GED Reasoning Through Language Arts Writing 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence uses correct subject-verb agreement?
- The group of students are working on the project.
- The group of students is working on the project. (Correct answer)
- The group of students were working on the project.
- The group of students have worked on the project.
Correct answer: The group of students is working on the project.
The subject is 'group,' a collective noun treated as singular, so it takes the singular verb 'is.'
Question 2: Which of the following is a complete sentence?
- Running through the park on a sunny afternoon.
- Because she was exhausted after a long shift.
- The children played outside until dark. (Correct answer)
- After the meeting ended rather abruptly.
Correct answer: The children played outside until dark.
'The children played outside until dark' has both a subject ('the children') and a predicate ('played outside until dark'), making it a complete sentence.
Question 3: Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?
- Walking to school, Maria noticed the new mural.
- Walking to school, the new mural caught Maria's eye. (Correct answer)
- Maria walked to school and noticed the new mural.
- As Maria walked to school, she noticed the new mural.
Correct answer: Walking to school, the new mural caught Maria's eye.
In option B, 'walking to school' modifies the wrong subject — the mural cannot walk, so the modifier dangles.
Question 4: Which pronoun correctly completes the sentence? 'Between you and ___, the project still needs more work.'
- I
- me (Correct answer)
- myself
- we
Correct answer: me
'Me' is correct because it is the object form of the pronoun, required after the preposition 'between.'
Question 5: Which sentence uses the correct verb form?
- She had went to the store before it closed.
- She has went to the store before it closed.
- She had gone to the store before it closed. (Correct answer)
- She have gone to the store before it closed.
Correct answer: She had gone to the store before it closed.
'Had gone' is the correct past perfect form; 'gone' is the past participle of 'go,' used with a helping verb.
Question 6: What type of sentence is 'Although it was raining, we still went for a walk'?
- Simple sentence
- Compound sentence
- Complex sentence (Correct answer)
- Compound-complex sentence
Correct answer: Complex sentence
This is a complex sentence because it contains one independent clause and one subordinate clause introduced by 'although.'
Question 7: Which revision best corrects the sentence? 'The manager told the employees that they should try and be more productive.'
- The manager told the employees that they should try to be more productive. (Correct answer)
- The manager told the employees that they should try being more productive.
- The manager said to the employees they should try and being productive.
- The manager told the employees to try and be more productive always.
Correct answer: The manager told the employees that they should try to be more productive.
The correct idiom is 'try to' rather than 'try and,' which is informal and grammatically imprecise.
GED Reasoning Through Language Arts Writing 1
Which sentence uses correct subject-verb agreement?