Writing Error Identification Flashcards
6 cards from real PELLET B practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Writing Error Identification flashcards as text
An officer is proofreading their incident report. Which of the following sentences contains a spelling error?
Answer: We recieved a description of the perpetrator from two witnesses.
The word 'received' is misspelled as 'recieved'. A common spelling rule is 'i before e, except after c', which applies here.
Identify the sentence that uses an apostrophe incorrectly.
Answer: The car lost it's front tire during the pursuit.
The word 'it's' is a contraction for 'it is'. The possessive pronoun is 'its'. The sentence requires the possessive form to show the tire belongs to the car: 'its front tire'.
Which of the following sentences from a field report contains a subject-verb agreement error?
Answer: Each of the suspects were read their Miranda rights.
The subject of the sentence is 'Each,' which is a singular pronoun. Therefore, the verb must also be singular ('was') to agree with the subject. The prepositional phrase 'of the suspects' does not change the fact that the subject is singular.
An officer is writing about an interaction between a suspect and a witness. Which sentence is unclear due to an ambiguous pronoun?
Answer: After the suspect spoke with the witness, he left the scene.
The pronoun 'he' is ambiguous because it is unclear whether it refers to the suspect or the witness. A clearer sentence would specify who left, such as, 'After speaking with the witness, the suspect left the scene.'
Which of the following should be revised because it is a sentence fragment, not a complete sentence?
Answer: While the suspect was running through the alley.
This is a sentence fragment because it is a dependent clause that does not express a complete thought. It starts with a subordinating conjunction ('While') but lacks an independent clause to finish the idea (e.g., 'While the suspect was running through the alley, he dropped the stolen purse.').
From the options below, select the sentence that contains an error in word usage.
Answer: First, the officer secured the scene, than he called for backup.
The word 'than' is a conjunction used for comparisons (e.g., 'more than'). The word 'then' is an adverb used to indicate a sequence of events or time. The sentence describes a sequence of actions, so the correct word is 'then'.