PARCC Advanced Grammar 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence correctly uses the past perfect tense?
- By noon, I finished lunch.
- By noon, I had finished lunch. (Correct answer)
- By noon, I have finished lunch.
- By noon, I will finish lunch.
Correct answer: By noon, I had finished lunch.
Past perfect ('had finished') shows an action completed before another past time.
Question 2: Identify the sentence with a correctly used colon.
- I need: eggs, milk, and bread.
- I need the following: eggs, milk, and bread. (Correct answer)
- I need eggs: milk, and bread.
- I need to: buy groceries.
Correct answer: I need the following: eggs, milk, and bread.
A colon follows a complete independent clause introducing a list.
Question 3: Which word is a correlative conjunction pair used correctly?
- Either he or she are right.
- Neither the dog nor the cats is hungry.
- Both the teacher and students were ready.
- Not only smart but also kind, she helped. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Not only smart but also kind, she helped.
'Not only...but also' correctly pairs two parallel descriptive phrases.
Question 4: Choose the sentence free of a comma splice.
- It rained, we stayed inside.
- It rained, so we stayed inside. (Correct answer)
- It rained, we stayed, inside.
- It rained we stayed inside.
Correct answer: It rained, so we stayed inside.
The coordinating conjunction 'so' properly joins two independent clauses.
Question 5: Which sentence correctly uses the active voice equivalent of 'The ball was thrown by Sam'?
- The ball threw Sam.
- Sam threw the ball. (Correct answer)
- The ball was thrown.
- Sam was thrown the ball.
Correct answer: Sam threw the ball.
Active voice places the subject (Sam) as the performer of the action.
Question 6: Identify the gerund in: 'Swimming is great exercise.'
- is
- great
- Swimming (Correct answer)
- exercise
Correct answer: Swimming
'Swimming' is an -ing verb form acting as the noun subject.
Question 7: Which sentence correctly uses 'fewer' versus 'less'?
- There are less cars today.
- There are fewer cars today. (Correct answer)
- There is fewer traffic today.
- There are less car today.
Correct answer: There are fewer cars today.
'Fewer' is used with countable nouns like 'cars'.
PARCC Advanced Grammar 3
Which sentence correctly uses the past perfect tense?