English Grammar Practice

Solution

Correct: A

The word "committee" is a collective noun. When the committee acts as a single, unified entity, as it does when making a single decision to postpone, it takes a singular verb. If the members were acting individually (e.g., "The committee ______ argued among themselves"), a plural verb would be appropriate.

Solution

Correct: B

The indefinite pronoun "Every student" is singular. Therefore, the possessive pronoun referring to it must also be singular. While "their" is increasingly accepted in informal contexts to avoid gender specificity, in formal grammar, "his or her" is the correct singular, gender-neutral option. "Its" refers to an inanimate object or animal, and "his" excludes female students.

Solution

Correct: A

This sentence describes an action ("waiting") that started in the past and continued up to another point in the past ("he arrived"). The past perfect continuous tense (had been + -ing verb) is used to show duration leading up to a specific past event. "Has been waiting" is present perfect continuous, and "was waiting" (past continuous) or "waited" (simple past) don't convey the duration leading up to the arrival.

Solution

Correct: B

For elements in a list or series, parallel structure requires that they are in the same grammatical form. Here, "reduce" and "increase" are base verbs (infinitives without "to" after "aims to"). Therefore, the third item in the list must also be a base verb: "improve customer satisfaction."

Solution

Correct: B

A dangling modifier occurs when the introductory modifying phrase (e.g., "Walking through the park") does not logically or grammatically modify the subject of the main clause. The phrase "Walking through the park" implies someone is walking. Among the choices, "we" is the logical subject who performed the action of walking and subsequently saw the sunset.

Solution

Correct: A

The original sentence ("The experiment failed, the scientists had overlooked a crucial variable.") is a comma splice because two independent clauses are joined only by a comma. A semicolon (;) is one correct way to join two closely related independent clauses. Other valid corrections would be to use a period to create two separate sentences, or a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (e.g., "and," "for," "so").

Solution

Correct: B

"Effect" is typically used as a noun meaning "result" or "consequence," which fits the context here. "Affect" is typically used as a verb meaning "to influence" or "to change." (There are rare cases where 'affect' is a noun and 'effect' is a verb, but this is the common usage distinction tested).

Solution

Correct: A

This is a third conditional sentence, used to talk about hypothetical situations in the past that did not happen and their hypothetical past results. The structure is "If + past perfect (had + past participle), would have + past participle." Thus, "had had" (past perfect of "to have") and "would have read" (would have + past participle of "to read") are correct.

Solution

Correct: A

The clause "was parked illegally" is a non-essential (or non-restrictive) clause because it provides additional, non-crucial information and is set off by commas. For non-essential clauses referring to things, "which" is used. "That" is used for essential (restrictive) clauses and does not take commas. "Who" and "whom" refer to people.

Solution

Correct: B

The word needed here must modify the verb "sings," describing *how* she sings. Adverbs modify verbs. "Beautifully" is the adverb form of "beautiful." Since it's a comparison between her and others, the comparative form "more beautifully" is correct.

Solution

Correct: C

The subjunctive mood is used in clauses following verbs that express demands, recommendations, suggestions, or requests. The structure is often "verb + that + subject + base form of the verb." Here, "recommended that he" requires the base form "resign," regardless of the subject's singularity.

Solution

Correct: B

"Between" is a preposition. Pronouns that follow prepositions must be in the objective case. "Me" is the objective case pronoun, whereas "I" is subjective.

Solution

Correct: A

In this context, "the band" is acting as a single, unified entity responsible for one action (releasing an album). Therefore, it takes a singular verb, "releases." If the sentence implied individual members acting, a plural verb might be appropriate (e.g., "The band members ______ their individual songs").

Solution

Correct: D

The list contains three qualities: "dedicated" (adjective), "persistent" (adjective), and the third item must also be an adjective to maintain parallel structure. "Hardworking" is an adjective that fits this pattern. The other options are either verbs or phrases that break the parallelism of adjectives.

Solution

Correct: B

The correct preposition to use with the adjective "adept" is "at." The phrase "adept at" means skilled or proficient in something.

Solution

Correct: B

The verb "collaborated" inherently means "worked together." Therefore, adding "together" is redundant. Also, "the two partners" is more concise than "both partners" if the number is already established or clear. The most concise and correct option removes the unnecessary "together."

Solution

Correct: B

The sentence refers to a decision belonging to a single committee. To show singular possession, an apostrophe followed by an 's' is used (`committee's`). "Committees" is plural. "Committees'" would be plural possessive. "Commitee's" is a misspelling.

Solution

Correct: A

"Like" is generally used as a preposition to compare nouns or pronouns (e.g., "She sings like a bird"). "As" is generally used as a conjunction to introduce a clause or to compare two clauses (e.g., "She sings as a professional singer would"). Since "a professional opera singer" is a noun phrase, "like" is the correct choice here for comparison.

Solution

Correct: B

The two independent clauses ("He studied diligently for the exam" and "he still failed") express a contrast or an unexpected outcome. "Yet" is the coordinating conjunction used to show such a contrast. "So" indicates result, "for" indicates reason, and "or" indicates choice.

Solution

Correct: B

The original sentence is a comma splice, incorrectly joining two independent clauses with only a comma. Option A removes the comma, creating a fused sentence (another type of run-on). Options C and D are also grammatically correct ways to fix a comma splice, using a comma with a coordinating conjunction or a period to separate the sentences, respectively. However, Option B, using a semicolon, is a perfectly valid and common method to connect two closely related independent clauses without using a conjunction.