Final answer:
The corrected sentences use the appropriate forms of the verbs for tense and correct comma usage. Understanding language structure and word choice is essential for clear communication. The short-to-long principle aids in sentence clarity by ordering sentence elements by length.
Step-by-step explanation:
Correcting Sentences and Understanding Language Use
For the provided sentences that need to be put into simple present or simple past tense, here are the corrected versions:
Tom does not speak English.
We did homework last night.
In the first sentence, 'does not' is already in simple present tense, and it is correct as it stands. In the second sentence, we convert 'do' to 'did' to properly use the simple past tense for the action that was completed in the past.
When reviewing sentences for correct comma usage, it is important to know when a comma is necessary. In the provided examples, here are the corrected sentences with proper comma placement:
I finally found my keys, and I got to work just in time.
Mrs. Contreras threw out her old coffee table and cleaned the carpet. (No comma needed)
Taking the elevator to the roof, we hoped we could see the skyline and the bay. (No comma before 'and')
Though Susan wasn't feeling well, she went to the store anyway and bought ice cream, pizza, and candy.
I let my neighbor borrow my phone because she said hers was tapped by the police. (No comma needed)
Understanding language use, we see that language can be used to describe past events or to perform actions through statements. Identifying subjects and verbs in sentences helps us to understand their structure and meaning. For instance, identifying the subject, intransitive verb, and optional adverbial in a sentence like 'We went to the bowling alley on Friday' points out 'We' as the subject, 'went' as the intransitive verb, and 'on Friday' as the optional adverbial.
The short-to-long principle suggests organizing sentence components from the shortest to the longest elements for clarity. In the provided statements, certain sentences illustrate this principle:
A group of five students resolved the test quickly, accurately, and without any assistance.
The upset teacher decided to punish all the students who were late. He did not distinguish between the students who had not turned in the assignment on the due date and the ones who had completed the assignment.
Parents have not been attending the evening meetings because some cannot come to school three nights in a row and others work late.
Lastly, word choice matters in sentence construction, especially with homophones and commonly confused words, such as 'its' and 'it's' or 'affect' and 'effect'. Choosing the correct word helps to avoid confusion and conveys the intended meaning more precisely.