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My friends, I am posting my regular grammar test as I usually do at the beginning of the weekend. If you are tired of my tests, just tell me, but I see you are learning and most of you started writing much better as I do read your blogs and comments on different discussions. So, let's go on learning if you like.

This test is not as easy as the previous one. You should pay attention to the word order, the nonfinite forms of the verbs, the tenses, voices, prepositions, articles, comparisons, and some other grammar constructions. I have changed the sentences beyond recognition. So, if you don't understand meaning of some sentence, just ask me to explain it before making corrections. It is senseless to correct the mistakes if you hardly understand what it is about.

Well, there you go!

1. I don’t mind to help you, but I object you bother me when I am busy with my working.
2. Walking about half a mile they came to nice house being surrounded with tall wall.
3. I saw his not understanding the rule and explain it once again.
4. Being scared boy sat in the corner realizing hardly where was he and what was going around.
5. The question was very unexpecting that I could not answer to it.
6. We were sure parcel delivering on time to her birthday.
7. We didn’t see him for many years, but always we heard his name mentioning by his parents.
8. I knew my watch need to be fixed but I could not fix it as all the repair shops closed.
9. No sooner he returned from work when he again started to call the office.
10. His house is twice roomier than my, but I like my house the best despite all.

I believe you all know what to do! The deadline is March 27.

Have a great weekend!

March 27.

Hi, my friends, I am posting the answers.

1. 1.      I don’t mind helping you, but I object to your bothering me when I am busy working/with my work.
2. Having walked/After walking about half a mile they came (up) to the nice house __ surrounded by the tall wall.
3. I saw him not understand the rule so/and I explained it once again.
4. The scared boy was sitting in the corner hardly realizing where he was and what was going on around.
5. The question was too unexpected for me to answer __ (it)/ The question was so unexpected that I couldn’t answer __ (it)
6. We were sure of the parcel’s being/having been delivered in time for her birthday/We were sure the parcel would be/had been delivered in time for her birthday.
7. We hadn’t seen him for many years, but __always heard his name mentioned by his parents.
8. I knew my watch needed fixing, but I could not have it fixed as all the repair shops were closed.
9. No sooner had he returned from work then he started calling the office again.
10. His house is twice as roomy as mine, but in spite of that I like my house more.

And here are my explanations as usual.

1. Both verbs TO MIND and TO OBJECT TO must be followed by the gerund. TO BE BUSY is directly followed by the gerund (without the preposition) or by the noun after the preposition WITH. If the gerund relates to the person different from the subject, its possessive form must precede the gerund.
2. “They came….” is the main clause. So, the first part must be either the gerund or the participle phrase. Sure,”….. the house that was surrounded by the wall”. But using the additional subordinate clause is makes the sentence sound unnatural. It is much better to use the appropriate participle SURROUNDED.
3. The verbs to see, to hear, to watch, to feel, to listen, to notice and some others are followed by the infinitive without “TO”. Of course, there must be a subject and the past tense in the second clause. If the infinitive relates to the person different from the subject, its objective form must precede the infinitive without FOR.
4. The boy was scared. So, we can say “The scared boy”. HARDLY is an adverb used inside a predicate. So, if we use it with the participle (like in this sentence) or with the infinitive, it must precede them. TO GO ON is an idiom meaning TO HAPPEN.
5. In this sentence, the construction of the second part depends on the adverb before UNEXPECTED. I have underlived the correct combinations. The first option is better, as it is more common to use the infinitive after EXPECT.
6. As you see, we can say the second part of the sentence using the gerund or the subordinate clause. As always, using a nonfinite form is much better. Well, we don’t know when her birthday was. So, it can be either simple form of the gerund in we mean the future in the past or its perfect form if her birthday was some time before. ON TIME means punctually. For example: “We agreed to meet at 6 pm sharp and he came on time”. It means he came at 6 am sharp. So, IN TIME is better in this sentence as we mean the postal service.
7. First, it is needless to repeat the subject in the second part of this sentence. Besides, TO HEAR is one of the verbs followed by the infinitive. However, it is the passive voice. In this case, we use the past participle.
8. I explained it in the separate blog.
9. If we start the sentence with NO SOONER, we should invert the predicate. As a rule, it is the perfect tense. NO SOONER is comparative, so the conjunction must be THAN. TO START is followed by the gerund.
10. We use “.. as…. as” in the comparisons with multipliers. We speak about TWO houses, so an adverb must be in the comparative degree. Now, there is no such an expression DESPITE ALL. We can say “in spite of all, in spite of that or despite everything”. In this sentence, IN SPITE OF THAT is the best choice.

Sure, you can ask my your questions. Thanks everyone for participation!