Reasoning Through Language Arts Writing Flashcards

Which sentence most effectively combines the following two sentences while preserving their logical relationship? 'The committee had reviewed every proposal. Only three proposals met the funding criteria.'

Answer: After reviewing every proposal, the committee found only three that met the funding criteria.

Option C is the most effective combination because it uses a participial phrase ('After reviewing every proposal') to show the sequential, causal relationship between the two actions while eliminating redundancy. Options A and B use coordinating conjunctions that treat the clauses as more equal in weight, and Option D introduces an unnecessary tense shift to past perfect ('had met') that changes the meaning.

Read the following paragraph and identify which underlined word or phrase contains an error: 'Each of the delegates [A] were required to submit [B] their credentials before the session began, a rule that [C] applies to [D] whoever holds a provisional membership.'

Answer: [A] were required

The subject 'Each' is singular and requires a singular verb. The correct form is 'was required,' not 'were required.' The pronoun 'their' in option B is acceptable as a gender-neutral singular pronoun with 'each.' Option C is correct because the rule applies in the present tense generally. Option D correctly uses 'whoever' (subjective case) because it functions as the subject of the clause 'whoever holds.'

A writer wants to revise the following sentence to eliminate the dangling modifier: 'Having been poorly maintained for decades, the city engineer recommended demolishing the bridge.'

Answer: The bridge, having been poorly maintained for decades, was recommended for demolition by the city engineer.

Option B correctly places 'the bridge' immediately after the participial phrase 'having been poorly maintained for decades,' ensuring the modifier logically attaches to what was actually poorly maintained. Option A absurdly implies the engineer was poorly maintained. Option C still dangles the modifier, attaching it to 'recommendation.' Option D is grammatically acceptable but uses a relative clause rather than fixing the participial phrase structure, making B the strongest revision.

In formal academic writing, which of the following sentences uses a semicolon correctly?

Answer: She excelled in quantitative analysis; her qualitative skills, however, required development.

A semicolon must connect two independent clauses. Option B correctly joins 'She excelled in quantitative analysis' and 'her qualitative skills, however, required development'—both are complete independent clauses. Option A is incorrect because 'because the sample size was too small' is a dependent clause. Option C incorrectly uses a semicolon before a list that should follow a colon. Option D is incorrect because 'despite having received two extensions' is a prepositional phrase, not an independent clause.

A student writes the following argument: 'Schools should ban all social media because studies show teenagers spend an average of 4.5 hours per day on their phones.' Which flaw in reasoning does this argument most clearly demonstrate?

Answer: Non sequitur — the evidence does not logically support the specific conclusion

This is a non sequitur: the statistic measures total phone screen time, not social media use specifically, and it does not logically establish that banning social media from schools (as opposed to homes, or addressing phone use broadly) would solve the problem. The leap from '4.5 hours on phones' to 'ban social media at school' is a logical gap. It is not ad hominem (no person is attacked), not circular reasoning (the evidence is external), and while it could involve overgeneralization, the primary flaw is that the evidence doesn't support the specific conclusion drawn.

Which revision of the following sentence best improves precision and eliminates wordiness without changing the meaning? 'Due to the fact that the new policy changes were implemented by management in a very sudden and unexpected manner, a large number of employees expressed feelings of dissatisfaction.'

Answer: Because management implemented the new policy changes suddenly, many employees expressed dissatisfaction.

Option A is the most precise and concise revision. 'Due to the fact that' is reduced to 'Because'; the redundant 'sudden and unexpected' is trimmed to just 'suddenly' (unexpected is implied); 'a large number of' becomes 'many'; and 'expressed feelings of dissatisfaction' becomes 'expressed dissatisfaction.' It also uses the active voice ('management implemented'). Option B retains the passive voice and 'large number of.' Option C uses a weak relative clause construction. Option D retains the wordy 'expressed many feelings of dissatisfaction.'