Texas Civil Service Grammar and Writing Skills Questions and Answers

Question 1

Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct and most clearly written?

Accepted Answer

The police officer saw the motorcycle speeding down the highway.

Answer

This sentence is the most clear and grammatically correct. Answer A contains a misplaced modifier, suggesting the police officer was speeding. Answer C is a run-on sentence. Answer D uses awkward passive voice and is less clear.

Question 2

An employee is drafting a report and needs to connect two related, complete sentences. Which sentence correctly uses punctuation to join the two ideas?

Accepted Answer

The project deadline is Friday; we must submit all paperwork by then.

Answer

A semicolon is used to connect two closely related independent clauses (complete sentences). Answer A creates a comma splice, which is a grammatical error. Answer C incorrectly uses a colon, which is typically used to introduce a list or explanation. Answer D incorrectly places a comma after the conjunction 'and'.

Question 3

Read the following sentences. Which sentence contains a grammatical error in subject-verb agreement?

Accepted Answer

The list of approved vendors are posted on the intranet.

Answer

The subject of this sentence is 'list,' which is a singular noun. Therefore, the verb should be singular ('is') to agree with it. The phrase 'of approved vendors' is a prepositional phrase that does not affect the subject.

Question 4

A city manager is writing a memo about a new policy. Which sentence correctly uses the word 'affect' or 'effect'?

Accepted Answer

The new policy will go into effect on Monday and will affect all departments.

Answer

This sentence correctly uses 'effect' as a noun (the result or outcome) in the phrase 'go into effect' and 'affect' as a verb meaning 'to influence'. The other options incorrectly swap these common uses.

Question 5

Which of the following sentences uses apostrophes correctly?

Accepted Answer

The public works department's responsibilities include maintaining the city's streets.

Answer

This sentence correctly uses 'department's' as a singular possessive noun and 'city's' as a singular possessive noun. Answer A confuses 'Its' (possessive) with 'It's' (contraction for 'it is') and incorrectly forms the possessive of 'city'. Answer B incorrectly uses a plural possessive for 'department' and adds an unnecessary apostrophe to 'statements'. Answer C incorrectly uses a possessive 'employee's' instead of the plural 'employees'.

Texas Civil Service Exam Practice Test

Texas Civil Service Exam Practice Test

Texas Civil Service Grammar and Writing Skills Questions and Answers