Meeting minutes grammar: Test your skills

If there’s one place at work you can get stuck in a grammar rut, it’s while writing meeting minutes. Our editorial team had fun making these quizzes to test your meeting minutes grammar skillset, and you should too.

One word or two?

This is a little test every one should take. Or is it everyone? A number of troublesome words can be written as one or two words. See if you can choose the correct form in these sentences:

1. I would like to visit your city sometime / some time.

2. Do you have sometime / some time to give me a tour of your office?

3. Anyone / Any one could have taken that laptop.

4. Anyone / Any one of the team members could have taken that laptop.

5. Everyone / Every one of the committee members is qualified.

6. Everyone / Every one is interested in attending the seminar.

7. I try to get some exercise everyday / every day.

8. Exercise is a part of my everyday / every day routine.

9. You can submit your payment in any way / anyway that is convenient.

10. I’m glad the meeting was canceled: I didn’t want to go any way / anyway.

11. We are already / all ready to hear your presentation.

12. We have already / all ready heard about your presentation.

Answers:

1 . Sometime

2. Some time

3. Anyone

4. Any one

5. Every one

6. Everyone

7. Every day

8. Everyday

9. Any way

10. Anyway

11. All ready

12. Already

Where does the apostrophe go?

In written work, it’s easy to slip up and leave out an apostrophe, especially when we are writing in a hurry.

Unfortunately, spellcheckers don’t catch every little mistake. Until someone invents a foolproof spellchecker, we need to rely on our own skills at using apostrophes.

Brush up on your skills by taking this quiz. Then check your answers at the end.

1. The committee has made its decision about the software.

2. I have 10 years experience as an executive assistant.

3. Our shrinking market share is our Achilles heel.

4. The managers disagreement has delayed this project by at least a month.

5. Many bosses believe that a good salary is all that employees need to be satisfied with their work.

6. The mens change room on the second floor will be closed for renovations.

7. The childrens picnic has been canceled.

8. She resigned her position with only two week’s notice.

Answers:

1. Correct.

2. I have 10 years’ experience as an executive assistant.

3. Our shrinking market share is our Achilles’ heel.

4. The managers’ disagreement has delayed this project by at least a month.

5. Correct.

6. The men’s change room on the second floor will be closed for renovations.

7. The children’s picnic has been canceled.

8. She resigned her position with only two weeks’ notice.

Can you fix these sentences?

1. Conformity and deviance exist alongside in any social institution.

2. C is for tasks you would like to do, but are not essential.

3. Post them somewhere you can see them.

4. Lettuceless salads keep several days in the refrigerator, so you can pull it out when you need it.

5. What does that protend for us?

6. The very prospect of his being a murderer horrifies us all.

Answers:

1. Conformity and deviance exist side by side in any social situation. (Alongside is a preposition that is usually followed by of. Something is alongside of something else.)

2. C is for tasks you would like to do, but that are not essential. (That is a pronoun that functions as a substitute for tasks, which is the subject of “are not essential.”)

3. Post them where you can see them. (Somewhere is an unspecified place. This sentence describes a particular place.)

4. Lettuceless salads keep several days in the refrigerator, so you can pull them out when you need them. (Salads is plural, so you need a plural pronoun.)

5. What does that portend for us? (Always check your spelling.)

6. The very possibility of his being a murderer horrifies us all. (Prospect refers to the future. If the murder has already occurred, the prospect is long gone.)