Question

1. Which verb correctly completes the sentence?

Tell whether it is singular or plural. The box of crackers __________ on the top shelf in the pantry.
A. are, plural

B. is, singular

C. is, plural

D. are, singular

2. Which sentence uses a verb that agrees with its subject?

A.
Is the boys coming over later to play basketball?

B.
Does the Miller sisters sing, too?

C.
Were she happy to see you?

D.
Has he ever been there before?

3.Which sentence uses a verb that agrees with its subject?

A.
Somewhere under the couch cushions is the remote control.

B.
At the ice rink in town was some ice-skaters.

C.
In the clear ocean water swims three large dolphins.

D.
After the engagement and bridal shower come the wedding

4.Which sentence uses a verb that agrees with its compound subject?

A.
Both Susan and Irma is home sick with colds.

B.
She and her aunts have voted in the election.

C.
A saw and a hammer makes a carpenter's job easier.

D.
My cousins and my aunt stops by our house after shopping.

5. Which sentence uses a verb that agrees with its compound subject?

A.
The orange sweater or the yellow blouse seem to match the skirt.

B.
Either biking or skateboarding is something we can do together.

C.
Neither Cassandra nor Ari are able to come tonight.

D.
One or both boys claims to have found it.

6.Which sentence uses a verb that agrees with its pronoun subject?

A.
Each of the members have to join a committee.

B.
Nobody on the block were home.

C.
Several of the team has participated in sports before.

D.
Has anyone here taken the trolley before?

7.Which sentence uses a verb that agrees with its pronoun subject?

A.
Everyone in this house have to help clean up after meals.

B.
I were not chosen by the judges.

C.
A few of the vegetables from the farm are still in the refrigerator.

D.
Many of the adults in this town is registered to vote.

8.Which sentence uses a comparison correctly?

A.
Which is worst, a rainy vacation or no vacation at all?

B.
Which is badder, a rainy vacation or no vacation at all?

C.
Which is more worse, a rainy vacation or no vacation at all?

D.
Which is worse, a rainy vacation or no vacation at all?

9.Which sentence uses negative words correctly?

A.
There aren't no dangerous tools in the shed.

B.
Louis doesn't know nothing about computers.

C.
No one here ever saw any kangaroos before.

D.
We haven't ever played none of those games.

10.Which word best completes the sentence?

All of us are going to the movies, __________ Tanya.

A.
accept

B.
except

11.Which word best completes the sentence?

What __________ will the bad weather have on our travel plans?

A.
effect

B.
affect

12.Which word best completes the sentence?

Ten million dollars is definitely __________ of money for most of us.

A.
alot

B.
a lot

13.Which word best completes the sentence?

Danielle said she could __________ done better on the exam if she had studied more.

A.
have

B.
of

14.Which word best completes the sentence?

__________ did you invite to the picnic?

A.
Whom

B.
Who

15.Which sentence uses end marks correctly?

A.
We will walk down Birch St. and look for it,

B.
Cedar Rd. is where the Thai restaurant is!

C.
I think it's on Oak Ave. instead?

D.
Is Elm St. where we saw a bank?

16.Which sentence uses commas correctly?

A.
I was thinking of telling you about my mosquito, housefly and spider marathons.

B.
These races you describe are, ridiculous, unbelievable, and silly.

C.
I suppose you'll say they also race pet snakes, fleas, and hamsters.

D.
Did you know that people race their pet crabs worms, and turkeys?

17.Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

A.
A tornado is a violent swirling column of air that touches Earth and, a water spout is an intense column of air over water.

B.
The snow is piling up, and the plows are unable to clear the roads.

C.
Most people in Brazil speak Portuguese yet others speak Polish and German.

D.
Raisins are dried grapes, but, they have a burst of sweetness when you eat them.

18.which sentence is punctuated correctly?

A.
Wow, is that really you standing on my doorstep Bill?

B.
No, Doctor Briggs, the medicine did not work.

C.
Yes, Mrs. Lanman we will be at the meeting.

D.
Oh there you are, Sally and Tim.

19.Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

A.
She is wearing a cardigan a sweater with buttons down the front.

B.
The final painting, a huge landscape, impressed me most of all.

C.
Gwendolyn the woman on the stage wearing red, is the leading candidate.

D.
They live in Trenton, the capital, of New Jersey.

20.Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

A.
The house in Provo Utah became their home on November 22 2001.

B.
His birthdate is June 7, 1975 and Akron Ohio, is his birthplace.

C.
The annual race was first run on August 25 1967, in Terryville Connecticut.

D.
Their wedding was on July 5, 1990, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, near Boston.

Answer 1

1. B is, singular

The subject of this sentence is box. There is only one box so it needs a singular verb. Crackers is in a prepositional phrase so it is not the subject of the sentence.

2. D. Has he ever been there before?

The subject of the sentence is He and the verb phrase is has ever been. He is singular so the verb must be singular as well. The other subject-verb pairs are: boys-is, sisters-does sing, she-were.

3. A. Somewhere under the couch cushions is the remote control.

The subject of the sentence is somewhere which is singular. Is agrees with a singular subject. The other subject-verb combos are: some-was, dolphins-swims, the wedding-come.

4. B. She and her aunts have voted in the election.

Replace the compound subject with "they" and test. They have voted - correct. They is - wrong. They makes - wrong. They stops - wrong.

5. B. Either biking or skateboarding is something we can do together.

Since these are all about one OR the other, the verb must agree with a singular subject. Replace the subject with "it" and test. It seem - wrong. It is - correct. It are - wrong. D is different. The options closest to the verb is plural (boys). The verb must agree with the option that is closest to the verb. They claims - wrong.

6. D. Has anyone here taken the trolley before?

The pronouns (anyone, each, nobody) are all singular pronouns and therefore must have a singular verb. Several is a plural pronoun and must have a plural verb.

7. C. A few of the vegetables from the farm are still in the refrigerator.

This is correct because few is a plural subject and are is a plural verb. Everyone is singular and must use a singular verb. In option B, I is singular. D is plural so the verb must be plural as well.

8. D. Which is worse, a rainy vacation or no vacation at all?

The comparison words being used in the options are worst, badder, more worse, and worse. “More worse” and “badder” are never grammatically correct. Worst is a noun. It is used in a sentence such as “That dog is the worst.”

9. C. No one here ever saw any kangaroos before.

It is important not to double up on the negatives. Option A has not and no. Option B has not and nothing. Options C only uses No. Option D has not and none. Option C is the only sentence without double negatives.

10. B. except

Except means to leave something out. Accept means to bring something in. Since Tanya is not going, she is the one exception - the one left out.

11. A. effect

Effect is correct here because you need a noun. Effect is a noun. Affect is an action.

12. B. a lot

A lot is two words not one. Never choose alot as one word.

13. A. have

Have is a helping verb. Of is a preposition. Could have done is a verb phrase. When speaking many people use could’ve instead of could have which causes the incorrect usage with the word of.

14. A. Whom

To decide whether or not you use Who or Whom, replace it with he or him. The sentence would be You invited HIM to the picnic. The answer would be whom. Grammatically, the answer needs to be an direct object since it is the receiver of the action, invite. The direct object form is whom. Who is used for the subject of the sentence. You is the subject because you is the one doing the inviting.

15. D. Is Elm St. where we saw a bank?

Option A is wrong because commas are not end marks. B could be correct, but it’s unlikely that it is worth exclaiming. C is definitely wrong since it is a telling sentence not a question. Option D is a question.

16. C. I suppose you’ll say they also race pet snakes, fleas, and hamsters.

The commas are used to separate the items in a list. Option A is missing a comma between the items. Option B has an extra comma after the verb are. Option D is also missing a comma in the list.

17. B. The snow is piling up, and the plows are unable to clear the roads.

A is wrong because commas do not go after a conjunction (and). Option B is correct because the comma is before the conjunction (and) that joins two complete sentences. Option C is wrong; it needs a comma before yet. Option D is wrong because there is a comma after the conjunction (but).

18. B. No, Doctor Briggs, the medicine did not work.

Option B is correct because addressing Doctor Briggs interrupts the main idea of the sentences.

19. B. The final painting, a huge landscape, impressed me most of all.

The appositive phrase “a huge landscape” must be surrounded by commas because it is extra information that describes the type of painting.

20. D. Their wedding was on July 5, 1990, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, near Boston.

There must be a comma between the day and year when writing a date. There must also be a comma between the town and state. The comma after Massachusetts is actually showing the extra appositive phrase that describes Sudbury’s location.

Answer 2

1. This first sentence ("The box of crackers ____ on the top shelf in the pantry") is missing its verb. To find what word would fit there, we just have to take what we know. We can tell by looking at the sentence that the subject is 'box', a singular noun. So we will need a singular verb to fill in the blank, since one doesn't say "The box are on the top shelf".
The correct answer choice would be option B, "is / singular".


2. For this question, we are given four sentences as answer choices and we are left to decide which one has a verb that agrees with the subject of the sentence. Let us take a look at the choices and see which one makes the most sense:

A. "Is the boys coming over to play basketball?"
This doesn't make much sense when said aloud (one of the ways to tell if a sentence is grammatically incorrect), but also, the verb 'is' is singular and therefore does not match up with the plural subject, 'boys'.
Choice A is not the answer.

B. "Does the Miller sisters sing too?"
In this case, we again have a singular verb ('does') with a plural noun ('sisters'), so this is not our answer.

C. "Were she happy to see you?"
Here we have something a little different. In this sentence, the verb is plural, but the noun is singular. Still incorrect, though.

D. "Has he ever been there before?"
Aha! Finally, a singular noun and a singular verb in one sentence, matched with absolute finesse.
Choice D is our correct answer.

For the sake of time, I will only provide the correct answer choices on the rest without an entire detailed explanation.

3. For this one, choice A is the correct answer, since it has a singular verb (is) that agrees with its singular verb (remote control).

4. The only sentence that is correct in this question is choice B.

5. Again, answer B is the only option with a correct verb/subject alignment.

6. Choice D is the right one in this question.

7. "Few / are" is the correct subject/verb alignment. Choice C is correct.

8. For the advancement of the severity of the word 'bad' in terms of comparison, the words are Bad, Worse, and Worst. In this case, we are comparing two items, so the appropriate word to be used would be 'worse'. And when you have the word 'worse', the word 'more' should never be added.
Choice D is your correct one here.

9. Double-negatives cancel out the meaning of those negatives, and therefore are grammatically incorrect. The only sentence that doesn't use a double-negative is choice C, which is your correct answer.

10. "Except" is the right word to be used here. Choice B.

11. "Effect", choice A.

12. "A lot", choice B. "Alot" isn't even a word :P

13. "Have", choice A.

14. This is tricky. The trick is to replace the pronoun 'who[m]' with the respective pronoun, and if that pronoun is him/her, than it's whom. If it's he/she, it's who. In this case, you could replace the Who[m] with "he/she", so it would be "who", choice B.

15. D is the only sentence that uses correct end punctuation to convey the feeling of the sentence. Choice D is your correct answer.

16. For this one, there are two potential correct choices, and it depends on whether your school accepts Oxford commas (a comma placed on the second-to-last item in a list; i.e. "a ham, cheddar, and swiss sandwich" as opposed to "a ham, cheddar and swiss sandwich") as a grammatical entity. I personally do, so the answer I would put down would be choice C, although choice A could be correct.

17. Choice B is the only answer choice that correctly uses commas.

18. In this case, choice B is correct again, since it appropriately uses commas to separate a new thought from the rest of the sentence.

19. Yet again, choice B is the answer that uses the commas correctly.

20. Answer D is the correct choice, since it appropriately uses punctuation in the dates and places.

And there we have it! :D
Hope that helped! =)