NWEA Language Usage 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following is an example of a complex sentence?
- The dog barked and the cat ran.
- She sang a song.
- Although it was cold, they went swimming. (Correct answer)
- He ran, jumped, and cheered.
Correct answer: Although it was cold, they went swimming.
A complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause, as in 'Although it was cold, they went swimming.'
Question 2: Which option best replaces the vague pronoun in: 'When Tom called Mike, he was nervous'?
- When Tom called Mike, Mike was nervous. (Correct answer)
- When Tom called Mike, they was nervous.
- When Tom called Mike, one was nervous.
- When Tom called Mike, you was nervous.
Correct answer: When Tom called Mike, Mike was nervous.
Replacing 'he' with 'Mike' clarifies which person was nervous, eliminating the ambiguous pronoun reference.
Question 3: Which sentence correctly uses a parenthetical expression?
- The answer (of course) is obvious. (Correct answer)
- The answer, of course is obvious.
- The answer of course, is obvious.
- The (answer) of course is obvious.
Correct answer: The answer (of course) is obvious.
Parenthetical expressions can be set off by parentheses; here '(of course)' is correctly punctuated.
Question 4: Identify the sentence written in the future perfect tense.
- She will go to the store.
- She has gone to the store.
- She will have gone to the store by noon. (Correct answer)
- She was going to the store.
Correct answer: She will have gone to the store by noon.
Future perfect tense ('will have + past participle') describes an action completed before a specific future time.
Question 5: Which word is an example of a subordinating conjunction?
- And
- But
- Because (Correct answer)
- Moreover
Correct answer: Because
'Because' is a subordinating conjunction that introduces a dependent clause explaining a reason.
Question 6: Which sentence avoids a misplaced modifier?
- She almost drove her kids to school every day.
- Almost, she drove her kids to school every day.
- She drove her kids to school almost every day. (Correct answer)
- She drove almost her kids to school every day.
Correct answer: She drove her kids to school almost every day.
'Almost every day' correctly modifies the frequency of the action, not the kids or the act of driving.
Question 7: Which sentence uses an indirect object correctly?
- She gave the flowers.
- She gave the teacher the flowers. (Correct answer)
- She gave to the flowers the teacher.
- She gave and the teacher flowers.
Correct answer: She gave the teacher the flowers.
In 'She gave the teacher the flowers,' 'the teacher' is the indirect object receiving the direct object 'the flowers.'
NWEA Language Usage 5
Which of the following is an example of a complex sentence?