laura used 240 to prep for her ftc exams she wrote to us saying that it was the most informative site she found and it helped her pass the test awesome job lori my name is jessica solano and i've worked in education in florida for about 14 years in fact i was the 2017 florida teacher of the year and now i get to partner with 240 to help teachers in florida pass their certification exams today i get to help you this video is going to prepare you for the ftce general knowledge english language skills subtest and this video is going to cover three things what's on the test and how to study for it the most likely concepts that will be on the test and we're going to look at a few practice questions the ftce general knowledge or gk for short is intended to measure the basic skills required to be a teacher in the state of florida it's part of every florida teacher's certification journey the gk is divided into four subtests essay english language skills reading and mathematics but for now we're just going to focus on the english language skills the gk english language skills subtest consists of three competencies knowledge of language structure knowledge of vocabulary application and knowledge of standard english conventions now let's simplify that a little bit that's better each competency has skills that go along with it there are approximately 40 multiple choice questions on this subtest in all and a whopping 50 of them come just from competency 3. so let's start there competency 3 has 12 skills linked to it and they all cover grammar and mechanics of the english language that's what standard english conventions means when i take a close look at this list i see the word pronoun four different times i'd say this is an important standard english convention to discuss we have everything you need to prepare for your gk english language skills tub test in our 240 study guide but let's go ahead and dive into pronouns for now pronouns are words that can take the place of nouns especially when the nouns are clearly known by the audience you might remember learning some common ones through this song i and we he and she it and they and you i know i dominate karaoke night on your exam you'll have to identify and correct errors in pronoun usage you know something i've seen come up a lot it's important to know when to use the possessive pronoun there we should use it when something belongs to a group like in the sentence my teammates always bring his or her best effort to the game that his or her needs to be replaced with there since the effort belongs to the group of teammates ts don't forget the team at 240 is here to cheer you on your certification journey let's practice correcting pronoun errors one more time we'll see another example of a time to use there in the room is open to my classmates and it's backpacks we need to replace its with their the backpacks belong to the classmates not to the room oh that makes me think of something i'm really excited to teach you about in the next competency competency one is all about language structure we can think of this as how sentences come together to create meaning remember how i just got excited about something in this competency it's this right here modifiers are you as excited as i am no well let's modify that shall we now i'm about to go over an essential concept you should know but to really get to the confidence you deserve to pass the test you need to get the 240 study guide our 240 study guides have hundreds of questions in-depth videos and test the line study materials so you can get the depth that you need to pass but let's go ahead and dig into modifiers now a modifier is a word phrase or clause that adds emphasis explanation or detail to a sentence let's look at an example of modifiers at work the teachers aced their certification tests this is a basic sentence now let's add some modifiers to it the amazing teachers prepared because they studied with 240 joyfully aced their certification tests while taking steps forward to their meaningful careers now that paints a much more detailed picture and that's the kind of picture i love to see modifiers can be misplaced or dangling so let's take a peek inside our study guide to hear more about this a misplaced modifier is in the wrong place in the sentence the child ate a cold plate of spaghetti for lunch cold modifies plate in the sentence the child ate a plate of cold spaghetti for lunch now cold modifies spaghetti a dangling modifier is not clearly related to the word or phrase it modifies walking to school the roads were covered with snow i didn't know rhodes could walk walking to school i noticed the roads are covered with snow we need the subject i i am the one walking not the roads misplaced or dangling modifiers can be easy to miss so make sure to check that the modifier is closest to the noun or phrase it's modifying we'll make sure to practice one of these questions later on but for now let's move on to our final competency competency 2 competency 2 covers vocabulary application here you'll work with words and phrases and even sentences and passages it probably doesn't surprise you to hear that you'll determine word meaning and correct use in the vocabulary competency but skill number three here let me show you what this one's all about you'll be given a scenario in which there is some form of communication most likely a writing piece or a speech that needs an opening line so what does this have to do with vocabulary well diction refers to word choice and tone is the feeling or mood that those choice words create those are two very important considerations when choosing an opening line to fill a specific purpose for a specific audience so how would you open a thank you email for all the amazing teaching job interviews that are heading your way drop your ideas in the comments below the diction and tone for this one should be simple formal and direct like thank you for the opportunity to interview for the open teaching position at your highly regarded campus just like i want to thank you for the opportunity to learn some key concepts with me today see simple formal direct but again to really have the confidence that you deserve go subscribe to a 240 study guide you can get the study guide for the gk english language skills and the other subtests too now that we've gone over some of the big concepts in our three areas let's look at some practice questions to show you how those concepts can appear on the test if you want a lot of practice questions you can click the free practice test below at the end you get a score report on how well you did on that test and then you can go subscribe to 240 and get all the practice questions you need to be 100 confidence for the test now for the questions remember the language structure competency i told you there'd be a question about modifiers remember let's take a look at it choose the sentence with properly placed modifiers they all look pretty similar but scrambling the eggs with a whisk the frazzled chef tipped over the bowl spilling eggs across the counter is the best choice the other sentences have incorrectly placed modifiers creating issues like the bowl scrambling the eggs instead of the chef let's look at one from the vocabulary section what's the most effective word or phrase to complete the sentence john was known for his prodigious prodigal prosaic or provocative memory he could memorize up to 100 numbers at once well the correct choice here is prodigies which is an adjective meaning remarkably or impressively great in extent size or degree or causing amazement or wonder now let's take a look at a couple from the largest competency standard english conventions we need to identify the error or the lack thereof in the following sentence during allergy season many people suffer from headaches itchy and watery eyes and constantly sneezing constantly sneezing is the error here because in this instance sneezing is used as a noun and requires an adjective that's a constant instead of the adverb constantly alright let's see one more on standard english conventions this time we'll choose the answer that corrects an error in the following sentence adults often have less friends as they get older but the friendships that they have are stronger in this sentence fewer should be used in place of less friends is a countable noun meaning you can count the number of friends that someone has so the quantifier fewer should be used fewer is used with countable nouns while less is used with uncountable nouns or things that you can't count such as water or information now that's just a small sliver of practice questions to give you an idea about how these concepts are assessed on the test nice work on finishing the video if you found it helpful give it a like there's still plenty more to practice did you know that thousands of teachers have passed their certification exams using our study guides if you really want to make sure you're prepared for the general knowledge english language skills subtest take the next step and subscribe to the 240 study guide it has literally hours of videos so you can watch or even listen while you're doing chores working out curling up on the couch whatever you want to do it's test aligned so you know exactly what you need to study and it has hundreds of practice questions so you can be absolutely sure that you're ready best of all it has a money back guarantee so click the link below right now and get started