NBT Sentence Construction and Grammar Flashcards

Which sentence demonstrates correct use of the subjunctive mood in a formal academic context?

Answer: The committee insists that the report be submitted by Friday.

The subjunctive mood is required after verbs of insistence, demand, suggestion, or recommendation (insist, demand, suggest, require). The subjunctive uses the base form of the verb without inflection — 'be submitted' rather than 'is submitted' or 'will be submitted'. This is a formal grammatical construction frequently tested in academic writing contexts.

Identify the sentence that correctly handles a dangling participle:

Answer: Having revised the hypothesis, the researchers began data collection immediately.

A participial phrase ('Having revised the hypothesis') must refer to the grammatical subject of the main clause. In option A, 'the data collection phase' cannot logically revise a hypothesis — this is a dangling participle. Option B correctly places 'the researchers' as the subject, who can logically perform the revising. Option C still dangles (the phase revised nothing), and option D uses passive voice awkwardly, obscuring the agent.

Which of the following sentences contains a squinting modifier?

Answer: Students who study rarely fail important examinations.

A squinting modifier is an adverb placed between two verbs or clauses so that it ambiguously modifies either the element before or after it. In option A, 'rarely' could modify 'study' (students who rarely study) or 'fail' (students rarely fail). This double reading makes the sentence structurally flawed. Options B, C, and D each place 'rarely' unambiguously.

Select the sentence in which pronoun-antecedent agreement is handled correctly with a gender-neutral indefinite pronoun:

Answer: Every delegate must submit their travel claim before they leave the conference.

Modern academic and professional style guides (including APA 7th edition and Chicago 17th edition) endorse the singular 'they/their' as the preferred gender-neutral pronoun for indefinite antecedents like 'every delegate' or 'anyone'. Option B is grammatically acceptable but stylistically cumbersome in formal prose. Option C ('its') incorrectly treats a person as an object. Option D uses a gendered default that is now considered non-inclusive in formal writing.

Which sentence correctly distinguishes between a restrictive and a non-restrictive relative clause?

Answer: The novel that won the Booker Prize explores post-colonial identity.

A restrictive relative clause identifies which specific noun is being referred to and is NOT set off by commas. 'That' is used for restrictive clauses: 'the novel that won the Booker Prize' specifies which novel. Option A incorrectly uses 'that' with commas (making it non-restrictive, which contradicts 'that'). A non-restrictive clause uses 'which' and IS set off by commas — but options C and D both have comma errors. Option B is the only correctly punctuated restrictive clause.

A student writes: 'The reason the experiment failed was because the temperature controls malfunctioned.' What is the grammatical error, and which revision corrects it?

Answer: Redundant construction; corrected as: 'The reason the experiment failed was that the temperature controls malfunctioned.'

'The reason was because' is a redundant construction — 'because' means 'for the reason that', so the phrase becomes 'the reason was for the reason that', which is circular. The correct construction is 'the reason was that', using a noun clause with 'that' as the complement. Option A introduces 'due to' with a gerund phrase, which is awkward and still avoids the core fix. Option C creates a sentence fragment. Option D changes number without fixing the logical redundancy.