1. D: "Last week" dictates simple past tense
"were." Present perfect "have been" (A) refers to the
status now of something already accomplished in the past-e.g. "have been
cataloged since last week." Subjunctive present perfect "would have
been" (B) is never used in a conditional "If" clause/phrase,
only as its complement ("If..., then they would..."). Singular
"was" (C) disagrees with plural "books." Past perfect
"had been" (E) would require "why hadn't they been.../weren't
they...?" to agree.
2. C: With an indirect object, the transitive verb and
preposition should be a unit, i.e. "led to" here, like "take
from," "give to," etc., uninterrupted by the modifying adverb
"eventually." "Who" (E) only applies to people, not
inanimate objects like books.
3. A: No punctuation should be placed between
"means" and "to" here. Hence a comma [(B), (E)] or dash (D)
is incorrect. A nonrestrictive relative clause introduces additional
information, requiring a comma and "which"-not "that" [(C),
(D), and (E)]. "That" is used without a comma and only with a
restrictive relative clause, i.e. one that is necessary to understand the
meaning of the noun it modifies.
4. D: "Then" is an adverb indicating time or
sequence here. "Than" [(A), (E)] is a conjunction indicating comparison,
e.g. "He is taller than I am" or "We would rather go now than
later." When listing three sequential steps as in this sentence, the comma
after the first and second steps is correct punctuation; a colon (B) or hyphen
[(C), (E)] is incorrect.
5. C: The correct word choice for this sentence is
"disinterested," meaning not personally involved or invested and
(presumably) impartial. "Uninterested" means literally not
interested, i.e. oblivious or not caring. In this context, they would not pick
an "interested" party to judge a contest, and the exclamation mark
(B) is inappropriate punctuation. "An" (E) is incorrect preceding a
consonant.
6. B: "Scram" is a slang word meaning
"leave," a more acceptable choice when writing (excepting intentional
slang like Mark Twain used in dialogue, narrative, etc.). "Could" (D)
means they can leave, whereas "had better" and "should"
means they ought to leave. "Get out" (E), similarly to
"scram," is less acceptable than "leave."
7. D: "Admired" is an acceptable word in
writing for the desired meaning, whereas "dug" (A) is slang.
"Thought about (B), "thought of" (C), and "gazed at"
(E) do not convey the same meaning at all.
8. D: When used as a noun rather than a name (proper
noun), "grandmother" is not capitalized. Used either way, it is still
one word, not two (E); the same is true of "foodstuffs" (B).
9. D: To affect means to influence. This meaning, and
hence this spelling, apply here. To effect [(A), (B)] means to cause, initiate,
create, implement, or accomplish. "Stories" (B) is plural, not
possessive. "Affect" (C) goes with a plural, not singular, subject.
"Plots" (E) is plural, not singular.
10. E: When comparing two things, the comparative
"-er" is used rather than the superlative "-est," which is
only used when comparing more than two things. The adverb "than" is
used with the comparative, not the conjunction "then" (B), which
indicates time sequence (e.g. "and then..."), cause and effect (e.g.
"If...,then..."). Adding "are" (D) is unnecessary.
11. C: The adverb "magnificently" modifies the
verb "rises" and reads more appropriately and concisely than the
phrase "in a magnificent way." "Way above" [(B), (C)] is
slangy and does not express the intended meaning. If it did, "far above"
would be more correct. Passive-voice "is raised" (E) connotes a
different meaning (i.e. is set higher) than active-voice "rises"
(i.e. appears) in this sentence.
12. A: "Someone" is one word, not two [(B),
(C)]. "There is a person that" (D) differs semantically and
grammatically, meaning someone exists who gives the school gerbils rather than
someone gives the school gerbils; also, "who" is preferable over
"that" when referring to people. The meaning is changed by past tense
"gave" (E); i.e. an individual/someone gave the school gerbils every
year but no longer does, vs. someone still gives the school gerbils every year.
13. B: "Schoolroom" is one word, not two [(A),
(D)]. A semicolon separates independent clauses or phrases containing internal
commas, but is incorrect between a phrase and a clause [(C), (D)]. A comma, not
a dash (E), is used between the introductory prepositional phrase and the
independent clause it modifies.
14. D: The correct preposition with verbs expressing
movement or placement is "into," not "in" [(A), (B), (C),
(E)], a common error. We place something into a container, not in it; things
move into the air, not in it. "In" denotes something is already there
rather than moving/being moved there.
15. E: Since this entire conditional-subjunctive sentence
construction is in the past, the correct conditional form is past perfect
"If I had had" rather than present perfect "if I had" [(A),
(B), (C)] with the present perfect subjunctive "I would have." The
correct punctuation between conditional "if" and subjunctive
"would" parts is always a comma, never a semicolon [(B), (D)] or a
dash (C).
16. E: The present perfect intransitive "to
lie" is "have lain," not "have lay" (A), "have
laid" (B), or "had laid" (D), which latter two are only
transitive, e.g. "She has laid the gloves on the bureau every day" or
"I saw a pair of gloves she had laid on the bureau." The conditional
"would lie" (C) is only grammatical with a conditional, e.g.
"...would lie on the bureau all week unless you moved them," also conveying
a different meaning.
17. A: Conditional-subjunctive ("If...then")
constructions set in the past use past perfect ("If I had known") for
the conditional, and present perfect ("I would have signed up") for
the subjunctive, because "If" comes earlier and "then"
later. Adding the subjunctive "would"/"could" to the
conditional as well (B) is incorrect. Substituting the preposition
"of" for the auxiliary verb "have" (C) is always incorrect.
"Had been/could have been told" [(C), (D)] differs in meaning from
"had known."
18. B: With conditional-subjunctive constructions, never
add the subjunctive auxiliary verb (would/could/would have/could have) to the
conditional (If) half [(A), (C), (E)]; it is only used in the subjunctive half.
It is never correct to substitute the preposition "of" for the auxiliary
verb "have" [(C), (D)].
19. E: To agree with the present-tense predicate
"claims," the dependent clause must also be present-tense
"make," not "made" (A). "Could be" (B) and
"are" (C) alter the sentence meaning. "Make of" (D) is not
a valid construction in this sentence structure, makes no sense, and means
nothing.
20. D: "By next month" used together with
"for two years" indicates something that will be completed in the
future, so future perfect "will have been" is the correct tense.
"Will be" [(A), (C)] means she will be mayor for two years beginning
in the future. Moreover, "Mayor" [(A), (B)] is incorrectly
capitalized: it is not used as a title/name here (like "Mayor
Jones"). "Could have been" (E) changes the meaning.
