NBT Sentence Construction and Grammar Flashcards

Which sentence correctly uses a suspended hyphen (also called a hanging hyphen)?

Answer: The pre- and post-operative care were both excellent.

When two or more hyphenated compounds share the same base word, a suspended hyphen is used after the prefix, leaving a space before 'and'. So 'pre-' retains its hyphen while the full form 'post-operative' completes the construction: 'pre- and post-operative'.

Identify the sentence with a SQUINTING modifier:

Answer: Students who study often fail to retain information long-term.

A squinting modifier is ambiguous because it could modify either the preceding or the following clause. In option A, 'often' could mean students study often OR they often fail — making the sentence grammatically ambiguous. Options B and C place 'often' unambiguously.

Which sentence demonstrates CORRECT use of the subjunctive mood?

Answer: The committee recommended that the report be submitted by Friday.

The mandative subjunctive is required after verbs of recommendation, suggestion, and requirement. The base form of the verb ('be') is used regardless of subject number or tense: 'that the report be submitted'. Using 'is', 'was', or modal constructions like 'should submit' are incorrect in formal mandative subjunctive constructions.

Which of the following contains a FAULTY parallelism that is subtle enough to pass a casual reading?

Answer: The CEO admired her team's dedication, their resilience, and how innovative they were.

Option A lists two nouns ('dedication', 'resilience') then shifts to a noun clause ('how innovative they were'), breaking parallelism. Options B, C, and D maintain consistent grammatical form throughout their lists — B uses three nouns, C uses three adjectives in a single clause, and D uses three nouns with repeated articles.

Select the sentence in which the pronoun reference is AMBIGUOUS due to a complex antecedent structure:

Answer: After the director spoke to the producer, she revised the script immediately.

In option A, 'she' could refer to either 'the director' or 'the producer' — both are feminine singular nouns, making the pronoun reference genuinely ambiguous. Options B, C, and D eliminate this problem by restructuring the sentence so the subject is unambiguous without requiring pronoun resolution.

Which sentence correctly employs a NOMINATIVE ABSOLUTE construction?

Answer: The storm having passed, the rescuers resumed their search.

A nominative absolute consists of a noun phrase and a participial phrase that modifies the entire main clause rather than a single word. 'The storm having passed' is grammatically independent from 'the rescuers resumed their search' yet contextually linked — this is the hallmark of a nominative absolute. The other options use a prepositional phrase, a subordinate clause, and coordinate clauses respectively.