Parallelism
My three favorite activities are skateboarding, to swim, and playing golf.
A: skateboard, swim, and play golf
B: skateboarding to swim and playing golf
C: skateboard, swimming, and playing golf
D: skateboarding, swimming, and playing golf
D: skateboarding, swimming, and playing golf
The three activities are in a list, so commas must separate them. Thus, "skateboarding, to swim, and playing golf" is incorrect. Also, to achieve parallel structure, each item on the list must be written in the same form. In this case, because "skateboarding" and "playing golf" are gerunds, or verbs that end in "-ing" acting as nouns. "To swim" is written in the infinite form, though, so "to swim" should be changed to its gerund form, "swimming."
What would make this sentence grammatically correct?
"I have tried as many sports as have been possible in my life and I had enjoyed all of them."
A: NO CHANGE
B: my life, therefore, I
C: my life, and I
D: my life I
C: my life, and I
When two complete thoughts are separated by a conjunction, a comma must come before the conjunction.
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence.
"Sawyer attended that high school his first solo violin performance took place in the auditorium during his sophomore year."
A: that high school; his first
B: that high school? His first
C: that high school, his first
D: that high school, but his first
A: that high school; his first
Unchanged, the presented sentence is a run-on. The option "that high school, his first" does not fix it completely as it is a comma splice. The option "that high school, but his first" does join the two independent clauses, but it is incorrect as it indicates the two clauses contradict each other. The correct answer, "that high school; his first" correctly joins the two related independent clauses with a semicolon.
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence.
"If we made even a slight mistake. The entire project could be ruined."
A: slight mistake; the
B: slight mistake, our
C: slight mistake
D: NO CHANGE
B: slight mistake, our
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.
Which option is the most grammatically correct?
"The sound of the heat blowing through the room was enough to put everyone to sleep, and the teachers' eyes began drooping."
A: teachers
B: teacher
C: teacher's
D: NO CHANGE
C: teacher's
The possessive requires an apostrophe, and since "teacher" is singular and does not end in an -s, the apostrophe should be added to the end along with -s.
The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour.
A: The flowers, the animals, and mountains reflected
B: The flowers, animals, and the mountains reflected
C: The flowers, animals, mountains reflected
D: The flowers, the animals, and the mountains reflected
D: The flowers, the animals, and the mountains reflected
In contemporary English, we would be likely to make the three nouns parallel to each other and add an "and" while deleting the comma between the compound subject and its verb.
How should the sentence be rewritten to be grammatically correct?
"The world is full of contradictions and I am full of them as well."
A: contradictions, and I am full of them as well
B: contradictions; and I am full of them as well
C: contradictions: and I am full of them as well
D: contradictions and me too
A: contradictions, and I am full of them as well
Commas are used WITH conjunctions to separate two simple sentences. This sentence is made of two complete sentences joined by an "and;" therefore, it needs a comma before it.
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence.
"James chose a large, rusty car, Philip chose a brand new car, and I chose the cheapest, ugliest car on the lot."
A: James chose a large, rusty car, Philip chose a brand new car; and I chose the cheapest, ugliest car on the lot.
B: James chose a large, rusty car; Philip chose a brand new car; and I chose the cheapest, ugliest car on the lot.
C: James chose a large rusty car Philip chose a brand new car and I chose the cheapest ugliest car on the lot.
D: James chose a large rusty car, Philip chose a brand new car, and I chose the cheapest ugliest car on the lot.
B: James chose a large, rusty car; Philip chose a brand new car; and I chose the cheapest, ugliest car on the lot.
Because the first and third clauses in this sentence contain commas themselves, semicolons are needed to separate the clauses in order to avoid confusion. Also, because the phrases "large, rusty car" and "cheapest, ugliest car" can also be rendered as "large and rusty car" and "cheapest and ugliest car", the commas separating the adjectives are necessary.
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence.
"Scientists have already sequenced the genomes of many animals; as a result, they have now begun to map the epigenome."
A: NO CHANGE
B: animals. A result of which they
C: animals resulting from which they
D: animals, as a result, they
A: NO CHANGE
This sentence is composed of two independent clauses, or clauses that have a subject and a verb and can stand as complete sentences on their own. This means that to combine them into a single compound sentence, you must either use a semicolon or a comma followed by a conjunction. As written, the sentence correctly uses a semicolon to connect the two independent clauses. In addition, it correctly uses a comma after the phrase "as a result," which is functioning like an adverb.
What is the correct version of the underlined portion of this sentence?
"Some relate to me the events of past ages, while others reveal to me the secrets of Nature."
A: NO CHANGE
B: past age's, while
C: past ages, since
D: past age's; while
A: NO CHANGE
"Ages" is not used possessively, but as a plural.
The Chunnel actually consists of three tunnels: a southern tunnel, a northern tunnel, and a service tunnel in the middle.
A: NO CHANGE
B: a southern tunnel, a north tunnel, and another tunnel, a service tunnel
C: including a south tunnel, north tunnel, and a tunnel for service
D: one southern tunnel, a northern tunnel, and a service tunnel
A: NO CHANGE
The correct choice incorporates parallel structure effectively. In this case, each tunnel is preceded by "a," and the first two both have an "-ern" ending ("southern" and "northern").
What is the best way to reproduce the underlined portion of the sentence below?
"This feeling, that books are real friends is constantly present to all who love reading."
A: NO CHANGE
B: This feeling of books
C: This feeling that books
D: This feeling of the way that
B: This feeling of books
If a comma is necessary after "feeling," one would also be necessary after "friends" to denote the dependent clause.
Which of the following sentences uses a semicolon incorrectly?
A: Contestants came from Houston, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and Los Angeles, California.
B: I've never played golf; even so, I think I would be good at it.
C: I'd like to go out tonight; but I have a lot of homework.
D: Don't tell me about it; I haven't seen it yet.
C: I'd like to go out tonight; but I have a lot of homework.
Semicolons can be used to separate items in a complex list, to join two independent clauses, to join two main clauses with a conjunctive adverb or a transitional phrase, and to join complex clauses with a coordinating conjunction. They are not used to join main clauses with coordinating conjunctions, which require commas instead.
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.
"First I had a cough. And then I had a sore throat. Now I have a fever."
A: First I had a cough, then I had a sore throat, now I have a fever.
B: First I had a cough and then I had a sore throat and now I have a fever.
C: First I had: a cough, and then I had a sore throat, now I have a fever.
D: First I had a cough, and then I had a sore throat; now I have a fever.
D: First I had a cough, and then I had a sore throat; now I have a fever.
Because all three of these sentences can stand independently by themselves, separating the third with a semicolon keeps the new sentence from being a run-on.
Choose the grammatically correct version of the following sentence:
"Lisa and me went to a party and celebrated Staceys birthday."
A: Yesterday me and Lisa went to a party and celebrated Staceys' birthday.
B: Lisa and I went to a party and celebrated Stacey's birthday.
C: Yesterday Lisa and I went to a party, and celebrated Stacey's birthday.
D: Yesterday Lisa and I went to a party, and celebrated Staceys' birthday.
B: Lisa and I went to a party and celebrated Stacey's birthday.
There are two errors in the original sentence: (1) "Lisa and me" should be rephrased as "Lisa and I" and (2) "Staceys" should be made possesive by adding an apostrophe, "Stacey's."
Unlike most high school students, Alex prefers to knit, sew, and creating costumes for his pets on the weekends.
A: to knit, sew and creating costumes
B: to knit, sew, and create costumes
C: knitting, sewing, and to create costumes
D: to knit, to sew, and creating
B: to knit, sew, and create costumes
This list is lacking proper parallelism. The activities in the sentence's list can all be infinitives (like "to knit") or gerunds (like "creating"), but not a mixture of the two. The correct answer choice fixes the sentence's error by changing all of the listed activities to infinitives.
Which of the following is the best correction for this sentence?
James, John and I should not be blamed for our errors in writing.
A: James, John, and I, should not be blamed for our errors in writing.
B: James, John, and I should not be blamed for our errors in writing.
C: James John and I should not be blamed for our errors in writing.
D: None of the corrections listed here are correct.
B: James, John, and I should not be blamed for our errors in writing.
When listing two or more items in a series wherein the last item is preceded by "and," a comma should be included before the "and." The technical name for this sort of comma is the Oxford comma.
Which of the following is the best form of the underlined selection?
"The morrow came, and, of course, instead of being better, the nose had been growing on all night as before; and the poor princess was in a dreadful fright."
A: NO CHANGE
B: as before; therefore, the poor princess was in a dreadful fright
C: as before, and the poor princess was in a dreadful fright
D: as before and the poor princess was in a dreadful fright
B: as before; therefore, the poor princess was in a dreadful fright
Since the sentence already is compounded, it is necessary to avoid stringing together more clauses by using "and" in a simple manner. While you could perhaps use "and" to introduce the independent clause after the semicolon, this would be very informal and grammatically questionable. Clearly, the author does relate the princess's fright to the growth of the nose. Therefore, the word "therefore" would function as a better connective between the two sentences that are connected by the semicolon.
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.
"When Thomas, who used to be the town bully, finally learned his lesson. He started being extra nice to everyone."
A: When Thomas, who used to be the town bully and finally learned his lesson, he then started being extra nice to everyone.
B: He then started being extra nice to everyone; when Thomas finally learned his lesson, who used to be the town bully.
C: When Thomas, who used to be the town bully, finally learned his lesson, he started being extra nice to everyone.
D: When Thomas, who used to be the town bully, finally learned his lesson, and then he started being extra nice to everyone.
C: When Thomas, who used to be the town bully, finally learned his lesson, he started being extra nice to everyone.
The fragment and the sentence can be joined together with a simple comma to make one complete sentence.
Which of the following is the best alternative version of this sentence?
"There are several ways to use contractions correctly."
A: There're several ways to use contractions correctly.
B: There's several ways to use contractions correctly.
C: Their are several ways to use contractions correctly.
D: They're are several ways to use contractions correctly.
A: There're several ways to use contractions correctly.
"There're" is the contraction of the phrase "there are." "There's" would not be the correct answer because "there is" does not agree with "several ways," which is plural. The other two answers use incorrect soundalikes of "there": "their" is a plural possessive pronoun, and "they're" is the contraction of "they are."
The plan liberalized the economy by abolishing price controls, exposing markets to international competition, and it discontinued most industrial subsidies.
A: NO CHANGE
B: discontinuing most industrial subsidies
C: it was discontinuing most industrial subsidies
D: discontinued most industrial subsidies
B: discontinuing most industrial subsidies
Parallelism means that the structure is the same for a group of words. We have a list with two gerund phrases: 1) "abolishing price controls" and 2) "exposing markets to international competition." To have parallel structures, the third item in the list should be a gerund phrase as well. The correct answer choice will have gerund phrase is "discontinuing most industrial subsidies." Notice that the choice, "it was discontinuing most industrial subsidies," has a gerund phrase, but is nevertheless incorrect because it unnecessarily includes "it was." The correct way to express the sentence is "The plan liberalized the economy by abolishing price controls, exposing markets to international competition, and discontinuing most industrial subsidies."
What would make the the text grammatically correct?
"I am lazy however because as I mentioned before I don’t have much endurance."
A: NO CHANGE
B: I am lazy however because, as I mentioned
C: I am lazy, however, because as I mentioned
D: I am lazy however because as I was mentioning
C: I am lazy, however, because as I mentioned
When there are additives to a sentence, they must be surrounded by commas and separated from the main sentence. "However" here is an effective transition from one idea to the next, but it is not essential to the sentence itself; therefore, it must be surrounded on both sides by commas.
Which is the best form of the underlined section?
"The wind sows the seed, the sun evaporates the sea, the wind blows the vapor to the field, the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this, the rain feeds the plant, the plant feeds the animal, and thus the endless circulations of the divine charity nourish man."
A: NO CHANGE
B: The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapor to the field; the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal; and thus
C: The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapor to the field; the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal, and thus
D: The wind sows the seed, the sun evaporates the sea, the wind blows the vapor to the field, the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this, the rain feeds the plant, the plant feeds the animal; and thus
B: The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapor to the field; the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal; and thus
Semicolons are used when a sentence contains a series of elements which contain commas; if commas were used, there would be confusion about where an element begins or ends, as would be the case with the element "the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this."
Select the correct form of the underlined portion of the sentence.
"Sam is unlike most toddlers in that he is not a picky eater, on the contrary, he will try almost any new food."
A: NO CHANGE
B: eater however, he
C: eater however on the contrary, he
D: eater; on the contrary, he
D: eater; on the contrary, he
This sentence is composed of two independent clauses: "Sam is unlike most toddlers in that he is not a picky eater" and "on the contrary, he will try almost any new food." Two independent clauses cannot be combined using a comma; this creates a type of grammatical error called a "comma splice." Two independent clauses can be combined using either a semicolon or a comma followed by a conjunction. This means that the answer choice "eater; on the contrary, he" is the correct answer.
Choose from the following four options the answer that best corrects the underlined mistake.
"But as the French would say, "Chacun à son goût" though its highly doubtful that most football fans (or even people who are not fans) would know what that means."
A: NO CHANGE
B: it's
C: that's
D: its'
B: it's
The contraction "it's" (it is) would make for the most appropriate choice in this context.