THEA Grammar & Mechanics Flashcards

Which of the following sentences contains a comma splice?

Answer: She studied hard, she passed the exam.

A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined with only a comma and no coordinating conjunction, as in 'She studied hard, she passed the exam.'

Which sentence uses a semicolon correctly?

Answer: She arrived early; the doors were still locked.

A semicolon correctly joins two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction, as demonstrated in this sentence.

Which sentence demonstrates correct subject-verb agreement?

Answer: Each of the participants has submitted a form.

'Each' is a singular indefinite pronoun and always takes a singular verb, making 'has submitted' correct regardless of the prepositional phrase that follows.

Which option correctly identifies the error in this sentence? 'The students, along with their teacher, was excited about the field trip.'

Answer: 'was' should be 'were'

The true subject is the plural 'students'; the phrase 'along with their teacher' is a parenthetical and does not change the subject, so the verb should be 'were.'

Which sentence correctly uses a colon?

Answer: She had three goals: to graduate, to travel, and to find a job.

A colon must follow an independent clause; 'She had three goals' is a complete sentence before the colon introduces the list.

Which sentence avoids a dangling modifier?

Answer: After studying all night, Maria finally understood the concept.

In this sentence, 'Maria' is clearly the subject who studied all night, so the introductory modifier is correctly attached to the main clause subject.

Which sentence uses apostrophes correctly?

Answer: It's a beautiful day outside.

'It's' is the contraction of 'it is,' which is used correctly here; the possessive 'its' does not take an apostrophe.