POST Written Communication and Grammar 2

Question 1

An officer writes: 'The suspect fled on foot, then him and his partner were apprehended.' What is the grammatical error?

Accepted Answer

Incorrect pronoun case ('him' should be 'he')

Answer

In a compound subject, the nominative pronoun 'he' must be used, not the objective 'him.'

Question 2

Which sentence uses the passive voice correctly in a police report context?

Accepted Answer

Evidence was collected by Detective Harris.

Answer

Passive voice places the action's recipient first; 'Evidence was collected by Detective Harris' is a valid passive construction.

Question 3

What does the term 'chronological order' mean in report writing?

Accepted Answer

Organizing events in the order they occurred

Answer

Chronological order presents events in the sequence they happened, which is the standard for incident reports.

Question 4

Which of the following is an example of a compound sentence?

Accepted Answer

The officer secured the perimeter, and backup arrived within minutes.

Answer

A compound sentence joins two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction such as 'and.'

Question 5

An officer's report states: 'The victim was very unique in her description of events.' What is wrong with this sentence?

Accepted Answer

'Unique' cannot be modified by 'very' because unique is absolute

Answer

Unique means one of a kind, so it cannot be intensified with 'very'; something is either unique or it is not.

POST - Peace Officer Standards and Training Practice Test