Writing and Editing Grammar and Mechanics 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence uses the correct subject-verb agreement?
- The team are winning.
- The team is winning. (Correct answer)
- The team were winning.
- The team have winning.
Correct answer: The team is winning.
Collective nouns like 'team' take a singular verb in American English.
Question 2: Which word is a proper noun?
- city
- river
- Chicago (Correct answer)
- mountain
Correct answer: Chicago
Chicago is a proper noun because it names a specific place and must be capitalized.
Question 3: Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?
- Running fast, she won the race.
- Running fast, the finish line was crossed. (Correct answer)
- She ran fast to cross the finish line.
- She crossed the finish line running fast.
Correct answer: Running fast, the finish line was crossed.
The modifier 'Running fast' has no clear subject — the finish line cannot run.
Question 4: Which pronoun correctly completes the sentence: '__ is going to the conference'?
- Him
- Her
- She (Correct answer)
- Them
Correct answer: She
A subject pronoun (she) is needed when the pronoun is the subject of the verb.
Question 5: Which sentence uses the past perfect tense correctly?
- She had finished the report before the meeting started. (Correct answer)
- She finished the report before the meeting had started.
- She has finished the report before the meeting started.
- She was finishing the report before the meeting started.
Correct answer: She had finished the report before the meeting started.
Past perfect (had + past participle) shows an action completed before another past action.
Question 6: Which sentence avoids a double negative?
- I don't have no idea.
- She can't find nothing.
- He didn't say anything. (Correct answer)
- They won't go nowhere.
Correct answer: He didn't say anything.
Standard English requires only one negative in a clause, making 'didn't say anything' correct.
Writing and Editing Grammar and Mechanics 1
Which sentence uses the correct subject-verb agreement?