ELA Writing and Language Arts Flashcards

Which of the following sentences contains a dangling modifier?

Answer: After finishing the exam, the teacher collected the papers.

In sentence B, 'After finishing the exam' dangles — it implies the teacher finished the exam, but logically the students did.

A student writes: 'My favorite food are pizza and tacos.' What is the grammatical error?

Answer: Subject-verb disagreement

The subject 'My favorite food' is singular, so the verb should be 'is' not 'are': 'My favorite food is pizza and tacos.'

Which of the following best describes the purpose of a concluding paragraph in an essay?

Answer: To restate the thesis and summarize main points, leaving the reader with a final thought

A conclusion restates the thesis (without copying it word for word), summarizes key points, and leaves the reader with a meaningful closing thought.

Rewrite this sentence to correct the punctuation: 'The students studied hard they passed the exam.'

Answer: The students studied hard; they passed the exam.

Two independent clauses can be joined with a semicolon. The original is a run-on sentence; a semicolon correctly joins the two complete thoughts.

A student wants to vary sentence structure in her writing. Which revision of 'She studied. She passed. She celebrated.' BEST demonstrates sentence variety?

Answer: After studying hard and passing her exam, she celebrated her success.

Answer B combines the three short sentences into a complex sentence with a subordinate clause, demonstrating varied and mature sentence structure.

Which of the following correctly uses an apostrophe?

Answer: The dog's bowl is empty.

'Dog's' correctly uses an apostrophe to show possession (the bowl belonging to the dog).