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COM 101 FINAL REVIEW TESTS

Terms in this set (155)

The Washington Post used this headline in two parts on a story that profiled a Planned Parenthood clinic in Akron, Ohio:

Planned Parenthood is a symbol. This is the reality of one Ohio clinic.

The main verb...
in both parts is "is."
When Viola Davis accepted her Emmy as the first African-American to win in the lead drama actress category, she said,

"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity."

The main verb in her statement is ...
"is"
The Daily Orange newsletter described a story this way on Sept. 21:

Syracuse University faculty and administrators are discussing the possibility of opening a tuition free, veteran-focused medical school. Those who graduate would have to care for veterans in VA hospitals across the nation.

The main verb in the underlined sentence is in the _____________ tense.
present progressive
The Minneapolis Star Tribune used this headline on a recent story:

1 in 4 undergrad women have experienced unwanted sexual contact, says survey at 27 US colleges
The main verb in the underlined part of the sentence is in the _______ tense.
present perfect
On its home page, NYTimes.com titled and summarized an article in the following words:

Carnegie Hall Faces Internal Strife Ahead of Anniversary Season
The institution is confronting ____ unusual public crisis born of conflict between Ronald O. Perelman, who is stepping down as chairman, and Carnegie's artistic director.

In the blank there should be ...
the indefinite article "an"
Bloomberg.com used this sentence in a recent story:

The National Football League can use drones to shoot films, documentaries and television segments, becoming the first major sports league to receive such permission from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The main verb in this passage is ...
"use"
Writings of Harper Lee's dad (reveals, reveal) Atticus Finch's conflict

This headline was used by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on a story about Harper Lee, the author of the widely read novel To Kill a Mockingbird and an earlier book that was first published this summer. The father figure in both novels was a lawyer named Atticus Finch. In the newly published early novel, he is sympathetic to racial segregation; in Mockingbird, he defended a black man. Lee is believed to have modeled Finch in both books on her father, a newspaper editor.

To conform to Standard American English, the word in the parentheses should be ...
reveal
A Daily Orange article on the 10 most affordable cities included the following:

The city of Syracuse has been named the ninth-most affordable city to live in the U.S. by the real estate website Trulia.

That sentence was written in ...
the passive voice
Time.com used this headline on a recent story:

Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Write the New Black Panther Comics for Marvel

The headline is in the ______ tense.
future
These Texans said their truck was vandalized with 'Black Lives Matter.' Police say they lied.

Which of the following statements describe these verbs
The verb phrase "was vandalized" uses the transitive verb "vandalize," and the verb "lied," used here to mean "told a lie," is an intransitive verb.
A sign displayed at a Mississippi football game said: "Ole Miss women are easier than their out-of-conference schedule." CNN used this headline on a story about the challenge that the sign and other offensive messages pose to broadcasters:

ESPN vows to take closer look at showcased fan signs

In this context, the word 'look" is acting as ...
a noun
Time.com used this headline with a graphic that summarized the scandal about Volkswagen's false emission data:

Everything to Know About the Volkswagen Scandal in 1 Graphic

Which of the following statements about the headline is correct, according to Standard American English?
In the headline, the word "know" is acting as the main verb. *this is wrong*
The Financial Times used this headline recently in a story about the expanding efforts of organized crime:

Mexican drug cartels eye Asian markets

The underlined word "eye" in the headline is acting as ...
a present tense verb
A website called upworthy.com used a headline similar to this on a video sponsored by Teton Gravity Research:

"Awesome" doesn't begin to describe this rare ultra-HD aerial footage of the Himalayas

The underlined word "awesome" in this context is being used as ...
a noun
ABC News' website captioned a video in this way:

This is a tale of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," only with two more. When one little girl in Rockaway Township, New Jersey, discovered five adorable bears not only luxuriating in her pool, but also having fun with her beloved floaties, trying them out to see which one is "just right," she was not happy. "There's bears in the pool! They took my floatie!," she says ..., obviously not keen on the idea of sharing.

With regard to the underlined sentence, which of the following statements is true?
"There's" should be "there are" to conform to Standard American English usage.
A Boston Globe column about the refugee crisis in Europe included the following passage:

The last time people were flowing into Western Europe on this scale was in the aftermath of World War II.

The underlined word is ...
acting as a helping verb
NPR used this caption with the chart above:

About 50 percent of the vegetables available today are tomatoes and potatoes, according to new USDA data. Lettuce is the third most available single vegetable. Legumes and all other vegetables make up 41 percent of what's available.

The main verb in the underlined passage is ..
a linking verb
The Boston Globe used this headline on a recent story:

Revised data show hackers stole fingerprints of 5.6 million federal workers

The underlined word "revised" is acting as ...
an adjective
A week after Elton John received a hoax call from "Vladimir Putin," The New York Times started a story with these words:

MOSCOW — This time, the Russians said, it really happened.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia telephoned the singer-songwriter Elton John, who had asked for a meeting with him to discuss the status of gay rights in Russia.

The underlined word "This" is acting as ...
a demonstrative
The New York Times feature on this aboriginal artist from Australia makes it clear that he is not a painter whose work was unknown before he arrived in New York City. Here is a passage from the article:

Mr. Tjapaltjarri, who is believed to be in his late 50s, has had an international following for several years, and currently has pieces in a show traveling the United States.

The sentence has a compound predicate that uses the verb "have" twice. Which of the following statements correctly describes the tense of each of those uses?
The first use of "has" is as a helping verb, followed by "had" to convey the action. Together they form the present perfect tense, which indicates that the action began in the past and continues to the present. The second use is in the present tense so it conveys his ownership of the pieces in a show traveling America.
China's president visited the state of Washington before going to Washington, D.C. The Christian Science Monitor used this headline on a story about one stop on that visit:

China's Xi Jinping brings ping pong diplomacy to Tacoma high school

In that context, the underlined words "ping pong" are acting as ...
an adjective
A commentator on WWL Radio in New Orleans used this headline on his blog about the LSU victory over SU:

Tigers overcome plethora of penalties to juice the Orange

The underlined word "overcome" is classified as ...
an irregular verb
When word first emerged that the speaker of the house would be retiring, The Washington Post story began this way:

Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), faced with a constant conservative rebellion, told Republicans Friday morning that he will resign at the end of October, according to aides and lawmakers in a closed-door meeting.

Which of the following, if any, serves as the main verb of that sentence?
told
Time.com used this headline on a story related to the recent visit by President Xi Jinping of China:

China Shows (Its, It's, Its') Getting Serious About Climate Change

Which of the words in parentheses would conform to Standard American English?
It's
The New York Times review of Hillary Clinton's appearance on Saturday Night Live, playing a friendly bartender while Kate McKinnon played her, included this sentence:

Mrs. Clinton also showed off a serviceable Donald Trump impression.

The main verb in that sentence is ...
showed off
USA Today recently used a quotation as a headline:

Jeb Bush: 'These polls really don't matter'

The underlined word "These" is acting as ...
a demonstrative
Hiphopwired.com began a story about the reaction to Straight Outta Compton this way:

Straight Outta Compton has made the Hip-Hop world go stir crazy with biopic fever, but that doesn't mean the artists theirselves are eager to hop on the bandwagon.

To conform to Standard American English, the underlined word "theirselves" ...
should be changed to "themselves."
The New York Times posted this image, accompanied by this caption: "The mural in support of Atena Farghadani, the jailed Iranian illustrator, that has been vandalized in Red Hook, Brooklyn." The headline on the story said:
In Brooklyn, a Protest Mural Draws (It's, Its, Its') Own Protest
The word in parentheses should be ...
Its
ET Online used this headline on a recent story:

Exes Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner Enjoy Super-Friendly Sushi Night Out

What is the relationship between the underlined term "Super-Friendly" and the words "Sushi Night Out"?
"Super-friendly" is acting as an adjective describing "Sushi Night Out."
Syracuse.com used this headline following the LSU game:

LSU defensive end Lewis Neal on Syracuse's effort: 'They gave us their best shot, I promise you that'

Which of the following statements describes the role of the underlined words — "gave" and "promise" — in the headline?
The word "gave" is an irregular verb in the simple past tense, while "promise" is a regular verb in the simple present tense.
On September 27, 2015, Yahoo News included a report that began with the following headline:

Box Office: 'Hotel Transylvania 2' Sets September Record With $47.5M

The underlined words "September Record" are acting as ...
the direct object
The Washington Post used this passage in a story about why some scientists are worried about an area in the North Atlantic while the world as a whole set a record for high temperatures:

In the North Atlantic Ocean south of Greenland and Iceland, the ocean surface has seen very cold temperatures for the past eight months.

The underlined word "very" is acting as
an adverb
After monsoon flooding in southern Utah killed 13 people on September 14, tusconnewsnow.com included the following sentence in its report:

The Utah Department of Emergency Management flew a drone over the flooded area in an effort to better inform search and recovery teams.

The underlined word "flew" ...
is acting as a transitive verb.
In advance of the visit to Philadelphia by Pope Francis, a New York Times story included the following:

At the White House on Wednesday, (Pope Francis) pointedly referred to himself as "the son of an immigrant family," and one of the two recommendations "close to my heart" that he made to fellow bishops later that day concerned immigration.

The underlined word "himself" is acting as ...
a reflexive pronoun
Time.com used this headline on a recent story:

How Vladimir Putin Set the Stage for His Talks With Obama on Syria

The underlined words — "the" and "his" — were used as ...
determiners
Huffington Post used this headline on a recent story:

Croatia Can No Longer Accept Refugees, But They're On Their Way There Anyway

According to Standard American English,
All of the other answers are correct.
A feature on the Narrative.ly website about the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., included this passage:

Thousands of souls are laid to rest here, at the end of a series of arterial streets with numbers for names on the eastern lip of Capitol Hill. Many names are common. Others are not. Some carry surnames that lie on the lips of average Americans — Clay, Calhoun, Adams, Hoover.

The words "laid" and "lie" are used in this passage. Which of the following statements, if any, reflect the way these words are used in Standard American English?
The word "laid" is a transitive verb while the word "lie" is an intransitive verb.
The Boston Herald used this headline on a preview of a football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals:

Ravens should fly high vs. Bengals

The underlined word "high" is acting as ..
an adverb
Time.com provided a link so readers could see Shakira sing John Lennon's "Imagine." The opening paragraph of the story that accompanied the link began:

Pop superstar Shakira Mebarak performed a soulful rendition of "Imagine" at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, the same day Pope Francis made a historic appearance at the meeting.

Which of the following statements describe the underlined words?
Both "performed" and "made" are transitive verbs in the past tense, but "made" is an irregular verb.
Donald Trump said:

"If he (the pope) is in favor of illegal immigration, he doesn't understand it. Nobody has properly explained it to him. And I'm Christian."

Trump used the underlined word "properly" as ...
an adverb
The New York Times reported recently on an experiment using fictitious job application letters and resumes that were identical except for the fact that one-third mentioned that a spinal cord disability, another third disclosed Asperger's syndrome and the other third discussed no disability. The story began this way:

Employers appear to discriminate against well-qualified job candidates who have a disability, researchers at Rutgers and Syracuse universities have concluded.

The underlined word "appear" is ..
a linking or state-of-being verb.
The New York Times used this headline on a story in its science section:

Sorry, Einstein. Quantum Study Suggests 'Spooky Action' Is Real.

The comma after "sorry" ...
is used to set off a term of address from the person being addressed — in this case, Einstein.
After widespread power outages hit the Washington, DC, area in April, affecting government and privately-owned buildings and the city's public transit rail system, CNN.com reported:

The power outage, which is affecting about 2,000 customers in the Washington area was caused by a small explosion and fire at a power substation in southern Maryland, according to local and U.S. officials.

The punctuation of the sentence ...
needs a comma after "area."
The New York Times used this headline recently:

Facebook Revenue Surges 41%, as Ads and Users Keep Growing

The headline is ..
a complex sentence.
This cartoon by Michael Keefe shows members of Congress signing the Second Amendment in 1789 before sending it — along with other amendments to the Constitution — to the states for ratification. One is signing the document as others watch him. However, this question is asked by a man who is standing behind him, apparently because he's waiting to sign it: "And if the technology advances past single-shot muskets, do we trust future Congresses to wisely edit the wording?" Another congressman answers: "Well, duh?"

What role is the underlined passage — "if the technology advances past single-shot muskets" — playing in the sentence?
subordinate clause
*** NOT a prepositional phrase
The Boston Globe lifestyle section began a story about a new trend in business casual wear this way:

When Nicole Gergits, a junior at Boston University, wants to look professional, she knows just what to put on. Leather jacket. Knee-high cognac-colored boots from Madewell. And, of course, yoga pants.

The underlined passage is ...
*** NOT a dependent clause OR an independent clause OR a noun clause
Frank Bruni, a New York Times columnist, said that during the first hour of the third Republican debate, Donald Trump largely disappeared because his rivals and the moderators demonstrated less interest in him. Bruni added:

A Trump without attention is like a petunia without water and light. It fades. It droops.

In that context, the word "like" is acting as ...
a preposition.
The Boston Globe ran a feature recently about a science-based organization that investigates ghostly phenomena, wherever they may be found, free of charge. The headline said:

Please don't call them ghostbusters

The headline ...
is an independent clause.
The Boston Globe recently advised readers to stay away from bears in populated areas. The story included this passage:

The danger from the most massive wild animals in New England has increased due to the human desire to take a selfie while standing beside a bear.

The underlined words "due to" are acting as ...
a complex preposition (also called a phrasal preposition).
Advertising Age recently reported on the story behind a new campaign by the Holiday Inn hotel chain that features a Chinese mother and daughter, part of the chain's effort to appeal to families as well as business travelers as it expands its hotels in China. A line promoting the story said

There's fierce competition among hotel brands to win over the middle-class Chinese traveler.

The subject of that line is ...
"fierce competition."
The AP Stylebook advises against using the Oxford comma -- a comma that comes after the next-to-the-last element in a series and before the conjunction "and" -- unless it's needed to clarify the meaning. An online discussion considered this example:

"I would like to thank my parents, Oprah and God."

Below are some of the comments made online. Which, if any, of the comments is incorrect?
*** NOT : The Oxford comma would not be needed if the order of elements in the series was changed this way: "I would like to thank Oprah, God and my parents." OR all comments are correct OR Assuming his parents are Oprah and God, then you're correct that no comma is needed. The likelihood of those two being his parents is slim.
After students at the University of Mississippi voted against displaying the state flag on campus, Stuart Stevens wrote for The Daily Beast website about his own days at Ole Miss. He included the following information as background for his recollections:

On Monday, Oct. 26, the University of Mississippi lowered the state flag of Mississippi, which includes the Confederate battle flag in its design. It will not be raised again until the state officially drops the Confederate imagery.

The underlined passage — "which includes the Confederate battle flag in its design" — is acting as ...
a relative or adjective clause.
Jacksonville.com in Florida used this headline on a story about a 45-year-old woman who started studying at Florida State College at Jacksonville in 1998:

She went to FSCJ reading at 2nd grade level_ now she tutors there

There's a blank between "level" and "now." To conform to Standard American English, it needs ...
a semicolon.
Here's a sentence from a New York Times online feature about the way ice is melting on Greenland and the challenge that it presents to scientists who are measuring the change:

Taking each measurement was so difficult and dangerous that it would require two scientists at a time.

The sentence can be classified as ..
a sentence with a compound subject complement, in this case a predicate adjective.
After scientists confirmed data that showed significant drops in brightness from a star "whose light curves seemed to dip tremendously at irregular intervals," The Washington Post wrote a story about speculation that the phenomenon could be related to structures built by aliens. It included this passage:

Using data from the Kepler Space Telescope, volunteers sift through records of brightness levels from roughly 150,000 stars beyond our solar system. Ordinarily, planet hunters are looking for the telltale drops in brightness that happen when a planet crosses in front of its sun.

In that context, the underlined word "ordinarily" is acting as ...
a conjunctive adverb
*** NOT a subordinating conjunction
Mark Twain once said:

Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions.

The main verb or verbs in that statement ...
is "are."
The New York Times recently published an investigation of illegal gambling on fantasy sports websites. A summary of the background of the legislation that tried to crack down on the activity nearly 10 years ago included this passage:

In 2006, Congress tried to crack down on illegal online sports betting. It didn't understand how the gambling business worked. It also didn't understand the Internet.

The underlined words — "how the gambling business worked" is acting as ...
the direct object of the sentence.
An opinion column appeared in The New York Times before the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on a case challenging what the writer called "the all-too-common practice by which prosecutors deliberately exclude African-Americans from criminal juries."

The underlined words "all-too-common" use horizontal punctuation marks. Those marks ...
are called hyphens and join words that act together to convey their meaning.
The New York Times used this headline on a story about the way some Chinese are wearing plastic "plants" in their hair:

Once Seed Was Planted, Chinese Headwear Fad Grew Like Weeds

The underlined word "once" is acting as ...
a subordinating conjunction.
The subject of a sentence ...
All of the above are correct.
This sentence began a New York Times story on cross-country at the high school level:

Running has a special place in Hopi culture, and the Hopi High School boys' cross-countryteam is building on that heritage, with a chance at a 26th straight Arizona state title Saturday.

This is ...
a compound sentence.
Time.com used this headline on a story about a form of prosthetic that is being developed:

Artificial Skin That Can Feel Is In Our Future

The underlined words "That Can Feel" ...
act as an adjective or relative clause, which is not set off by commas because its meaning is considered essential.
The New York Times has begun a series of videos about race that it calls "Off Color." The headline on a story behind the story is:

Race: If You Can't Laugh About It ...

The headline is ...
a sentence fragment.
Editorial cartoonist Signe Wilkinson illustrates what she calls "America's one-child policy" as barriers to having more children: student loans, stagnant wages and housing costs. The caption — "America enforces its one-child policy" — uses the word "its" without an apostrophe. In this context ...
the apostrophe should be omitted.
The New York Times began a report from Moscow this way:

President Vladimir V. Putin on Friday suspended all flights from Russia to Egypt, the most popular tourist destination for Russians, as several airlines imposed bans on checked luggage over concerns that a bomb in the cargo hold brought down the Russian charter jet that broke apart over the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, killing all 224 people on board.

The underlined passage — "the most popular tourist destination for Russians" — is ...
an appositive.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said:
I am neither bitter nor cynical, but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking.
In this context, the words "neither" and "nor" work together as ...
a correlating conjunction.
The American Dialect Society listed the / (pronounced "slash") as one of the most useful words of 2013. It said it could be used to mean "and/or" (as in "come and visit slash stay") or "so" (as in "I love that place, slash can we go there?").

Therefore, the / would be classified as ...
a coordinating conjunction.
At the local airport, Alex lifted his obviously overstuffed but surprisingly light luggage onto the scale at the ticket counter.

The underlined word group is an example of ...
an adjective phrase.
In the sentences below, which of the underlined word groups is not functioning as an adverb phrase?
By morning, the coat was dry enough to be put in her closet.
1. Elmo, the Johnsons' old golden retriever, has never bitten anyone although there are plenty of neighbors who are afraid that he might do so.

The verb phrase in the sentence above is ...
"has bitten."
A lazy summer day filled with no responsibilities would feel really nice about now.
The underlined word group is ...
a participial phrase
*** NOT an adverb phrase
Which of the following underlined word groups is a participial phrase?
13-year-old Sam gave 8-year-old Elliot a bag bulging with marbles.
Which of the following sentences uses period symbols correctly, according to the rules of Standard American English?
The Village of Clifton Springs is located off Rt. 96.
Professor Adams warned the class, "I hope you'll prepare for this assignment. Over half of those who tried to complete it last semester weren't prepared, and they made significant errors. I believe that if you're prepared—and are bit lucky—you will do well."

A shortened form of this quotation, correctly punctuated, would be ...
"I hope you'll prepare for this assignment. ... I believe that if you're prepared ... you will do well."
*** NOT "I hope you'll prepare for this assignment. ... I believe that if you're prepared, you will do well."
Which of the following sentences provides an example of correct comma use?
"It looks as though there is little more we can do," she conceded, "but we shouldn't give up."
*** NOT Fred's family moved from Omaha, Nebraska to New Haven, Connecticut after his freshman year of high school.
Which of the following sentences illustrates an inappropriate use of a question mark?
She refused to answer me when I asked who called?
Which of the following sentences uses parentheses and/or brackets incorrectly?
They said, "You will not be accepted into this program unless you know the right people (emphasis added)."
The six week old puppies were ready to leave their mother, but giving them up to new owners didn't figure into Kathleen's long term plans for the litter.

To conform to the rules of Standard American English, what should be done with the underlined word groups?
Both "six week old" and "long term" should be hyphenated.
Dashes ...
All of the above are correct.
In the following sentence, what is the underlined preposition?

My mother told me I had to clean out the refrigerator.
"Out" is part of the phrasal verb "clean out."
Which of the following sentences is punctuated correctly?
I enjoy several types of movies: romance, sci-fi, horror, and documentaries.
Which of the following sentences is punctuated correctly?
Did you hear him say, "I love you"?
Which of the following sentences is punctuated correctly?
She asked her mother, "Can I go to the party?"
In the following sentence, identify the appositive and the noun it renames.

No one could believe the little boy stood up to John, the biggest bully in the whole school.
"The biggest bully in the school" is an appositive that renames the noun "John."
Which of the following sentences contains a gerund phrase?
Jumping on the trampoline is my favorite thing to do.
Which of the following sentences contains a phrasal verb?
I like hanging around with people who like the same things I do.
Identify the linking verb and subject complement in the following sentence.

Why are so many of the things you want for Christmas so expensive?
"Expensive" is the subject complement that follows the linking verb "are."
*** NOT "Many" is the subject complement that follows the linking verb "are." OR "Expensive" is the subject complement that follows the linking verb "want."
Which of the following sentences contains a prepositional phrase?
I practically had to shove him out the door.
Which of the following word groups is a phrase?
In the middle of the night
Which of the following word groups is a clause?
water gurgled
*** NOT With her feet planted in the shifting sand OR the smooth slippery stones
An NPR feature about a British sculptor who works in natural media like ice, snow, mud, wind and the rising tide included this sentence:
He has also (laid, lay, lied, lain) in the rain to create "rain shadows" in the shape of his body on city streets.
Which of the words in parentheses should be used to conform to Standard American English?
NOT lied OR laid OR lay
A possessive pronoun uses no apostrophe because it stands for what belongs to the owner of the object, so what is ours belongs to us and what is its belongs to it.
True
Truro Public Library on Cape Cod, MA, displayed this carved pumpkin on a shelf and posted its picture on its Facebook page. Children and librarians built the library and its tiny patrons. The Boston Globe used this caption with its story about the project and the global audience it attracted:
Something about this pumpkin has captured people's imaginations.
The verb in the caption is ...
in the present perfect tense.
The Washington Post used this headline on a recent story:
People are getting shot by toddlers on a weekly basis this year
The headline is in the ...
passive voice
NOT active voice. OR neither active nor passive voice.
The New York Times used this headline on a recent story:
Australia Deploys Sheepdogs to Help a Penguin Colony Back From the Brink
The underlined words "to Help" are ...
an infinitive.
Pronouns usually point to the previous noun or noun phrase in a sentence or in the preceding sentence.
True
The National Football League fined William Gay of the Pittsburgh Steelers $5,797 for wearing purple cleats as a way to support Domestic Violence Awareness Month and to honor his mother, who was murdered by her partner when Gay was only eight years old. The New York Daily News began its story about the fine this way:
The NFL is remaining firm on its uniform rules, no matter the cause or charity.
The main verb in that sentence ...
is in the present progressive tense.
The Washington Post recently reported that CBS This Morning, which features Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell and focuses on what it calls "real news," has been climbing steadily in the ratings over the last year. The Post story also says:
There is little temptation to stray from the hard-news mission. The few times the show has veered from its formula, viewers notice and aren't pleased.
Which of the following statements is correct?
Because of the wording of the first part of the sentence, the underlined passage should read, "viewers noticed and weren't pleased."
NOT Looking at the complete sentence, it's clear that the underlined passage — "viewers notice and aren't pleased" — conforms to Standard American English. OR To conform to Standard American English, the underlined passage should read "viewers notice and are not pleased."
Earlier this year, Fortune magazine ran a feature about students who turned down higher ranked business school to attend UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management. The story focused on two graduate students from the Northeast. One of them turned down Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business because of the West Coast culture and the emphasis on technology. He was quoted as saying:
"There's a very different way that people think on the West Coast. People aren't afraid to start with a blank canvas and rethink everything. I like that lifestyle. If I (had went, have went, had gone, have gone) to Tuck, I would have never left the Northeast."
To conform to Standard American English, the words in parentheses should have been ...
"had gone."
The Boston Globe lifestyle section used this line to call attention to its story about James Bond and the new car he'll be driving in his forthcoming film:
Agent 007 never goes far from his trusty (and frankly, sexy) Aston Martin
The main verb in that line is ..
an irregular verb.
Access Hollywood was one of the first to report that CBS plans to air a new Star Trek series in 2017. The story began this way:
"Star Trek" will boldly go back to the small screen - and then to the streaming screen.
That sentence is in ...
the active voice and future tense.
NOT the passive voice and future tense.
NBCNews.com interviewed Aretha Franklin before she sang for Pope Francis. The story began this way:
Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin (has sang, has singed, has sung) for many dignitaries in her lifetime.
The correct wording is ...
"has sung."
This picture from the Inquisitr website asks: Is this cat going up or down? The verb phrase in that question uses an action verb. Is it a transitive or intransitive verb?
an intransitive verb.
Whitehouse.gov posted this statement by President Obama after George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin. It included the following:
The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America.
When The Washington Post incorporated the passage into its story, it said:
The White House issued a statement in which Obama characterized Martin's death as "a tragedy . . . not just for his family . . . but for America."
The use of an ellipsis between "tragedy" and "not" is confusing because (according to the rules of Standard American English) that punctuation is used to indicate words are missing.
TRUE
When a helping verb is used for a progressive tense, a perfect tense or a passive voice verb, it ...
conveys the time frame of the action or state of being verb.
This was the headline on a New York Times story based on a Pew Research Center survey:
Stressed, Tired, Rushed: A Portrait of the Modern Family
In this context, each of the words "stressed," "tired" and "rushed" is acting as ..
an adjective.
What is the main verb in this Esquire Magazine tweet, which reads, "Adele's managers kicked her off Twitter for drunk tweeting too much"?
"kicked off"
NOT "kicked"
The Denver Post began one of its stories about widespread sexting by hundreds of high school students this way:
Cañon City High School's varsity football team forfeited its final regular season game after evidence surfaced Monday that numerous students — including many football players — had passed around nude photos between apps on their cellphones.
The main verb in the clause "that numerous students — including many football players — had passed around nude photos between apps on their cellphones" is in ...
the past perfect tense
NOT the present perfect tense.
The New York Times recently posted its first reporting using virtual reality. The introduction to the story said:
Nearly 60 million people are currently displaced from their homes because of war and persecution. Half are children. This multimedia journey in text, photographs and virtual reality tells the stories of three of them.
But the main headline was short. It said simply:
The Displaced
In the short main headline, the word "displaced" is acting as ..
a noun.
The New Yorker magazine recently featured a story about an orchestra in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has toured on three continents. The subhead said:
An unlikely orchestra wins the world's attention.
The underlined word "unlikely" is acting as ..
an adjective.
While a clause includes a verb, it must also include _______________ when the verb is transitive.
The words needed in the blank are ...
"a direct object."
A sentence may be organized this way: Actor followed by action and then someone or something that is acted upon.
That organization will result in a sentence in ..
the active voice.
The Boston Globe used this headline on a story about a driverless train on the MBTA that traveled through four stations with about 50 people on board and how it was brought under control:
A call, then a scramble to stop runaway train
The headline is ..
a phrase
NOT an independent clause.
Donald Trump said:
"If he (the Pope) is in favor of illegal immigration, he doesn't understand it. Nobody has properly explained it to him. And I'm Christian."
Trump used the underlined word "properly" as ...
an adverb
An intransitive verb is an action verb that must have a receiver of the action. That receiver will be a direct object if the sentence is in the active voice, but if it's in the passive voice, the receiver will be the subject of the sentence.
FALSE
The Washington Post used this headline on a column about the HDZG advertising agency in Rockville, MD:
Do you speak millennial? If yes, an advertising job may be (your's, yours', yours).
The word in parentheses should be ______ to conform to Standard American English.
yours
The New York Times has begun a series of videos about race that it calls "Off Color." The headline on a story behind the story is:
Race: If You Can't Laugh About It ...
The headline is ..
a sentence fragment.
USA Today recently used a quotation as a headline:
Jeb Bush: 'These polls really don't matter'
The underlined word "These" is acting as ...
a demonstrative.
An adjective can be used to modify ...
a noun or noun phrase.
An adverb may be used to modify ...
a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
A sentence written in the passive voice must use a transitive verb.
True
Vanity Fair began a recent article this way:
The Mormon Church, formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has quietly posted a series of essays on church history and practices on its Web site, and in so doing, admitted that Joseph Smith had up to 40 wives, one as young as 14 years old.
The underlined words, "formally" and "quietly," are ..
both adverbs.
The Sacramento Bee used this headline on a story about a battery that is said to be fast-charging, long-lasting and inexpensive:
Stanford researchers build aluminum battery that charges in 1 minute
The underlined words are acting as ..
an adjective clause, also called a relative clause.
The New York Times used this headline on a recent story:
Weapons Directed by Robots, Not Humans, Raise Ethical Questions
The main verb of the headline is ..
raise
NOT directed
A USA Today story quoted a survivor of the al-Shabab attack on Garissa University College in eastern Kenya who said she smeared blood from classmates on her face and hair and (laid, lay, lied, layed) still at one point in hopes the gunmen would think she was dead.
Which of the words in parentheses should be used to conform to Standard American English?
lay
NOT laid
When a helping verb is used for a progressive tense, a perfect tense or a passive voice verb, it ...
conveys the time frame of the action or state of being verb.
Although a verb is the heart of a sentence, if the main verb of a sentence is eliminated, the remaining words can still be classified as a sentence.
False
SFgate.com began a sad story this way:
The San Francisco Zoo lost one of its brightest lights when its youngest gorilla was killed by a closing hydraulic door.
The underlined passage — when its youngest gorilla was killed by a closing hydraulic door — is ..
NOT an adjective clause. OR an adjective phrase.
WBIW in Bedford, Indiana, ran a story under this headline on its webpage:
Man Arrested After Entering Stranger's Home And Sleeping On Couch
The story said:
The man told police his family (had went, had gone) to bed around 11:30 p.m., and when he woke at 4:30 a.m. to go to work he noticed someone lying on the couch but assumed it was his son.
Later the story said:
The suspect told police that entering a window did not sound like something he would do and stated that the only way he (would have went, would have gone) inside the home was if someone told him it was okay.
To conform to Standard American English, the words in parentheses should be:
"had gone" in the first sentence and "would have gone" in the second sentence.
NOT "had went" in the first sentence and "would have gone" in the second sentence.
The verb "cost" is irregular. It is conjugated like ...
All of the above
The New York Times begins an article about the confusion caused by official pronouncements on epidemics this way:
WASHINGTON — A mysterious virus emerges in Africa and makes its way to our shores. An anxious and skeptical public rejects scientific evidence that the lethal virus is transmitted only through body fluids. There are no drugs to effectively treat infected patients, nor a vaccine to prevent new cases.
The article is actually about the way information emerged about the AIDS epidemic. The beginning of the story uses ...
the present tense.
When CNN reported on widespread power outages that hit the Washington, DC, area, affecting government and privately-owned buildings and the city's public transit rail system, the story included this sentence:
The power outage, which is affecting about 2,000 customers in the Washington area was caused by a small explosion and fire at a power substation in southern Maryland, according to local and U.S. officials.
The punctuation of the sentence ...
needs a comma after area.
Gallup released a poll about attitudes towards the health care system. The headline on the story said:
Americans Satisfied With How Health System Works for Them
The underlined word "them" is ..
an objective pronoun.
This was an OregonLive.com headline following the Duke victory over Wisconsin for the NCAA basketball championship:
Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan doesn't do 'rent-a-player'
The punctuation in the headline joins three words together so that they function as a unit; in fact, they act as a noun serving as the direct object of "doesn't do." The punctuation marks that make that happen are called ...
hyphens
The subject of a sentence ...
All of the above
NBCNews.com began its preview of the Summit of the Americas meeting in Panama this way:
The U.S. wants to emphasize trade, economic development and security, but the upcoming seventh Summit of the Americas will be greatly shaped by America's new policies toward Cuba and sanctions on Venezuelan officials.
That is .
a compound sentence.
This subhead appeared on the website of a South Carolina television station:
Deputies found a Ford Taurus on fire in a ditch, and they got the driver out, they realized he'd been shot.
As written and punctuated, it is ..
a run-on sentence.
Jacksonville.com in Florida used this headline on a story about a 45-year-old woman who started studying at Florida State College at Jacksonville in 1998:
She went to FSCJ reading at 2nd grade level_ now she tutors there
There's a blank between "level" and "now." To conform to Standard American English, it needs ...
a semicolon.
Digiday.com used this headline on a story about the way Burberry used social media to build its reputation as a luxury brand:
How Burberry became the top digital luxury brand
The verb "became" is in ..
the past tense of an irregular verb.
The New York Times did a story about the language used by candidates in the presidential primaries. It began this way:
A little more than two months before the voting begins, the candidates have charged into what appears to be the inaugural profanity primary.
The underlined passage is ...
an adverbial clause.
World Press Photos issued new ethical standards after disqualifying entries for excessive manipulation. Time magazine began its report on the change this way:
The world's most respected photojournalism contest unveils a new set of standards for visual journalism.
The underlined passage is ...
the direct object.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation posted a story on its website about University of Calgary researchers who studied the nests of birds and those of more advanced dinosaurs. The headline said:
Dinosaur nesting research at the U of C shows similarities to birds
The underlined passages are ..
both prepositional phrases.
The New York Times recently started a story from Chicago this way:
CHICAGO — As this city prepared to make public a video from the fatal shooting of a black 17-year-old by a white Chicago police officer, a state prosecutor charged the officer with first-degree murder on Tuesday.
The underlined word "as" is acting as ...
a subordinating conjunction.
CNN recently began a story this way:
Istanbul (CNN) One of the world's most volatile regions was roiled further Tuesday when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border.
The underlined passage is ...
a dependent clause.
NOT a prepositional phrase.
Before billionaire Jack Ma bought the South China Post, CNN began a story this way:
Asia's most powerful businessman looks set to embark on a new venture in the news business.
In this context, the underlined word "looks" is ...
a linking or state-of-being verb
NOT an action verb.
A recent Washington Post article describes how Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers explicitly mentioned Muslims "as they outlined the parameters of religious freedom and equal protection."
The report includes the following passage:
Muslims, referred to in those years as "Mahometans" or alluded to as "Turks," likely lived in this country; an estimated 20 percent of enslaved Africans were Muslim.
Punctuation in that passage ...
conforms to Standard American English.
The New York Times began its story on Saturday's historic election in Saudi Arabia this way:
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Women across Saudi Arabia marked a historic milestone on Saturday, both voting and running as candidates in government elections for the first time, but just outside polling stations they waited for male drivers — a reminder of the limitations still firmly in place.
The underlined passage is ...
NOT joined to the rest of the sentence by a hyphen.
NBC.com used this headline on a story about a dog that adopted an orphan fawn:
Deer, Dog Find Friendship at German Christmas Tree Farm
The comma in the headline ...
replaces the conjunction "and."
NOT should be replaced by a dash to conform to Standard American English.
After nearly 200 countries signed an agreement to work together to address climate change, The Sacramento Bee carried a column under this headline:
Paris climate change accord marks historic progress, if it's not too late
The underlined passage is ...
an independent clause.
The New York Times used this caption for a picture that accompanied a story about a Seton Hall basketball player:
Braeden Anderson is both a varsity basketball player and a first-year law student at Seton Hall.
The underlined passage is ...
a compound subject complement (or predicate nominative).
NOT a compound predicate. OR a compound direct object.
ESPN interviewed Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo on Saturday, and he confirmed that he would be talking with BYU about its head coaching job. ESPN.com used this direct quote from the coach:
"I love the Naval Academy," Niumatalolo said. "I love what it stands for. But when this one opened up, it's different. It's just different for me."
The underlined part of the quote "I love what it stands for" ...
conforms to Standard American English because "stands for" is a phrasal verb.
After the Paris shootings, BroadcastingCable.com reported:
CBS has switched out original episodes of Supergirl and NCIS: Los Angeles initially scheduled to air at 8-11 p.m. Monday (Nov. 16) because the episodes hit too close to home after the horrific Paris bombings, according to someone familiar with the move.
The sentence contains a subordinating conjunction. It is ..
"because."
When USA Today wrote about the premiere of the movie Concussion, it used this headline:
Will Smith was afraid to star in 'Concussion'
In this context, the expression "to star" is ...
the infinitive of the verb "star."
The newsletter HuffPost Black Voices used this passage in its review of "The Wiz Live":
Emerald City in "The Wiz Live!" was reimagined as a lush and glowing, green-colored land of spectacular voguing dancers who were serving up slick dance moves while chanting, "Serve, slay, beat, fierce."
onlineslangdictionary.com says that "vogue" has been recognized as a verb meaning "to pose" since 1997. In the context of this review, it is acting as ...
an adjective.
A Boston Globe newsletter used this headline:
Red Sox, David Price reach deal that is largest ever for a pitcher
The underlined passage "that is largest ever for a pitcher" is ...
an adjective clause.
Other sets by this creator