Average

Sentence Error

1. If the books have been cataloged last week, why haven't they been placed on the shelf?

A. have been cataloged 
B. would have been cataloged 
C. was cataloged 
D. were cataloged 
E. had been cataloged                                                                                    

2. Jessica Mitford wrote The American Way of Death, a best-selling book that led eventually to an official investigation of the funeral industry.

A. that led eventually 
B. that had led eventually 
C. that eventually led 
D. which eventually led 
E. who eventually led                                                                                       

3. Sabotage came from the French saboter, which means "to clatter with wooden shoes (sabots)."

A. which means "to 
B. which means, "to 
C. that means "to 
D. that means-"to 
E. that means, "to

4. When studying an assignment, it is wise to read it over quickly at first, than see the major points, and finally outline the material.

A. first, than 
B. first: then 
C. first-then 
D. first, then 
E. first-than

5. To judge the Tidy City contest, we picked an uninterested party.

A. picked an uninterested party. 
B. picked an interested party! 
C. picked a disinterested party. 
D. are in the process of picking an uninterested party. 
E. picked an disinterested party.

6. Linda decides they had better scram before the killers find them.

A. had better scram 
B. had better leave 
C. should hurry and scram 
D. could hurry and leave 
E. had better get out

7. I really dug the character of Brutus.

A. dug 
B. thought about 
C. thought of 
D. admired 
E. gazed at

8. Once upon a point a time, a small person named Little Red Riding Hood initiated plans for the preparation, delivery and transportation of foodstuffs to her Grandmother.

A. and transportation of foodstuffs to her Grandmother. 
B. and transportation of food stuffs to her Grandmother. 
C. and transportation of food supplies to her Grandmother. 
D. and transportation of foodstuffs to her grandmother. 
E. and, transportation of food supplies to her grand mother.                                      

9. The setting of a story effects the story's plot.

A. effects the story's plot. 
B. effects the stories plot. 
C. affect the story's plot. 
D. affects the story's plot. 
E. affects the story's plots.                                                                                       

10. Arctic trees are scrubbiest than trees in milder climates.

A. scrubbiest than trees 
B. scrubbier then trees 
C. scrubbiest than are trees 
D. scrubbier than are trees 

E. scrubbier than trees

11. Quebec rises in a magnificent way above the St. Lawrence River.

A. rises in a magnificent way above 
B. rises in a magnificent way, way above 
C. rises magnificently above 
D. rises magnificently way above 
E. is raised in a magnificent way above

12. Someone gives the school gerbils every year.

A. Someone gives the school gerbils 
B. Some one gives the school gerbils 
C. Some one gives the School gerbils 
D. There is a person that gives the school gerbils 
E. An individual gave gerbils

13. During colonial days, a school room looked rather empty.

A. colonial days, a school room looked 
B. colonial days, a schoolroom looked 
C. colonial days; a schoolroom looked 
D. colonial days; a school room looked 
E. colonial days-a schoolroom looked

14. The helium-filled balloon rose in the air.

A. rose in the air. 
B. was rising in the air. 
C. was in the air. 
D. rose into the air. 
E. would rise in the air.

15. If I had the address, I would have delivered the package myself.

A. had the address, 
B. had the address; 
C. had the address- 
D. had had the address; 
E. had had the address,

16. Do you know that these gloves have lay on the bureau all week?

A. have lay on 
B. have laid on 
C. would lie on 
D. had laid on          

E. have lain on 

17. If I would have known about the team tryouts, I would have signed up for them.

A. had known 
B. would have known 
C. could of known 
D. had been told 
E. could have been told

18. If he would have revised his first draft, he would have received a better grade.

A. would have revised 
B. had revised 
C. could of revised 
D. had of revised 
E. would revise

19. Valarie claims that cats made the best pets.

A. made the best pets. 
B. could be the best pets. 
C. are the best pets. 
D. make of the best pets. 
E. make the best pets.

20. By next month, Ms. Jones will be Mayor of Tallahassee for two years.

A. will be Mayor of Tallahassee 
B. will have been Mayor of Tallahassee 
C. will be mayor of Tallahassee 
D. will have been mayor of Tallahassee 
E. could have been mayor of Tallahassee

ANSWER  WITH  EXPLANATION

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.

Test on Fill in the blanks

Directions: Complete the sentence using the word or set of words for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

1. Despite his growing wealth and power, Teddy remains ______ man.

       A. a humble                                         B. an irritable        
       C. a greedy                                          D. an intelligent

2. Because Mary is so ______, she is ______.

       A. friendly … despised                     B. unpleasant … unpopular       
       C. generous … wealthy                    D. strange … fortunate

 3. Some snakes are very ______, so you should take caution if you see one.

       A. dangerous                                     B. slippery                    
       C. careful                                           D. favorable

4. Donald was not ______ and had to go to the doctor so that he wouldn’t be ______ anymore.

       A. tall … smooth                               B. beautiful … pretty                
       C. healthy … sick                              D. rich … poor

5. Though cats are known for being unfriendly, most of the cats I know are ______ and ______.

       A. lovely … ugly                               B. skillful … furry        
       C. strong … athletic                         D. kind … gentle

 6. Billy cannot play the piano very well, since he ______ practices.

       A. sometimes                                    B. usually                         
       C. always                                          D. never

7. I cannot ______ the price of a ticket, so I cannot see the movie.

       A. buy                                               B. save       
       C. donate                                          D. afford

8. Although the desert gets very hot during the day, it is very ______ at night

       A. dry                                               B. humid          
       C. cold                                              D. lonely

9. Jared placed the plant ______ the other two plants, so that it was in the middle.

      A. between                                        B. over                       
      C. through                                        D. outside

10.Even though I knew the rock weighed a lot, it was still ______ than I thought I would be.

      A. lighter                                          B. larger       
      C. heavier                                         D. sharper

ANSWER WITH EXPLANATION

Answers and Explanations

1) A The main clue in this sentence is the word “despite,” which means that two things are related in a negative or opposite way. This means that the correct answer choice will set up an opposite relationship between Teddy’s growing wealth and power and some other characteristic of his. People usually expect a wealthy, powerful person to be mean and arrogant, so Teddy must have been the opposite of that. Humble means modest or unassuming, so choice (A) is correct. (B) is incorrect because it does not set up an opposite relationship. Since irritable means easily angered or upset, it is possible to be wealthy and irritable at the same time. (C) is incorrect because it does not set up an opposite relationship. Since greedy means having a selfish desire for wealth, it is possible to be wealthy and greedy at the same time. (D) is incorrect because it does not set up an opposite relationship. Teddy may or may not be an intelligent man, since intelligent means smart, but we cannot tell from the question. Wealth and power do not affect intelligence.

 2) B The main clue in this sentence is the word “because,” which means that two things progress in a logical way. The answer choice will involve a logical cause-and-effect relationship. Unpleasant and unpopular have such a relationship. Someone who is unpleasant is mean to others and does not make friends very easily. If Mary is unfriendly, she will not be popular or wellliked, meaning she would be unpopular. This is a logical consequence of being unfriendly. Choice (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. Friendly people are not despised, because friendly means kind and despised means hated. (C) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. Generous people are not necessarily wealthy, since generous just means willing to share and wealthy means rich. Someone can be willing to share without being rich. (D) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. Strange people are not usually considered fortunate, since strange people are odd people, and fortunate people are lucky.

 3) A The main clue in this question is the phrase “take caution.” This means that you should be careful. The word “so” means that two events progress in a logical way. The answer choice will involve a logical cause-and-effect relationship that results in being careful. If something is dangerous, it can cause harm. This would mean you should be careful to make sure that you do not get hurt, then, which makes sense. Choice (A) is correct. (B) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. There is no reason to take caution around animals that are slippery, because being slippery does not imply that an animal can hurt you. Slippery just means slick or difficult to hold. (C) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. Careful means cautious. This word describes what you should be when you’re around snakes, but it does not describe what the snakes themselves are. (D) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. There is no reason to take caution around animals that are favorable, because favorable means beneficial or good. There is no reason to be cautious around something good.

4) C The main clue in this question is the phrase “so that he wouldn’t be.” This means that there will be an opposite relationship between the missing words. One describes what Donald was not, while the other describes what he wouldn’t be anymore. One goes to the doctor when one is ill. Donald must not have been well and wanted not to be ill anymore. Because healthy means well and sick means ill, choice (C) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical, opposite relationship. A tall person is one who is large in height. A doctor cannot make someone no longer be smooth, since smooth means even in surface. (B) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical, opposite relationship. Beautiful means very attractive, while pretty means attractive. So, these words have almost the same meaning. (D) is incorrect because it is not logical. Rich means wealthy, while poor means needing money. One does not go to the doctor to gain money.

 5) D The main clue in this question is the word “and,” which sets up an equal relationship between two or more things. This means that the correct answer choice will involve two equal characteristics of cats. The other clue here is that most expect cats to be “unfriendly,” but the cats in question are the opposite of that, since “though” indicates opposite relationships. Kind means friendly, while gentle means kind or tender, so both words have similar meanings. This means choice (D) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it does not set up an equal relationship. Cats cannot be both lovely and ugly at the same time, because these words are opposites. Lovely means pretty, while ugly means unattractive. © Copyright Read Theory LLC, 2012. All rights reserved. 3 (B) is incorrect because it does not set up an equal relationship. Skillful means having skills or abilities, while furry means covered in fur or hair. These words have nothing in common. (C) is incorrect because it does not set up an equal relationship. Strong means having strength, while athletic means strong and fit. These words are similar, but they are not the opposite of “unfriendly.”

6) D The main clue in this question is “Billy cannot play the piano very well.” A piano player gets better by practicing, so Billy must not practice often. Never means not ever, so choice (D) is correct. (A) is incorrect because sometimes means occasionally. Even if you only sometimes practice, you will get better at playing the piano. (B) is incorrect because usually means typically or on a regular basis. If you usually practice, you will be able to play the piano well. (C) is incorrect because always means constantly. If you always practice, you will be able to play the piano very well.

7) D The main clue in this question is the word “so,” which means the sentence has a cause-and-effect relationship. The effect of the missing word is that the person cannot see the movie. One can see a movie if he or she buys a ticket, so the person must not have enough money to buy a ticket. Afford means to have enough money to pay for something, so choice (D) is correct. (A) is incorrect because buy means to purchase, but one cannot purchase the price of a ticket. Instead, one would purchase a ticket, not its price. (B) is incorrect because save means to rescue. No one could possibly rescue the price of something. This does not make logical sense. (C) is incorrect because donate means to give away, but one does not donate money to get a ticket. A ticket is something that is bought and sold.

8) C The main clue in this question is the word “although,” which indicates that two things are related in a negative or opposite way. This means that the correct answer choice will set up an opposite relationship between the temperature of the desert in the day and night. If it is hot in the day, it will be the opposite of hot at night. The opposite of hot is cold, so choice (C) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it does not set up an opposite relationship. Dry means lacking water, not the opposite of hot. (B) is incorrect because it does not set up an opposite relationship. Humid means moist or damp, not the opposite of hot. (D) is incorrect because it does not set up an opposite relationship. Lonely means isolated or without people, not the opposite of hot.

9) A The main clue in this question is the phrase “so that it was in the middle,” which suggests a cause-and-effect relationship. Jared must have placed the plant in the middle of the other two. Between means in the middle of, so choice (A) is correct. (B) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. Over means above or on top of, not in the middle of something. (C) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. Through means moving in one side and out the other of something, not in the middle of something. (D) is incorrect because it does not set up a logical relationship. Outside means situated on the exterior or outer part of something, not in the middle of something.

10) C The main clue in this question is the phrase “I knew the rock weighed a lot.” The sentence makes it clear that the narrator expected the rock to weigh a lot but was still surprised by how much it weighed. This means that the correct answer choice will suggest the rock weighs a lot. Heavier means of greater weight, so choice (C) is correct. (A) is incorrect because lighter means lesser in weight. This is the opposite of the right answer. (B) is incorrect because larger means of greater size. This is not the best answer choice because being bigger is not the same as weighing more. (D) is incorrect because sharper means having a pointier edge. This has nothing to do with weight.