Texas Civil Service Exam Grammar and Writing Skills 3

Question 1

Which sentence correctly uses 'who' vs. 'whom'?

Accepted Answer

Who did the supervisor assign to the task?

Answer

In this question, 'who' is the object of 'did assign,' but the inverted structure makes 'who' correct as the subject substitute here — the standard rule applies: use 'whom' only when it functions as an object.

Question 2

Which sentence contains a misplaced modifier?

Accepted Answer

He nearly drove 200 miles to reach the conference.

Answer

'Nearly' is misplaced; it should read 'He drove nearly 200 miles' to modify the distance, not the verb.

Question 3

Select the sentence that uses parallel structure correctly.

Accepted Answer

The officer must document incidents, file reports, and submit evidence.

Answer

Parallel structure requires that items in a series use the same grammatical form; here all verbs are in the base form.

Question 4

Which word is spelled correctly?

Accepted Answer

surveillance

Answer

'Surveillance' is the correct spelling; common misspellings include 'surveilance' or 'surveliance.'

Question 5

Which sentence demonstrates correct use of an apostrophe?

Accepted Answer

The department's policy was updated last week.

Answer

A singular possessive noun takes an apostrophe followed by 's' to show ownership.

Texas Civil Service Exam Practice Test

Texas Civil Service Exam Practice Test

Texas Civil Service Exam Grammar and Writing Skills 3