GED Language Arts Practice Test: Sentence Structure and Usage
- Sentence Structure: Run-ons, Fragments and Modifiers
- 10 questions
- 13 minutes
These 10 questions practice the editing skills on the GED Reasoning Through Language Arts test: run-on sentences, fragments, modifiers, parallel structure, agreement and transitions. Read each choice in full, because a revision can fix one error and create another.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
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Question 1
Read the sentence.
The library closes at six on Saturdays it is closed all day on Sundays.
Which revision correctly fixes the sentence?
Correct answer: B
The sentence joins two complete sentences with no punctuation. A semicolon can join them correctly. A comma alone creates a comma splice, which is still an error.
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Question 2
Read the sentences.
Because the shipment arrived late. The store opened an hour behind schedule.
Which revision correctly combines the sentences?
Correct answer: C
"Because the shipment arrived late" is a dependent clause and cannot stand alone; joined to the main clause with a comma, it forms a complete sentence. The last choice is grammatical but reverses the cause and the effect.
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Question 3
Read the sentence.
Walking into the office, the smell of fresh coffee greeted Dana.
Which revision corrects the dangling modifier?
Correct answer: A
The phrase "Walking into the office" must describe the person who walks, so "Dana" has to come right after it. In the other choices the smell or the coffee seems to be walking.
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Question 4
Read the sentence.
The training covers how to file reports, answering customer calls, and the safety rules.
Which revision makes the list parallel?
Correct answer: D
In a parallel list every item has the same form; here all three items begin with an -ing verb. The other choices still mix "to" forms, "how to" forms, -ing forms and nouns.
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Question 5
Choose the word that correctly completes the sentence.
The box of old photographs ______ on the top shelf of the closet.
Correct answer: B
The subject is "box," which is singular; "of old photographs" only describes it. Choosing "are" makes the verb agree with "photographs," the noun closest to the verb, instead of with the subject.
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Question 6
Choose the word that correctly completes the sentence.
The manager asked Luis and ______ to stay late on Friday.
Correct answer: C
The pronoun is an object of the verb "asked," so it takes the object form "me." A quick test is to drop "Luis and": "The manager asked me" sounds right, while "asked I" does not. "Myself" is used only when the subject is also the speaker.
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Question 7
Read the sentence.
She almost drove her kids to school every day last year.
Which revision makes clear that she drove her kids to school on most, but not all, days?
Correct answer: B
"Almost" should sit right before the words it limits, "every day." In the original it modifies "drove," which suggests she nearly drove but did not. Placing it before "to school" means she stopped short of the school each day.
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Question 8
Read the sentence from an email.
Thank you for your application, we will contact you within two weeks.
Which revision correctly fixes the comma splice?
Correct answer: A
Two complete sentences joined only by a comma form a comma splice; separating them with a period fixes it. Removing the comma creates a run-on, and the commas around "and" and "so" are incorrect.
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Question 9
Choose the transition that best connects the ideas.
The new schedule saves the company time and money. ______, several employees say they prefer the old one.
Correct answer: D
The second sentence contrasts with the first: the schedule has benefits, yet some workers do not like it. "Therefore" would wrongly suggest that the benefits caused the employees to prefer the old schedule.
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Question 10
Read the sentence.
Yesterday the team finishes the project and sent it to the client.
Which is the correct form of the underlined verb?
Correct answer: C
"Yesterday" and the past-tense verb "sent" show that the action is complete and in the past, so the verb must be "finished." The underlined "finishes" is present tense, which does not match the rest of the sentence.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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