Questions 1 to 20: Select the best answer to each question.
1. A passive verb is
A. the same as an intransitive verb.
B. always formed in the past tense.
C. always formed in the future tense
D. constructed from a form of the verb to be combined with a past participle.
2. Which sentence should be edited to eliminate its cliché?
A. The family was immensely relieved when Great-Aunt Martha’s condition progressed from “critical” to “it looks like she’ll live another 10 years.”
B. The texture of the burlap was a cross between woven straw and a three-day beard.
C. Striding toward the barn in her red coverall and bucket hat, Gloria—tall and round—gave the impression of a charging silo.
D. I wanted to hire Dave, but a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
3. Which of the following sentences contains a redundancy?
A. At no time did Tony indicate a willingness to admit defeat.
B. Chris had trouble working up even mild enthusiasm for Mike’s plan.
C. Steve admired the partially completed stadium.
D. Emily’s sister gave birth to two twins.
4. Which of the following sentences contains a correlative conjunction?
A. Either Maria will pick up the birthday cake, or her brother Shawn will stop by the bakery.
B. Neither of us wanted to tell our mother about the cost of a computer upgrade.
C. You don’t need to buy a new cell phone, nor should you.
D. Scotland may vote to break away from the United Kingdom, or it will remain within the union.
5. A passive verb is a good choice if you wish to
A. deemphasize the subject.
B. emphasize the subject.
C. establish a formal tone.
D. establish a casual tone.
6. Which of the following is the correct form of punctuation to use when using a conjunctive adverb to create a compound sentence?
A. Dash B. Comma
C. Semicolon
D. Colon
7. Paragraphs that use _______ diction tend to use first and second person pronouns and shorter, less varied sentences.
A. popular
B. compound
C. colloquial
D. informal
8. Which of the following sentences uses parallelism effectively?
A. The large plant-eating dinosaurs were quite slow, rather stupid, and extremely hungry.
B. The report was good because it was factual and offered many details.
C. The Red Sox fans screamed, yelled, and were applauding wildly.
D. Laura spent all her time gardening and arranging flowers, when she wasn’t in a shoe store to shop.
9. Both Ada and Phil are evaluating their thesis statements, topic sentences, and evidence. If Ada finds that her essay doesn’t have a thesis statement identifying the topic of the essay, she will reread the essay to determine the main point of the essay. If Phil finds that his essay lacks evidence to support his thesis statement, he will do additional research to find substantial evidence. Who is correctly evaluating and revising his or her essay?
A. Only Ada
B. Only Phil
C. Neither Ada nor Phil
D. Both Ada and Phil
10. When revising an essay, it’s a good idea to write down a sentence stating what your essay is about. If you can’t summarize it in one sentence, your essay
A. isn’t directed toward its intended audience.
B. lacks evidence to support your thesis.
C. lacks essential background information.
D. probably lacks a clear purpose.
11. Contractions, slang, short sentences, and sentence fragments are all characteristic of _______ diction.
A. non-academic
B. informal
C. conventional
D. popular
12. How many independent clauses are included in a simple sentence?
A. None
B. One
C. Two
D. Three
13. Pablo insists that a conclusion should reinforce the thesis statement. Patrice says that the conclusion should follow logically from the introduction. Who is correct?
A. Both Pablo and Patrice are correct.
B. Only Pam is correct.
C. Neither Pablo nor Pam is correct.
D. Only Pablo is correct.
14. Which of the following techniques would be best used to present constructive feedback on a draft of an essay to a peer?
A. Rewrite sections for your peer
B. Point out the negative aspects so your peer can improve
C. Only write notes on the things you like about it
D. Concentrate on content and the message of the paper
15. Which of the following statements is true about an independent clause?
A. It contains only a verb, not a subject.
B. It begins with a subordinating conjunction.
C. It can’t stand alone.
D. It can stand alone as a complete sentence.
16. Which of the following sentences contains one or more strong, active verbs?
A. The phone directory was hastily searched by Conrad.
B. It was believed by some that Conrad’s father had been a war hero.
C. Conrad trembled with anxiety and anticipation as he pressed Denise’s doorbell.
D. Having been away in London for two years, Conrad was happy to see Denise.
17. What is the purpose of varying the order of subjects, verbs, and modifiers in different sentences within a paragraph?
A. To indicate emphasis where it’s needed
B. To supply background detail for readers unfamiliar with a topic
C. To support the topic sentence
D. To provide necessary evidence to support a thesis
18. Balancing a sentence through using words or phrases that have the same grammatical structure is
known as
A. correlation.
B. compound sentencing.
C. subject-verb agreement
D. parallelism.
19. Which of the following is a complex sentence?
A. We didn’t have enough potatoes for dinner, so we served rice instead.
B. After Henry submitted his essay, he realized that he hadn’t proofread the last page.
C. Jim tried to watch a video on a device connected to a crowded wireless network; as a result, the video stuttered and froze.
D. identity theft is a growing problem, especially among seniors.
20. A _______ can be used for both organizing and revising an essay.
A. graphic organizer
B. flowchart
C. topic sentence
D. verbal sketch
