RLA Sentence Structure and Punctuation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence demonstrates correct parallel structure?
- She likes hiking, to swim, and running.
- She likes hiking, swimming, and running. (Correct answer)
- She likes to hike, swimming, and to run.
- She likes hike, swim, and run.
Correct answer: She likes hiking, swimming, and running.
Parallel structure requires using the same grammatical form for items in a series.
Question 2: Which sentence is a run-on sentence?
- He ran to the store, and he bought milk.
- He ran to the store; he bought milk.
- He ran to the store he bought milk. (Correct answer)
- He ran to the store. He bought milk.
Correct answer: He ran to the store he bought milk.
A run-on sentence joins two independent clauses without any punctuation or conjunction.
Question 3: Where should the apostrophe go in the plural possessive: 'the students essays'?
- the student's essays
- the students' essays (Correct answer)
- the students's essays
- the students essay's
Correct answer: the students' essays
For plural nouns ending in -s, the apostrophe is placed after the s to show possession.
Question 4: Which sentence correctly uses a dash for emphasis?
- She had one goal—to win. (Correct answer)
- She had one goal—, to win.
- She had one goal,—to win.
- She—had one goal to win.
Correct answer: She had one goal—to win.
An em dash correctly sets off an emphatic or explanatory element at the end of a sentence.
Question 5: Which is an example of a sentence fragment?
- The dog barked loudly.
- Because the storm was coming. (Correct answer)
- She studied for the test.
- They finished the project.
Correct answer: Because the storm was coming.
'Because the storm was coming' is a dependent clause and cannot stand alone as a sentence.
Question 6: In which sentence are the quotation marks used correctly?
- She said, 'I will be there soon'.
- She said, "I will be there soon." (Correct answer)
- She said "I will be there soon".
- She said, "I will be there soon".
Correct answer: She said, "I will be there soon."
In American English, periods go inside the closing quotation marks, and a comma precedes the opening quote.
Question 7: Which sentence has a misplaced modifier?
- He nearly drove 200 miles to work. (Correct answer)
- He drove nearly 200 miles to work.
- He drove to work nearly 200 miles away.
- Nearly 200 miles, he drove to work.
Correct answer: He nearly drove 200 miles to work.
'Nearly' modifies 'drove' when it should modify '200 miles,' implying he almost drove but didn't.
RLA Sentence Structure and Punctuation 3
Which sentence demonstrates correct parallel structure?