## How to Use Contractions

We use contractions to make our conversations more fluid. It can also be engaging and user-friendly. I am sure there are more reasons but these are just mainly what contractions are for.

Although grammatically correct, these are only use informally.

1. “We have arrived.” Use instead “We’ve arrived.”
2. “I am not eating the leftovers!” You can use “I ain’t eating the leftovers.”

Contractions may appear in the Grammar and Correct Usage part of the Civil Service Examination. Be sure that you are familiar with them.  » Read more

## Grammar and Correct Usage Quiz 8

This is the 8th part of the Grammar and Correct Usage series for the Civil Service Examination. Enjoy and have fun learning.

Fill in the blank spaces in the following sentences with the most appropriate word (s).

1. If we had gone to bed early last night, we _______rested enough.
a. would have
b. should have
c. could have

a. would have

2. If I ________the recruiting officer, I would not take bribes.
a. am
b. was

## Fun with Homophones and Vocabulary

My traffic has gone up, so I know that a lot of you are already studying for the next Civil Service Exam. Well, here’s something that will make you relax (hopefully) a bit.

Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation, but different meaning. can you identify any words that have such characteristics?

In each of the following groups of words identify the odd one out.  » Read more

## The Circle Area and Circumference Series

Circle is one of the most important concepts in Geometry. In this post, I have summarized the discussions about circles.

The Circle Area and Circumference Series

1.) Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Circles introduces some of the basic concepts on circles including the terminologies used. Here you will know the meaning of radius, diameter, and circumference.

2.) How to Calculate the Circumference of a Circle discusses how to calculate the circumference (or the distance around) of the circle.

3.) How to Calculate the Area of a Circle discusses how to calculate the area of a circle with different examples.

4.) Area and Circumference Quiz 1 is a quiz that will test your knowledge about the discussions in the previous three posts.

5.) Area and Circumference Quiz 2 (to be posted soon) will test your knowledge on the concepts of circle through problem solving.

In the next math post, we are going to discuss work problems.

## Identifying Nouns and Pronouns

In this post, we are going to learn how to identify nouns and pronouns. You might say that this is very basic, but it is important since nouns and pronouns are usually the subject of the sentence. Identifying the subject can be useful. For example, once you identified the subject, you will now which correct verb to use in the subject-verb agreement.

Nouns are proper names that usually start with a capital letter. Pronouns are substitute for proper names.

He, she, it, they, us, we – are examples of pronouns.

Example: George and Martha are Dennis the Menace’s neighbors. (In bold letters are nouns)

They are Dennis the Menace’s neighbors. (They is a pronoun which is a substitute for George and Martha collectively.)  » Read more

## Area and Circumference Quiz 1

Now that we have discussed how to calculate the area and circumference of a circle, we proceed with our first quiz. The second quiz will be more on word problems. To be able to practice solving under time pressure, it is better to monitor your time. The time limit for this quiz is 12 minutes.

Area and Circumference Quiz 1

1. The distance around the circle is its

b.) area
c.) circumference

## How to Calculate the Area of a Circle

Last week, we have discussed how to calculate the circumference of a circle. In this post, we learn how to calculate the area of a circle. The area of a circle which we will denote by $A$ is equal to the product of $\pi$ and the square of its radius $r$. Putting it in equation, we have

$A = \pi r^2$.

In the examinations, the value of $\pi$ is specified. They usually use $3.14$, $3.1416$ or $\frac{22}{7}$.

If you can recall, the radius is the segment from the center to the point on the circle as shown below. The radius is half the diameter. The diameter is the longest segment that you can draw from one point on the circle to another. It always passes through the center.

Note: We also use the term radius to refer to the length of the radius and diameter as the length of the diameter.   » Read more

## The Operations on Integers Series

In the previous post, I have mentioned that it is important for you to master basic mathematics. One of the basic skills that you should master is operations on integers. Luckily, I have finished writing all the tutorials and reviewers for all the operations on integers.  They are listed below.

Good luck and have fun. I will be posting the quizzes and PDF exercises soon, so keep posted.

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