NCDAP Sentence Skills 3

Question 1

Which sentence correctly uses a semicolon?

Accepted Answer

The storm was severe; it knocked out power for hours.

Answer

A semicolon correctly joins two independent clauses; the other options misuse semicolons before dependent clauses or conjunctions.

Question 2

Which of the following sentences contains a pronoun-antecedent agreement error?

Accepted Answer

The committee reached their decision quickly.

Answer

'Committee' is a collective noun treated as singular, so 'its' rather than 'their' is the grammatically precise pronoun.

Question 3

Select the revision that best eliminates the wordiness from: 'Due to the fact that it was raining, we cancelled the game.'

Accepted Answer

Because it was raining, we cancelled the game.

Answer

Replacing 'due to the fact that' with the single conjunction 'because' eliminates wordiness while preserving the meaning.

Question 4

Which sentence contains a subject-verb agreement error?

Accepted Answer

The team of players are ready for the game.

Answer

The subject is 'team,' a singular collective noun, so the verb should be 'is' not 'are.'

Question 5

Which is the best way to rewrite the following to avoid passive voice? 'Mistakes were made by the accounting department.'

Accepted Answer

The accounting department made mistakes.

Answer

Option A converts the passive construction to active voice by placing the doer (accounting department) in the subject position.

(NCDAP) North Carolina Diagnostic Placement Test Practice Test