Writing
What the questions test
Writing items test your command of standard English conventions and your ability to revise for clarity. That means sentence boundaries (fragments, run-ons, comma splices), subject-verb agreement, pronoun case and reference, verb tense consistency, punctuation of commas, semicolons, and apostrophes, and misplaced or dangling modifiers. You will also see revision questions about organization, transitions, paragraph unity, conciseness, and word choice.
Traps to watch
- Comma splices. Two independent clauses need a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so). A comma alone is wrong.
- It's vs. its. "It's" means "it is"; "its" is possessive.
- Interrupters. Cross out phrases set off by commas to check whether the remaining subject and verb agree: "The committee, after reviewing all proposals, was ready."
- Modifiers. An introductory phrase must describe the subject that follows it. "Walking to school, the rain began" is wrong because the rain was not walking.
- Redundancy. The shortest choice that keeps the meaning is usually correct; edits that add words rarely improve a sentence.
- Register. Academic writing avoids slang, contractions in formal contexts, and second person unless the prompt permits it.
Rule of thumb
For any sentence-editing question, find the subject and the main verb first. If those two do not agree or the sentence has no complete clause, you have found the error before reading the choices.
Worked example
"The committee, after reviewing all the proposals submitted by teachers, they decided to delay the vote." Strip the interrupting phrase: "The committee they decided" reveals a doubled subject. Fix it by deleting "they": "The committee, after reviewing all the proposals submitted by teachers, decided to delay the vote."