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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
I was going to the store, she was going to the park.
This is a common comma splice. "I am going to the store" and "she is going to the park" are both independent clauses. Because of this, they need to either be joined by a coordinating conjunction or made into separate sentences.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
If we made even a slight mistake. The entire project could be ruined.
Originally, the question presents a sentence fragment with an independent sentence. To combine them, they will have to be joined with a comma, as the first clause cannot stand alone.
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Some politicians believe that the role of government should be limited; others claiming that a strong government can improve economic growth and fairness.
The initial sentence contains a sentence fragment. The correct answer is the most concise and most complete.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Getting in the car.
This sentence contains no subject and is only a predicate. It is not an imperative sentence as the verb "getting" is acts as a descriptor and not a command.
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While the course appeared hard from the outset, when his report card arrived in the mail, Charlie had discovered that all of his studying had paid off. He had successfully passed Chemistry: his father would be proud. His father, a world-renowned chemist was doubtful that Charlie would pass the class but Charlie was sure that he could do it. He had spent all of the fall semester studying the periodic table, memorizing different measurements and learning the parts of an atom.
That terrible semester culminated in the final exam. The day of the big test, his stomach is a tight knot of nerves. He tried to tell his mother that he was feeling ill but she knew that he was lying.1 He shook as he tried to put on his shoes and socks.2 He woke up with his fingers tightly gripping the bedspread.3 Sitting on the bus, he could feel himself sweating through his light sweater.4 When Charlie finally arrived at school, he walked into his Chemistry class just as his teacher was passing out the test. “You may now begin,” she said.
With the report card now clenched in his hands in victory, Charlie knew that he could tackle anything to which he put his mind.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
The two independent clauses are related but independent so they need to be connected by a semicolon. A period would also work in this situation but is not one of the given answers.
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"A Unique Journey" by Jasmine Tilley (2013)
While I was studying abroad in Europe, I had the great opportunity to travel to different countries. For one of my adventures, I chose to travel to Switzerland; however, the classmates I usually traveled with were unable to come with me. I was faced in deciding whether to go alone or not at all. This decision was easy for me, I was not going to pass up the opportunity to see Switzerland!
I first had to board a train from where I was staying in Italy to reach the southern part of Switzerland. Unfortunately, the train workers were on strike that day, so I ended up delayed in Milan for several hours. Soon enough I was on my way again. However, shortly after I reached the Switzerland border, the train stopped because one of the cars was filled with smoke! I still have no idea what happened, but after a few minutes we were moving again.
Once I finally reached Geneva, I had to walk to find the hostel where I was staying that I had booked. It was night, and I realized that I was truly alone. I did not know another soul in this entire country! This thought was both scary and exciting.
The next day, I walked all around Geneva. Being my own tour guide was a fantastic adventure. I saw all the major sites while also experiencing the culture. There was some sort of marathon going on that day, and there was so much excitement all throughout the city. There were live bands. It even rained off and on. Everything was new and interesting, and I loved it.
That evening, I boarded a train to Zermatt. Prior to this journey, I had no idea that the Matterhorn was an actual mountain! The city of Zermatt was very tiny and had no cars, only small electric vehicles that resembled wind-up toys. The whole city was lit up, and though I was walking to my hostel at night again, I felt very safe. Walking through Geneva at night, though, starkly contrasted it.
The next day, I decided to go skiing on the beautiful, snowy mountains in Zermatt. I rented a pair of skis and spent a few hours skiing in my jeans and coat! It was an amazing experience.
My journey to Switzerland is dear to me not just because of the many beautiful and exciting things I experienced, but also because I was alone. I had the time as well as the quiet atmosphere to absorb and contemplate not just what was going on around me but also what was going on inside myself. I felt changed somehow. I felt stronger and more independent.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Both the phrases before and after the comma are independent, so they need either a period, a comma followed by a conjunction, or a semicolon in between.
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
He was a renowned scientist, many students that studied with him.
A sentence with two independent clauses must have both clauses be able to stand as complete sentences, and be connected to each other in meaning through a conjunction. "And many students studied with him," is the only choice that fits those parameters.
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He had admired athletes for a long time, wants them to talk to him every chance he could
There are two grammatical errors in the underlined portion of the sentence. First, the two independent clauses need to be joined by the conjunction "and." Second, the two verb forms in the two clauses should be parallel, leaving "and wanted them to," as the only correct answer choice.
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In the following question, please choose the best sentence improvement.
During the fireworks display, the colors that filled the sky like starbursts.
As it is written, the sentence is a fragment because of the word that. The sentence is therefore corrected by removing that.
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In the following question, please choose the best sentence improvement.
Going to college can lead to some fantastic careers, young adults who do not pursue additional education can find fulfilling and exciting jobs as well.
In its current state, this is a run-on sentence because it has two independent clauses that are not joined with a conjunction or semicolon. In this answer choice, the appropriate conjunction is added to the introductory clause, making the introductory clause dependent and the sentence grammatically correct.
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices repeats the underlined portion as it is written.
Under the new terms of the treaty, reduce all stockpiles begins immediately.
The underlined phrase needs to be improved to make the second part of the sentence contain a complete sentence. As it is currently written, the sentence does not contain a subject. "The reduction of all stockpiles" is the only answer choice which makes the sentence complete by providing it with a subject. "All stockpiling reduction" may look like a tempting answer, but it does not convey the notion that the stockpiles are being reduced as well as does "the reduction of all stockpiles," since in "all stockpiling reduction," "stockpiling" is acting as a participle instead of as an object of a preposition.
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
Publically, the school admitted no wrongdoing, secretly was investigating the accusations.
The construction of the sentence means the second phrase, featuring the underlined portion, needs to draw a contrast with the opening clause. The correct answer must have a conjunction to separate the two parts, and still show the school's actions. Thus, "but secretly, it was investigating" is the best choice among the answers.
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.
In every part of the world, troubling developments in politics.
The error in the sentence as it is written is that there it doesn't contain a verb. "Troubling" is actually a participle, a verbal that acts like an adjective; in the sentence given, it is describing "developments." To make a participle into a verb, one needs to introduce a form of the verb "to be" immediately before it; therefore, "In every part of the world there are troubling developments in politics" is the correct answer choice, as it is the only one that correctly inserts a verb.
The answer choice that changes "troubling" to "trouble" may look like a potentially correct answer, since "trouble" can function as a verb (as in "The questions he cannot answer trouble him"), but in this case, the verb "trouble" doesn't have a plural noun to refer to; it is followed by "developments," but "trouble" is a transitive verb—you don't just "trouble," you "trouble" something, so even if it were intended to refer to "developments," it would still be grammatically incorrect from having nothing to refer to.
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
He ate an excessive amount of junk food as a child, explains the later health problems.
The underlined portion is a dependent clause, meaning it needs the rest of the sentence to complete it, but also gives meaning to the sentence. The construction of the phrase as written makes it unclear what the health problems are or how they are explained. "Which explains his later health problems," is the only choice that properly explains the sentence.
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The defeated army was allowed to go home, and able to take the rations necessary to let them survive the trip.
The sentence is a compound one, featuring two distinct sentences, joined by a conjunction. As such, the second phrase, beginning with the underlined portion, needs to have a subject and a verb as with any sentence; therefore, "and they were able to take" is the best choice among the answers.
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
Having command of detail, the novelist's excellent descriptions of characters.
The chief issue with the sentence as it is written is the lack of any verb. "Having" is a gerund, a noun formed from a verb. The best way to correct the sentence, and give it the same meaning, is to essentially reverse the phrases and add a verb in the middle. "The novelist's excellent depictions of characters demonstrate he has a command of details." is the best answer choice.
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Good ideas often come in bunches, overload a creative person's brain.
The underlined portion of the sentence contains an inappropriate use of the verb "overload." The use in the sentence needs to acknowledge the fact the final phrase is a fragment on its own. "Overloading" appropriately ties the phrase to the subject of "good ideas."
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.
Mary Shelley, English novelist and author of Frankenstein, and who died from a brain tumor when she was 53 years old.
Only the verb in the past tense is necessary here. If “who” is used, the second part of the sentence becomes a relative clause modifying the subject, leaving us with a fragment—a subject, an appositive phrase, and a relative clause, but no predicate. The answers "and who died" and "and who has died" are both incorrect for the same reason; the answers "she died" and "she has died" introduce the pronoun "she," which is unnecessary (and grammatically incorrect) because the sentence already has a subject.
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Choose the best way to rephrase the underlined portion of the sentence. One of the answer choices repeats the original phrasing.
The man who waved goodbye and headed back into the cold, wintry night.
The relative pronoun “who” makes this sentence into a fragment, because there is no longer a predicate. The best answer simply removes “who.”
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Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.
The administrators no longer wanted to listen to the protestors, they were tired of hearing their demands.
The sentence in question contains a comma splice, or two independent clauses connected by a comma. Independent clauses should be connected using a semicolon or a comma followed by a conjunction. We can ignore the answer choice that uses a parenthetical to enclose the second clause because it does not use a semicolon or a comma followed by a conjunction, and the resulting sentence is awkward. While "protestors, but they" and "protestor, so they" each employ a comma followed by a conjunction, the word "but" sets the two clauses in opposition to one another, which is not an accurate representation of the sentence's content, and the word "so" introduces a cause-and-effect relationship between the two clauses that does not work with the sentence's content either. So, the best answer choice is "protestors; they."
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