How To Pass HESI A2 English

Expect 50 questions (15% of total exam) in this section of the HESI A2 English exam. 

There are eight basic parts of speech used to construct sentences: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. You’ll need to understand how to correctly use each of those inside of sentences.

In addition, you’ll need to understand important terms, such as: clauses, direct objects, indirect objects, phrases, predicates, sentences, and subjects.

Be aware of the most common grammar mistakes in the English language. Such as: 

• Subject-verb agreement: simply means the subject and verb must agree in number. This means both need to be singular or both need to be plural. For example: They call home. She calls home.
  
  
• Compound Sentences have two or more independent clauses with no dependent clauses. Independent clauses are usually joined with commas and coordinating conjunctions like “and” or “but”. For example: ‘He is here, but we are not ready’. 
  
  
• Run-on Sentences are independent clauses not correctly joined by a conjunction. There are four basic ways to correct them. As described above, use a comma and a coordinating conjunction. (I went home, and she stayed. NOT: I went home but she stayed.)
  
  
• Pronoun Case: Deciding whether to use the nominative, objective or possessive case can be challenging at times. The function of the pronoun is a clue to determining which case of the pronoun to use.
  • • The subject uses the nominative case (I, you, he, she, it, we or they). For example: She is late.
    • The object is objective case (me, you, him, her, it, us or them). For example: Give it to them.
      
      
• Possessive Pronouns: Possessive forms of nouns are written with apostrophes, but not the pronouns. (Your dog’s tail is wagging. Look at my dog. So is his.). Take care to not write “its” with an apostrophe when using it as a possessive pronoun; use “it’s” only for the contraction of “it is.” (Its roof leaks.)
  
  
• Apostrophes: Apostrophes are used sometimes to show possession; other times they indicate the deletion of letters in contractions.
  
  
• Commas: If you place a comma incorrectly, the sentence’s meaning may be different from what you intend or make it unclear.
  
  
• Unclear Pronoun Use: In instances like a sentence with multiple subjects, pronouns can be unclear. For example, in the sentence: ‘When John had to choose between cleaning his room or playing outside, he regretfully started to do it.’ The pronoun “it” is not clear. We can assume that the writer means cleaning since that is something one can “do,” but vague or unclear pronoun in your writing can cause confusion.
  
  
• Sentence Fragments: Without at least one independent clause (comprised of a subject and a verb), there is no sentence. Such a group of words is called a “sentence fragment,” or incomplete sentence. A sentence fragment is not a complete sentence.