NBT Writing Skills & Essay Composition 3

Question 1

Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?

Accepted Answer

Having studied all night, the exam seemed easy to Jana.

Answer

The phrase 'Having studied all night' should modify Jana, but grammatically it modifies 'the exam,' creating a dangling modifier.

Question 2

Which punctuation mark correctly joins two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction?

Accepted Answer

Semicolon

Answer

A semicolon joins two closely related independent clauses without needing a coordinating conjunction like 'and' or 'but'.

Question 3

Which sentence demonstrates correct subject-verb agreement?

Accepted Answer

Neither the manager nor the employees were prepared for the audit.

Answer

With 'neither...nor,' the verb agrees with the closer subject ('employees,' which is plural), so 'were' is correct.

Question 4

What is a comma splice?

Accepted Answer

Joining two independent clauses with only a comma and no conjunction

Answer

A comma splice incorrectly uses a comma alone to join two independent clauses, which requires a semicolon, conjunction, or period.

Question 5

Which sentence uses the correct pronoun case?

Accepted Answer

The report was written by him and me.

Answer

After the preposition 'by,' objective case pronouns are required: 'him' and 'me' are both correct objective pronouns.

(NBT) National Benchmark Test Practice Test