CPW Editing & Proofreading 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A sentence reads: 'The committee has made their decision.' What is the error?
- Subject-verb disagreement
- Pronoun-antecedent disagreement (Correct answer)
- Dangling modifier
- Misplaced apostrophe
Correct answer: Pronoun-antecedent disagreement
'Committee' is a collective noun treated as singular, so the pronoun should be 'its,' not 'their.'
Question 2: Which sentence correctly uses a semicolon?
- She loves editing; and proofreading.
- He submitted the draft; however, it needed revision. (Correct answer)
- The report was long; but well-written.
- I will proofread; the document tomorrow.
Correct answer: He submitted the draft; however, it needed revision.
A semicolon can precede a conjunctive adverb like 'however' when joining two independent clauses.
Question 3: When proofreading, you encounter 'effect' used where 'affect' is needed. This is an example of:
- A spelling error
- A homophone confusion (Correct answer)
- A syntax error
- A capitalization error
Correct answer: A homophone confusion
'Affect' and 'effect' are commonly confused homophones with distinct grammatical roles.
Question 4: A paragraph contains the sentence: 'Running down the street, the rain soaked her.' What type of error is this?
- Comma splice
- Dangling modifier (Correct answer)
- Faulty parallelism
- Run-on sentence
Correct answer: Dangling modifier
The participial phrase 'Running down the street' illogically modifies 'the rain' rather than a person.
Question 5: Which punctuation mark is used to set off nonessential (nonrestrictive) clauses?
- Colon
- Semicolon
- Comma (Correct answer)
- Em dash only
Correct answer: Comma
Commas are used to set off nonrestrictive clauses that add extra information but are not essential to the sentence's meaning.
Question 6: An editor notices inconsistent hyphenation of 'well known' throughout a document. What is the correct rule?
- Always hyphenate 'well known'
- Hyphenate when used as a predicate adjective
- Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier before a noun (Correct answer)
- Never hyphenate 'well known'
Correct answer: Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier before a noun
Compound modifiers like 'well-known' are hyphenated when they precede the noun they modify (e.g., 'a well-known author').
Question 7: Which sentence demonstrates correct parallel structure?
- She likes hiking, to swim, and running.
- She likes hiking, swimming, and running. (Correct answer)
- She likes to hike, swimming, and run.
- She likes hike, swim, and to run.
Correct answer: She likes hiking, swimming, and running.
Parallel structure requires matching grammatical forms—here, all gerunds (-ing forms).
CPW Editing & Proofreading 2
A sentence reads: 'The committee has made their decision.' What is the error?