1. in which of the following sentences do you find a verb phrase? a. june was a collector of memorabilia. b. i believed every word he said. c. i shall be all that i am and more. d. the crowd roared as the bull charged. 2. which of the following topics would lend itself only to a formal style of writing? a. why living in the country is better than living in the city b. how i lost 10 pounds c. folk songs i have sung d. psychological effects of nuclear weapons 3. which one of these statements would be considered inappropriate in formal writing? a. he hates to be late. b. next, he prepares to conduct his experiments. c. he reviews the reports of his assistants. d. dr. thomson arrives promptly each morning. 4. for the greeting in a business letter when you don't know the name of the person who will be reading it, which of the following is least likely to conform to present-day usage? a. dear editor b. dear mrs. carleton c. dear mr. givens d. dear sir 5. which one of the following sentences contains an unnecessary word? a. rich was angry, but he concealed his feelings. b. she left early, though he told her not to. c. the snake raised up its head and struck. d. why don't you leave before the crowd arrives? 6. which of these is a run-on sentence? a. i thought about what he'd said soon i realized he was right. b. you and i and the whole team will go. c. i went home and ate and ate. d. before lunch, i played volleyball; after lunch i did again. 7. choose the connective that belongs in the blank in the following sentence. i like to play baseball. i can't throw a ball very well. a. in fact b. however c. for instance d. besides 8. which of the following sentences has a compound predicate? a. while he swam, she collected shells. b. she placed the shells in a plastic bag while he dried himself off. c. she raced along the path to beat him to the beach. d. she washed the shells and dried them in the sun. 9. which of the following is correct in regard to the use of formal english? a. in formal business correspondence, it's best keep the language impersonal. b. formal english is used more frequently in speaking than in writing. c. in formal english, we use words to say precisely what we mean. d. contractions are considered acceptable in any document. 10. which of the following best illustrates a pair of sentences that are joined by an understood relationship? a. luke put three dollars into the office football pool. he was looking forward to vacation. b. detective smiley scanned the dim hallway. he pulled his pistol from its holster. c. i don't understand a word you said. have you taken a course in english literature? d. it rained for ten days and ten nights. grandmother grady called a company to drill a well. 11. which of the following is the best opening sentence for a business letter that you want to sound fairly informal? a. i am in receipt of your order of february 10. b. be advised that i've just received your order. c. your order of february 10 arrived in our office today. d. this letter is to make you cognizant of our receipt of your order. 12. which of the following statements about connecting paragraphs is correct? a. you can't state an idea in paragraph 2 that's related to an idea in paragraph 1. b. two paragraphs may be joined by an action verb. c. a good connection between two paragraphs is an implied transition. d. you can use a pointing word that that refers to a word in the previous paragraph. 13. which of the following groups of words is a sentence fragment? a. stopping by the garden, we saw that the flowers were in bloom. b. stop by the garden. c. we stopped; she didn't. d. when we stopped by the garden.