24 questions · Shuffled order · Progress saved locally when available
Covers topics across Standard English Conventions.
Work through the set before checking solutions. Note the evidence for each answer and why the nearest alternative fails. Question numbers follow the shuffled order; Guide question labels match the guide references.
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The drill
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Question 1
Guide question C01
Challenge
The curator's explanation of how the sculptor assembled the seemingly unstable figures ______ several viewers expected a hidden support, but the artist had used only interlocking pieces of wood. A demonstration later showed how those pieces held one another in place.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Recover a main clause and separate it from the next clause | Review lesson 1.8
Correct choice: was brief;
The main subject is explanation, and was brief completes its predicate. Assembled belongs to the embedded clause how the sculptor assembled the figures; it is not the main verb of explanation. After brief, several viewers expected a hidden support begins a new independent clause, requiring a valid boundary. The semicolon satisfies that second requirement.
A: Was brief correctly completes the first clause, but the comma then joins it to the independent clause several viewers expected a hidden support. That boundary is a comma splice.
B: Brief is an adjective without a linking verb. The first clause would lack its main verb, so it cannot stand before the semicolon.
D: Being brief is nonfinite without an auxiliary. The first clause therefore remains incomplete even though a semicolon appears at the boundary.
If you missed it: Check two separate conditions: the first clause must actually be complete, and its connection to the next clause must be valid.
To reduce variation between experiments, the laboratory uses a single reference scale. The scale (a device that technicians recalibrate before every batch of ______ in a sealed cabinet whenever it is not being used.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Close a parenthetical insertion and resume the main clause | Review lesson 2.4
Correct choice: measurements) is stored
The opening parenthesis introduces extra information about the scale. The closing parenthesis after measurements ends that insertion, leaving the main clause The scale is stored in a sealed cabinet. Is stored is a complete finite passive verb phrase.
B: The comma does not close the opening parenthesis. Parentheses must occur as a matching pair around this insertion.
C: The parenthesis is closed, but the semicolon separates the subject The scale from its verb is stored. Neither side forms an independent clause.
D: The parenthesis is closed, but storing is only an -ing form. The main clause lacks a finite verb; the verb recalibrate belongs to the clause inside the parentheses.
If you missed it: Remove the entire parenthetical insertion, including its punctuation, and read the remaining sentence.
The engineers are testing a new arrangement of barriers in a wave tank. The effectiveness of the barrier panels, which redirect waves away from the channel entrances without obstructing the flow of water, ______ on the spacing between successive panels.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Keep agreement through a nonessential clause | Review lesson 3.2
Correct choice: depends
Effectiveness is the singular head of the main subject. The plural noun panels belongs to an of phrase, and redirect agrees with panels inside the which clause. That embedded agreement does not change the number of effectiveness. The main-clause core is effectiveness depends on the spacing.
A: Depend is the plural present-tense form here. The singular subject effectiveness requires depends.
B: Have depended uses a plural auxiliary. A perfect construction with effectiveness would require has, not have.
C: Are depending also uses a plural auxiliary. The plural nouns panels, waves, and entrances do not control the main verb.
If you missed it: Identify which noun each verb belongs to; a plural verb inside a relative clause does not license a plural main verb.
Recovered from the same sealed layer of sediment, ______ to determine whether differences in their surfaces reflected different uses. The shared burial conditions reduced the likelihood that those differences resulted solely from the surrounding soil.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Use a passive main clause with the correct modified subject | Review lesson 4.6
Correct choice: two tools were compared by archaeologists
Recovered from the same sealed layer describes the two tools, so two tools must be the following subject. The passive phrase were compared is appropriate: the tools received the action, and by archaeologists names the people conducting the comparison. Passive voice helps align the introductory modifier with its logical subject.
A: This wording makes the archaeologists the subject modified by Recovered from the same sealed layer, although the passage concerns recovered tools.
C: A comparison was not recovered from sediment. That abstract noun cannot serve as the subject of the introductory modifier.
D: The subject is examination, not tools or archaeologists. The possessive archaeologists' does not make archaeologists the subject, and an examination was not recovered from sediment.
If you missed it: For a passive opening modifier, ask what received the action; that object can become the subject of a passive main clause.
The manuscript's final paragraph, which refers to several events described only briefly in earlier sections, ______ an episode that the writer had omitted from the preceding narrative. These additions change how a reader interprets the narrator's final decision.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Recognize a compound predicate after an embedded clause | Review lesson 1.2
Correct choice: introduces a new narrator and revisits
The main subject is paragraph. After the nonessential which clause closes, introduces and revisits form a compound predicate with that same subject. The conjunction and connects the two actions directly. The relative clause about earlier events contains additional verbs but does not create a new subject for revisits.
A: And revisits an episode has no subject of its own, so it cannot stand as an independent clause after the semicolon.
B: It revisits an episode is an independent clause. A comma alone cannot join it to the preceding independent clause about what the paragraph introduces.
C: Revisiting an episode is a participial phrase. The period leaves that phrase and its attached relative clause as a separate sentence fragment.
If you missed it: After an inserted clause closes, return to the main subject and ask whether the next two actions still belong to it.
The fellowship selected a single recipient that year. Its ______ spent six months documenting how the changing shoreline affected the village's public spaces, producing a series of paintings that recorded both everyday activities and storm damage.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Set off an appositive while preserving a finite main verb | Review lesson 2.3
Landscape painter Lila Noor renames the already identified single recipient. A comma introduces this appositive, and a second comma closes it before the main verb spent. The underlying clause is Its recipient spent six months documenting the shoreline.
A: The first comma introduces the appositive, but no comma closes it before spent. The reader needs the closing delimiter to resume the main clause.
C: Its recipient is only a subject phrase, so it cannot stand before a semicolon. The semicolon also cannot serve as the opening member of a comma pair.
D: Who spent creates a relative clause. With that change, spent no longer supplies the main verb for Its recipient, leaving the main clause incomplete.
If you missed it: An appositive renames a noun; after setting it aside, make sure the original noun still has a main verb.
In the chamber, water evaporates from heated samples and moves toward a monitoring device. Only a small fraction of the moisture that the warmed samples release ______ the sensor at the far end; most condenses on the chamber's cooler walls before traveling that distance.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Use the noun after of to interpret a fraction subject | Review lesson 3.5
Correct choice: reaches
The fraction refers to moisture, an uncountable singular noun, so the subject takes singular agreement: a small fraction of the moisture reaches. Samples is plural, but it is the subject of release inside the identifying clause. That separate subject does not control the main verb reaches.
B: Reach does not agree with the singular quantity a small fraction of the moisture. The nearby plural noun samples belongs to a different clause.
C: Have reached uses a plural auxiliary. This subject would require has in a perfect construction.
D: Reaching is nonfinite without an auxiliary. The clause before the semicolon would have no finite main verb; release belongs only to the relative clause.
If you missed it: For a fraction or proportion, determine what is being divided: a fraction of moisture takes singular agreement, while a fraction of the samples can take plural agreement.
The town has one museum, founded jointly by three residents. An exhibition reproduces letters written by all three founders. By arranging copies of the ______ chronologically, the curator shows how their plans for the collection developed over several years.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Track two successive possessive relationships | Review lesson 4.4
Correct choice: museum's founders' letters
Two possessive relationships are nested here. Museum's identifies the founders of the one museum; founders' shows that the letters were written by the three founders. Letters is an ordinary plural because it names the objects being arranged, not another owner.
A: Museums' is plural possessive, implying multiple museums. The passage specifies one museum, so that first possessive must be museum's.
B: Founders lacks the apostrophe needed to show that the letters belong to or were written by those founders. Museum's marks only the first relationship; it does not also mark founders as possessive.
D: Letter's makes the last noun singular possessive, but nothing follows to name something possessed by a letter. The curator is arranging multiple letters, so this final noun needs the ordinary plural letters.
If you missed it: Work from left to right: one museum, several founders, several letters. Add an apostrophe only where a noun expresses possession.
The digital reconstruction accurately reproduced the mural's original ______ the surviving pigment samples were too small to establish whether the surface had once been glossy. The reconstruction therefore showed a neutral finish instead of suggesting a level of gloss unsupported by the evidence.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Separate clauses around however | Review lesson 1.5
Correct choice: colors; however,
The digital reconstruction accurately reproduced the mural's original colors is independent. The surviving pigment samples were too small is also independent. However signals a contrast but does not join clauses the way but can. The semicolon sets the boundary; the comma separates however from the second clause.
B: The comma before however creates a comma splice between two independent clauses. The additional comma after the adverb does not repair that boundary.
C: No punctuation or coordinating conjunction establishes the boundary between the two independent clauses. However is an adverb and cannot join those clauses by itself.
D: The second semicolon incorrectly isolates however as if it were an independent clause. However is only an adverb.
If you missed it: If however begins the next independent clause, place the sentence boundary before however and a comma after it.
After comparing the measurements that the field team had collected ______ the device whose readings differed most sharply from the laboratory standard. A second round of measurements then showed substantially better agreement between the devices.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Finish an introductory phrase and supply the main clause | Review lesson 2.5
Correct choice: from both instruments, the technician recalibrated
The opening After comparing phrase continues through from both instruments. It has no independent subject and finite verb of its own. A comma closes that phrase, and the technician recalibrated supplies the main clause. The technician is also the person who performed the comparison, so the modifier attaches correctly.
A: The material before the semicolon is an introductory phrase, not an independent clause. Had collected is finite only within the embedded that clause.
B: Recalibrating is another nonfinite form. No finite main verb completes the sentence after the long introductory phrase.
D: The period detaches the introductory After comparing phrase as a sentence fragment. The following complete sentence does not repair that earlier fragment.
If you missed it: An introductory phrase may contain a relative clause with its own finite verb; you must still find a finite verb for the main clause.
The archaeological team documented each layer before removing it. Beside the kiln, beneath an accumulation of ash and stone fragments, ______ the remains of two wooden supports that once held up the roof. Their position helped the team reconstruct the building's original dimensions.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Find a plural subject after two location phrases | Review lesson 3.3
Correct choice: were
The two location phrases precede an inverted subject-verb arrangement. The subject is the remains of two wooden supports; remains is plural. Reordering the core gives The remains were beside the kiln. Accumulation and kiln occur in location phrases and cannot determine the main verb's number.
A: Was is singular and does not agree with the plural subject remains. The singular noun accumulation is not the subject.
C: Has been contains the singular auxiliary has, which does not agree with remains.
D: Being is nonfinite without an auxiliary. The sentence needs a finite main verb before its postponed subject; held belongs to the embedded that clause.
If you missed it: When a sentence begins with where something is located, look past the verb for the actual subject.
The trainees collect soil samples in teams, but each team keeps its own records. Before fieldwork begins, the supervisor reminds the trainees that ______ samples immediately so that labels cannot be confused when the teams return to the laboratory.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Distinguish they are from the possessive their | Review lesson 4.5
Correct choice: they're responsible for labeling their
They're expands to they are, giving the complete clause they are responsible for labeling their samples. Their is the possessive determiner before samples and refers to the trainees. The first position needs a subject and verb; the second needs possession.
A: Their responsible has no finite verb, and they're samples would expand to they are samples where a noun phrase is required after labeling. Both forms are wrong.
B: There indicates a place or introduces an existence construction such as there are. There responsible supplies neither the intended subject they nor the verb are.
C: The first contraction is correct, but there cannot function as the possessive determiner before samples. That position requires their.
If you missed it: Replace they're with they are and paraphrase their samples as the samples belonging to them; check the two roles separately.
The committee faced a question that neither of the preliminary reports could ______ the benefits of a second entrance would justify the additional maintenance costs. A later study was designed specifically to answer that question.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Use a colon before an explanatory noun clause | Review lesson 1.6
Correct choice: resolve: whether
The committee faced a question that neither of the preliminary reports could resolve is a complete clause. The whether clause that follows states the content of that question. A colon can introduce this explanatory dependent clause because the material before the colon is complete.
A: Whether the benefits ... would justify the costs is a dependent noun clause. It cannot stand after a semicolon as an independent clause.
C: The period turns the whether clause into a fragment. The finite verb would justify does not make the clause independent because whether subordinates it.
D: Adding and does not make the whether clause independent. A semicolon still lacks a complete independent clause on its right.
If you missed it: A clause after a colon may be dependent if it explains a complete clause before the colon; a semicolon requires independent clauses on both sides.
The first screening did not establish the age of the cave deposits. The mineral samples recovered from the caves do, ______ enough organic material for the proposed dating method. The project can therefore proceed with a more precise analysis.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Set off however inside a single verb phrase | Review lesson 2.7
Correct choice: however, contain
However is inserted within the finite verb phrase do contain. The comma before however opens the insertion, and a comma after however closes it. Removing the adverb leaves The mineral samples ... do contain enough organic material, a complete main clause.
A: The semicolon interrupts the auxiliary do and main verb contain. It also fails to match the comma that opens the inserted adverb.
B: The opening comma before however is left unmatched. The adverb must be closed off with a comma in this construction.
C: The colon divides do from contain; the material before the colon is not a complete clause. A colon cannot serve as the closing member of this comma-delimited insertion.
If you missed it: Determine whether however is inside one clause or introduces a new clause before selecting its punctuation.
The unusual shape of the entrance hall, as well as the narrow passages that connect it to the exhibition rooms, ______ how visitors move through the building. Designers studying the layout have therefore measured both the hall and the adjoining passages.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Separate an additive phrase from the subject | Review lesson 3.4
Correct choice: influences
The singular head of the subject is shape. As well as the narrow passages adds information but does not create a compound subject joined by and. The main-clause core is The unusual shape ... influences how visitors move. The plural verbs connect and move belong to other clauses with their own subjects.
A: Influence is the plural present-tense form here. The additive as well as phrase does not change the singular subject shape into a plural subject.
B: Have influenced uses a plural auxiliary. With shape, the auxiliary would need to be has.
D: Are influencing also uses a plural auxiliary. Passages is inside the additive phrase and does not govern the main verb.
If you missed it: Distinguish X and Y, which can form a compound subject, from X, as well as Y, whose grammatical head remains X.
A training manual addresses the new technician directly: "After the calibration light turns green, ______ measurements with the reference values. If a large difference remains, repeat the calibration before testing another sample."
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Distinguish you are from the possessive your | Review lesson 4.5
Correct choice: you're ready to compare your
You're ready expands to you are ready and supplies the main clause after the introductory After clause. Your measurements uses a possessive determiner to identify the measurements belonging to the technician being addressed. The manual's direct address makes the second-person reference consistent.
B: Your ready lacks the subject-verb combination you are. Your is possessive and cannot take the place of the contraction before the adjective ready.
C: The first contraction is correct, but you're measurements expands to you are measurements. That is not a noun phrase that can serve as the object of compare.
D: Both positions are wrong: your cannot supply you are before ready, and you're cannot supply a possessive determiner before measurements.
If you missed it: Expand you're wherever it appears. If you are does not fit the sentence, check whether the noun after the blank instead requires your.
The first prototype included an unusual ______ that could be removed without disassembling the rest of the device. This arrangement allowed engineers to replace damaged sensors quickly while leaving the central mechanism undisturbed.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Introduce an explanatory phrase with a single dash | Review lesson 1.7
Correct choice: feature—a ring of magnetic sensors
The first prototype included an unusual feature is a complete clause. The single dash introduces a phrase that explains that feature: a ring of magnetic sensors that could be removed. Because the explanation continues to the sentence's end, a second dash is not needed.
A: A ring of magnetic sensors that could be removed is a noun phrase with a relative clause, not an independent clause. A semicolon cannot introduce it.
B: The period makes that same explanatory noun phrase a sentence fragment. Could be removed belongs to the relative clause beginning that.
D: It was a ring of magnetic sensors begins an independent clause. A comma alone cannot join it to the first independent clause.
If you missed it: With a single explanatory dash, confirm that the left side is complete and identify whether the right side explains or amplifies it.
The traveling exhibition was designed for buildings of different sizes, allowing the organizers to choose venues on the basis of local interest. The itinerary that the organizers finalized last month ______ Vesta, with a different arrangement of the displays planned for each venue.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Keep a verb and its object together before a list | Review lesson 2.6
Correct choice: includes three cities: Dalen, Merrow, and
The itinerary ... includes three cities is complete because includes has its object, three cities. The colon then introduces the names of those cities. A colon immediately after includes would instead divide the verb from the objects that complete it.
B: The colon separates includes from its direct object, the list of cities. The itinerary ... includes is incomplete at that point.
C: Dalen, Merrow, and Vesta is a list, not an independent clause, so it cannot follow a semicolon.
D: The period detaches the list and its attached with phrase as a fragment. Neither contains a finite main verb.
If you missed it: A colon before a list belongs after a complete introduction, not automatically after the verb that announces the list.
The station's original power system was replaced in 2009. That year, engineers ______ a more efficient generator, which supplied the station until another upgrade became necessary in 2020. The old generator is now displayed in a local technology museum.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Use a past tense for a completed dated event | Review lesson 3.6
Correct choice: installed
That year refers to the completed year 2009, and the surrounding account uses past-tense verbs: was replaced, supplied, and became. Installed places the engineers' completed action on that same past timeline. The final is now displayed legitimately shifts to the generator's present location.
A: Install is present tense with engineers. It does not fit the completed 2009 installation within this past-tense account.
B: Will install places the action in the future, contradicting the statement that the generator supplied the station until 2020 and is now on display.
C: Are installing presents the installation as currently in progress, contradicting its completion in 2009 and the later end of the generator's service.
If you missed it: Build a short timeline from the dates and time words; maintain past tense for completed events while allowing a justified shift to the present.
Two outdoor statues suffered extensive damage during a winter storm. The statues, ______, require a protective coating before they can be returned to their original positions. The conservators repaired the surfaces but recommended that specialists apply the coating.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Distinguish an internal participial modifier from a second finite predicate | Review lesson 4.7
Correct choice: recently restored by a team of conservators
Recently restored by a team of conservators is a past-participial phrase modifying statues. The paired commas mark it as an inserted modifier. The finite main verb is require. The passive meaning is appropriate because the statues received the restoration rather than performing it.
A: Were restored is a finite verb phrase. It cannot function as a participial insertion between the subject statues and the main verb require. The comma after statues would also improperly separate that subject from were.
C: Whose recent restoration by a team of conservators starts a relative clause but never supplies a finite verb for it. The main verb require occurs after the closing comma and belongs to statues.
D: Restore is the base form, not the past participle restored required for this passive modifier. Restore by a team does not form a valid passive phrase.
If you missed it: When paired commas enclose a modifier, preserve the main subject-verb connection outside them and check the grammatical form inside them.
That the two surviving copies disagree about the final line ______ the discrepancy may instead reflect changes made by a later editor. The scholar therefore examined the copies' physical features before drawing any conclusion about the author's intentions.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Treat an entire that clause as a subject | Review lesson 1.8
Correct choice: does not prove that the author revised the poem;
The entire opening clause That the two surviving copies disagree about the final line functions as the subject. Does not prove supplies its main predicate. The later that clause is the object of prove, not a new main clause. A semicolon then separates this completed statement from the independent clause the discrepancy may instead reflect changes.
A: Proof is a noun, so the opening subject has no main verb. A linking verb such as is would be needed before proof to create a complete clause.
B: The first clause is complete, but a comma alone joins it to the independent clause the discrepancy may instead reflect changes. That is a comma splice.
C: Not proving is nonfinite and cannot serve as the main predicate without an auxiliary. The opening statement remains incomplete before the semicolon.
If you missed it: A subject can be an entire clause. Identify its end, supply its main predicate, and only then evaluate the next sentence boundary.
The drawings themselves will remain in storage while the reading room is renovated. The new catalog's summary of the drawings—especially the sketches that show unbuilt designs for the library's ______ valuable to researchers who cannot examine the originals in person.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Close a dash insertion without separating the subject from its verb | Review lesson 2.8
Correct choice: entrance—is
The opening dash after drawings introduces an inserted phrase beginning especially. A matching dash after entrance closes it. The main clause is The new catalog's summary of the drawings is valuable. No comma belongs between that complete subject and is, and summary requires singular agreement.
A: A comma cannot close this dash-delimited insertion. The punctuation pair must match.
C: The dash correctly closes the insertion, but the added comma then separates the subject summary from its verb is. There is no additional structure requiring that comma.
D: The dashes match, but are does not agree with the singular head summary. Drawings and sketches occur inside modifying material.
If you missed it: First close the insertion, then read the unexpanded main clause to check both punctuation and agreement.
By the time the atlas went to press, the boundaries of the districts shown on its most detailed map ______ following a public review. The publisher therefore replaced that map while leaving the atlas's other illustrations unchanged.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The boundaries received the action of redrawing before the past reference point when the atlas went to press. Had been redrawn is a complete past perfect passive construction: had + been + past participle. The plural subject boundaries also rules out the singular auxiliary has.
B: Redrew is the simple past form, not the past participle. After been in this passive construction, the required participle is redrawn.
C: Had being does not form a valid perfect auxiliary chain. Had requires the past participle been, not the -ing form being.
D: Has is singular and does not agree with boundaries. It also creates a present perfect form rather than locating the completed redrawing before the stated past publication event.
If you missed it: Check each part of the chain separately: finite auxiliary, been for the perfect passive, and the correct past participle.
The art school required signatures from both guardians of every child attending the overnight workshop. Before approving the forms, the administrator checked that the ______ legible and that no guardian had left the signature line blank.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Why this answer
Combine irregular plural possession with a plural main verb | Review lesson 4.8
Correct choice: children's guardians' signatures were
Children is already an irregular plural, so its possessive is children's. Guardians is a regular plural referring to the two guardians of each child, so its possessive is guardians'. Signatures is the ordinary plural subject of were legible. The two preceding possessives do not change that subject's number.
A: Childrens is not the standard plural of child. The existing plural children takes apostrophe-s to form children's; childrens' is incorrect.
B: The possessives are correct, but was is singular. The subject signatures is plural and requires were.
D: Signature's is singular possessive, but the sentence needs the ordinary plural signatures as the subject of were. An apostrophe does not form a plural.
If you missed it: Resolve the chain one noun at a time: plural owner, possessive ending, next owner, then the number of the final subject.