TACHS Written Expression 4

Question 1

Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?

Accepted Answer

Walking to school, the rain soaked my new jacket.

Answer

In 'Walking to school, the rain soaked my new jacket,' the opening phrase implies a person is walking, but the subject of the main clause is 'the rain,' which cannot walk. The modifier dangles. In the other choices, the modifier logically attaches to the subject (Maria) or is a complete clause with its own subject.

Question 2

Which revision best fixes the faulty parallelism in this sentence? 'The coach told the players that they should arrive early, to stretch thoroughly, and that they must hydrate before the game.'

Accepted Answer

The coach told the players to arrive early, to stretch thoroughly, and to hydrate before the game.

Answer

The original mixes 'that' clauses with an infinitive phrase. Choice A makes all three items parallel infinitives ('to arrive,' 'to stretch,' 'to hydrate'). The other options still mix clauses, gerunds, infinitives, or nouns.

Question 3

Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

Accepted Answer

The committee, which met on Tuesday, approved the new budget.

Answer

The clause 'which met on Tuesday' is nonessential, so it must be set off by a pair of commas, one before and one after. Choice C does this. Choices A and B use only one comma, and D places a comma between the verb and its object.

Question 4

Which sentence uses the correct pronoun case?

Accepted Answer

The coach chose Marcus and me to lead the warm-up.

Answer

'Marcus and me' are objects of the verb 'chose,' so the objective case 'me' is correct. Choices A and B misuse 'I' as the object of a preposition, and D uses the objective 'Her' as a subject instead of 'She.'

Question 5

Which version of the sentence is the most concise while preserving the original meaning? 'Due to the fact that the road was closed, the bus driver, who was driving the bus, took an alternate route that was different.'

Accepted Answer

Because the road was closed, the bus driver took an alternate route.

Answer

Choice A replaces the wordy 'due to the fact that' with 'because' and removes the redundant 'who was driving the bus' and 'that was different' ('alternate' already means different). The other choices retain wordiness or redundancy, such as 'different alternate.'

TACHS Practice Test

TACHS Practice Test

TACHS Written Expression 4