Grammar - Thinkful - 3A

LANGUAGE ARTS

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Grammar and Usage

In the following sentences, four parts of each sentence are underlined. If you think any one of the underlined parts is incorrect, choose the letter under that part as your answer. If you think the sentence is correct as written, choose (E) as your answer. Please note: read together, all of the sentences in this section make up a story.

1. Online education startup Thinkful has raised $1 million in seed financing from Peter Theils FF Angel, RRE Ventures and Quotidian Ventures. Kweller Prep tutor Ani Sefaj is one of the company’s four staff members.   No Error.

A: Theil’s not Theils. You need an apostrophe to show possession.

2. Founded in 2012 Thinkful is designed to provide personalized online learning for people. No Error.

A: You need a comma after 2012.

3.  Its starting with a course on front-end web development, but plans to expand to other areas of computer skills and software development. No Error.

A: ITS must be replaced with IT’. IT’S is a contraction for IT IS.

4. Education is a hot startup sector, with outfits such as Edmodo, Khan Academy, Udacity and others trying to come up with new educational models for the 21 century.No Error.

A: 21^st century! Not 21 century

5. Because Thinkful is all online it’s designed to fit into busy people’s schedules. No Error.

A: You need a comma after online. By the way, it is perfectly fine to start a sentence with “because”!

6.  Most of it’s students are college graduates. No Error.

A: It’s should be replaced with its. No apostrophe is necessary here.

7. The service is used by people that want to switch to a new career or just want to add more skills in their current job. No Error.

A: That should be replaced with WHO. Always use WHO when referring to PEOPLE. WHO = PEOPLE WHO = PEOPLE WHO = PEOPLE!

8. Daniel Friedman, 21, is the cofounder of Thinkful. No Error.

A: No Error

9. Friedman was in the Thiel program at yale in 2011.  No Error.

A: Yale is a University and specific universities are capitalized.

10. Friedman cofounded the company with ceo Darrell Silver. No Error.

A: CEO is capitalized. “CEO” stands for “Chief Executive Officer” and is capitalized because it is an official job title.

11. Peter Thiel’s investment are his first investment in a startup from one of his “20 Under 20” fellows. No Error.

A: ARE is wrong here. Use IS. One startup is; many startups ARE

12. Thiel’s program is designed for young entrepreneurs that are interested in dispensing with college and working on a startup. No Error.

A: THAT is wrong here. Entrepreneurs are people, and people are always WHO not THAT

13. Thinkful charge $250 per month for the course which takes three months on average to complete.  No Error.

A: CHARGE is wrong here. Thinkful is one company and one company charges.  

14. People who sign up start with a skills assessment, outlining there goals and experience. No Error.

A: THERE is wrong here. Sentence should read their goals. Use “their” for possession. Use “there” for location (That over there!). Also, there is no such thing as “thier”

15.  Thinkful than customizes the curriculum to students’ needs and places them with a cohort on a similar track. No Error.

A: THAN is wrong here. Use THAN only to compare. Use THEN for time sequence. For example, “FIRST then SECOND”

16. The curriculum include video and text content with projects that students complete. No Error.

A: INCLUDE is wrong here. The curriculum includes. One includes. Many include.

17. The key part of Thinkful are pairing students with a mentor. No Error.

A: ARE is wrong here. The key part IS not ARE. One part IS; many parts ARE.

18. Thinkful has hired four people so far on staff to serve as mentors and plan to hire more because the company sees mentors as playing a core educational role. No Error.

A: PLAN is wrong here. Thinkful plans to hire, not plan to hire. One company PLANS. Many companies PLAN.

19. They meet online with the student once per week to go over issues and help solve problems.  No Error.

A:  No Error

20. Ani Sefaj, one of the staff members at Thinkful, works as a Kweller Prep Tutor for the Hunter Entrance Exam. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School and now attends Yale University. Ani’s brother graduated from Hunter College High School and attends Yale as well.  No Error.

A: No Error

Derivative Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/02/26/peter-thiel-backs-thinkful-for-personalized-online-education/