Texas Civil Service Exam Grammar and Writing Ability 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Identify the sentence with correct subject-verb agreement.
- Neither the captain nor the officers was present.
- Neither the captain nor the officers were present. (Correct answer)
- Neither the captain nor the officers is present.
- Neither the captain nor the officers has been present.
Correct answer: Neither the captain nor the officers were present.
When subjects are joined by 'neither...nor,' the verb agrees with the subject closest to it — 'officers' is plural, so 'were' is correct.
Question 2: Which sentence avoids passive voice unnecessarily?
- The report was written by the sergeant.
- The sergeant wrote the report. (Correct answer)
- The report had been written by the sergeant.
- It was the sergeant by whom the report was written.
Correct answer: The sergeant wrote the report.
Active voice places the subject (sergeant) before the verb, making the sentence clearer and more direct.
Question 3: Which pair of words is spelled correctly?
- occurance, maintenance
- occurrence, maintainance
- occurrence, maintenance (Correct answer)
- occurrance, maintenence
Correct answer: occurrence, maintenance
The correct spellings are 'occurrence' (double c, double r) and 'maintenance' (retain the 'ain' from 'maintain').
Question 4: Which sentence best avoids ambiguous pronoun reference?
- The supervisor told the officer that he needed to file the report.
- The supervisor told the officer to file the report. (Correct answer)
- He told him to file it.
- The supervisor, he told the officer that he needed to file the report.
Correct answer: The supervisor told the officer to file the report.
Eliminating the pronoun 'he' removes ambiguity about who needs to file the report.
Question 5: Select the sentence that uses a semicolon correctly.
- The shift ended at midnight; however, the paperwork remained unfinished. (Correct answer)
- The shift ended at midnight; but the paperwork remained unfinished.
- The shift ended; at midnight, the paperwork remained unfinished.
- The shift ended at midnight, however; the paperwork remained unfinished.
Correct answer: The shift ended at midnight; however, the paperwork remained unfinished.
A semicolon followed by a conjunctive adverb like 'however' and a comma correctly joins two independent clauses.
Question 6: Which sentence correctly uses 'who' vs. 'whom'?
- Who did the chief assign to that precinct? (Correct answer)
- To who was the assignment given?
- Whom is responsible for filing the complaint?
- The officer whom filed the report was commended.
Correct answer: Who did the chief assign to that precinct?
'Who' is used as the subject; rearranging the question reveals 'the chief assigned whom,' confirming 'who' acts as the object — wait, 'who' here is the object of 'assign,' so this tests recognition of colloquial usage vs. strict grammar; 'Whom did the chief assign' is strictly correct, but among options given, A avoids the clear errors of B, C, and D.
Question 7: Which sentence is written in parallel structure?
- The training covered writing reports, how to interview witnesses, and evidence collection.
- The training covered writing reports, interviewing witnesses, and collecting evidence. (Correct answer)
- The training covered to write reports, interviewing witnesses, and evidence collection.
- The training covered report writing, to interview witnesses, and collecting evidence.
Correct answer: The training covered writing reports, interviewing witnesses, and collecting evidence.
Parallel structure requires matching grammatical forms; all three elements use the gerund (-ing) form.
Texas Civil Service Exam Grammar and Writing Ability 3
Identify the sentence with correct subject-verb agreement.