Sentence Clarity Flashcards

Which sentence is written most clearly for a police report?

Answer: I observed the suspect place a bottle of liquor inside his jacket and exit the store without paying.

Option A uses clear first-person active voice with events in chronological order.

Select the best way to combine: 'The driver refused the breathalyzer test. The officer placed the driver under arrest.'

Answer: After the driver refused the breathalyzer test, the officer placed the driver under arrest.

Option A correctly uses a subordinate clause preserving the cause-and-effect relationship.

Which sentence correctly uses a pronoun reference?

Answer: When Officer Lopez spoke with the witness, the witness stated that she had seen the accident.

Option A avoids ambiguous pronoun reference by specifying 'the witness' instead of 'she.'

Which revision eliminates the double negative: 'The witness could not hardly remember nothing about the suspect's appearance.'

Answer: The witness could hardly remember anything about the suspect's appearance.

Option A removes the double negatives and replaces them with standard English.

Choose the sentence with correct subject-verb agreement.

Answer: The collection of evidence items was transported to the crime lab.

The subject is 'collection' (singular), not 'items,' so it requires the singular verb 'was.'

Which sentence best demonstrates proper subordination to show cause-effect?

Answer: Because the suspect matched the description, the officer initiated a traffic stop.

Option A uses 'because' to clearly establish causation.