NCDAP Sentence Skills 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence is a run-on that needs to be corrected?
- She finished her homework, then she went to bed.
- She finished her homework then she went to bed. (Correct answer)
- After finishing her homework, she went to bed.
- She finished her homework and then went to bed.
Correct answer: She finished her homework then she went to bed.
Option B is a run-on sentence because two independent clauses are joined without proper punctuation or a conjunction.
Question 2: Select the sentence with the correct use of an apostrophe:
- The dog wagged it's tail excitedly.
- The childrens' toys were scattered everywhere.
- The children's books were left on the shelf. (Correct answer)
- The student's in the class passed the exam.
Correct answer: The children's books were left on the shelf.
Children is an irregular plural, so the possessive is formed by adding 's after the word: children's.
Question 3: Which transitional phrase best fits the blank? 'She studied for weeks; _____, she failed the exam.'
- therefore
- furthermore
- nevertheless (Correct answer)
- consequently
Correct answer: nevertheless
'Nevertheless' signals a contrast between the extensive studying and the unexpected failure, which is the logical relationship here.
Question 4: Which sentence contains faulty parallelism?
- The coach told us to run faster, jump higher, and throw harder.
- Her goals are to graduate, find a good job, and buying a house. (Correct answer)
- He decided to study, sleep early, and eat well.
- They planned to travel, relax, and explore new places.
Correct answer: Her goals are to graduate, find a good job, and buying a house.
Option B mixes infinitives (to graduate, find) with a gerund (buying), breaking parallel structure.
Question 5: Choose the sentence that most clearly expresses the idea:
- The meeting that was long and boring was attended by the employees who were tired.
- The tired employees attended the long, boring meeting. (Correct answer)
- Employees, who were tired, attended the meeting that was both long and boring.
- Being tired, the meeting attended by employees was long and boring.
Correct answer: The tired employees attended the long, boring meeting.
Option B is the most concise and direct, placing the key information without unnecessary relative clauses.
Question 6: Which sentence uses 'who' and 'whom' correctly?
- Who did the manager promote?
- Whom should I contact about this issue? (Correct answer)
- Who did you give the report to?
- The person who I trust the most is her.
Correct answer: Whom should I contact about this issue?
'Whom' is correct as the object of the verb 'contact'; use 'whom' when the pronoun functions as an object.
Question 7: Identify the sentence fragment:
- The students studied hard for the final exam.
- Many of the students in the advanced class. (Correct answer)
- She worked overtime to finish the project.
- The principal announced the new policy yesterday.
Correct answer: Many of the students in the advanced class.
'Many of the students in the advanced class' lacks a predicate, making it a noun phrase fragment rather than a complete sentence.
NCDAP Sentence Skills 4
Which sentence is a run-on that needs to be corrected?