Technical Skills of Writing (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) Flashcards

Which sentence uses the apostrophe correctly?

Answer: The children's books were on the shelf.

'Children' is already plural without an 's', so the possessive is formed by adding 's: children's.

Choose the word that correctly completes the sentence: 'The box of pencils ___ on the desk.'

Answer: is

The subject is the singular 'box', not 'pencils'. A singular subject takes the singular verb 'is'.

Which option correctly completes the sentence: '___ going to review the report tomorrow.'

Answer: They're

'They're' is the contraction of 'they are', which is what the sentence needs. 'Their' is possessive, 'there' refers to place, and 'thier' is a misspelling.

Which of the following is a comma splice?

Answer: She studied hard, she passed the test.

A comma splice joins two independent clauses with only a comma. The other options use a conjunction, a semicolon, or a subordinate clause.

Which option completes the sentence with parallel structure? 'Candidates should read carefully, manage their time, and ___.'

Answer: check their answers

The first two items are base-form verbs (read, manage), so the third must also be (check) to keep the list parallel.

Which is the correct spelling?

Answer: accommodate

'Accommodate' is spelled with double c and double m.