NBT Sentence Construction and Grammar Flashcards

Choose the sentence with correct parallel structure:

Answer: She likes reading, swimming, and cycling.

Parallel structure requires that items in a list use the same grammatical form. 'Reading, swimming, and cycling' are all gerunds (-ing forms), maintaining parallelism.

What is the direct object in the sentence: 'The teacher gave the learners their results'?

Answer: their results

'Their results' is the direct object — it is the thing being given. 'The learners' is the indirect object (to whom the results were given).

Which sentence correctly uses a colon?

Answer: She bought the following items: apples, bananas, and oranges.

A colon should follow a complete independent clause and introduce a list, explanation, or elaboration. 'She bought the following items' is a complete clause.

Identify the sentence in the subjunctive mood:

Answer: If I were president, I would change the law.

The subjunctive mood is used for hypothetical or contrary-to-fact situations. 'If I were president' uses 'were' (not 'was') to express a hypothetical condition.

Which sentence demonstrates correct pronoun-antecedent agreement?

Answer: Each learner must bring his or her textbook.

'Each' is singular and requires singular pronouns. 'His or her' agrees with the singular antecedent 'learner.' While 'their' is increasingly accepted as singular, 'his or her' is traditionally correct.

What is the purpose of a topic sentence?

Answer: To state the main idea of the paragraph

A topic sentence states the main idea of a paragraph. It typically appears at the beginning and tells the reader what the paragraph will discuss.