Practice test

Which of the following is an example where a comma is correctly used despite there not being any conjunction?

He was angry with you, not playing a joke.

When should you avoid using exclamation marks?

In an essay for your history class

Which of the following sentences has a plural subject pronoun and a plural object pronoun?

Whether we lived or died, it didn't matter to us either way.

The 'er' ending is used when _____.

adjectives have one or two syllables and adverbs have one syllable

Which of the following correctly identifies the subjective and objective pronouns found in the following sentence? 'Run away from the hooded monks with the giant swords?' he asked. 'You don't have to tell me twice.

He - object pronoun; you - subject pronoun; me - object pronoun

A run-on sentence is BEST defined as:

Independent clauses incorrectly joined together

Which of the following sentences about ice cream cakes is grammatically correct?

She couldn't decide which of the ice cream cakes she liked best. What one should she choose?

Identify the grammatically correct version of this sentence: She was not nice she did not share her Twinkie with me.

She was not nice, for she did not share her Twinkie with me.

Which of the following sentences is written with the INCORRECT FORM of pronoun subject-verb agreement?

The boy's trade started when he said, 'If you give me that crickets, I will give you this chicken bone.

Which pronoun would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? Either folk songs or country songs are my favorite types of music because of _______ good rhythms.

its

Which of the following choices is the correct possessive pronoun to fill in the blank in the following sentence? The teacher told me that the choice was _____.

mine

In the following sentence, what is the antecedent to which the pronoun she refers? My mother made all of her own clothes, and she did a very good job of it.

mother

Another term for an incomplete sentence is a:

sentence fragment

A sentence must have both a _________ and a ____________ in order to be complete

subject; verb

Which pronoun would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? I think that either my cousins or your husband will bring ________ sound system to the party.

their

Which pronoun would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? I think that either your husband or my cousins will bring ________ sound system to the party.

their

Which of the following answers uses correct punctuation?

Their new home was ideally situated by the river; furthermore, the ten-foot high fence, kept the neighbors out.

. When should a question mark NOT be used in a sentence?

To ask a rhetorical question

The irregular superlative forms are _____.

best, worst, most, least and farthest/furthest.

The words 'most' or 'least' are placed before _____.

both adjectives with more than two syllables and adverbs ending in 'ly

The words 'more' or 'less' are placed before _____.

both adjectives with more than two syllables and adverbs ending in 'ly'

The word 'than' is not used when _____.

both two or more actions are described in relation to one another, and the actions are the actions of a single individual

Which of the following is a singular indefinite pronoun?

either, everybody, anyone, neither

Which pronoun would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? I have talked to your teachers and your bosses, and ________ said that you've been doing a great job.

they

Which of the following choices is the correct possessive pronoun to fill in the blank in the following sentence? I heard that _____ car is in the shop.

your

The question mark can also be called:

Interrogation point

Examples of subordinators

Since and because, When and while, although

Although writers sometimes use sentence fragments in fiction, fragments are generally frowned upon in:

academic writing

Jim has entered the classroom to find his teacher saying: 'Whose pencil is lying over there on the floor?' Why did his teacher use an interrogative pronoun to start the sentence?

Because it's the correct way to ask the question.

Why would you place a question mark(s) within a sentence?

Because that is how you would ask a direct question

. Which of the following demonstrates correct comma usage with adjectives?

He had a large, densely packed, highly organized bookshelf in his office.

Examples of subordinators include all of the following EXCEPT:

However

The comparative form is used to _____.

compare two people, places or things

Relative clauses perform the following functions EXCEPT that _____

they connect to the main clause by using words such as: who, whose, that or which

A semicolon can be used for all of the following EXCEPT to _____.

connect two independent clauses that are widely dissimilar from each other

Which of the following is NOT an example of an introductory word?

that

A complete sentence must have how many parts?

2

How could the following sentence be altered to be clearer? Without help I would not finish this assignment.

Add commas around 'I would not.'

How do you know when a demonstrative is a pronoun and when it is an adjective?

Demonstratives are adjectives when followed by a noun and are pronouns when followed by a verb

What are the two types of run-on sentences?

Fused sentences and comma splices

Correctly place the commas around the non-essential clause:

The dragon, even though, the villagers denied it was actually a nice guy.

A complete sentence is made of two important elements. What are they?

a subject and a predicate

Which is the correct pronoun to refer to the antecedent actor in the following sentence? The actor forgot _____ lines in the middle of the play.

his

'John is the most handsome boy in the class' is an example of the superlative form of _____.

an adjective

This, those, that, and these are demonstrative pronouns, but they are also demonstrative adjectives. Which of the following statements describes the difference between the two?

A demonstrative pronoun describes where a subject or object is in space, while a demonstrative adjective specifies which object is in space.

Which of the following answers uses correct punctuation

His goals were simple: find the girl, get the bad guys, and make off with the cash.

Identify which type of sentence the following represents: So much fun.

fragment

Identify which type of sentence the following represents: Writing is not always simple sometimes it is hard.

run-on sentence

When quotation marks are involved, which of the following demonstrates the correct usage of a comma?

''It's going to be gorgeous weather outside today'', the teacher said.

Which word would make the following sentence grammatically correct? 'Students should check with their teachers before you leave the classroom.'

Replace 'students' with 'they'

Which of the following answers uses correct punctuation?

The family's trip took them to New York, New York; Providence, RI; Savannah, Georgia; and New Orleans, Louisiana -- and back.

Which of the following demonstrates correct comma usage when separating elements in a series?

The rock flew from his hand, skipped across the pond, and sank from sight.

. Identify the error in the following sentence: All government representatives must keep in contact with his or her constituents.

There is a vague pronoun reference in this sentence.

Which of the following statements is NOT true about exclamation marks?

They are used to downplay a sentence.

Which pronoun or pronouns would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? Any person who visits the park should clean up all of _____ trash.

his or her

Which pronoun or pronouns would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? Every child in the class finished all of _____ homework.

his/her

Which of the following choices is the correct contraction to fill in the blank in the following sentence? _____ going to be there by 5:30.

i'm