*ADVANCED

Grammar improvement exercises The grammar exercises are to provide you with a pathway through the wealth of exercises available on the internet. If you work through them, it should improve your accuracy but they in themselves are not for assessment. You need to concentrate on the areas you have problems with and work quickly through or leave out some of the other exercises. The list of grammar areas is by no means exhaustive. It is a selection of basic structures only. The same internet sites you are directed to have many other exercises you can do if you need to. === Note -The links have all been tested but could change with time so please report to your Certificate IV teacher if any of these links don’t work. Jane.huffam@polytechnic.tas.edu.au === =Why does correct grammar matter?= = =
 * Welcome to the advanced page.**

Part one
The idea of this course is that you work through these exercises at your own pace and try and improve your grammatical accuracy. Firstly, you should think about why correct grammar matters. > . =Tenses – introduction= Correct verb tenses are extremely important and essential in any kind of dialogue or text. Incorrect tense use can confuse the listener or reader considerably. Furthermore, inaccurate use of tense just sounds bad and therefore reduces the impact of what you want to say. > > You can work through the different tenses systematically by starting at number one and then follow through in the order presented or you may want to do some diagnostic tests first to see how you go and then you can go back and concentrate on the areas you need to work on most. You could then repeat the test after you have done them and see if you have improved your score. > > http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs29practicetest.htm > @http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs30finaltest.htm > > ==Verb tense overview - if you are unsure of the names of the tenses you might find this helpful== @http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html > > ==Verb tenses.== At this level it is more helpful to study tenses contrastively. You need to choose which tense to use and understand why one is appropriate and the other not. > > ===A/ Present simple/ present continuous=== http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/StudyZone/330/grammar/simcon1.htm > a very basic exercise distinguishing between present simple and continuous > > @http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs2.htm > a more challenging exercise > > =More tenses continued=
 * It can affect your intelligibility – some grammatical mistakes cause the listener to understand something completely different to what you intended
 * Poor grammar can make you sound uneducated, less intelligent and or childlike, thus affecting your credibility.
 * It can make you sound rude when you don’t intend to be.
 * Insufficient knowledge of grammar restricts your ability to manipulate what you say and add extra layers of meaning and subtlety.
 * Workplace/formal writing is governed by a series of conventions which include the grammatical structures/lexis used.

B/ Past simple / past continuous
http://english.baladre.org/sedaviwebfront/pastSimpCont.htm http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs4.htm includes an explanation

C/ Present perfect / past
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpas-preper

D/ Past simple/past perfect
http://www.better-english.com/grammar/pspp1.htm This is an easy exercise in that it is multiple choice but it will give you an idea of the choices you need to make. http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/StudyZone/410/grammar/ppvpast1.htm This exercise will remind you of another use of the present perfect- past completed actions with important results in the present. @http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html Here is a grammar explanation in case you need it http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs6.htm @http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs11.htm http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpas-preper/exercises?ex02

E/ past simple present perfect or past perfect
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs12.htm The passive, futures, conditionals and gerunds and infinitives

F/ The passive
The correct use of the passive is often a question of style. It depends on your purpose for writing and the type of text you are producing. Read this website for a good explanation http://www.basiccomposition.com/resources/UVU/Writing%20with%20Style%20-%20Active%20Passive%20Voice.pdf @http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive/exercises?05 http://www.shoreline.edu/callab/Medium/med_adv/passivevoicemodals.htm The passive with modals.This exercise should be done!

G/The Future
How do you express the future in English?: Do you know the missing words in these sentences? Think through your answers and then check the website below to see if you are right. For a plan I …………………………study at university next year For an arrangement I ……………………………tennis tomorrow For a decision made at the time of speaking I …………………you, give me those books and I ………………them Prediction Tomorrow it ………………….rain Prediction when there is evidence Look at those clouds. It ………………………….rain Condition If you ……………..me $10.00 I ………………you one Future continuous This time next year I ……………………………….. at University Future perfect By 1.00 we ………………………finished this exercise. You will find the answers on this explanation page @http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplefuture.html

Exercises and related topics to be found on the English page website above
Verb Tense Exercise 18 Will and Be Going to Verb Tense Exercise 19 Will and Be Going to Verb Tense Exercise 20 Will and Be Going to Verb Tense Exercise 21 Simple Present and Simple Future Verb Tense Exercise 22 Simple Present and Simple Future Verb Tense Exercise 23 Simple Future and Future Continuous Verb Tense Exercise 24 Simple Present, Simple Future, Present Continuous, and Future Continuous

H /Conditionals
@http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/95.html @http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/101.html @http://www.usingenglish.com/handouts/151.html @http://www.usingenglish.com/handouts/36.html

I /Gerund and Infinitive
@http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/420.html @http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/326.html

B/ Past simple / past continuous
http://english.baladre.org/sedaviwebfront/pastSimpCont.htm http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs4.htm includes an explanation

C/ Present perfect / past
@http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpas-preper

D/ Past simple/past perfect
http://www.better-english.com/grammar/pspp1.htm This is an easy exercise in that it is multiple choice but it will give you an idea of the choices you need to make. http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/StudyZone/410/grammar/ppvpast1.htm This exercise will remind you of another use of the present perfect- past completed actions with important results in the present.

@http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html Here is a grammar explanation in case you need it

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs6.htm @http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs11.htm http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpas-preper/exercises?ex02

E/ past simple present perfect or past perfect
@http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs12.htm =Modals, articles and other grammar points=

J/ Modal verbs – expressing modality.
This is an important area of grammar and one where advanced students find difficulty. This can reduce your effectiveness in communication http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/rules/modal.htm Read through this page to revise what modal verbs are and then to test yourself with the quiz at the bottom

K/Singular and plural
@http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/246.html

L/The article
Students whose native language does not use articles may have problems using the article correctly. They miss out articles completely or use the definite article when it should be the indefinite one even though their English is quite advanced. Test yourself and then do the exercises and read the explanation Click on control and the link to see these pages Grammar Explanations - Articles @http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar_list/artikel.htm The definite article - the - Exercise 1 The definite article - the - Exercise 2 The definite article - the - Exercise 3 The indefinite article - a/an - Exercise 1 The indefinite article - a/an - Exercise 2 The indefinite article - a/an http://www.learn4good.com/languages/evrd_grammar/article_ex3.php3 a quiz to test how well you use the article if you do badly in this go back and do the 2 easier quizzes

Good sites for a bit of everything
http://www.usingenglish.com/handouts/ Other gramatical/lexical areas - linkers, verbs and prepositions

Linking words and expressions
Go to this website @http://eslprof.com/handouts/

Then go to

Transition words and phrases (linkers)
This will give you an explanation of the function of different linkers or connecting words or expresssions Under that heading you will see these

Relating ideas with transition words answers
This is an exercise where you just have to write in the answers. To correct it print it and then on the next link you have the answers or get the 2 up on screen at once after doing it

More exercises and explanations
Go to this website

@http://esl.about.com/od/writingadvanced/a/wc_contrast.htm
on this page you will find the following links

Learn More About Sentence Connectors Sentence Connectors: Addition Sentence Connectors: Opposition Sentence Connectors: Cause / Effect Sentence Connectors: Comparison Sentence Connectors: Condition

Also try this quiz
@http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/connectwords.html

verbs and prepositions
@http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_prepphrase1.htm ………………………………………………………………………………………..