MDE English Language Proficiency 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student reads 'The committee have reached their decision.' Which grammatical issue does this sentence illustrate for American English learners?
- Incorrect verb tense
- British collective noun agreement vs. American singular agreement (Correct answer)
- Missing article before 'committee'
- Incorrect pronoun case
Correct answer: British collective noun agreement vs. American singular agreement
In American English, collective nouns like 'committee' take singular verbs ('has reached'), while British English allows plural agreement.
Question 2: Which sentence correctly uses a subordinating conjunction to show cause and effect?
- She studied hard, she passed the test.
- Because she studied hard, she passed the test. (Correct answer)
- She studied hard however she passed the test.
- She studied hard, but she passed the test.
Correct answer: Because she studied hard, she passed the test.
'Because' is a subordinating conjunction that correctly introduces a cause clause explaining why she passed.
Question 3: An ELL student writes 'I am agree with you.' What is the error?
- Wrong tense
- Unnecessary use of 'am' with a stative verb (Correct answer)
- Missing object pronoun
- Wrong preposition
Correct answer: Unnecessary use of 'am' with a stative verb
'Agree' is a stative verb and should not be used in the progressive form; the correct form is 'I agree with you.'
Question 4: Which word pair represents a minimal pair useful for English pronunciation instruction?
- cat / bat
- ship / sheep (Correct answer)
- dog / log
- hat / hate
Correct answer: ship / sheep
'Ship' and 'sheep' differ only in the vowel sounds /ɪ/ and /iː/, making them a classic minimal pair for distinguishing short and long vowels.
Question 5: A student says 'Yesterday I go to school.' Which language acquisition stage does this most likely reflect?
- Advanced fluency
- Early production (Correct answer)
- Intermediate fluency
- Preproduction / silent period
Correct answer: Early production
Using base-form verbs without past tense inflection is typical of the early production stage when learners produce simple utterances with grammatical gaps.
Question 6: Which text structure is used in a passage that presents events in the order they happened?
- Compare and contrast
- Problem and solution
- Chronological / sequence (Correct answer)
- Cause and effect
Correct answer: Chronological / sequence
Chronological or sequence structure organizes information by time order, using signal words like 'first,' 'then,' and 'finally.'
Question 7: Under Minnesota's ACCESS for ELLs assessment framework, which domain is NOT one of the four assessed?
- Listening
- Reading
- Mathematics (Correct answer)
- Writing
Correct answer: Mathematics
ACCESS for ELLs assesses four language domains: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing — not Mathematics.
MDE English Language Proficiency 2
A student reads 'The committee have reached their decision.' Which grammatical issue does this sentence illustrate for American English learners?