All practice questions

Passage Excerpt:
During a freezing winter trip to New York City in 1903, Mary Anderson observed a trolley driver struggle to see through the falling sleet. At the time, [underlined portion]. Anderson immediately began sketching a solution: a rubber blade attached to a lever inside the cab, allowing the driver to clear the window without being exposed to the elements.

Which choice most vividly emphasizes the harsh weather conditions that the trolley drivers had to endure?

[1]
In December 1938, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, a curator at a museum in East London, South Africa, received a call from a local trawler captain who had brought in an unusual catch. Amidst the piles of sharks and rays, she noticed a strange, iridescent blue fish with fleshy, limb-like fins. Unable to identify the creature, she made sketches and sent them to J.L.B. Smith, a prominent South African ichthyologist, who recognized the fish as a coelacanth—a species believed to have gone extinct 66 million years ago.

[2]
This discovery was the biological equivalent of finding a living dinosaur. It challenged the scientific community's understanding of vertebrate evolution and prehistoric survival. The coelacanth’s unique anatomy provided a rare window into the transition of vertebrates from water to land. Its lobed fins, which contain bones arranged similarly to those in tetrapod limbs, suggested an evolutionary link to early land-dwelling animals.

[3]
While modern coelacanths live in deep-water environments, their prehistoric ancestors inhabited shallow waters, adapting over millions of years to survive in deep ocean caves. Over the next few decades, search efforts successfully located living populations of the coelacanth off the coast of the Comoro Islands and in Indonesia. These discoveries allowed scientists to study the creature's behavior in its natural habitat, proving that this "living fossil" had survived relatively unchanged for eons.

Suppose the writer’s goal had been to write an essay that traces the history of marine biology expeditions in South Africa. Would this essay successfully fulfill that goal?

To catalog the rare specimens, the botanist collected several fragile, alpine buttercup samples, and she preserved them in hermetically sealed jars.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

During the late Renaissance, a guild of Venetian glassmakers guarded their secret formulas with fierce protectiveness. Any artisan who dared to share these methods, which were considered state secrets, with outsiders faced banishment or worse. Consequently, the island of Murano became the undisputed capital of luxury glasswork in Europe.

Which of the following options represents the correct punctuation for the underlined portion of the sentence?

Although often confused with the giant panda, the red panda is in its own unique evolutionary family. The red panda—a small mammal native to the eastern [underlined]Himalayas, is known[/underlined] for its bright reddish-brown fur and acrobatic climbing skills.

Which of the following choices best maintains punctuation consistency in the sentence?

The ancient Greek theater of Epidaurus, constructed in the fourth century BCE, is renowned for its extraordinary acoustics. Performers on the open-air stage can be heard clearly by spectators seated in the top rows, some sixty meters away. For decades, researchers debated the mechanism behind this phenomenon. In 2007, acoustic experts discovered that the secret lies in the theater’s limestone seats. The theater, which could accommodate up to 14,000 spectators, was designed by the architect Polykleitos the Younger. The researchers found that the corrugated surface of the seats acts as a natural sound filter, reflecting high-frequency sounds—such as the actors' voices—toward the audience while absorbing low-frequency background noise like the rustle of wind and the murmur of the crowd.

The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?

The following passage contains an underlined portion.

In the early twentieth century, a group of artists shocked the Paris art world with their expressive, non-naturalistic use of color. The French painter Henri Matisse, who pioneered the Fauvism movement, created art that was characterized by bold colors and simplified shapes. His revolutionary style challenged traditional academic representation and paved the way for modern abstract art.

Which choice is the best version of the underlined portion of the passage?

In 1895, Harvard University’s new Fogg Art Museum opened to the public, but its lecture hall was immediately deemed an acoustic failure. The room’s curved walls and high plaster ceiling created an echo so persistent that speakers’ words remained suspended in the air, overlapping into an unintelligible din. Desperate for a solution, the university president turned to a young physics professor, Wallace Sabine. Sabine spent years conducting painstaking experiments, using organ pipes and cushions borrowed from nearby theaters to measure sound decay. His work culminated in the first mathematical relationship governing reverberation time, effectively establishing the field of architectural acoustics.

Sabine’s new scientific principles were put to the test when he was hired to design Boston’s Symphony Hall. Rather than copying the circular shapes that had ruined the Fogg museum’s hall, Sabine chose a rectangular, "shoebox" layout with deep balconies, high ceilings, and walls coffered with niches and statues. These features dispersed the sound waves evenly throughout the auditorium, preventing focused echoes. Even today, the venue remains a popular destination for tourists visiting the historic city of Boston.

Which choice most effectively concludes the paragraph by highlighting the successful application of Sabine’s new scientific field and its lasting impact?

In the sentence below, two independent clauses are joined. Which single punctuation mark must be placed in the blank to correctly join them?

The following passage contains a sentence with a missing punctuation mark. What punctuation mark should be placed in the blank to complete the sentence with consistent and grammatically correct punctuation?

Sequoyah's Syllabary

[1]
In the early nineteenth century, a Cherokee silversmith named Sequoyah became convinced that the key to maintaining his people's independence lay in the power of the written word. Observing how European settlers shared information across great distances using what he termed "talking leaves," Sequoyah embarked on a decades-long quest to create a writing system for the Cherokee language. Despite facing initial skepticism and even accusations of witchcraft from his peers, he persisted in his work, recognizing that literacy would foster unity and preserve Cherokee culture in a rapidly changing world.

[2]
Sequoyah initially attempted to design a unique pictogram for every word in the Cherokee language. However, this approach quickly proved impractical, as the sheer number of symbols became impossible to memorize. Abandoning this method, he began to analyze the spoken language, breaking it down into distinct phonetic units. He realized that Cherokee is comprised of eighty-five recurring syllables. By assigning a distinct graphic symbol—some adapted from the Latin alphabet and others of his own invention—to each of these syllables, he established a complete and easily learnable writing system.

[3]
The impact of Sequoyah's invention was immediate and profound. Within a few years of its introduction in 1821, a majority of the Cherokee nation achieved literacy, outstripping the literacy rates of the surrounding European-American settlers. The syllabary enabled the publication of the *Cherokee Phoenix*, a bilingual newspaper, and allowed families separated by displacement to communicate. Sequoyah's achievement stands as a singular milestone: he is the only person in recorded history to single-handedly create an entire, functional writing system for an illiterate population.

Suppose the writer's goal had been to write an essay that details the grammatical rules and structural characteristics of the Cherokee language. This essay successfully fulfills that goal.

Passage Excerpt:
In 1952, computer pioneer Grace Hopper developed the first compiler, a program that translated English-like commands into the binary code understood by computers. Before this invention, programming required writing tedious strings of ones and zeros, a task restricted to a small group of mathematicians. [1] Hopper’s compiler, known as the A-0, paved the way for modern software development.

Given that all the choices are true, which choice best accomplishes the writer's goal of emphasizing how Hopper’s compiler democratized the field of computer programming by making it accessible to those without advanced mathematical training?

In 1943, mechanical engineer Richard James was working in a Philadelphia shipyard, attempting to develop springs that could support and stabilize sensitive marine instruments. During his experiments, he accidentally knocked a tension spring off a shelf. Instead of simply falling to the ground, the spring stepped down from a stack of books, onto a table, and coiled itself upright on the floor. James spent the next two years determining the perfect steel wire tension to turn this accidental movement into a children's toy, which his wife, Betty, named the "Slinky." [1]

The writer wants to conclude the paragraph with a sentence that highlights how a simple accident in a shipyard led to a successful, enduring commercial product. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

In 1856, eighteen-year-old chemistry student William Henry Perkin was attempting to synthesize quinine, a treatment for malaria, in his home laboratory. Instead of obtaining the clear drug, his experiments yielded a dark, sticky sludge. Rather than discarding the failed mixture, Perkin investigated its properties and discovered that when diluted with alcohol, it produced a vibrant, long-lasting purple color. Historically, purple dye was harvested from the mucus of thousands of marine snails, rendering it so expensive that only royalty could afford it. Recognizing the commercial potential of his accidental creation, Perkin patented the substance as mauveine, the world's first synthetic dye, and opened a factory to mass-produce it.

The writer wants to add a concluding sentence to the paragraph that reinforces the significance of Perkin's transition from an accidental discovery to a commercial success. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

The local community center recently launched a rooftop garden project to promote urban sustainability. The garden, which features solar-powered irrigation, grows organic vegetables for nearby families. Volunteers hope this initiative will inspire other neighborhoods to start their own green spaces.

Which of the following choices is the correct punctuation for the underlined portion of the sentence?

To successfully preserve the delicate centuries-old tapestry, the conservators used a highly specialized technique: they kept the exhibition room at a constant humidity level and blocked all UV light.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon developed a system to organize stellar spectra. The system that she created, which became the standard for modern astrophysics, helped catalog hundreds of thousands of stars. Her work laid the foundation for future generations of astronomers.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

A writer is editing an essay about the discovery of the coelacanth and has drafted the following paragraph:

In 1938, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, a curator at a small museum in South Africa, received a call from Hendrick Goosen, a local fishing captain. Goosen was known for his skilled navigation of the challenging waters of the Indian Ocean. Courtenay-Latimer frequently searched Goosen’s catches for interesting marine specimens. On this particular day, she found a bright blue, five-foot-long creature with fleshy, limb-like fins that she could not identify.

Should the writer delete the underlined sentence?

Although the restaurant chain launched three new locations last month, the company's primary goal was to maintain it's high standards of service.

Which of the following is the correct form of the underlined portion of the sentence?

Originating in ancient Mesopotamia and later refined in India by the mathematician Brahmagupta, the concept of zero revolutionized mathematics by functioning as both a placeholder and a number in its own right. Prior to this innovation, mathematicians struggled to perform complex calculations without confusing notation. _Brahmagupta also wrote several influential treatises on astronomy, detailing the movements of the planets and the stars._ By defining zero’s mathematical properties—such as the rule that subtracting a number from itself yields zero—ancient scholars paved the way for modern algebra and calculus.

The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence from the passage. Should the writer make this deletion?