POST Writing Ability 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence correctly uses 'their,' 'there,' and 'they're'?
- The suspects left there car over their.
- They're vehicle was found there by officers.
- The officers found their vehicle over there. (Correct answer)
- There leaving they're belongings their.
Correct answer: The officers found their vehicle over there.
'Their' shows possession, 'there' indicates location, and 'they're' is a contraction of 'they are.'
Question 2: An officer writes: 'I seen the vehicle flee northbound on Main Street.' What should be corrected?
- 'flee' should be 'fleeing'
- 'seen' should be 'saw' (Correct answer)
- 'northbound' should be 'to the north'
- 'vehicle' should be 'car'
Correct answer: 'seen' should be 'saw'
'Seen' requires a helping verb; the correct simple past tense is 'saw.'
Question 3: Which principle is most important when organizing information in a police report?
- Most interesting facts first
- Chronological or logical order (Correct answer)
- Alphabetical order of suspect names
- Longest descriptions first
Correct answer: Chronological or logical order
Reports organized chronologically or logically are easiest for courts and other officers to follow.
Question 4: Which sentence is free of spelling errors?
- The perpetraitor fled the premisis imediately.
- The perpetrator fled the premises immediately. (Correct answer)
- The perpretrator fled the premices immediatley.
- The perpertrator fled the premisses immediately.
Correct answer: The perpetrator fled the premises immediately.
All other options contain misspellings of 'perpetrator,' 'premises,' or 'immediately.'
Question 5: An officer reports: 'I contacted Smith, Jones, and Williams, they all confirmed the story.' What error is present?
- Incorrect capitalization
- Comma splice (Correct answer)
- Dangling modifier
- Subject-verb disagreement
Correct answer: Comma splice
A comma splice joins two independent clauses with only a comma; a semicolon or period is required.
Question 6: Which word is the correct choice? 'The officer ______ the evidence carefully.'
- documented (Correct answer)
- documentated
- documenting
- documentize
Correct answer: documented
'Documented' is the correct past tense of 'document'; the other options are not standard English words.
Question 7: Which of the following is an example of objective language in a report?
- The suspect looked guilty and nervous.
- The suspect was clearly lying about his whereabouts.
- The suspect's hands were trembling and his voice was shaking. (Correct answer)
- The suspect acted in an obviously suspicious manner.
Correct answer: The suspect's hands were trembling and his voice was shaking.
Objective language describes observable, measurable behaviors rather than interpretations or conclusions.
POST Writing Ability 3
Which sentence correctly uses 'their,' 'there,' and 'they're'?