Question 1

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
The company's new CEO had big plans for the future, but the board was adverse to changing too quickly.

Accepted Answer

The sentence is most improved by changing adverse to averse. Adverse means contrary to your interests, while averse means opposed to new ideas.

Question 2

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A.
There was a 28 percent reduction in amount of butterflies overwintering in Mexico.

Accepted Answer

Without an article before "amount," this sentence is unclear. "From" is not an appropriate replacement for an article. Use the definite article - "the" - because it refers directly to the amount of butterflies.

Question 3

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A.
In her second term she was an outspoken opponent of World War II.

Accepted Answer

A comma is needed to set off the introductory phrase "in her second term" from the main part of the sentence. Commas are unnecessary after "opponent" and "was."

Question 4

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A.
She began promoting the women's suffrage movement - an effort to secure women's voting rights - in 1910.

Accepted Answer

When used as a verb, "secure" means "to obtain." The purpose of the suffrage movement was to obtain voting rights for women. "Protect," "advance" and "progress" all imply that women's voting rights were already in place, but women didn't get the right to vote until 1920.

Question 5

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A.
In 2008, scientists used satellite imagery to illustrate the degradation of oyamel fir forests.

Accepted Answer

The year indicates an event that happened in the past. "Use" and "uses" are two present tense forms of "use." "Had" is an inappropriate verb for this sentence. "Used" is the correct form of the verb to include in this sentence.

Question 6

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
Towards the end of the film, the audience is tricked into believing that the hero has died.

Accepted Answer

The sentence is most improved by changing towards to toward. In the USA, toward is more commonly used and is thus a better choice for formal writing.

Question 7

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A.
Her brother a prominent businessman supported her financially.

Accepted Answer

Commas can be used before and after non-essential phrases. These parenthetical expressions can be set aside and not change the meaning of a sentence. The fact that Rankin's brother was a prominent businessman is not essential to his financial support. Therefore, that phrase can be set off by commas.

Question 8

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Accepted Answer

Instead of "in view of the fact that," you could write either "since" or "because" or "as." This phrase is filler and can be replaced with a single word.

Question 9

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
The short story, that Stand By Me was based on, was written under an alias.

Accepted Answer

The sentence is most improved by removing the commas. The clause "that Stand By Me was based on" is essential and should not be set off with commas. This is clear both because it specifies which short story is being discussed and by the use of that instead of which at the beginning of the clause.

Question 10

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Accepted Answer

The comma should be eliminated. This comma is out of place because the two clauses are not independent; Gabriel went to the library and Gabriel checked out The Stranger. If you are unsure whether or not a clause is independent, try to identify its subject.

Question 11

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
There is a huge amount of people flying in and out of Heathrow Airport every day.

Accepted Answer

The sentence is most improved by changing amount to number. The word amount is usually reserved for uncountable quantities, like water or milk. Since people can be counted, we refer to the number of them.

Question 12

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
The Johnsons's family car was broken into, the window was shattered and the radio was stolen.

Accepted Answer

The sentence is most improved by changing Johnsons's to Johnsons'. This is the normal rule for plural possessives. People sometimes overthink possessives and add the extra s when it isn't necessary.

Question 13

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
Rainstorms are an every day occurrence in most of the Northwest US.

Accepted Answer

Every day is a noun modified by an adjective, while everyday itself is an adjective. Since an adjective is needed to modify occurrence, everyday should be used.

Question 14

Which course of action most improves the following sentence?
During the primaries, all three Democratic candidates levied serious allegations against each other, only to retract them during the general election.

Accepted Answer

The sentence is most improved by using the word levied instead of leveled. Taxes and fines are levied against a person. Level means to take aim and can be used figuratively like in the sentence above.

Question 15

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Accepted Answer

Of must be changed to have. The contraction could've is often used in speech and then miswritten as could of. Written either way, this contraction should be avoided in writing.

Question 16

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Accepted Answer

Discrete should be changed to discreet. Discrete objects come in units. Oranges are discrete; milk is not. A discreet person is careful with his or her words, often in the sense of being able to keep secrets.

Question 17

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Accepted Answer

Complimented should be changed to complemented. To compliment someone is to say something nice about him or her (as in B). To complement, on the other hand, means to to accentuate the positives and minimize the negatives of something else. In mathematics, the complement is every member of a set except the one being considered.

Question 18

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Accepted Answer

Peak should be changed to peek. A peak is the top of something, such as a mountain peak or peak performance. To peek is to steal a glance at something.

Question 19

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Accepted Answer

The phrase the course of is unnecessary and should be cut in the interest of being concise. Similar phrases should also be edited; for example, you could write "while" instead of "during the time that."

Question 20

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Accepted Answer

Lain should be changed to laid. Lain is the past participle form of lie, which is intransitive. What's needed is the past participle form of lay, which is transitive. Remember the verbs are lie(present), lay (past), lain (past participle) and lay (present), laid(past), laid (past participle).

Quiz 3: Act-Compass-Writing-Practice-Test

Which course of action most improves the following sentence? The company's new CEO had big plans for the future, but the board was adverse to changing too quickly.

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A. There was a 28 percent reduction in amount of butterflies overwintering in Mexico.

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A. In her second term she was an outspoken opponent of World War II.

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A. She began promoting the women's suffrage movement - an effort to secure women's voting rights - in 1910.

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A. In 2008, scientists used satellite imagery to illustrate the degradation of oyamel fir forests.

Which course of action most improves the following sentence? Towards the end of the film, the audience is tricked into believing that the hero has died.

Choose the answer which best rewords the italicized portion. If you think the original wording is best, choose option A. Her brother a prominent businessman supported her financially.

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Which course of action most improves the following sentence? The short story, that Stand By Me was based on, was written under an alias.

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Which course of action most improves the following sentence? There is a huge amount of people flying in and out of Heathrow Airport every day.

Which course of action most improves the following sentence? The Johnsons's family car was broken into, the window was shattered and the radio was stolen.

Which course of action most improves the following sentence? Rainstorms are an every day occurrence in most of the Northwest US.

Which course of action most improves the following sentence? During the primaries, all three Democratic candidates levied serious allegations against each other, only to retract them during the general election.

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?

Which section of the following passage needs to be edited for incorrect spelling, incorrect grammar, inappropriate word choice or wordiness?