NCDAP Writing Skills 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence uses a semicolon correctly?
- She studied hard; and passed the test.
- She studied hard; she passed the test. (Correct answer)
- She studied; hard and passed.
- She; studied hard and passed the test.
Correct answer: She studied hard; she passed the test.
A semicolon joins two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction.
Question 2: Identify the error in this sentence: 'Neither the coach nor the players was prepared for the rain.'
- Incorrect pronoun 'the'
- Comma needed after 'coach'
- Verb should be 'were' to agree with 'players' (Correct answer)
- No error exists
Correct answer: Verb should be 'were' to agree with 'players'
With 'neither/nor,' the verb agrees with the noun closest to it—'players' is plural, so 'were' is correct.
Question 3: Which revision best improves sentence clarity: 'The report that the manager who was hired last year wrote was confusing.'
- The report written by the newly hired manager was confusing. (Correct answer)
- The manager hired last year, the report was confusing.
- Confusing was the report the manager who was new wrote.
- The report was confusing that the manager wrote last year.
Correct answer: The report written by the newly hired manager was confusing.
Reducing embedded clauses into participial phrases eliminates excessive nesting and improves readability.
Question 4: Which word correctly completes the sentence: 'The committee could not reach _______ decision.'
- a (Correct answer)
- an
- the
- no article needed
Correct answer: a
Use 'a' before words that begin with a consonant sound; 'decision' starts with a /d/ sound.
Question 5: What is the main problem with this sentence: 'Running to catch the bus, my backpack fell off.'
- Faulty parallelism
- Dangling modifier (Correct answer)
- Comma splice
- Subject-verb disagreement
Correct answer: Dangling modifier
The participial phrase 'Running to catch the bus' must logically modify the sentence's subject, but 'my backpack' cannot run.
Question 6: Which transition best signals a contrast between two ideas?
- Furthermore
- Therefore
- Nevertheless (Correct answer)
- Similarly
Correct answer: Nevertheless
'Nevertheless' introduces a contrasting or opposing idea, signaling that the following point contradicts what was just said.
Question 7: In which sentence is the apostrophe used correctly?
- The dog wagged it's tail.
- Its' been a long day.
- The dog wagged its tail. (Correct answer)
- The dogs' were barking.
Correct answer: The dog wagged its tail.
'Its' (no apostrophe) is the possessive pronoun; 'it's' (with apostrophe) is a contraction of 'it is.'
NCDAP Writing Skills 2
Which sentence uses a semicolon correctly?