Editing Quiz


Instructions: Consider your corrections for each sentence below. Do not avoid any grammatical issues. Then click on the question to view the correct answer.

Test Your Knowledge

Volkswagen (spelling) is having trouble with only (adverb placement) one of its (a company is an "it," not a "they") new models.

The grand marshal gave his counsel (spelling) to whoever (this is the subject of the verb "sought," so it needs to stay "whoever") sought it.

Only one of the people who work in the laboratory (spell out on first reference; thereafter, "lab" is fine) is a veterinarian (spelling).

He said ("said" is neutral and always the best choice in journalism) he knew (sequence of tenses) a star athlete (spelling) who would (sequence of tenses) sign with the school.

He felt bad because of ("because of" was previously preferred in constructions like this one, but few people know that anymore and so won't be distressed by "due to") the unhygienic (spelling) accommodations (spelling).

He looks as if he can pitch well (use an adverb, not an adjective, here).

Traveling (one "L" is the preferred U.S. spelling) across (spelling) the United States, she ("she" was the one traveling, so "she" needs to be the subject of the main clause to avoid a dangling participle) was affected by its (possessive "its" takes no apostrophe) vastness.

He should be like me (object) and do as ("as" is preferred over "like" in this kind of construction) I do.

He wanted to know whether (if it's a yes/no situation rather than a conditional, "whether" is preferred) the criterion ("criteria" is plural; "criterion" is the singular) was (sequence of tenses) valid.

Joe told his wife, Alice, (assuming Joe has but one wife, her name is an appositive that needs to be set off with commas) that he liked his mistress more (liking is a matter of quantity, so use "more" or "less," not "better" or "worse") than her.

The hero received (an active construction is better here) a historic (use "a" when you pronounce the "h") award from the congressman (lowercase).

This is different from (use "from" in most cases with "different") and hopefully (in modern usage, "hopefully" is acceptable to mean "it is hoped") preferable (spelling) to (use "to" and not "over" with "preferable") that.

It's easy to see the difference between her and me (these are objects of the preposition "between," so they need to be the objective pronoun forms).

We must try to ("try to..." instead of "try and...")  keep up with the Joneses (one Jones, two or more Joneses).

What kind of (no need for the indefinite article here) woman could like that kind (If "kind" is singular, the rest of the phrase needs to be also) of man? (this is a question so needs a question mark)

The principal (spelling) reason for Lopez's (form the possessive with apostrophe-s) dismissal was that ("reason" implies a cause, so "because" is unnecessary) he behaved weirdly (spelling, plus an adverb is needed here, not an adjective).

Neither she nor he (these are subjects so need to be the subject pronoun forms) knows (singular verb, because we're talking about "she" or "he," not both) how to play the ukulele (spelling).

Do you have (preferred over "have you got") a recipe for clam chowder (chowder is soup, so "chowder soup" is redundant) that won't make me nauseated ("nauseated" once meant feeling ill and "nauseous" once meant inducing nausea, but "nauseous" has shifted in common usage to also mean feeling ill, so either is OK. Or change to "won't nauseate me.")?

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