Topic Quiz: Language Conventions

Blank 1: The sentence begins with an introductory dependent clause, When you arrive for your appointment, followed by the main clause, please sign in. A comma goes after the whole introductory clause: When you arrive for your appointment, please sign in. Placing the comma after When or after arrive splits the clause in the wrong spot, and leaving it out makes the reader run the two parts together.

Blank 2: The clinic accepts most insurance plans and you should call ahead to confirm… are both independent clauses (each could stand alone). When two independent clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), put a comma before the conjunction: plans, but you should call ahead. No comma goes after but, and a semicolon is not used before a conjunction like this.

Correct answers: When you arrive for your appointment, and plans, but.

Tip: Comma + FANBOYS joins two complete sentences. If you can put a period before the conjunction and both halves still stand alone, you need the comma.

Blank 1: The first sentence gives a cause (the warehouse moved farther away), and the second gives the result (the truck comes on a different day). A cause-and-effect transition is needed: As a result,. However signals contrast, For example introduces an illustration, and In contrast compares two different things — none matches the logic.

Blank 2: The words especially if you schedule staff to unload the truck cannot stand alone; they add a condition to Please update your calendars. So they must be attached to that sentence with a comma: , especially if. A period before Especially creates a fragment. A semicolon also needs a complete sentence after it. Placing the comma after especially splits the phrase in the wrong place.

Correct answers: As a result, and , especially if.

Tip: To choose a transition, name the relationship between the two sentences in one word — cause, contrast, example, addition, sequence — and then pick the transition that matches.

Both blanks test vague pronoun reference, a common GED trap.

Blank 1: They say it is needed uses they with no clear antecedent — who are "they"? This is needed uses this with no noun after it. The clear choice names the people and the thing: City planners say the new shelter is needed.

Blank 2: After "Our association also asked the city to add a bench," the pronoun it could mean the city, the bench or the request, and they could mean the association or the city. The clear choice names both the actor and the decision: the city council will vote on the bench request.

The correct choices are City planners say the new shelter is needed and the city council will vote on the bench request.

Tip: On the GED, the clearest choice often replaces a vague it, this, they or which with the specific noun, even if it is a few words longer.

Blank 1: With neither … nor (and either … or), the verb agrees with the subject closer to it. Here the closer subject is the cashiers (plural), and the report is in the past, so the verb is were. Was would agree with manager, the farther subject; is and are shift to the present.

Blank 2: "The number of complaints ___ dropped." The subject is the number — one number — and of complaints is a prepositional phrase. The verb is singular: has. (Compare: A number of customers have complained, where a number of means "many.")

Blank 3: The clause is "___ our staff had helped." Rearrange it: "our staff had helped him." Him is object case, so the relative pronoun is whom. Who is subject case; which is for things, not people; whose shows possession and would need a noun after it.

Correct answers: were, has, whom.

Tip: For who/whom, answer the clause with he or him. He → who; him → whom (both end in m).

These blanks test pronoun-antecedent agreement with compound antecedents.

Blank 1: When two antecedents are joined by neither … nor or either … or, the pronoun agrees with the nearer one. The nearer antecedent is the two helpers — plural — so the pronoun is their.

Blank 2: "Either Marcus or Luis" means only one man will drive. The nearer antecedent, Luis, is one man, so the singular his is correct. Their would suggest both men drive one pickup together.

Blank 3: The company will repay whichever man drives — one person, and he is the object of repay. The object form him is correct; he is a subject pronoun, them is plural, and himself needs the same person as the subject.

The correct choices are their, his and him.

Tip: For or/nor antecedents, find the nearer noun and match its number. Then check case: subject (he, they) or object (him, them).

These blanks test the difference between a compound predicate (no comma) and a compound sentence (comma before the conjunction).

Blank 1: "Our driver now picks up prescriptions at the counter and delivers them to homes." There is only one subject, driver, doing two actions (picks up and delivers). A compound predicate takes no comma: counter and delivers.

Blank 2: "Deliveries are free for patients over 65" and "younger patients may pay a small fee" are two independent clauses, each with its own subject. Joined by but, they need a comma before the conjunction: 65, but younger.

Blank 3: The comma is already in place after phone. For that comma to be correct, what follows must be a complete clause with its own subject: "or you can sign up." Without you, the comma would wrongly split a compound predicate; without or, it would be a comma splice.

The correct choices are counter and delivers, 65, but younger and or you.

Tip: Comma + conjunction is only for two full sentences. One subject with two verbs = no comma.

Blank 1: The opening phrase Soaked by the afternoon storm describes someone who got wet. The subject right after the comma must be that someone: the coaches carried the equipment back to the shed. If the subject is it, carrying the equipment, or the coaches' job, the sentence says an empty pronoun, an action or a job was soaked by the storm — a dangling modifier.

Blank 2: The list is added a second field, recruited twelve new coaches, and ___. Each item is a past-tense verb + object, so the third must be too: raised $4,000 for new uniforms. A passive clause, an -ing form, or a new subject (it raised) breaks parallelism.

Blank 3: More players (registration up 30 percent) means more games to referee. The need for referees is a result, so the transition is Consequently,. Nevertheless signals contrast, For instance introduces an example, and Similarly signals likeness.

Correct answers: the coaches carried the equipment back to the shed, raised $4,000 for new uniforms, Consequently,.

Tip: On the hardest items, check every blank against its own rule — modifier, parallelism, logic — instead of choosing the option that just sounds smooth.