Practice Exercises

1. Exercise : -ible and -able Spelling

In the following paragraph there are fourteen words ending with -ible or -able, some of which are
misspelled. Read the paragraph, locate the misspelled words and write the correct spellings in the space
provided below the paragraph.

Most people thought that Michael, an eligable bachelor, was an adorable, personible man. Mattie, however,
found him detestable. Some time ago, Michael promised to take Mattie to a fashionible restaurant for a
remarkible dinner. As horrable as it sounds, Michael took Mattie to the local McDonald's. Most of the food
there was either inedable or undigestable. Mattie was as irritable as possable when she told her roommates
about her terrible date. "Whoever finally marries that contemptable Michael," Mattie said, "is certainly not
going to be in an enviable position."

Most people thought that Michael, an eligible bachelor, was an adorable, personable man. Mattie,
however, found him detestable. Some time ago, Michael promised to take Mattie to a fashionable
restaurant for a remarkable dinner. As horrible as it sounds, Michael took Mattie to the local McDonald's.
Most of the food there was either inedible or indigestible. Mattie was as irritable as possible when she told
her roommates about her terrible date. "Whoever finally marries that contemptible Michael," Mattie said,
"is certainly not going to be in an enviable position."

2. Exercise : -ible and -able Spelling

In the following sentences, the final four letters are omitted from each -ible or -able word. Complete each
word with the appropriate ending.

1. Last night's movie about the invis____

ible man was so incred____
able that it was laugh____.
able

2. My irrespons____
ible little brother is usually kept away from anything break____.
able

3. Are these new clothes really comfort____,

able or do people only wear them because they are fashion____?
able

4. I think I would be less irrit____

able if my professors were more flex____.
ible

5. I don't think voting twice in national elections is permiss____.

ible

6. It's always valu____

able to have a friend who is depend____.
able

7. My employer said that it isn't suit____

able to have a secretary whose handwriting is illeg____.
ible
3. Exercise : Accept/Except Spelling
Fill in the blank with either accept or except.

1. The whole army is out of step _______________

except Fred.
2. I'll _______________
accept no money from that cheapskate.
3. Please _______________
accept this pot of Mama's chicken soup.
4. It will cure anything _______________
except
flat feet.
5. Rip could do anything _______________
except make money.
6. I had to _______________
accept their negative evaluation.
7. All the girls went to the game _______________
except Mary.
8. Howard could not _______________
accept the job.
9. __________
Except when there's a classic movie playing, Pete seldom watches TV.
10. I will _______________
accept your gift if you let me pay for my lunch.

4. Exercise : Affect/Effect Spelling

Fill in the blank with either affect or effect.

effects
1. Wars _______________
affect everybody, and their destructive _______________ last for generations.
2. Television has a strong _______________
effect on public opinion.
3. My mood can _______________
affect my thinking, too.
4. I see that you're trying to _______________
affect apathy, but I know that you really do care.
5. Falling on my head had a bad _______________
effect on my memory.
6. His years of smoking have negatively ____________ed
affect his health.
7. This plan will surely ______________
affect significant improvements in our productivity.
8. The patient shows normal ______________
effects and appears to be psychologically stable.
9. The principal's new rules _______________
affects the school.
10. Supply and demand have a direct ________________
effect on the prices of commodities.
11. The _______________
effect of the speech was visible on the faces of the sleeping audience.
12. He's just trying to seem cool; his indifference is completely _______________ed.
affect

13. We may never know the full _______________

effect of the radiation leak.
14. The early frost will _______________
affect the crops.
15. What kind of _______________
effect can this quiz have on your dinner tonight?

5. Exercise : EI/IE Spelling Rules

Complete the sentences with the correctly spelled words. Circle the correct word.

1. There are (eight, ieght) candles on the cake.

2. I have not (recieved, received) a letter since Saturday.
3. Have you ever been on a (sleigh, sliegh) ride?
4. Her (neice, niece) is going to come to (grief, greif).
5. She (shrieked, shreiked) in surprise when he dropped the ice cube down her back.
6. Drop that silver, you (theif, thief)!
7. He's the most (conceited, concieted) man I know.
8. I don't (beleive, believe) he is so (conceited, concieted).
9. As he was dying, the (cheif, chief) asked for a (preist, priest).
10. Leave the mouse a (peice, piece) of cheese.
11. Brevity is the soul of wit; therefore, be (breif, brief).
12. The (freight, frieght) train woke the (nieghbors, neighbors) .

6. Exercise : EI/IE Spelling Rules

Complete the sentences with the correctly spelled words. Circle the correct word.

1. I have to (beleive, believe) to (acheive, achieve).

2. Look at that spider on the (ceiling, cieling).
3. Judson could not (conceive, concieve) of such treachery.
4. (Weigh, Wiegh) your produce at the register.
5. The shower was a (releif, relief) after the hot day.
6. The blood in my (veins, viens) ran cold at the sight of King Kong.
7. I'll need a (receipt, reciept) for this purchase.
8. Did you (perceive, percieve) how Jan (yeilded, yielded) the floor to Tom?
9. The battle was fought during the (reign, riegn) of Ethelred the Unready.
10. How could he have (deceived, decieved) us as he did?
11. He packed a toothbrush in a bandana and hopped a (frieght, freight) train.
12. That (peice, piece) of limburger cheese really smells!
13. Joe may be a dope, but he's no (feind, fiend).

7. Exercise : EI/IE Spelling Rules

Write in either ie or ei to complete the words below.

1. ach____ve
ie 2. bel___f
ie 3. br___f
ie

4. c___ling
ei 5. conc___t
ei 6. dec___ve
ei

7. for___gn
ie 8. financ___r
ie 9. misch___vous
ie

10. n___ghbor
ei 11. n___ther
ei 12. p___ce
ie

13. perc___ve
ei 14. rec___pt
ei 15. rel___ve
ie
16. rev___w
ie 17. sh___ld
ie 18. shr___k
ie

19. v___l
ie 20. y___ld
ie 21. cash___r
ie

22. ch___f
ie 23. f___ld
ie 24. fr___ght
ei

25. h___nou
ei
8. Exercise: Adjective or Adverb
Circle the correct item:

1. He (correct, correctly) defined the terms. The answer sounded (correctly, correct).
2. She (quickly, quick) adjusted the fees. She adapted (quick, quickly) to any situation.
3. He measured the floor (exact, exactly). They proved to be (perfectly, perfect) (exact, exactly)
measurements.
4. The stillness of the tomb was (awfully, awful). The tomb was (awfully, awful) still.
5. It was a (dangerously, dangerous) lake to swim in. The man was (dangerous, dangerously) drunk. The gas
smelled (dangerously,dangerous).
6. She performed (magnificent, magnificently). It was a (magnificent, magnificently) beautiful performance.
7. Her voice sounds (beautifully, beautiful). She sang the song (exact, exactly) as it was written. We heard it
(perfectly, perfect).
8. He was a very (sensibly, sensible) person. He acted very (sensible, sensibly).
9. Mike wrote too (slow, slowly) on the exam. He always writes (slow, slowly).
10. Talk (softly, soft) or don't talk at all. The music played (softly, soft).
11. Andrea knows the material very (good, well). She always treats us (good, well).
12. You must send payments (regular, regularly). We deal on a (strictly, strict) cash basis.
13. The mechanic's tools were (well, good). The foreman said that his work was (good, well) done.
14. She worked (careful, carefully) with the sick child. She was a very (careful, carefully) worker.
15. He did not pass the course as (easy, easily) as he thought he would.
16. I find this novel very (interesting, interestingly). It was (interesting, interestingly) written.

9. Exercise: Adjective or Adverb

In the following sentences, cross out the incorrect words and write in the correct form in the blanks. If the
sentence is correct as it is, write "correct" in the blank.

1. Terrence plays quarterback as well as Brian._______________

correct

2. The game hadn't hardly begun before it started to rain.____________

had

3. This was sure a mild winter.__________________

surely

4. Jane behaves more pleasant than Joan.________________

pleasantly

5. When you are a parent, you will think different about children.___________
will be differently
well
6. I felt badly about not having done good on my final exams._____________
bad

7. Whether you win is not near as important as how you play._____________

nearly

8. Asian music often sounds oddly to Western listeners.______________

odd

9. Does your car run well enough to enter the race?_________________

correct
 safe
10. I felt safely enough to go out at night on my own._________________
11. You can see the distant mountains clear with these binoculars.______________
clearly

12. Our team was real sharp last Saturday afternoon during the game.___________
really

10. Exercise : A or An?

In the following phrases, supply either a or an:

1. ____
A bingo game 30. ____
An airplane

2. ____
An idiot 31. ____
A grade

3. ____
A good job 32. ____
A pair

4. ____
A rotten plum 33. ____
An idea

5. ____
An used fork 34. ____
An energy level

6. ____
An uncle

7. ____
A historian

8. ____
An apple

9. ____
A hair

10. ____
An artichoke

11. ____
A horrible movie

12. ____
An opera

13. ____
A fine opera

14. ____
A television

15. ____
An earthquake

16. ____
An icicle

17. ____
A plant

18. ____
An eggplant

19. ____
An honorable discharge

20. ____
An
intelligent man
21. ____
A table

22. ____
An up stairway

23. ____
A paper clip

24. ____
An animal

25. ____
An usual feeling

26. ____
An interest

27. ____
An alibi

28. ____
An early bird

29. ____
A couch
11. Exercise : Articles
Fill in the blank with the appropriate article, a, an, or the, or leave the space blank if no article is needed.

1. I want ____
an apple from that basket.

2. ____
The church on the corner is progressive.

3. Miss Lin speaks ____

the Chinese.

4. I borrowed ____
a pencil from your pile of pencils and pens.

5. One of the students said, "____

the professor is late today."

6 Eli likes to play ____

the volleyball.

7. I bought ____
an umbrella to go out in the rain.

8. My daughter is learning to play ____

a violin at her school.
9. Please give me ____
the cake that is on the counter.

10. I lived on ____

the Main Street when I first came to town.

11. Albany is the capital of ____

the New York State.

12. My husband's family speaks ____

the Polish.

13. ____
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

14. ____
The ink in my pen is red.

15. Our neighbors have ____

a cat and ____
a dog.

12. Exercise : Articles

Write the following paragraphs, inserting a, an, and the where needed.

a an a
a
1. I have horse of my own. I call herthePretty Girl. She is intelligent animal, but she is not thoroughbred
the
horse. I could never enter her in race, even if I wanted to. But I do not want to. She is companion, for
a
my own pleasure. I took her swimming day or two ago.

2. A Horse knows when he is going to race. How does he know? His breakfast was scanty. (He is angry
the the
about the
that.) He does not
an
have saddle on his back. He is being led, not ridden, to grandstand. He is led
under grandstand into unusual, specialthe
stall. Horse is nervous. Sometimes he does not know what to
the
do when starting gate flies open and track is before him. If he does not begin to run instantly, other
 an
horses are already ahead of him. During race, when he sees another horse just ahead of him, he will
the the
try to pass him. Sometimes jockey
An
holds him back to save
the
his energy for last stretch. Eventually horse
the
gets to run as fast as he can. Exercise boy, watching owner's favorite jockey riding horse he has
the a
exercised day after day, says nothing.
the
Secretly, he is planning for day when he will be jockey himself,
the
and his horse will be first to cross finish line.

the
3. Most working people have fewer hours to give to time-consuming activities of clubs than they used to
a the
have, but most people in small town belong to club or two. One of clubs is likely to be the
social and benevolent
the
the the
organization, such as Rotary or Elks. Business people are likely to belong, also to either
the Kiwanis Club or Lions.
Such business people's organizations may meet as often as once a week in one of private dining rooms of the
a a
town's leading hotel for lunch. They have good lunch, hear good program, and continue their fundraising
a
program for worthy organization, such asalocal hospital.

13. Exercise : Prepositions of Direction: To, On (to), In (to)

Complete the following sentences with the correct preposition: to, toward, on, onto, in, or into. Some
sentences may have more than one possible correct answer. Remember that a few verbs of motion take
only "on" rather than "onto."

1. Anna has returned ______

to her home town.
2. The dog jumped ______
in to the lake.

3. Are the boys still swimming ______

in the pool?
4. Thomas fell ______
onto the floor.

5. The plane landed ______

on the runway.
6. We drove _____
towardsthe river for an hour but turned north before we reached it.

7. The kids climbed ______

on the monkey bars.
8. Joanna got ______
on Fred's car.
9. The baby spilled his cereal ______
on the floor.
10. We cried to the man on the ladder, "Hang ______!"
on

11. I went ______

to the gym.
12. Matthew and Michelle moved the table ______
to the dining room.
13. Allan left your keys ______
on the table.
14. Dr. Karper apologized for interrupting us and told us to carry ______
on with our discussion.
15. I walk ______
towardsthe amusement park.

16. Pat drove Mike to

______ the airport.
17. Glenn almost fell ______
into the river.
18. The waitress noticed that there was no more Diet Pepsi ______
in Marty's glass.
19. Lee and Sarah took the bus that was heading ______
towards the university.

20. Mary Sue jumped ______

on the stage and danced.