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Standard Written English Practice Test 2

Section 1: Grammar and Usage – Find the error!

Directions: Identify the subject, verb, prepositional phrases and other parts of each sentence. This will help you recognize any grammatical errors. Then, rewrite the sentence so it is correct.

  1. The reason her and her cousin decided to take the train instead of the plane was that there was a forecast over the radio about an impending storm. No error.
  1. Though Seaver pitched real well, the Orioles scored four runs in the ninth inning as a result of two Met errors. No error.
  1. Jim and him, after spending several hours trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the missing children, finally discovered them in their aunt’s house. No error.
  1. After the critics see the two plays, they will, as a result of their experience and background, be able to judge which is the most effective and moving. No error.
  1. Each of the hotel’s 500 rooms were equipped with high quality air conditioning and television. No error.
  1. A textbook used in a college class usually always contains an introduction, a glossary, and an annotated bibliography. No error.
  1. On any given weekend—especially holiday weekends—the number of highway deaths is predictable. No error.
  1. The youth of today are seemingly more sophisticated than were they’re parents at the corresponding age. No error.
  1. The sun hadn’t hardly set when the mosquitoes began to sting so annoyingly that we had to run off from the picnic grounds. No error.
  1. The lilacs in my Uncle Joe’s garden smell sweetly at this time of the year. No error.
  1. A wise and experienced administrator will assign a job to whomever is best qualified. No error.
  1. Being that the United States has a food surplus, it is hard to see why anyone in our country should go hungry. No error.
  1. Unless there can be some assurance of increased pay, factory morale, all ready low, will collapse completely. No error.
  1. A series of debates between the major candidates were scheduled for the Labor Day weekend. No error.
  1. As she was small, her huge eyes and her long black hair were neither outstanding or attractive. No error.
  1. We did the job as good as we could; however, it did not turn out to be satisfactory. No error.
  1. If we are given the opportunity to stage a play, whose to decide which play we shall produce? No error.
  1. If I would have had more time, I would have written a much more interesting and a far more thorough report. No error.
  1. More leisure, as well as an abundance of goods, are attainable through automation. No error.
  1. Morphine and other narcotic drugs are valuable medically; if misused, however, it can cause irreparable damage. No error.
  1. An old miser who picked up yellow pieces of gold had something of the simple ardor of a child who picks out yellow flowers. No error.

  1. If we here in America cannot live peaceably and happily together, we cannot hope that nations which have different living conditions—different economic standards, different aspirations, different mores, different interests—to live peaceably with us. No error.
  1. Although Marilyn was not invited to the wedding, she would very much have liked to have gone. No error.
  1. Every man, woman and child in this community are now aware of the terrible consequences of the habit of smoking. No error.
  1. The inexperienced teacher had difficulty in controlling the students whom she was escorting on a visit to a chemical factory, because it stunk so. No error.
  1. The question arises as to who should go out this morning in this below-zero weather to clean the snow from the garage entrance, you or me. No error.
  2. Since I loved her very much when she was alive, I prize my mother’s-in-law picture and I wouldn’t sell it for all the money in the world. No error.
  1. Had I been in my brother’s position, I would have hung up the phone in the middle of the conversation. No error.
  1. The student representatives who are going to the meeting with the Board of Education are Jack, Guneet, and me. No error.
  1. After handing in my late paper on evolutionary theory, the teacher at the desk asked me several questions. No error.

Section 2: Sentence Correction

Directions: Each sentence is partly or wholly underlined. In some cases, what is underlined is correct; in other cases, it is incorrect. The five choices that follow each sentence represent various ways of writing the underlined part. Choice A is the same as the original underlining, but Choices B, C, D and E are different. If, in your judgment, the original sentence is better than any of the changed sentences, select A. If another choice produces a better sentence, choose it instead. If a choice changes the meaning of the original sentence, do not make that choice.

In making your choice, you should observe the rules of standard written English. Your choice must fulfill the requirements of correct grammar, diction (word choice), mechanics (i.e., punctuation) and sentence structure.

  1. Tricia Nixon was just engaged and was born on St. Patrick’s Day.
  2. Tricia Nixon was just engaged and born on St. Patrick’s Day.
  3. Tricia Nixon was just engaged, she was born on St. Patrick’s Day.
  4. On St. Patrick’s Day Tricia Nixon was born, she was just engaged.
  5. Tricia Nixon, who was born on St. Patrick’s Day, was just engaged.
  6. Tricia Nixon was engaged and she was born on St. Patrick’s Day.
  1. As no one knows the truth as fully as him, no one but him can provide the testimony needed to clear the accused of the very serious charges.
  2. as fully as him, no one but him
  3. as fully as he, no one but him
  4. as fully as him, no one but he
  5. as fully as he does, no one but he
  6. as fully as he did, no one but he alone
  1. After the defendant charged him with being prejudiced, the judge withdrew from the case.
  2. After the defendant charged him with being prejudiced
  3. On account of the defendant charged him with being prejudiced
  4. Charging the defendant with being prejudiced
  5. Upon the defendant charging him with being prejudiced
  6. The defendant charged him with being prejudiced
  1. Although the mourners differed in color and in dress, they all sat together silently for an hour to honor Whitney M. Young Jr.
  2. Although the mourners differed in color and in dress
  3. Because the mourners differed in color and in dress
  4. The mourners having differed in color and in dress
  5. When the mourners differed in color and in dress
  6. The mourners differed in color and in dress

  1. To avoid the hot sun, our plans were that we would travel at night.
  2. To avoid the hot sun, our plans were that we would travel at night.
  3. To try to avoid the hot sun, our plans were for travel at night.
  4. Our plans were night travel so that we could avoid the hot sun.
  5. We planned to travel at night, that’s how we would avoid the hot sun.
  6. To avoid the hot sun, we made plans to travel at night.
  1. Whatever she had any thoughts about, they were interrupted as the hotel lobby door opened.
  2. Whatever she had any thoughts about
  3. Whatever her thoughts
  4. Whatever be her thoughts
  5. What her thoughts were
  6. What thoughts
  1. The use of radar, as well as the two-way radio, make it possible for state troopers to intercept most speeders.
  2. make it possible
  3. makes it possible
  4. allows the possibility
  5. makes possible
  6. make it a possibility
  1. Irregardless what reasons or excuses are offered, there is only one word for his behavior: cowardice.
  2. Irregardless what reasons or excuses are offered
  3. Regardless about what reasons or excuses he may offer
  4. Since he offered reasons and excuses
  5. Nevertheless he offered reasons and excuses
  6. No matter what reasons or excuses are offered
  1. What a man cannot state, he does not perfectly know.
  2. What a man cannot state, he does not perfectly know.
  3. A man cannot state if he does not perfectly know.
  4. A man cannot perfectly know if he does not state.
  5. That which a man cannot state is that which he cannot perfectly know.
  6. What a man cannot state is the reason he does not perfectly know.
  1. Professional writers realize they cannot hope to effect the reader precisely as they wish without care and practice in the use of words.
  2. they cannot hope to effect
  3. they cannot hope to have an effect on
  4. they cannot hope to affect
  5. they cannot hope affecting
  6. they cannot try to affect

  1. I’ve met two men whom, I believe, were policemen.

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  1. whom, I believe,
  2. who, I believe,
  3. each, I believe,
  4. and I believe they
  5. who

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  1. Such people never have and never will be trusted.
  2. never have and never will be trusted.
  3. never have and will be trusted.
  4. never have trusted and never will trust.
  5. never have been trusted and never will be trusted.
  6. never have had anyone trust them and never will have anyone trust them.
  1. Your employer would have been inclined to favor your request if you would have waited for an occasion when she was less busy.
  2. if you would have waited for an occasion
  3. if you would only have waited for an occasion
  4. if you were to have waited for an occasion
  5. if you waited for an occasion
  6. if you had waited for an occasion
  1. I find Henry James’ prose style more difficult to read than James Joyce.
  2. I find Henry James’ prose style more difficult to read than James Joyce.
  3. I find Henry Jame’s prose style more difficult to read than James Joyce’.
  4. I find Henry James’s prose style more difficult to read than James Joyce’s.
  5. I find the prose style of Henry James more difficult to read than James Joyce.
  6. Henry James’ prose style I find more difficult to read than I find James Joyce.
  1. Neither Dr. Conant nor his followers knows what to do about the problem.
  2. Neither Dr. Conant nor his followers knows what to do about the problem.
  3. Neither Dr. Conant or his followers knows what to do about the problem.
  4. Neither Dr. Conant nor his followers know what to do about the problem.
  5. Neither Dr. Conant nor his followers knows what to do as far as the problem goes.
  6. As to the problem, neither Dr. Conant nor his followers knows what to do.
  1. Although I know this book and this author as well as I know myself, and although my friend here seems not hardly to know them at all, nevertheless he got a better grade on the test.
  2. and although my friend here seems not hardly to know them at all
  3. and even though my friend here seems hardly to know them at all
  4. and in spite of the fact that my friend doesn’t hardly seem to know them at all
  5. and because my friend here hardly seems to know them at all
  6. my friend here seems hardly to know them at all
  1. So I leave it with all of you: which came first—the chicken or the egg.
  2. the chicken or the egg.
  3. the chicken or the egg!
  4. between the chicken and the egg.
  5. the chicken or was it the egg?
  6. the chicken or the egg?
  1. Trying to keep her balance on the icy surface, the last competitor’s ski-tip caught the pole and somersaulted into the soft snow.
  2. the last competitor’s ski-tip caught the pole and somersaulted into the soft snow.
  3. the ski-tip of the last competitor caught the pole and somersaulted in the soft snow.
  4. the last competitor caught the pole with the tip of her ski, and somersaulted into the soft snow.
  5. the last competitor caught the pole with her ski-tip, which made her somersault into the soft snow.
  6. the last competitor somersaulted into the soft snow when the tip of her ski was caught by the pole.
  1. The police and agents of the F.B.I. arrested the owner of a Madison Avenue art gallery yesterday and charged him with receiving paintings stolen last November.
  2. arrested the owner of a Madison Avenue art gallery yesterday
  3. yesterday arrested the owner of a Madison Avenue art gallery
  4. arrested the owner yesterday of a Madison Avenue art gallery
  5. had the owner of a Madison Avenue art gallery yesterday arrested
  6. arranged the arrest yesterday of a Madison Avenue art gallery owner
  1. At the end of the play about women’s liberation, the leading lady cautioned the audience not to judge womanhood by the way she dresses.
  2. she dresses
  3. she dressed
  4. they dress
  5. they dressed
  6. it dresses

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