My Gramma Are Sick Trivia Quiz

Answer: I enjoy reading mystery stories

A fragment occurs when a group of words that is not a clause is presented as a complete sentence "By such authors as Ellery Queen and Rex Stout" is a phrase, not a sentence, because it has no verb. "Because I find them relaxing" and "When particularly the plot is complex" are not sentences because each begins with a subordinating conjunction, meaning each cannot stand alone as a sentence.

"I enjoy reading mystery stories" is a sentence as it stands. It could also be used in a longer sentence in combination with the incorrect options: "I enjoy reading mystery stories [main clause] by such authors as Ellery Queen and Rex Stout [modifying phrase] because I find them relaxing [subordinate clause], particularly when the plot is complex [subordinate clause]."

Answer: 5

The misspelled words are camal, carravan, dessert, weak, and arived. With the correct spelling, the sentence should read: "The camel caravan crossed the desert for a week before it arrived at the oasis." Dessert (an after dinner treat) and desert (which can mean both a wasteland and to abandon) are often confused.

Although week and weak are pronounced the same, they have different meanings. Week usually means a period of seven days; weak usually means not strong, soft, or pliable.

Answer: After learning to dance, I lost my shyness.

A dangling modifier occurs when there is nothing in the sentence to which it refers. "After learning to dance" correctly modifies "I". The flamingo is not driving through the everglades; try "Driving through the Everglades, I saw a flamingo." Practice is not trying to get on an Olympic team; better modification, "To obtain a place on an Olympic team, one must practice intensively." Similarly, "The police" are not "dialing the telephone frantically"; add a subject for the modifier such as "Dialing the telephone frantically, she called the police."

Answer: We visited France, Spain, Austria, and Italy.

Elements of equal value should be expressed in the same grammatical form. Only "We visited France, Spain, Austria, and Italy" does that. Other ways of appropriately expressing this idea include: "France, Spain, Austria, and Italy were on our itinerary"; "In Europe, we stopped in France, Spain, Austria, and Italy"; "Our trip took us to France, Spain, Austria, and Italy"; or "We got to see Paris in France, Madrid in Spain, Vienna in Austria, and Rome in Italy".

Answer: The dog heard a noise; he barked.

Independent clauses should be linked by a semicolon as in "The dog heard a noise; he barked" or a coordinating conjunction such as "The dog heard a noise, so he barked." In "The dog heard a noise, therefore he barked," therefore is a conjunctive adverb, not a coordinating conjunction.

A comma splice/fault can also be corrected by making two sentences ("The dog heard a noise. He barked.") or by rewriting the sentence in other ways, such as "When the dog heard a noise, he barked."

Answer: Although the lessons I learned in school were important, they were not as important as those I learned on the street.

In the correct answer, the comma separates a dependent clause (less important) from a main clause (more important) indicating which lessons were primary. The other sentences could be revised in these ways:
"Help," screamed Jane. "I'm coming," replied Tarzan.
Dr. Wong, on the other hand, has had great success in research.
Your report should have several parts: an introduction, a body, a conclusion, and notes.

Answer: Either a cat or a dog makes a good household pet.

Verbs must agree in number with their subjects (a plural subject must have a plural verb, and a singular subject must have a singular verb). In "Either a cat or a dog makes a good household pet", the subject is singular (compare "Both a cat and a dog make good household pets").

In the other three sentences, the subjects are plural ("no children or pets", "she and I", and "friction and gravity"). They should read something like: "No children or pets are allowed"; "She and I were chosen to speak at graduation"; and "Friction and gravity work together."

Answer: Indefatigable

"Indefatigable" is correct. "Indesison" should be "Indecision"; "Indelacate" is spelled "Indelicate"; and "Indemnaty" is "Indemnity". In each case, the incorrect spelling results from using the sound of the word as commonly pronounced to determine how it is spelled.

Answer: He ran to the dock the ship had sailed.

A run-on/run-together sentence occurs when two independent clauses are linked with nothing between them. The two independent clauses are "He ran to the dock" and "the ship had sailed", because each has a subject and verb with no subordinating words. Several ways exist to correct this error, including the other three options.

The clauses can be linked by a semicolon as in "He ran to the dock; the ship had sailed", by a comma and coordinating conjunction as in "He ran to the dock, but the ship had sailed", or by turning one independent clause into a dependent clause as in "Although he ran to the dock [dependent clause], the ship had sailed [independent clause]."

Answer: Walking along the river, we saw several sailboats.

A misplaced/misdirected modifier occurs when it is modifying the wrong element in a sentence. Modifiers should be attached to the nearest noun or pronoun. "Walking along the river, we saw several sailboats" is correct because the sailboats could not be "walking along the river" - we are doing so. "Nailed to a fence, we saw several posters" suggests that we were nailed to the fence, not a comfortable way to see the posters.

The situation is much clearer if we write, "We saw several posters nailed to the fence." Similarly, the other incorrect options would be correctly written as "We saw a pride of lions eating a zebra" and "The dog, barking in the night, disturbed the baby".