General Grammar Exam [Logo]
For the second half of this exam, you will have to have on hand a good desk dictionary. The American Heritage College Dictionary, third edition, is recommended.
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 contains an illogical comparison or a mixed construction?
A. I hired the man from whom John had heard from concerning his application.
B. I hired the man from whom John had heard about concerning his application.
C. I hired the man from whom John had heard of concerning his application.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.

2. Which of the following contains an illogical comparison or a mixed construction?
A. Metaphor is a figure of speech in which characteristics of the vehicle are mapped onto the tenor.
B. With metaphor, characteristics of the vehicle are mapped onto the tenor.
C. Metaphor is when characteristics of the vehicle are mapped onto the tenor.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
3. Which of the following contains an illogical comparison or a mixed construction?
A. I hoped that, even though John was ill, that he would recover in time for the celebration.
B. A dog is when you have four legs, a tail, and a bark.
C. Bill believed that when Mary came to town, that she would call him.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
4. Which of the following contains an illogical comparison or a mixed construction?
A. The reason plagiarism is considered a serious breach of scholarly ethics is because in academics ones ideas are ones property.
B. The reason teachers hate plagiarism so much is that it demonstrates a lack of caring about the class material.
C. Plagiarism occurs when one takes the words or ideas of another and does not give that scholar credit by citing him/her.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
5. Which of the following contains an illogical comparison or a mixed construction?
A. In talking to his father about his father's youth is how he came to a better understanding of himself.
B. After reading his father's biography was when he came to a better understanding of himself.
C. Flannery O'Connor's fiction amply demonstrates that to write good fiction that one need not go farther for material than ones own regional backyard.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
6. Which of the following contains an illogical comparison or a mixed construction?
A. She believes that you know more about the assassination than I.
B. She believes that you know more about me than Bill.
C. Both of the above.
D. Neither of the above.
7. Which of the following contains an illogical comparison or a mixed construction?
A. Between Faulkner, Welty, and O'Connor, the first uses the most complex syntax.
B. In fact, of all Southern writers, Faulkner has the most complex syntax.
C. But I appreciate the way that O'Connor writes very complex fiction with relatively simple syntax.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
8. Which of the following contains an illogical comparison or a mixed construction?
A. Through using grotesque simile is how O'Connor is able to manipulate the reader's emotions.
B. She was interested in how we respond to the message that we know less than we think we do.
C. Dogs have an emotional intelligence that far exceeds by comparison our rational intelligence.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
9. Which of the following contains a punctuation error?
A. My brother, who is a starving actor, thinks that Chicago is the city that has given birth to most of the excellent comic actors of the late twentieth century.
B. Dogs have an emotional intelligence; that people respond to in interesting ways.
C. I, nevertheless, believe in the freedom of choice which we earn by our knowledge of our own mortality.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
10. Which of the following contains a punctuation error?
A. Flannery O'Connor, a twentieth-century Southern American writer, entertained few themes, but she explored those few themes thoroughly.
B. Flannery O'Connor, a twentieth-century Southern American writer, entertained few themes; however, she explored those few themes thoroughly.
C. Flannery O'Connor a twentieth-century Southern American writer entertained few themes, however, she explored those few themes thoroughly.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above
11. Which of the following is punctuated correctly?
A. In Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," one of the characters says of the grandmother, "She would have been a good woman if there had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."
B. In Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," one of the characters says of the grandmother "She would have been a good woman if there had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."
C. In Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," one of the characters says of the grandmother; "She would have been a good woman if there had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
12. Which of the following contains a mechanical error?
A. My favorite O'Connor short stories are the following: Good Country People, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Revelation.
B. My favorite O'Connor short stories are the following: Good Country People, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Revelation.
C. My favorite O'Connor short stories are the following: Good Country People, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Revelation.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
13. Which of the following is correctly punctuated?
A. He believed that "'moral intelligence' was a fiction invented by the media.
B. He believed that '" moral intelligence" was a fiction invented by the media.
C. He believed that "moral intelligence" was a fiction invented by the media.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
14. Which of the following is correctly punctuated?
A. My father grew up in Krum, Texas.
B. My father grew up in Krum Texas.
C. Krum Texas is where I want to be.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
15. Which of the following is correctly punctuated?
A. My favorite authors are the following; Flannery O'Connor, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and David Lodge.
B. O'Connor wrote that "I am an innocent speller."
C. He wrote, "The author uses the phrase "in my opinion" far too often."
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
16. What punctuation does the following example require? DeKalb Illinois has two important industries: corn and education.
A. A comma after "DeKalb" only.
B. A comma after "Illinois" only.
C. A comma after "DeKalb" and a comma after "Illinois."
D. None of the above.
17. What punctuation does the following example require? The southern writer Flannery O'Connor died while very young.
A. A comma after "writer" only.
B. Commas after "writer" and "O'Connor."
C. A comma after "O'Connor" only.
D. None of the above.
18. Which of the following contains a mechanical error?
A. Bowies' cage is now clean.
B. He has a double major in english and french.
C. The word diphthong is properly pronounced with an f not a p.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
19. Which of the following contains a mechanical error?
A. O'Connor's short story "Revelation" occurs in the collection Everything That Rises Must Converge.
B. The verbs be, smell, and appear can all be used as linking verbs.
C. One of my favorite novels is Joyce's The Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
20. Which of the following contains a mechanical error?
A. I decided to change my major to English after reading G. M. Hopkins' poetry.
B. John and Mary's house jointly belongs to them.
C. The fish' instinct will be to move the bait away from her nest.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
21. Which of the following contains a mechanical error?
A. She is a ten-year-old prodigy.
B. I have thirty-two dogs.
C. I have 1,456 dogs.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
22. Which of the following is prescriptively correct?
A. There are too many s's in this line of poetry.
B. You have too many thus's in the first paragraph of your essay.
C. I was born in '55.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
23. Which of the following is prescriptively correct?
A. The word and is a coordinating conjunction.
B. The word and is a coordinating conjunction.
C. The word "and" is a coordinating conjunction
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
24. Which of the following is prescriptively correct?
A. Its a shame that her novel remains unpublished.
B. It's a shame that her novel remains unpublished
C. Both of the above.
D. Neither of the above.
25. Which of the following is prescriptively correct?
A. My paper is two-thirds nonsense and one-third slick self-promotion.
B. My paper is two thirds nonsense and one third slick self promotion.
C. My paper is two-thirds nonsense and one-third slick self promotion.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.

For the remainder of this exam, you should use American Heritage College Dictionary, third edition.

26. In modern English the b in doubt is never pronounced. According to your dictionary, was the b in doubt ever pronounced in English?
A. yes
B. no

27. Is the wig in earwig derived from the same etymological source as the word wig?
A. yes
B. no
28. According to your dictionary, is the l in wolf pronounced?
A. yes
B. no
29. In your dictionary, the symbols hw phonetically (in pronunciation) represent the beginning consonant(s) of which of the following words, at least in some Americans' speech?
A. which
B. who
C. whom
D. None of the above.
E. All of the above.
30. The verb kayo is which of the following?
A. an intransitive verb
B. a transitive verb
C. a linking verb
D. None of the above.
E. All of the above.
31. According to the AHCD, should one pronounce an l in walk?
A. yes
B. no
32. According to the AHCD, is Jacques Yves Cousteau (he is (was) French, you know) dead?
A. yes
B. no
33. Why are there two separate entries for cove in AHCD?
A. One is a verb, and one is a noun.
B. The two words have different etymological origins.
C. The words are pronounced differently.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
34. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. Poetry has never had an affect on me.
B. The store is further down the road.
C. She is an alumnus of NIU.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
35. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. I was enthused by the poetry.
B. He cited only four sources in his research paper.
C. I feel nauseated.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
36. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. His poetry is so complicated.
B. Try and analyze the poem.
C. If your going to be there, I will come too.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
37. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. He implied that my analysis was incorrect.
B. I inferred from his remarks that he was unhappy with the draft.
C. He flouted the rules of golf each time he played.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
38. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. I use to run six miles per day.
B. I use to could run six miles per day.
C. I used to could run six miles per day.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
39. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. Whose dog is he?
B. Who's dog is he?
C. Whose dog is this?
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
40. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. I am disinterested in literature written by egotistical authors.
B. I am not interested in literature written by egotistical authors.
C. I am uninterested in literature written by egotistical authors.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
41. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. I would like fewer homework, please.
B. I would like less dogs biting me on the ankle, please.
C. I would like fewer beer, please.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
42. Which of the following sentences has a diction error?
A. Please lay the gun down on the table.
B. Please lay down on the examining table.
C. both of the above
D. neither of the above
43. Which of the following words contains a root?
A. doglike
B. catlike
C. hamsterlike
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
44. What is the meaning of the root of the word phoneme?
A. boring
B. phonograph
C. sound
D. the smallest phonetic unit in language capable of carrying a distinction in meaning
E. none of the above
45. What is the most immediate etymological source of the English word dope?
A. Greek
B. Latin
C. Dutch
D. Ethiopian
E. French
46. What is the meaning of the acronym DOS?
A. digital operating system
B. dual operating system
C. disk operating system
D. none of the above
47. Which of the following is recommended by AHCD for use in writing contexts?
A. ain't I
B. aren't I
C. am I not
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
48. Which of the following prefixes indicate negation in English?
A. ig-
B. im-
C. ir-
D. all of the above
E. none of the above
49. According to AHCD, is it now acceptable to write "an union"? Hint: the issue here is an vs. a.
A. yes
B. no
C. I don't know. This is the WRONG answer.
50. Which of the following are derivatives of the Proto-Indo-European root *weg?
A. wake
B. vegetable
C. vigor
D. all of the above
E. none of the above


Quiz List

Guide to Grammar and Writing