Deck 10: Composition

Question 1

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?
"According to the local news, a nine year old boy was responsible for making the prank phone call."

A)According to the local news,
B)a nine year old boy
C)was responsible for making
D)the prank phone call.

Answer 1

a nine year old boy

Question 2

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Don't forget to change your car's oil every 3000 miles, you risk damaging the engine if you drive without enough oil."

A)Fix the parallel structure
B)Change from second to third person
C)Fix the comma splice
D)Set off the parenthetical remark with commas

Answer 2

Fix the comma splice

Question 3

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"If you would have taken out a second mortgage to finance your vacation, you would be in trouble now that you are out of work."

A)Remove the tense shift.
B)Fix the parallel structure.
C)Fix the subject-verb agreement.
D)Fix the comma splice.

Answer 3

Remove the tense shift.

Question 4

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"After a difficult season, the women's soccer team won their first victory last night."

A)Use a semicolon in place of the comma.
B)Change their to its.
C)Change difficult to hard.
D)Fix the misplaced modifier.

Question 5

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The passage was read aloud by the student in case some of the class had fallen behind in the reading."

A)Fix the tense shift.
B)Fix the subject-verb agreement
C)Change to active voice.
D)Change had fallen to fell.

Question 6

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Hidden in the back corner of her jewelry box, Amanda found the necklace she'd been missing."

A)Fix the parallel structure.
B)Fix the misplaced modifier.
C)Remove the tense shift.
D)Remove the comma.

Question 7

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Both of the twins were top-notch students at their local high school."

A)Fix the parallel structure.
B)Fix the subject-verb agreement.
C)Remove the words both of.
D)Remove the hyphen in top-notch.

Question 8

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The short story, that Stand By Me was based on, was written under an alias."

A)Remove the commas.
B)Change alias to pen name.
C)Fix the tense shift.
D)Insert a conjunction.

Question 9

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The tie which I wanted to wear to the meeting had to be replaced when I spilled mustard on it."

A)Fix the misplaced modifier.
B)Insert a comma after replaced.
C)Change which to that.
D)Turn it into two sentences.

Question 10

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Old and decrepit, Laura decided it was time for her to buy a new sofa."

A)Change decrepit to decrepid.
B)Fix the misplaced modifier.
C)Change sofa to couch.
D)Remove the comma.

Question 11

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"I didn't get to go to the museum before the Van Gogh exhibit left town."

A)Fix the subject-verb agreement.
B)Fix the misplaced modifier.
C)Capitalize museum.
D)Change "didn't get to go" to "did not go."

Question 12

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"There is a huge amount of people flying in and out of Heathrow Airport every day."

A)Change is to are.
B)Lowercase Airport.
C)Change amount to number.
D)Change every day to everyday.

Question 13

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Even though he seemed generous, his actions were, in the end, self-serving."

A)Remove the hyphen from self-serving.
B)Remove the first comma.
C)Change even though to despite.
D)Fix the misplaced modifier.

Question 14

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"During the primaries, all three Democratic candidates levied serious allegations against each other, only to retract them during the general election."

A)Change retract to retrack
B)Change primaries to primarys
C)Change levied to leveled
D)Make this into two separate sentences

Question 15

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Rainstorms are an every day occurrence in most of the Northwest US."

A)Lowercase Northwest
B)Remove the dangling modifier
C)Change every day to everyday
D)Change rainstorms to rain storms

Question 16

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Tom Brady is one of the NFL quarterbacks who has won more than one Super Bowl."

A)Insert a comma after quarterbacks.
B)Lowercase Super Bowl.
C)Change has to have.
D)Fix the parallel structure.

Question 17

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"He was honest, hardworking and a regular customer at the neighborhood pub."

A)Change neighborhood to neighbourhood.
B)Insert a comma after hardworking.
C)Change hardworking to hard working.
D)Fix the parallel structure.

Question 18

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The incumbent senator was afraid of losing his seat; he took a no-holes-barred approach to the campaign."

A)Capitalize senator.
B)Remove the hyphens from no-holes-barred.
C)Change no-holes-barred to no-holds-barred.
D)Change the semicolon to a comma.

Question 19

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The Johnsons's family car was broken into, the window was shattered and the radio was stolen."

A)Change Johnsons's to Johnsons'.
B)Fix the parallel structure.
C)Change the sentence to past perfect tense.
D)Fix the subject-verb agreement.

Question 20

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Even though he couldn't afford to buy it, Chris convinced the dealer to let him test drive a brand new Cadillac."

A)Lowercase Cadillac.
B)Change test drive to test-drive.
C)Change the comma to a semicolon.
D)Move the beginning clause to the end.

Question 21

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Regardless of the time it takes, finishing a marathon is an impressive fete."

A)Change the comma to a semicolon.
B)Fix the misplaced modifier.
C)Change regardless to irregardless.
D)Change fete to feat.

Question 22

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?Republicans have particularly strong support in the southern states.

A)Change have to has.
B)Capitalize southern.
C)Hyphenate particularly strong.
D)Fix subject/verb agreement.

Question 23

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"He felt badly about canceling the appointment at the last minute, but there was no chance he would make it on time.'

A)Change badly to bad.
B)Remove but.
C)Change canceling to cancelling.
D)Change at to in.

Question 24

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The rain had frozen over, the roads were extremely slippery."

A)Change were to are.
B)Hyphenate extremely slippery.
C)Fix the comma splice.
D)Change had frozen to froze.

Question 25

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The company's new CEO had big plans for the future, but the board was adverse to changing too quickly."

A)Change CEO to C.E.O.
B)Change quickly to fast.
C)Change adverse to averse.
D)Remove the comma.

Question 26

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Whoever is chosen for the scholarship will receive four years of full tuition."

A)Change whoever to whomever.
B)Hyphenate four years.
C)Write four as 4.
D)Remove the word of.

Question 27

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Some people have called for an end to the US boycott of Cuban goods."

A)Capitalize goods.
B)Lowercase Cuban.
C)Switch to passive voice to emphasize the boycott.
D)Change boycott to embargo.

Question 28

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Neither side was completely happy with the mediator's judgment, but they agreed to abide by it nonetheless."

A)Change mediator to arbitrator.
B)Change neither to none.
C)Change judgment to judgement.
D)Change nonetheless to irregardless.

Question 29

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"His daughters persuaded him to take a break from work and drive them to the mall so that they could meet with some of they're friends."

A)Insert a comma after mall.
B)Insert a semicolon after mall.
C)Change they're to their.
D)Change break to brake.

Question 30

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Having spent three hours in traffic to get to the trendy, new restaurant, John intended to stay for awhile."

A)Remove the comma after restaurant.
B)Remove the word for.
C)Remove the comma after trendy.
D)Fix the misplaced modifier.

Question 31

Which course of action most improves the following sentence? HR had turned into such a bureaucratic mess that it was impossible to determine whose responsible for paychecks being issued a day late.

A)Change bureaucratic to beureaucratic.
B)Remove the word that.
C)Change paychecks to pay checks.
D)Change whose to who was.

Question 32

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Once it became clear that the hedge fund had been involved in some dirty deals, the SEC sent an auditor to pour over the company's books."

A)Change pour to pore.
B)Change auditor to adjudicator.
C)Capitalize hedge fund.
D)Change the comma to a semicolon.

Question 33

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Towards the end of the film, the audience is tricked into believing that the hero has died."

A)Change is to has been.
B)Change towards to toward.
C)Remove the word that.
D)Insert a comma after tricked.

Question 34

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The board of directors are still deciding whether to issue more bonds; either way, the company needs more liquidity."

A)Change the semicolon to a comma.
B)Insert a conjunction after the semicolon.
C)Capitalize board of directors.
D)Change are to is.

Question 35

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The rule of law, a middle class that is growing and fair elections are all vital to a healthy, functional democracy."

A)Hyphenate middle class.
B)Remove the word all.
C)Change are to is.
D)Fix the parallel structure.

Question 36

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Only a few areas of the country continue to operate without daylight savings time."

A)Hyphenate daylight savings.
B)Change savings to saving.
C)Capitalize daylight savings.
D)change to operate to operates.

Question 37

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The committee constitutes eleven persons from departments throughout the company."

A)Change persons to people
B)Change constitutes to comprises
C)Change committee to commitee
D)Remove the word departments

Question 38

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"The novel affected great personal growth when I was a teenager; I have recommended it to a large number of teens since then."

A)Change teenager to teen-ager.
B)Change the semicolon to a comma.
C)Change number to amount.
D)Change affected to effected.

Question 39

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"After the closed-door meeting had ended, a few off-hand remarks inferred that I would be passed over for a promotion."

A)Remove the hyphen from closed-door.
B)Remove the word over.
C)Change inferred to implied.
D)Change the comma to a semicolon.

Question 40

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
"Looking at both drafts, the English professor decided that the rough draft was the best version."

A)Lowercase English.
B)Change best to better.
C)Put quotation marks around rough to denote irony.
D)Fix the misplaced modifier.