PRAXIS-WRITING-SECTION Online Practice Questions and Answers

Correct Answer: C

Explanation: The problem with this sentence is that it makes sense conversationally but not in written English. You cannot just say "colder geographic regions" when there is no object of comparison. Colder compared to what? An area can easily be identified as cold without a prior standard (such as the southern regions or areas near the equator) but not "colder." Also, it is wrong to refer to people as the subject of this sentence because the second clause states that "it is particularly important to have ... heating system." People cannot have heating systems usually. Therefore, choice "For homes in typically cold geographic regions", which uses a descriptive rather than comparative term, is the best choice.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation: The first clause (everything before the semi colon) definitely does not cause what is explained in the second clause (everything after the semi colon), so "therefore" is an inappropriate transition. This sentence is presenting contrasting professions (firefighter/police officer and doctor/lawyer) since two are viewed as blue-collar (working class) and the others are white-collar (professional); therefore, a contrasting conjunction is needed. Choice "therefore", choice "as a result" and choice "and" do not present contrasting conjunctions. In this sentence "but" is not your best option for a conjunction. A semi-colon is used, so the three simple conjunctions (and/but/yet/etc.) are not as appropriate as the complex conjunctions (therefore/however/nevertheless/etc.). If just a comma was used, then "but" would have been appropriate (i.e. "...into the way of danger physically, but professionals such as doctors..."). So now it's down to "nevertheless." Choice "nevertheless" is the best answer.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation: This sentence tests your knowledge of capitalization and awareness of parallelism. The original sentence is incorrect because choice "World Cup either through playing, watching or thru advertising" destroys the parallelism (i.e. thru advertising instead of simply "advertising") and uses the informal spelling of through (i.e. "thru"). Only choices "World Cup either through playing, watching or advertising" and "World Cup either through playing, watching or advertising for it" correct the parallelism error; however, the list should strictly contain gerunds in order to be parallel, so "advertising for it" is not the best choice. By ending with "for it" the author is also implying that one may "play for it" and "watch for it," and although one may play for the World Cup through a grammar stretch, one cannot possibly "watch for it" and do the same thing as one who simply "watches it." Choice "World Cup either through playing, watching or advertising" uses the appropriate capitalization (because the World Cup is a major sports event it is a proper noun that must be capitalized) and maintains strict parallelism in the concluding list of ways to be involved.

Correct Answer: E

Explanation: "Huckabees, Jason Schwartzman's performance being one reason" has "being" and is redundant to boot. "Huckabees, Jason Schwartzman's performance is only one of them" and "Huckabees, the performance of Jason Schwartzman is one of them" are run-ons. "Huckabees; Jason Schwartzman's performance, for one" is semicolon misuse: the semicolon is not followed by an independent clause.

Correct Answer: E

Explanation: The original choice is wrong strictly for the lack of capitalization of "State Department." Choice "McCarthyism was an ideology, an applied pursuit that arose in the middle of the twentieth century, targeted communists in the United States state department" complicates problems more than "McCarthyism was an ideology and an applied pursuit that arose in the middle of the twentieth century and targeted communists in the United States state department" by deleting certain words that turn the sentence into a run-on sentence. Choice "McCarthyism was an ideology and an applied pursuit that arose in the middle of the twentieth century and targeted Communists in the United States state department" fails to capitalize "State Department" (it needs to be capitalized because it is a proper noun -- the United States State Department, not just "a state department"). Although choice "McCarthyism will be an ideology and an applied pursuit that arose in the middle of the twentieth century and targeted communists in the United States" corrects the capitalization error, it changes "was" to "will be," which is an illogical verb tense (i.e. future) because later in the sentence it is stated that the ideology arose "in the middle of the twentieth century," which has already passed. Choice "McCarthyism was an ideology and an applied pursuit that arose in the middle of the twentieth century and targeted communists in the United States State department" corrects the capitalization error and leaves the sentence as it is. Sometimes just minor changes are needed.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation: The word order should be altered to remove awkwardness.

Correct Answer: A

Explanation: A comma should be used rather than a semi-colon.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation: "Me" can be used if it is an object that is affected, but not if an action is being performed. At the end of this sentence, the word that replaces me (i.e. I) needs to be "worried." Which sounds more correct, "Me was worried." or "I was worried."? Oftentimes questions such as these identifying the error writing questions on the test will demand you to apply critical thinking and place the word in a different context than its original context in order to test the meaning and how the word fits. Change "me" to "I" in order to fix this sentence.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation: This sentence tests your knowledge of adverbs. Adverbs alter and describe the meaning of a verb, hence the name adverb as it represents an "adjective" for a "verb." Adverbs are most easily recognized by an "-ly" at the end such as "quickly," "shrewdly" and "nicely." In this sentence because the scientists "urged" against use of the atomic bomb, the adjective "adamant" must be modified to an adverb and be "adamantly."

Correct Answer: E

Explanation: The correct answer is "No error" because there are no errors in this sentence. Because two items from the list of Peter's past job duties are offered as choices, you might be tempted to think that they lack parallel construction. Parallel construction errors are often highlighted on standardized tests and commonly occur in student writing, so you should always check for them. However, this list contains like items, similar construction, and the same verb tense throughout. It has no errors in parallelism.