer in town” is in apposition to “Wheeling General” and needs commas around it.)
The third punctuation item the GED® test highlights is punctuation between clauses. An independent clause stands alone (it could be a separate sentence); a dependent clause doesn’t (it depends on the independent clause for its existence). You need a comma between two independent clauses that are joined by a word such as “but” or “and” (a coordinating conjunction):
Fire destroyed six houses on the street, but the corner store suffered only minor damage.
You also need a comma when a dependent clause comes before an independent clause, but not when it comes after:
Even though fire destroyed six houses on the street (the dependent clause; it needs a comma because it comes first), the corner store suffered only minor damage (the independent clause).
The corner store suffered only minor damage (the independent clause; no comma because the dependent clause comes after it) even though fire destroyed six houses on the street.
There are other rules for comma use in English, but the ones we’ve noted are the ones that GED Testing Service prefers to test.
Now that you’ve learned to recognize the types of language mistakes you could see on the test, you’re well on the way to using Process of Elimination to narrow down the choices. Remember that it’s often easier to eliminate what’s obviously wrong than it is to start by searching for what’s right. In the next chapter, we’ll see how the question format can help you get even closer to the right answer, and give you some practice with passages and questions.