1. Preparing for the
Test of Essential
Academic Skills/TEAS
A Presentation by the
Georgia Perimeter College Learning
and Tutoring Centers

2. TEAS Overview
O Consists of 170 questions
O 150 questions scored
O 20 questions experimental (unscored)
O Covers the following topics:
O Math (34 questions)
O Science (54 questions)
O Reading (48 questions)
O English and Language Usage (34
questions)

3. TEAS English and Language
Usage Sub-skills
O Parts of Speech
O Pronouns and
Antecedents
O Subject-Verb
Agreement
O Verb Tense
O Passive vs. Active
Voice
O Mechanics
O Spelling
O Punctuation
O Capitalization
O Sentence
Types/Sentence
Structure
O Voice/Point of View

4. Parts of Speech
O Nouns/Pronouns
O Verbs
O Adjectives
O Adverbs
O Conjunctions
O Prepositions

5. Nouns and Pronouns
O NOUNS are words that
name people, places,
ideas, qualities,
measures
O COMMON NOUNS
name a general person,
place, thing or idea
O PROPER NOUNS name
a specific person, place,
thing or idea
O Nouns are either
COUNTABLE or NON-
COUNTABLE
O PRONOUNS are words
that rename or take
the place of nouns, e.g.
he, she, it, they, us
and we

6. Pronouns and Antecedents
Be sure that the pronoun agrees with (matches) the antecedent in
number.
The dog chased its tail. The dogs chased their tails.
Treat COLLECTIVE nouns that name a group (e.g. team, jury, class,
committee) like a singular noun and make the pronoun agree.
The family takes its big vacation in July.

7. Find the common and proper nouns.
I moved here from San Diego five years ago.
The water of the Dead Sea is said to have medicinal
properties.
Do the pronoun and antecedents match?
The band wore their new uniform at the Homecoming
football game.

8. Verbs
O VERBS tell:
O action occurring
OR
O state of being
O When verbs tell the state of being of a noun, they are called LINKING
VERBS.
Ex. Mrs. Siegel was the best teacher I’d ever had.
O VERBS can sometimes use helping or auxiliary verbs to complete their
meaning.
Ex. The reggae band Third World will be performing at the
Rialto.
O Do not confuse GERUNDS and verbs. A GERUND is a word formed
from a verb but that is used as a noun. It always ends with “-ing.”
Ex. He enjoys swimming at the Y.
verb gerund
That’s what’s
happening!

9. Verb Tenses
[Verb] tenses…are marked by words called auxiliaries.
Understanding the SIX BASIC TENSES allows one to
re-create much of the reality of time. ~Purdue Online
Writing Lab
Judy saved thirty dollars. (Past)
Judy will save thirty dollars. (Future)
Judy has saved thirty dollars. (Present Perfect)
Judy had saved thirty dollars by the end of last month.
(Past Perfect)
Judy will have saved thirty dollars by the end of this
month. (Future Perfect)

10. Subject-Verb Agreement
Plural nouns should be matched with plural verbs; singular nouns
should be matched with singular verbs. In the following sentences, the
subjects and verbs do not agree.
Incorrect: Maria and her friend is going to the store.
Plural Subject: Maria and her friend
Correct: Maria and her friend are going to the store.
Incorrect: One of the cereal boxes are open.
Singular Subject: One
Correct: One of the cereal boxes is open.
Incorrect: Either are fine.
Singular Subject: Either
Correct: Either is fine.
From Purdue OWL

11. Find the verbs and name their tenses.
Cooking is one of Ben’s many talents.
My parents told me that their plane will
be arriving at noon.

12. Are the subjects and verbs correctly
matched?
One of the test tubes is about to spill their
contents.
It’s either Kristin or Blake who likes Lucky
Charms cereal.
The members of the family takes turns leading
the holiday prayer.

13. Adjectives and Adverbs
O ADJECTIVES modify (tell more about) nouns
O Adjectives often appear immediately before the noun or noun
phrase that they modify.
O Adjectives usually tell:
O What kind He likes chocolate ice cream.
O Which Stop that train.
O How many She ordered three pairs of shoes.
O ADVERBS modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. They
often (but not always) end in “-ly” and tell:
O How The sun rises faithfully every morning.
O Where His GPS told him to drive east on Elm Street.
O How often Lori rarely eats takeout.

14. Adjective or Adverb?
Don’t speak so quickly because I can’t
understand you.
Damon is not only intelligent but also
extremely kind.

15. Prepositions
PREPOSITIONS describe relationships between words in a sentence.
PREPOSITIONS often indicate time or location. They are nearly always combined
with articles and nouns in structures called prepositional phrases.
The noun within a prepositional phrase is called the OBJECT OF THE
PREPOSITION. Generally, it is not the subject of the sentence.
She stacked the pancakes on the platter and brought them
to the table.
subj.
Preposition Article
Object of the
Preposition
on the border
under the bed
over the moon

16. A Complete List of Prepositions
about
above
according to
across
after
against
along
along with
among
apart from
around
as
as for
at
because of
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but*
by
by means of
concerning
despite
down
during
except
except for
excepting
for
from
in
in addition to
in back of
in case of
in front of
in place of
inside
in spite of
instead of
into
like
near
next
of
off
on
onto
on top of
out
out of
outside
over
past
regarding
round
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
unlike
until
up
upon
up to
with
within
without

17. Conjunctions
O CONJUNCTIONS are used as connectors. They link words, phrases and clauses
together.
O Conjunctions are often referred to as FANBOYS because the words that carry
out this function are:
for, and, not, but, or, yet, so
O Remember to put a comma before a COORDINATING CONJUNCTION because
it signals that you are separating two sentences
Ex. Remember to put a comma before a coordinating conjunction, for it
signals that you are separating two sentences.

18. Conjunctions Continued
Use conjunctions to:
O Connect two main clauses
When you connect two main clauses with a coordinating
conjunction, use a comma.
The pattern looks like this:
main clause + comma
+ main clause.
Ex. When I’m at work, my dog Floyd sleeps on the bed,
and my cat Buster naps in the bathtub.
From Grammar Bytes.com
+ coordinating conjunction

19. Conjunctions Continued
O Connect two items in a list:
These items can be any grammatical unit
EXCEPT main clauses.
The pattern looks like this:
item + coordinating conjunction + item
Here are some examples:
My dog Floyd has too many fleas and too much hair.
My cat Buster has beautiful gray eyes but a
destructive personality.

20. Active Voice
Active voice means placing the person or thing doing
the action in the nominative part (the part that
comes before the verb) of the sentence.
I turned on the light.
Passive voice puts the object being acted upon before
the verb.
The light was turned on by me.

21. Punctuation: Does It Really Matter?
Where a writer places punctuation does, indeed, matter.

22. Punctuation Marks (And When to Use Them)
Period . Comma ,
Shows ending of declarative sentence
Separates clauses, items in lists and follows
salutation of informal letters
Class starts in ten minutes.
It rained over the holiday, but I still
enjoyed myself.
Question Mark ? Colon :
Shows ending of interrogative sentence
To introduce a quotation, explanation,
example, or series. Also often used after
salutation of a business letter.
What time does the class start?
Eduardo’s main reason for agreeing to
relocate is this: he loves the Pacific
Northwest.
Exclamation Point ! Semi-colon ;
Shows ending of declarative sentence
Alternative to a period that shows a close
relationship between clauses
I scored an “A” on my final exam!
Red is her favorite color; she wears
it often.

23. Punctuation Marks (And When to Use Them)
Apostrophe ’ Hyphen -
Indicates contractions, possessive case, or
plurals of lowercase letters.
Used to make compound words, join
prefixes to other words, show word breaks
The bird’s wings are as wide as a kite. The props were all camera-ready.
Dash -- Quotation Marks “ ”
To insert supplementary commentary
while emphasizing its importance or
create emphasis
Used to indicate the exact words taken
from someone’s speech or written text
To feed, clothe, and find shelter for the
needy--these are real achievements.
My grandmother used to say, “Cross
that bridge when you get to it.”
Ellipses … Brackets [ ]
To indicate omission
Used mainly for clarification within or
modification of quoted material
Full statement: Today, after hours of
careful thought, we vetoed the bill.
With ellipsis: Today…we vetoed the bill.
Examples here:
http://homeworktips.about.com/od/writi
ngrules/qt/brackets.htm

24. Sentence Types
O Simple: One independent clause
I love music.
O Complex: One dependent and one
independent clause
Since he knows how much I love music, Dad
bought me a new MP3 player.
O Compound: Two independent clauses
(remember to use a “fanboys”)
I love music, and my brother enjoys kung fu
films.
O Compound-Complex: One dependent plus
two (or multiple) independent clauses
To show Dad our thanks, my brother cut the
lawn, and I washed the car.
Independent clause=
a complete
thought; contains
subject,
verb/predicate
Dependent clause=
incomplete
thought; missing
either a subject or
verb; relies on
independent clause
to complete
meaning

25. Name the sentence type.
O As the TV newscaster reported the story of
the tsunami, the room gradually fell silent.
O Mary and Samantha left on the bus before I
arrived, so I didn’t see them at the bus
station.
O When Lee handed in his project, he didn’t give
the instructor the last page, so he got an
incomplete.
O Dr. Ramirez helped me recover from a
basketball injury.

26. Questions?

27. Presentation Content by Jené Watson
Georgia Perimeter College (Decatur)
Learning and Tutoring Center
September 2014

28. Capitol Community College
ESL Bee.com
Grammar Girl
Illinois Valley Community College
Purdue Online Writing Lab
The Punctuation Guide online
Towson University
Vappingo.com
The Writing Center at the University of
Wisconsin Madison online
Sources