HESI A2 Grammar study guide

What this topic actually asks of you

Grammar on this exam asks you to make a sentence correct without changing what it says. The work is to find the flaw — a verb that disagrees with its subject, a pronoun with no clear antecedent, a comma doing work a period should do — and to check the choices for a repair that changes nothing else. The skill is locating the flaw before you read the choices, because a repair aimed at the wrong clause fixes something that was never broken.

Elsevier lists grammar among the areas the HESI A2 covers. The publisher releases no national content specification — no item count, no clock, no cut score — so nothing on this page mirrors an official weighting, and nothing here claims to. What this page teaches is the set of rules a sentence is judged by: agreement, pronoun case and reference, tense, modifiers, sentence completeness, and the punctuation that holds a sentence together.

Every example and every worked question on this page was written for this course. The rules are the conventions of standard written American English; where a usage is disputed between authorities, this page says so rather than inventing a rule.

The nineteen ideas this page teaches

These are the ideas this page teaches, and they are its headings.

1. The sentence — a subject, a verb, and a complete thought.
2. Finding the subject — through prepositional phrases, there and here, and inverted order.
3. Subject–verb agreement — interrupters, compound subjects, indefinite pronouns, collective nouns.
4. Pronoun case — I or me, who or whom, and the compound that hides the error.
5. Pronoun reference — the antecedent that is missing, or that has two candidates.
6. Verb tense — simple, perfect, and the tense a sentence's own time words require.
7. Irregular verbs and the three pairs — lie/lay, sit/set, rise/raise.
8. Adjectives and adverbs — what a modifier attaches to, and when it attaches to nothing.
9. Comparison — the comparative, the superlative, and the illogical comparison.
10. Sentence fragments — the piece that looks like a sentence and is not one.
11. Run-ons and comma splices — two sentences joined with nothing, or with only a comma.
12. The comma — the six jobs it does, and the join it cannot do alone.
13. The semicolon, colon and dash — what each one promises the reader.
14. Parallel structure and the apostrophe — lists that match, and possession that is marked once.
15. The eight parts of speech — the job a word is doing in the sentence it is in.
16. The parts of a sentence — subject, direct and indirect object, and the two complements.
17. The four sentence types — declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory.
18. Troublesome word pairs — between/among, bring/take, good/well, fewer/less, affect/effect.
19. Register — euphemism, sexist language, and textspeak in formal writing.

The sentence: subject, verb, complete thought

A sentence needs three things and a piece of writing without all three is a fragment.

• A subject — who or what the sentence is about.
• A verb — what the subject does or is. A sentence has at least one finite verb: a verb with a subject and a tense. Running is not a finite verb; she ran is. A compound predicate has two — she checked the chart and signed it — and a compound sentence has one per clause.
• A complete thought — the sentence must not leave the reader waiting for a word that never comes. Because the dressing was loose has a subject and a verb, and it still leaves you waiting: because what?

A clause is a group of words with its own subject and verb. An independent clause can stand alone; a dependent clause cannot, because a subordinating word (because, although, when, if, while, since, unless, after, before) has put it in the reader's debt.

Two tests find the subject and the verb, in that order:

1. "Who or what is doing or being something?" The answer is the subject.
2. "What is said about it?" The verb is in that answer.

In The results of the second test were normal, the subject is results, not test. The phrase of the second test is a prepositional phrase, and a noun inside a prepositional phrase can never be the subject of the sentence's verb. That single fact is the one to carry into every agreement question.

Finding the subject when it is not first

Three sentence shapes hide the subject. The rule never changes: the verb agrees with the subject, wherever the subject sits.

• There and here are never the subject. They are placeholders. In There are three charts on the desk, the subject is charts, so the verb is are; in There is one chart left, the subject is chart. Match the verb to the noun that follows the verb in these sentences, not to there.
• Inverted order. In On the shelf sat the samples, the subject is samples. Ask "who or what is doing or being something?" rather than reading left to right.
• Questions. In Were the results recorded? the subject is results, and the verb is were. Turn the question into a statement — the results were recorded — and the agreement is visible.

A fourth shape is not inversion but interruption, and it is the one to watch for:

The tray of instruments was on the counter. — subject tray, singular, so was. The instruments on the tray were sterilized. — subject instruments, plural, so were.

Agreement: the six rules

1. Interrupters do not change the subject. Phrases between subject and verb — of the trays, along with the chart, as well as the notes, together with the second dose, including the older patients — are set off and ignored. The nurse, along with two assistants, was on duty is singular, because along with is not and.

2. And makes a plural; or and nor do not.

• The chart and the consent form were filed. — two subjects, plural verb.
• Either the chart or the consent form was filed. — one of them, so the verb matches the nearer subject, form.
• Neither the charts nor the form was filed. — nearest subject again, form.

3. Indefinite pronouns are singular until proven otherwise. Each, either, neither, one, anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, nobody, nothing, everything take a singular verb: Everyone was ready; neither of the answers is correct. A small group takes the number of whatever follows it: some, all, most, any — Some of the water is gone; some of the charts are gone. (None is the disputed case: both none is and none are appear in careful writing, so take the number of the noun that follows it — none of the answers is correct.)

4. Collective nouns are singular when the group acts as one. The team is meeting; the staff was briefed; the family has agreed. When the members act separately, the plural is defensible in British usage and rare in American — write the singular on a test.

5. Amounts, distances and titles are singular. Ten milligrams is the dose; five miles is a long walk; "The Vital Signs" was published in March.

6. One of those who takes a plural verb inside the clause. She is one of the nurses who work the night shift — the who refers to nurses. The main verb stays singular: she is one of ….

Pronoun case: which form the job asks for

A pronoun takes the form its job in the clause requires, and the job is not always visible.

Four tests settle the case.

1. Drop the other person and listen. Between you and I sounds formal and is wrong, because between is a preposition and takes the object form: between you and me. The test is to remove you and — "the note was sent to me", not "to I". She and I were on duty passes the same test: I was on duty.

2. In a comparison, finish the sentence. He documents more carefully than I means than I do; than me means than he documents me, which is not what the sentence is about. The subject form is almost always the intended one, so finish the clause in your head and take the subject form.

3. Who is the subject; whom is the object. Answer with he or him: Who called? — he called, so who. To whom was it given? — given to him, so whom. In a question or a clause, the answer swaps in the same way: the nurse whom we called — we called her.

4. Reflexives (myself, herself, themselves) reflect back to the subject, and do nothing else. She checked herself is correct; the report was written by herself is not, and myself standing in for I or me — Please call myself — is an error. Use the plain pronoun.

Pronoun reference: the antecedent the reader needs

A pronoun points at a noun, and the noun is the antecedent. The pointing can fail in five ways.

Two more rules belong here. Its has no apostrophe; it's means "it is". And their is plural. The singular they — each patient took their medicine — is a live dispute rather than a settled error: APA 7 and Chicago 17 accept some uses, and much edited American prose now allows it. A formal test grammar expects the older agreement, so his or her or a plural rewrite (patients took their medicine) is the safer answer unless the choices leave the singular they as the only grammatical option.

Verb tense: the sentence's own clock

English has three simple tenses and three perfect ones, and the choice that matters is between two tenses that sit close together.

Three habits settle the tense.

• A time word settles it. Yesterday, last week, in March and two days ago name a finished past time, so the simple past is required: I saw her yesterday, never I have seen her yesterday. For, since, already, yet, ever and recently point at the present perfect: I have not seen her since Monday.
• Two past actions need two past tenses. The earlier one takes the past perfect: By the time the clinician arrived, the nurse had recorded the vitals. If both actions happened together, both take the simple past: The nurse recorded the vitals and the clinician arrived.
• Do not shift tense without a reason. A sentence about one time keeps one tense: She entered the room, checked the chart and noted the allergy — not noted mixed with notes. A general truth stays in the present even inside a past sentence: He explained that water boils at a lower temperature at altitude.

Irregular verbs and the three pairs that are tested

The past tense of a regular verb adds -ed. The verbs below do not, and the ones in the pairs are chosen so that the wrong form is the one that sounds plausible.

The three pairs share one pattern: in each, the verb that takes an object is lay, set or raise, and the verb that takes none is lie, sit or rise. You lay something down, set something somewhere, raise something up; a person lies down, sits in a chair, rises from a chair. The patient laid down uses the object-taking verb with no object, and The nurse lay the chart on the desk uses the object-free verb with one. Both are wrong for the same reason, seen from two sides.

Modifiers: what a word attaches to

A modifier attaches itself to the nearest thing it can describe, which is why a misplaced one is a real hazard in care notes.

• Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns; adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. She checked the chart carefully — carefully describes the checking. The chart was careful describes the chart, which is not what the sentence means. Verbs of sense — look, feel, taste, smell, sound, seem, appear, become — take an adjective when they describe the subject: The patient felt faint, not felt faintly.
• A misplaced modifier sits next to the wrong word. The nurse gave the chart to the patient that was updated, where that was updated attaches to patient. Move it: The nurse gave the updated chart to the patient.
• A dangling modifier has nothing to attach to. Walking into the room, the chart was on the desk — the chart did not walk in. The repair is to name the actor as the subject: Walking into the room, the nurse found the chart on the desk. An introductory phrase ending in -ing requires that the sentence's subject be the one doing the action.
• Only and almost belong where they act. The nurse only checked the dressing means she did nothing else; The nurse checked only the dressing means the dressing was the only thing checked. Both are grammatical and they say different things, so read the whole sentence before choosing.

Comparison: two things, or more than two

• Two things take the comparative (-er, more); three or more take the superlative (-est, most). The later of the two doses; the latest of the three. Using most for two, or -er for three, is the error.
• Never double the ending and the word. More easier and most fastest are errors; choose one form.
• An illogical comparison compares things that can be compared. The blood pressure on the second visit was higher than the first compares a pressure with a visit. Repair it by completing the second half: … higher than that on the first visit. The test is to finish the sentence and see whether both halves name the same kind of thing.
• Absolute words do not compare. Unique, perfect, complete, dead and final have no comparative or superlative; more unique is not a thing.

Completing the sentence: fragments, run-ons, comma splices

A fragment is a piece of a sentence presented as one. It looks finished because it begins with a capital and ends with a period, and it fails one of the three requirements. The three common shapes:

A run-on joins two independent clauses with nothing at all. The chart was missing the nurse looked in the second drawer. A comma splice joins them with only a comma. The chart was missing, the nurse looked in the second drawer. Both need one of the same four repairs:

1. A period. Two sentences: The chart was missing. The nurse looked in the second drawer.
2. A semicolon. The chart was missing; the nurse looked in the second drawer.
3. A comma plus a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet): The chart was missing, so the nurse looked in the second drawer.
4. A rewrite that makes one clause dependent: Because the chart was missing, the nurse looked in the second drawer.

A comma alone is never on that list. That is the single sentence worth memorizing from this page.

The comma: six jobs and three prohibitions

The comma marks a boundary a reader would otherwise misread. It does six jobs.

1. Before a coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses. The chart was missing, so the nurse looked in the second drawer. Without the conjunction, a comma there is a splice.
2. After an introductory element. Before the rounds, she checked the chart. When the alarm sounded, the unit emptied. The comma marks where the main clause begins.
3. Around an element the sentence does not need. An appositive or a nonessential clause is set off in pairs: Dr. Okafor, the attending physician, signed the order. If the element is essential — it tells the reader which one — it takes no commas: The nurse who signed the order was on nights.
4. Between items in a series. Pulse, blood pressure, and temperature were recorded. A comma before the final and (the serial comma) is house style rather than a rule; this course uses it, and either convention is defensible.
5. Between two or more adjectives that each modify the noun directly. A cool, dry dressing. The test is to put and between them: if and works, a comma works; if it does not (a small red car, not a small and red car), no comma.
6. With a name in direct address, and in dates and place names. Mr. Hall, your results are ready. She was admitted on March 3, 2025, in Austin, Texas.

The three things a comma must never do:

• It never separates a subject from its verb. The nurse who was on nights, recorded the vitals is wrong; the clause is part of the subject.
• It never joins two independent clauses by itself. That is the comma splice above.
• It never follows a conjunction that opens a clause it is not marking off. She checked the chart, and, recorded the vitals has a comma doing nothing.

The semicolon, the colon and the dash

The colon has one hard limit: the words before it must form a complete clause, and it must not follow a verb that the list completes. The signs were: pallor, sweating, and confusion is wrong, because were needs its complement. The signs were pallor, sweating, and confusion is right, and Three signs were noted: pallor, sweating, and confusion is right because Three signs were noted stands alone.

The dash is a legitimate mark and an easy habit; one per page is a reasonable ceiling in formal prose.

The apostrophe: possession, and nothing else

• Singular noun: add 's. the patient's chart, the nurse's note, James's dose.
• Plural noun ending in s: add only the apostrophe. the patients' charts, the nurses' station.
• Plural noun not ending in s: add 's. the children's ward, the women's clinic.
• Two owners of one thing: mark the last. Hall and Reyes's study. Two owners of two things: mark both. Hall's and Reyes's studies.
• A plural is not a possessive. Three charts were missing has no apostrophe; the 1990s has none; its has none.
• It's is always "it is" or "it has". Its is the possessive. Who's is "who is"; whose is the possessive. These two pairs repay memorizing.

Parallel structure, and the other marks

Items in a list or a comparison must have the same grammatical shape. A series that mixes a noun, a verb and a clause is not parallel: The role involves charting, dressing changes, and to greet patients mixes two nouns with an infinitive. Repair it by making all three the same: charting, changing dressings, and greeting patients.

The same rule applies after a correlative pair. Both … and, either … or, neither … nor, and not only … but also each hold two things of the same kind. She was responsible for both the chart and for the medication breaks the pair; both the chart and the medication keeps it.

Two conventions are worth naming because they appear in care documents. Numbers: spell out one through nine and use figures from 10 up, except in measurements, where figures are always used — three patients, 12 patients, 5 mg, 2 cm. Capitalization: capitalize proper nouns and the first word of a sentence, and lowercase a job title that follows a name — Nurse Adeyemi, but Adeyemi, the charge nurse.

The eight parts of speech

A part of speech is the job a word is doing in the sentence it is in, not a label a word carries with it. Record is a noun in the record was signed and a verb in record the output, and the same word changes job without changing its spelling. So the test is always the same: ask what this word is doing here.

Worked example. The charge nurse quietly reviewed three charts before the shift change.

1. The is an article, which most grammars file with the adjectives: it points at a particular nurse.
2. charge describes nurse, so it is an adjective here — and a noun in the charge was entered.
3. nurse is the noun, and the subject of the sentence.
4. quietly describes reviewed, so it is an adverb.
5. reviewed is the verb; three is an adjective numbering the charts; charts is the noun it counts.
6. before links the shift change to the rest of the sentence, so it is a preposition, and change is its object.

Two traps follow from the definition. A word's usual job is not its job here — well is an adverb in she charted well and an adjective in the patient looks well. And a word can look like one part of speech while doing another's work: to is a preposition when a noun follows (to the ward) and the infinitive marker when a verb follows (to record), which some grammars call a particle rather than a preposition; not is an adverb even though it describes nothing.

The parts of a sentence: subject, object and the complements

A sentence's parts are the roles inside it. The subject is who or what it is about, and the verb agrees with it. The predicate is everything said about the subject, including the verb. Inside the predicate, three roles are found by asking a question.

Worked example. The nurse handed the aide the updated chart before the shift change.

1. Find the verb: handed. Ask who did it — the nurse, which is the subject.
2. Ask what was handed: the chart. That is the direct object.
3. Ask to whom it was handed: the aide. That is the indirect object, and it sits between the verb and the direct object with no preposition in front of it.
4. What is left is before the shift change, a prepositional phrase. Change is its object and the shift describes it. A noun inside a prepositional phrase is never an indirect object: the preposition is the tell.

Worked example. The dressing was loose.

1. The verb is was.
2. Ask what the dressing is like: loose, an adjective describing the subject.
3. There is no object at all, because was is a linking verb — it joins the subject to a word that describes or renames it. The dressing was a pressure injury is the same shape with a noun, so a pressure injury is a predicate nominative.

The linking verbs are worth naming: be and its forms, seem, appear, become, remain, feel, look, smell, taste, sound, grow. Several of them also act, and the object decides which: the nurse tasted the drink has a direct object, while the drink tasted bitter has a predicate adjective.

The four sentence types

A sentence's type is its purpose, and its punctuation follows the purpose.

An imperative carries a subject that is not written: the you who is being told. Record the output has the verb record and the object the output, and its subject is the understood you, which is why nothing feels missing.

Worked example. Record the output in milliliters.

1. The verb is record, in its base form, with no subject written.
2. The missing subject can only be you.
3. The sentence asks for an action rather than reporting one, so it is imperative; it ends with a period because the request is routine.
4. in milliliters is a prepositional phrase, so milliliters is the object of a preposition rather than a direct object.

Keep two things apart. Type is declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamatory. Structure is simple, compound or complex, and it counts clauses rather than purposes. One sentence can be both an imperative and a compound: Record the output, and sign the chart.

Troublesome word pairs

Each pair rewards one question. Two things, or a group? decides between and among. Coming here, or going there? decides bring and take. Does it describe a noun or a verb? decides good and well, and bad and badly. Can you count it one by one? decides fewer and less. Is it distance in space or extent in an argument? decides farther and further.

Two of the pairs carry exceptions a fair test does not use against you. Between is standard for pairwise relations among more than two things — an agreement between the four hospitals means each pair — and further is used for physical distance by many British writers. Less is standard before a number or a measurement: less than 5 mg, less than two hours.

Worked example. A rash appeared between the two doses, and the note recorded fewer reactions than before.

1. Between is right: two doses, taken as a pair.
2. Fewer is right: reactions are counted one by one.
3. Than is right: the clause compares a count with an earlier count.
4. Swap in among and the sentence would need three or more doses; swap in less and the reactions would have to be a measured quantity rather than a count.

Register: euphemism, sexist language and textspeak

The last skill on this topic is choosing the word the setting asks for, and three habits settle it.

A euphemism is a mild word put in place of one that is harsh or unwelcome: passed away for died, let go for dismissed, not doing well for dying. A euphemism can be kindness, as when a family is told about a death, or it can be evasion — which is what a clinical record must not be. The patient died at 0410 says what happened. The test is whether the softer word helps the reader understand or stops them.

Sexist language assigns a role by sex, or treats one sex as the default. The common shapes are a pronoun that assumes the sex of a job (the nurse … she, the doctor … he), a title marked for one sex (male nurse, woman doctor), a job title built on -man (chairman, policeman, fireman), and mankind or he used for people in general. The repair is a title that does not mark sex unless the sex is the fact — chair, police officer, firefighter, people — and a pronoun that matches the noun: nurses … they, the nurse … he or she.

Textspeak is the shorthand of a text message: u for you, 2 for to, & for and, wks for weeks, capitals dropped and punctuation left out. It is correct in a message between friends and wrong in a chart, a report or an examination. The convention for formal written English is plain: spell the word out, capitalize the sentence, punctuate it.

Worked example. The pt was seen by the dr & told 2 come back in 2 wks.

1. pt and dr are textspeak abbreviations, and & is a symbol standing in for a word: write patient, physician and and.
2. 2 is used as a word twice: write to and two.
3. wks shortens a word with no need: write weeks.
4. Nothing else is wrong. Read as a declarative sentence, it becomes The patient was seen by the physician and told to return in two weeks.

A euphemism is found by what it stands in front of. Say the sentence with the plain word restored — the patient died, the aide was dismissed — and the word that has to be taken out to get there is the euphemism. The word that names the situation (death, dismissal) is the plain term the softer one replaces, so it is never the euphemism itself.

Worked questions

Each question has one flaw to find, and the answer names it.

1. Choose the correct sentence.

• (A) The tray of instruments were left on the counter.
• (B) The tray of instruments was left on the counter.
• (C) The tray of instruments were left on the counter by they.
• (D) The tray of instruments was left on the counter by they.

(B). The subject is tray, singular, and of instruments is a prepositional phrase that cannot be the subject. (C) repeats the agreement error and adds a pronoun in the subject form after a preposition. (D) repairs the verb and leaves by they, which should be by them.

2. Which sentence is correct?

• (A) The note was sent to my supervisor and I.
• (B) The note was sent to my supervisor and me.
• (C) The note was sent to my supervisor and myself.
• (D) The note was sent to I and my supervisor.

(B). To is a preposition and takes the object form, so me. Remove my supervisor and and the error in (A) is audible: "sent to I". (C) uses a reflexive where no reflection exists. (D) moves the object pronoun into the subject form and changes the order without fixing anything.

3. The sample was labeled the label had faded. Which version repairs the sentence?

• (A) The sample was labeled, the label had faded.
• (B) The sample was labeled the label had faded, however.
• (C) The sample was labeled; the label had faded.
• (D) The sample was labeled; and the label had faded.

(C). The original is a run-on: two independent clauses with nothing between them. (A) swaps the run-on for the comma splice, which is the same fault with a comma in it. (B) adds a conjunctive adverb after the fact; however needs a semicolon or a period in front of it, not nothing. (D) doubles the join, putting a semicolon and a coordinating conjunction in the same place, and one of them is doing nothing.

4. Why is this a fragment: After the dressing was changed at the bedside.

It begins with the subordinating word after, so the clause depends on a main clause that never arrives. It has a subject and a verb and still cannot stand alone. The repair is to attach it or to remove the subordinator: After the dressing was changed at the bedside, the tray was cleared or The dressing was changed at the bedside.

5. Choose the sentence with no misplaced or dangling modifier.

• (A) Walking into the room, the chart was on the desk.
• (B) Walking into the room, the nurse found the chart on the desk.
• (C) The nurse found the chart walking into the room.
• (D) The chart, walking into the room, was on the desk.

(B). The introductory -ing phrase must describe the sentence's subject, and in (B) the nurse is the one walking. (A) and (D) give the walking to the chart. (C) keeps the nurse as the subject but attaches walking into the room to chart, because a modifier lands on the nearest word it can describe.

6. She told her supervisor that her note was late. Why is the sentence unclear, and how is it repaired?

The pronoun her appears twice with two possible antecedents, so the reader cannot tell whether the supervisor's note or the speaker's note was late. Repeat the noun in the second half: She told her supervisor that the supervisor's note was late, or restructure: She told her supervisor, "Your note is late."

7. Choose the correct verb: The patient ___ down for a nap at two.

• (A) laid
• (B) lay
• (C) lain
• (D) lied

(B). Lie (recline) has the forms lie, lay, lain — so the past tense is lay. (A) laid is the past of lay (to put something down) and needs an object. (C) lain is the past participle and needs a has or had in front of it. (D) lied is the past of lie meaning to tell an untruth, a different verb that happens to share a spelling in the base form.

8. Which sentence uses the correct tense?

• (A) I have seen her yesterday at the clinic.
• (B) I saw her yesterday at the clinic.
• (C) I had seen her yesterday at the clinic before now.
• (D) I see her yesterday at the clinic.

(B). Yesterday names a finished past time, so the simple past is required. (A) pairs a present perfect with a finished past time, which the tense forbids. (C) uses the past perfect without a second past action for it to precede. (D) puts a present tense on a past event.

9. Choose the sentence that uses apostrophes correctly.

• (A) The nurse's notes were filed in the patient's chart.
• (B) The nurses notes were filed in the patients chart.
• (C) The nurse's notes were filed in the patients chart.
• (D) The nurses' notes were filed in the patient's chart's folder.

(A). Both nouns are singular and possessive, so both take 's. (B) marks no possession at all. (C) is half-right — the first noun is marked and the second is not. (D) stacks a second possessive on a noun that does not need one; the patient's chart folder is the phrase.

10. Which version is parallel?

• (A) The role involves charting, dressing changes, and to greet patients.
• (B) The role involves charting, changing dressings, and greeting patients.
• (C) The role involves to chart, dressing changes, and greeting patients.
• (D) The role involves charts, changing dressings, and to greet patients.

(B). All three phrases are -ing forms, so the series has one shape. Each other version mixes an -ing form, a noun, and an infinitive, and a series with three shapes reads as three mistakes.

11. Choose the correct pronoun: The aide ___ the clinician paged was on the second floor.

• (A) who
• (B) whom
• (C) which
• (D) whose

(B). The aide was the one paged, so the pronoun is the object of paged: whom. The test is to answer with a subject or object pronoun — the clinician paged her, so whom. (A) would be right if the aide were the one doing the paging. (C) is for things. (D) would need a noun after it.

12. The blood pressure on the second visit was higher than the first. What is wrong, and how is it repaired?

The comparison sets a blood pressure against a visit, which are not the same kind of thing. Complete the second half so that both sides name a pressure: … higher than that on the first visit — or … higher than it was on the first visit.

The traps, collected

How to practice this

• Find the flaw before the choices. Read the sentence once and name what is wrong in your own words. If you cannot name it, read again for a different fault.
• Underline the subject and circle the verb. On paper this takes four seconds and it settles agreement faster than any rule you can recite.
• Say each repair out loud. A comma splice is easier to hear than to see; reading the sentence with a pause where the comma is makes the fault obvious.
• Keep a list of your own five errors. Most people repeat two or three faults. A list of your own five, checked before a practice set, is worth more than a list of forty you have not made.
• Write two sentences a day with a semicolon, a colon, and a pair of commas. Using a mark is how the rule becomes a habit.

Where to go next

• The subject's own page — Grammar lists what is published for this subject, including its guide and its practice set as they land.
• The words themselves — Vocabulary: the confusable pairs whose spelling and meaning split, and the medical word parts a sentence carries.
• Sentences in a passage — Reading Comprehension: how a long sentence's punctuation decides what it says.
• The arithmetic after these — Basic Operations: the number and unit conventions that written answers depend on.

Sources. The rules on this page are the conventions of standard written American English, as described in the style and usage guidance published by the US Government Publishing Office (govinfo.gov, GPO Style Manual) — numbers, capitalization, and the placement of periods and commas with quotation marks — and in standard grammar references for agreement, case and tense. The GPO manual is US federal government material and is not subject to copyright in the United States. Where usage is disputed (none is and none are, the serial comma, the singular they), this page names the dispute rather than inventing a rule. Every sentence, question and analysis here was written for this course. The publisher's own account of the areas the exam covers is quoted from its HESI A2 page. Accessed 2026-10-27.

HESI A2 is a trademark of Elsevier Inc. Elk Ridge Academy is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Elsevier Inc. Exam names are used descriptively only.