SAEE SAEE Language Usage 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence uses a comma correctly?
- She loves cooking her family and her dog.
- She loves cooking, her family, and her dog. (Correct answer)
- She loves, cooking her family and her dog.
- She loves cooking her family, and her dog.
Correct answer: She loves cooking, her family, and her dog.
A serial (Oxford) comma separates three or more items in a list to avoid ambiguity.
Question 2: Which word correctly completes the sentence: 'The committee made _____ decision unanimously.'
- it's
- its
- their (Correct answer)
- there
Correct answer: their
A committee is a collective noun; 'their' is used to refer to the group's collective action.
Question 3: Which sentence is in the active voice?
- The report was written by Maria.
- The letter will be sent tomorrow.
- The dog chased the ball across the yard. (Correct answer)
- The cake had been eaten before we arrived.
Correct answer: The dog chased the ball across the yard.
In active voice, the subject (the dog) performs the action (chased) on the object (the ball).
Question 4: Choose the correctly punctuated sentence.
- Its a beautiful day isnt it?
- It's a beautiful day, isn't it? (Correct answer)
- Its a beautiful day, isnt it?
- It's a beautiful day isn't it?
Correct answer: It's a beautiful day, isn't it?
'It's' is the contraction of 'it is,' and 'isn't it?' is a tag question requiring a comma before it.
Question 5: Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?
- Running quickly, she missed the bus.
- Running quickly, the bus was missed. (Correct answer)
- She was running quickly and missed the bus.
- Because she ran quickly, she caught the bus.
Correct answer: Running quickly, the bus was missed.
A dangling modifier occurs when the phrase 'Running quickly' illogically modifies 'the bus' instead of a person.
Question 6: Which option correctly uses a semicolon?
- I like tea; and coffee.
- She studied hard; she passed the exam. (Correct answer)
- He ran fast; but still lost.
- They arrived; late to the party.
Correct answer: She studied hard; she passed the exam.
A semicolon joins two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction.
Question 7: Which sentence correctly uses 'fewer' vs. 'less'?
- There is less chairs in this room.
- There are fewer water in the bottle.
- She has fewer mistakes than him. (Correct answer)
- He drank less apples than expected.
Correct answer: She has fewer mistakes than him.
'Fewer' is used with countable nouns like 'mistakes,' while 'less' is used with uncountable nouns.
SAEE SAEE Language Usage 3
Which sentence uses a comma correctly?