General Grammar Exam

Click within the small circle to the left of your choice for each answer. A javascript box will appear to tell you that your choice is correct or incorrect. After clicking "OK" within the javascript alert, you may try another answer or proceed to the next question if your first choice was correct. The phrase "prescriptively correct" means that other possibilities might be acceptable in informal writing or speech, but the prescriptively correct option would be most recommended for formal, academic writing.

1. Which of the following sentences is prescriptively incorrect?
   A. Linguistics are hard.
   B. There is dogs in the backyard.
   C. Either Bill or Mary are coming to the party, but not both.
   D. All of the above.
   E. None of the above.
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively incorrect?
A. Any dog, including Bowie and Sam, would like that toy.
B. How they spend their time together is not his concern.
C. The group of new authors are in the lobby.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively incorrect?
A. Fulton is one of the linguists who analyzes the construction incorrectly.
B. This is some of the data that shows why he is wrong.
C. They are the kind of writer that don't like criticism of any kind.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively incorrect?
A. The acoustics in this room is inadequate.
B. Neither the students nor the teacher want to be there.
C. Either the dog or the cats is scratching at the door.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
The sentence "There is in most classrooms one teacher and about thirty students?" contains what kind of error?
A. incorrect pronoun-antecedent agreement
B. incorrect subject-verb agreement
C. The verb precedes the subject.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively incorrect?
A. Where is the class members?
B. All of the students are here.
C. All of the pie is gone.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively incorrect?
A. Each should buckle themselves in.
B. Each should think of themselves as exempt from the requirement.
C. Did everyone bring their permission slip?
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively incorrect?
A. Physics will never lose their appeal to scientific-minded philosophers.
B. A teacher can seldom discipline a student without angering them.
C. A student should use their own book for the test.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively incorrect?
A. Professors in the union has several options available to them.
B. The audience took its seats.
C. The committee was unanimous in their opinion.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
Which of the following is correct in the sentence "Each of the students brought ____ dictionary"?
A. his/her
B. their
Which of the following is correct in the sentence "Students normally pay ___ tuition before ___ buy ___ books"?
A. his/her — they — their
B. their — they — there
C. their — they — their
D. his/her — they — there
E. None of the above
Which of the following contains an ambiguous reference?
A. The dog that I bought yesterday bit me today.
B. No one will be expecting you to cook for the party.
C. The writer gives the reader the feeling that he is important.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following examples is prescriptively incorrect?
A. Students should take the practice exams. That would probably raise the class average considerably.
B. They worked very hard, which helped a lot too.
C. The student works two jobs, which probably interferes with his study time.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following contains a sentential relative clause?
A. I like the stories in which a character learns too late that he is not as smart as he thinks he is.
B. The novel that most reminds me of O'Connor 's style is Raney.
C. I finally read the novel that you've been telling me about.
D. None of the above
Which of the following is prescriptively incorrect?
A. The teacher graded thirty-five essays, which takes about eight hours of solid work.
B. The teacher graded thirty-five essays, which took about eight hours of solid work.
C. The teacher graded thirty-five essays, which normally would take about eight hours of solid work.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following is in the accusative case?
A. I
B. who
C. whom
D. they
E. hers
Which of the following is prescriptively incorrect?
A. We employees have a few demands of our own.
B. They gave in to us employees.
C. They will ask Bill and me to draft the letter.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following is prescriptively incorrect?
A. I believe that she and her mother will be at the party.
B. I will talk with whomever is interested in the topic.
C. Your writing the memo is appreciated.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following is prescriptively incorrect?
A. The last person to know was him.
B. Not many people know more about grammar than you.
C. Whom do you think we hired?
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following is correct in the sentence "_____ do you suppose will win the prize?"
A. Who
B. Whom
C. None of the above
Which of the following is correct in the sentence "____ requests a copy will be sent one"?
A. Whoever
B. Whomever
C. Neither of the above
Which of the following is prescriptively incorrect?
A. I would like him to be selected for the prize.
B. I believed him to be honest.
C. I would prefer that he not be notified now.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following verbs is a linking verb?
A. seem
B. think
C. listen
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively correct?
A. The box is really square.
B. The poem is unique.
C. The evil grammarian is completely dead.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following is a comparative-degree adjective?
A. loud
B. louder
C. loudest
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following words does the underlined word modify in the sentence "She looks well today"?
A. she
B. looks
C. today
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
Which of the following words does the underlined word modify in the sentence "His first novel is longer than his second one"?
A. novel
B. than
C. one
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences contains a dangling modifier?
A. In asking such a question, an answer cannot really be expected..
B. Having studied the exams, your score should improve.
C. Both of the above
D. Neither of the above
Which of the following sentences contains a dangling participial phrase?
A. Removing the roast from the oven, she burned her hand.
B. After removing the roast from the oven, she wrapped it in foil to keep it warm.
C. Having removed the roast from the oven, a wonderful smell spread through the house.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following independent clauses can grammatically complete a sentence that begins with the phrase, "To be successful in graduate courses in English,"?
A. reading must be one of your primary pleasures.
B. getting short sleep must be one of your primary pleasures.
C. one must be both a good writer and a good reader.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences contains a dangling modifier?
A. Hired by the best company in the business, Wendell was happy that he had taken 207T.
B. Now writing beautiful and elegantly correct prose, Wendell was happy that he had taken 207T.
C. Having been seduced by the beautiful new grammarian in the department, Wendell was happy that he had taken 207T.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively correct?
A. Reading David's new novel far into the night, he became more and more convinced that David had plagiarized him.
B. Reading David's new novel far into the night, the notion that David had plagiarized suddenly occurred to him.
C. Both of the above
D. Neither of the above
The sentence"To fully appreciate how very rich the average American is, one must travel widely" contains which of the following errors?
A. dangling modifier
B. pronoun-antecedent disagreement
C. split infinitive
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences has a misplaced modifier?
A. He began to quickly accelerate in order to beat the light.
B. I have a friend with AIDS that lives in Dallas.
C. The flood only drowned five of my cows.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively correct?
A. Only my brother can talk his way out of a speeding ticket.
B. Mary only took three classes this semester.
C. He only received visits from three of his many friends while he was in the hospital.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences has a misplaced modifier?
A. Bowie seems to dislike only other dogs; he loves humans, both children and adults, and cats.
B. He only seemed sick; he was actually perfectly well.
C. I nearly wrote five pages on my novel today, but I only wrote four and a half.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences has a misplaced modifier?
A. He almost talked for three hours before his voice began to fail.
B. He talked for almost three hours before his voice began to fail.
C. Both of the above
D. Neither of the above
Which of the following sentences is grammatically parallel?
A. Not getting enough sleep and not eating correctly will wreck your health.
B. Mary has taken courses not only in linguistics but also in computer science.
C. I would like either to travel in Europe next summer or to vacation in Colorado again.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is grammatically nonparallel?
A. I believe him to be both motivated and satisfied.
B. He expects both to be liked and also receiving more pay than anyone else.
C. She enjoys both fishing and hiking in the mountains.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is grammatically nonparallel?
A. Either hire her permanently or fire her.
B. He wants to have a job this summer either in academics or travel.
C. I expect neither money nor favors.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is grammatically nonparallel?
A. Mary not only wrote a bestselling novel but also four prize-winning essays.
B. Bill wanted both to sell the house immediately and rent it back for the next three months.
C. Either fishing or to hike sound good to me.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is grammatically parallel?
A. I never have and never will eat red meat.
B. I was surprised but my parents not surprised by the results of the test.
C. He is the dog that she always has and always will love as her own.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
What is the term for the parallel grammatical items preceding the comma in the sentence "Squinting in the sun and putting his rifle bead on the unsuspecting cowboy, the evil grammarian planned how he would spend the honest cowboy's hard-earned pay on bad women and good liquor"?
A. adverbial clauses
B. verb phrases
C. noun clauses
D. participials
E. prepositional phrases
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively correct?
A. Whom do you think ate the banana-cream pie?
B. I believe that Mary writes as well as him.
C. I know whom took the money from the safe.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively correct?
A. His analysis was more unique than hers.
B. Her essay was more perfect than his.
C. Both of the above
D. Neither of the above
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively correct?
A. Taking a number of detours through the mountains, our trip was exciting yet relaxed.
B. After paying our dues, drinks were served.
C. Reading the essays slowly, I began to understand that there were patterns in the errors.
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Which of the following sentences is prescriptively correct?
A. The professor only relented after we went to his office hours and explained our problems.
B. The professor relented only after we went to his office hours and explained our problems.
C. Both of the above
D. Neither of the above

---

Quiz List

Guide to Grammar and Writing