Sentence Revision and Editing Flashcards

Read the following sentence: The city council, after a long and contentious debate, they finally approved the new zoning ordinance. Which of the following revisions is the most effective?

Answer: The city council, after a long and contentious debate, finally approved the new zoning ordinance.

The original sentence contains a redundant pronoun ('they'). The subject of the sentence is 'The city council,' so the pronoun 'they' is unnecessary and makes the sentence grammatically incorrect. The correct revision removes the redundant pronoun, creating a clear and concise sentence.

Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

Answer: The committee has submitted its report to the board of directors.

This sentence correctly uses a singular verb ('has') to agree with the collective noun 'committee.' The pronoun 'its' also correctly refers to the singular 'committee.' The other options contain errors: A has a subject-verb agreement error ('manager... was'), B has a subject-verb agreement error ('Each... is'), and C contains a dangling modifier ('the bus' was not running down the street).

Read the following sentences: The historic theater was a beloved landmark. It was demolished to make way for a new shopping mall. Which is the best way to combine these two sentences?

Answer: Although the historic theater was a beloved landmark, it was demolished to make way for a new shopping mall.

This option correctly uses the subordinating conjunction 'Although' to show the contrast between the theater's status as a beloved landmark and its demolition. This creates a complex sentence that clearly expresses the relationship between the two ideas. Option A is a comma splice, Option C is a sentence fragment, and Option D is grammatically incorrect.

Which revision best corrects the error in the following sentence? Having studied for weeks, the final exam was still surprisingly difficult.

Answer: Even after studying for weeks, I found the final exam to be surprisingly difficult.

The original sentence contains a dangling modifier. The phrase 'Having studied for weeks' does not logically modify 'the final exam' (the exam didn't study). The corrected sentence clarifies who performed the action of studying ('I'), thus fixing the modification error and creating a logical sentence.

Select the best version of the underlined part of the sentence. The naturalist explained that the migration of monarch butterflies, a journey that can span thousands of miles, are one of the most fascinating phenomena in the animal kingdom.

Answer: is one of the most fascinating phenomena

The subject of the verb is 'migration' (singular), not 'butterflies' (plural). Therefore, the singular verb 'is' is required to agree with the subject. The word 'phenomena' is the correct plural form of 'phenomenon.'

Which of the following sentences uses punctuation correctly?

Answer: The professor asked, "Will you be ready for the test on Friday?"

This sentence correctly places the question mark inside the quotation marks because it is part of the quoted question. Option A misuses a semicolon where commas are needed. Option B incorrectly uses a semicolon after a dependent clause. Option C violates parallel structure ('smart,' 'efficient,' and 'hard-working' would be parallel).