Instructions for using these exercises:
1. These exercises are designed for Asians who are beginning learners of English. (If you’re already an advanced learner of English, you can also use these exercises to refresh your knowledge.) Thus, the exercises focus on errors in grammar that Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Malaysians, Indonesians, etc. commonly make with articles, prepositions, gender pronouns, tenses, and subject-verb agreement, among others.
2. Before working on any exercise, you should read the synopsis of the drama from which the exercise is based. You can find these synopses in my “Campus Connection” blog.
(a) Read the synopsis of the drama twice:
First reading - read silently to understand what the text is all about; if you can't get the meaning of a word or phrase through the context, look it up in a dictionary.
Second reading - read the text at your full speaking volume (loud enough for you to hear your own voice) to practice your pronunciation and to gain fluency in spoken English.
(b) If you don’t know the correct pronunciation of a word, consult an online dictionary with audio support like Merriam-Webster or check the hundreds of pronunciation videos from “Learn English with Sozo Exchange” (recent videos available on on YouTube). For sentences or paragraphs, you can use text to speech programs like Text To Speech Online (as extension for Chrome browser or as an Android app) or the built-in text to speech feature of Windows 10. Also, you can copy/paste the URL (web address) of the synopsis into Talkify, and it will read the web page aloud in a range of natural sounding voices and languages.
(c) After completing an exercise, you should read the exercise with the correct answers using this method — first reading for comprehension and second reading for pronunciation and fluency.
(d) Remember these rules: To learn to speak English correctly, you must speak it aloud. To learn to speak English fluently, you must think in English. The more you speak correct English aloud, the more quickly you will learn to speak fluently.
3. Exercises are grouped under the dramas they are based on and thus have their own index pages.
4. For the timer and automatic scoring of these exercises to work properly, you need to enable Javascript in your browser.
5. The time limit is based on the number of items per exercise, with one minute alloted for each item. For example, a 30-item exercise has a time limit of 30 minutes.
6. If you have questions, corrections, or suggestions for these exercises, you can post them in my “Better English” blog.
Links to synopsis and interactive exercises:
Exercises in grammar (than - then) based
on some of the featured dramas
Exercises in grammar (its - it’s) based on some of the featured dramas
Exercises in grammar (their -they’re) based on some of the featured dramas
Exercises in grammar (who’s – whose; your - you’re) based on some of the featured dramas
“Moonlight Drawn By Clouds” (aka “Love in the Moonlight”): synopsis; exercises
“Empress Ki”: synopsis; exercises
“A Jewel in the Palace”: synopsis; exercises
“Dong Yi”: synopsis; exercises
“The Moon That Embraces The Sun”: synopsis; exercises
“A Tree With Deep Roots”: synopsis; exercises
“The Flower in Prison”: synopsis; exercises
“Rebel: Thief Who Stole People”: synopsis; exercises
“The King’s Doctor”: synopsis; exercises
“Six Flying Dragons”: synopsis; exercises
“Jejoongwon”: synopsis; exercises
“The Princess’s Man”: synopsis; exercises
“Saimdang, Light’s Diary”: synopsis; exercises
“Chuno, The Slave Hunters”: synopsis; exercises
“Queen Seondeok”: synopsis; exercises
“Mr. Sunshine”: synopsis; exercises
Exercises created by Atty. Gerry T. Galacio; all rights reserved. You can freely use these exercises, but you must not upload them to any website or the cloud. For comments, questions, corrections, or suggestions, email gtgalacio@yahoo.com
Exercises created with freeware Hot Potatoes v. 6.3.05 from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.
Relevant resources:
Better English resources and exercises (free resources on grammar, pronunciation, spelling, writing, vocabulary, idioms, reading comprehension, public speaking, etc.)
Plain English, Plain Language, or Clear Writing for journalism, law, business, science, technical, academic, and general writing (800-plus free interactive exercises)
Recommended websites: Activities for ESL Students (thousands of free, bilingual quizzes); Daily Pronunciation/Learn English from Sozo-X (hundreds of videos on correct pronunciation)
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