HSPT Language Skills 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence contains a capitalization error?
- We visited Lake Michigan in July.
- My Aunt drove us to the museum downtown. (Correct answer)
- She read a poem by Robert Frost.
- The Pacific Ocean borders California.
Correct answer: My Aunt drove us to the museum downtown.
"Aunt" should be lowercase because it is not used as a proper name or directly before one.
Question 2: Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
- Wait, did you finish the report yet? (Correct answer)
- Wait did you, finish the report yet?
- Wait did you finish the report yet?
- Wait; did you finish the report yet?
Correct answer: Wait, did you finish the report yet?
A comma follows the introductory word "Wait" and a question mark ends the interrogative sentence.
Question 3: Choose the sentence with no error in usage.
- Neither of the boys have finished his lunch.
- Neither of the boys has finished his lunch. (Correct answer)
- Neither of the boys have finished their lunch.
- Neither of the boys has finished their lunch.
Correct answer: Neither of the boys has finished his lunch.
"Neither" is singular, so it takes the singular verb "has" and the singular pronoun "his."
Question 4: Which underlined word is misspelled in: "The committe approved the new schedule."?
- committe (Correct answer)
- approved
- schedule
- new
Correct answer: committe
The correct spelling is "committee" with a double t and double e.
Question 5: Which sentence uses the apostrophe correctly?
- The dog wagged it's tail happily.
- The childrens' toys were scattered around.
- The teacher's lounge was quiet. (Correct answer)
- The book's covers were torn, its pages missing.'
Correct answer: The teacher's lounge was quiet.
"Teacher's" correctly shows singular possession with an apostrophe before the s.
Question 6: Which sentence contains a double negative error?
- I don't have any homework tonight.
- She hardly ever arrives late.
- We didn't see nothing unusual. (Correct answer)
- He never made a single mistake.
Correct answer: We didn't see nothing unusual.
"Didn't" and "nothing" are both negatives, creating an incorrect double negative.
Question 7: Which word correctly completes: "The runners ran ____ than they had last year."?
- faster (Correct answer)
- fastest
- more faster
- most fast
Correct answer: faster
"Faster" is the correct comparative form used when comparing two times.
HSPT Language Skills 2
Which sentence contains a capitalization error?