Writing and Grammar Flashcards
7 cards from real Texas Civil Service Exam practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Writing and Grammar flashcards as text
Which sentence uses a semicolon correctly?
Answer: The officer filed the report; the sergeant reviewed it.
A semicolon correctly joins two independent clauses without a conjunction.
Choose the correctly punctuated sentence for a formal government report.
Answer: The suspect's vehicle was found abandoned near the river.
The possessive of a singular noun is formed with an apostrophe followed by 's'.
Which word is spelled correctly?
Answer: Occurrence
'Occurrence' is spelled with double 'c' and double 'r' followed by '-ence'.
A civil service memo states: 'Each of the officers are required to submit their report by Friday.' What is the error?
Answer: Are should be is, because 'each' is singular
'Each' is an indefinite pronoun that takes a singular verb, so 'is' is correct.
Which sentence best uses parallel structure?
Answer: The job requires filing reports, answering phones, and managing schedules.
Parallel structure requires all items in a list to use the same grammatical form—here, gerunds (-ing words).
In formal government writing, which is the preferred way to write a date?
Answer: August 6, 2026
Formal government documents write dates with the full month name, day, and four-digit year without ordinal suffixes.
Which sentence avoids redundancy?
Answer: The investigation concluded with a submitted report.
'Final conclusion,' 'consensus of opinion,' and 'past history' are all redundant phrases.