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ELA: Revising/Editing Part B

Grade 7 conventions: agreement, modifiers that hook the wrong noun, the joints between clauses, and folding two sentences into one that says more.

35 topics · 134 questions

Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.

The Three Part B Task Formats

  1. How it worksHow does 'pick the best correction' differ from 'find the sentence with the error' in what you scan first?
  2. How it worksHow does a combine-these-sentences task ask you to build something instead of hunting for a mistake?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through deciding which of four numbered sentences holds the error when three of them look fine.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't every sentence-editing question about punctuation, when the task can be about how ideas connect?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A stand-alone editing item shows these four sentences and asks which one contains an error. (1) The robotics club built 31 light sensors for the spring fair. (2) Each of the sensors were tested twice before the doors opened. (3) The club spent 151 dollars on wire, batteries, and solder. (4) Two teachers volunteered to drive the equipment across town. What should your first move on this task be?

One-Shot Items: Eliminate, Commit, Advance

  1. How it worksHow does the answer eliminator turn four choices into a two-way decision you can actually make?
  2. How it worksHow does the SHSAT's ELA notepad hold your notes for the whole section while its Math notepad wipes after every item?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through spending forty-five seconds on a single item you will never be able to return to.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to a wild guess on a test that takes nothing away for a wrong answer?
Your turneasy1 of 3
You are 64 seconds into a stand-alone Revising/Editing item and you have narrowed four choices to two. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, and you cannot return to this item once you advance. What should you do?

Hot Text and Inline Choice Items

  1. How it worksHow does a hot text item make you point at the exact words that are wrong instead of picking a fix?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through choosing the two misused words in 'Their going to affect the results of they're experiment.'
  3. How it worksHow does a dropdown buried inside a sentence let one item test three separate choices at once?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a dropdown item safe to answer left to right before you have read the whole sentence?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A hot text item shows this sentence and asks you to click the two words that are used incorrectly. Their going to affect the results of they're 7 experiments. Which pair should you click?

The Grade 7 Language Standards Behind Part B

  1. How it worksHow do the grade 7 language standards name the exact errors tested: phrases, clauses, modifiers, and shifts?
  2. How it worksHow do rules taught in earlier grades, like commas and pronoun shifts, stay fair game on an eighth-grade exam?
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'it sounds right' a substitute for the rule when both choices sound fine to a seventh grader?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Four sentences appear on a stand-alone item. Exactly one contains an error tested by the Grade 7 language standards. (1) Walking home from practice, the storm caught the 18 players without umbrellas. (2) The coach had reminded everyone to check the forecast that morning. (3) By noon the sky over the field had turned an odd green color. (4) Nobody on the team owned a raincoat that still fit. Which sentence contains the error?

Subject-Verb Agreement

  1. How it worksHow do you find the real subject of a sentence by asking who or what is doing the verb?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'The list of names were posted' by locating the subject first.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the noun standing closest to the verb the one that has to agree with it?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to agreement when the subject arrives after the verb, as in 'There are three reasons'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The list of 46 approved titles were posted outside the library door.

Agreement When Words Come Between

  1. How it worksHow does crossing out the phrase sitting between subject and verb leave the agreement obvious?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through fixing 'The teacher, along with her students, were late' by deleting the interrupter.
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through 'The results of the second trial, which surprised everyone, was ignored' one step at a time.
  4. Common mistakeWhy doesn't 'along with the students' make a singular subject plural the way the word 'and' does?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The teacher, along with her 25 students, were late to the assembly.

Hard Subjects: Compound, Collective, and Indefinite

  1. How it worksHow does a subject joined by 'and' turn plural while one joined by 'or' follows whichever noun is nearer?
  2. How it worksHow can a collective noun like 'team' count as one thing in one sentence and many in the next?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through choosing the verb in 'Each of the twelve robots need or needs a fresh battery.'
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'everyone' treated as plural when it plainly refers to a whole crowd of people?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens to the verb when the subject is a fraction, as in 'Two thirds of the water was gone'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. Each of the 19 robots need a fresh battery before the demonstration begins.

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

  1. How it worksHow does a pronoun have to match the noun it stands for in both number and person?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'The committee announced their decision' in two different ways.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't matching a pronoun to the nearest noun the same as matching it to the noun it replaces?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. Every one of the 37 students brought their own lunch to the field trip.

Ambiguous Pronoun Reference

  1. How it worksHow do two arrows leaving one pronoun for two candidate nouns show you the sentence is broken?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'The car hit the pole, and it was totaled' without guessing what got totaled.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the surrounding context enough to rescue an unclear pronoun on a grammar question?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a pronoun has no antecedent anywhere, as in 'In the article, it says the bridge failed'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. Maya told Rosa that she had won the 294 dollar prize.

Pronoun Case

  1. How it worksHow does covering up the other person in 'Jordan and me' reveal which pronoun the sentence needs?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through choosing between 'who' and 'whom' in 'The scientist who or whom the team hired arrived Monday.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'I' simply a politer or safer choice than 'me' in every sentence?
  4. Going furtherWhat changes about case in a comparison like 'She runs faster than I' once you finish the thought?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The coach split the 255 dollars between Jordan and I after the car wash.

Inappropriate Shifts in Verb Tense

  1. How it worksHow does a timeline with each clause pinned by its tense make a stray verb visible?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'James is leaving for college, and working there meant no more ballgames.'
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through finding the shifted verb in a present-tense paragraph whose third sentence says 'walked'.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't every change of tense an error, given that 'For 14 years they have had a tradition' can be correct?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. He is packing 23 boxes for the move, and then he heard a knock at the door.

Verb Tense and Aspect Across Clauses

  1. How it worksHow does the past perfect push one past event earlier on the timeline than another past event?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through picking the verb in 'She ate or had eaten breakfast before the bus arrived.'
  3. How it worksHow does 'has lived here since 2019' stretch a single action from the past all the way into now?
  4. Going furtherWhat changes when a sentence reports speech and turns 'I am tired' into 'he said he was tired'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. By the time we reached the platform at 9 o'clock, the train left without us.

Shifts in Person and Number

  1. How it worksHow does a jump from 'a student' to 'you' snap the chain the sentence started building?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through fixing 'When someone joins the club, they should bring your own gear.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't sliding into 'you' halfway through a paragraph just a friendlier style choice?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. If a student practices for 9 hours a week, you will see your playing improve.

Dangling Modifiers

  1. How it worksHow does an opening modifier hook onto whatever noun shows up first in the main clause?
  2. How it worksHow does rewriting in the active voice with the right subject snap that hook onto the correct noun?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'Running late, the bus was missed' so that a person does the running.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a dangling modifier cured by shoving it to the end of the sentence?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens when the noun a modifier should attach to never appears in the sentence at all?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. Looking for a way to earn extra money, 7 air mattresses were rented out to visitors.

Misplaced Modifiers

  1. How it worksHow does a modifier grab the nearest noun, so that moving it moves what the sentence claims?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through repositioning the phrase in 'The hiker spotted a bear with binoculars.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a sentence acceptable just because a reader can guess what the writer meant?
  4. Going furtherWhat changes when the stray part is a whole clause like 'that was covered in mud'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The cook served sandwiches to the 30 children on paper plates.

Only and Other Single-Word Modifiers

  1. How it worksHow does a word like 'only' or 'almost' attach to whatever sits immediately to its right?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through placing 'just' so 'He just wanted two tickets' means he wanted no more than two.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'only' free to drift in front of the verb the way it does in everyday speech?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A writer wants to say that the number of tickets wanted was no more than 5. Which version says that?

Sentence Fragments

  1. How it worksHow does a word like 'because' or 'although' strip a clause of its power to stand alone?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through turning 'Running through the park at sunrise' into a complete sentence two ways.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't length what makes a fragment, when the single word 'Stop' is a whole sentence?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a fragment is bolted onto the sentence before it with a comma?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Which of these is a fragment rather than a complete sentence? (1) Because the road flooded for 15 hours on Tuesday. (2) Stop. (3) The water rose. (4) Crews worked all night.

Run-Ons and Comma Splices

  1. How it worksHow do you test for a splice by asking whether each side of the comma could be its own sentence?
  2. How it worksHow do a period, a semicolon, a comma with 'and', and a subordinator each repair the same fused pair?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'The volcano erupted the village evacuated' in four different ways.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't dropping in 'then' or 'however' after the comma enough to fix a spliced sentence?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The kiln cooled for 12 hours overnight, the glaze cracked anyway.

Commas in a Series

  1. How it worksHow does a comma between each item keep a list of three things from collapsing into two?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through punctuating 'The kit holds a compass a whistle and a folded map.'
  3. Going furtherWhat changes when the items in a list already contain commas of their own?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The 7 kit holds a compass a whistle, and a folded map.

Commas After Introductory Elements

  1. How it worksHow does a comma mark the spot where the introductory part ends and the real sentence begins?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through punctuating 'By the end of the long cold winter the pond had frozen solid.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't every opening word followed by a comma, given that 'Yesterday we left early' needs none?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. After eating the 69 students left the cafeteria in a hurry.

Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions

  1. How it worksHow does the test for a comma before 'but' come down to whether a whole sentence follows it?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't a comma right in 'She packed her bag, and left' when 'and' is still joining two things?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through deciding about the comma in 'The tide rose quickly but the crew kept working.'
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to that rule when the two joined sentences are only three words long each?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. She packed a bag with 12 items, and left before sunrise.

Commas Around Nonrestrictive Elements

  1. How it worksHow does lifting out the part between the commas test whether it was extra or essential?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through punctuating 'The novel that won the prize sold out' beside 'Dune which won the prize sold out.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a comma allowed in front of 'that' when the clause narrows down which one you mean?
  4. Going furtherWhat changes when the nonessential part is a name, as in 'my sister Ana called from Lima'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A writer has exactly one brother. He has lived in Ohio for 18 years. Which sentence reports that correctly?

Commas That Do Not Belong

  1. How it worksHow does every comma have to earn its spot with a rule rather than marking a breath?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through deleting the illegal comma in 'The students in the back row, finished the test early.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'pause wherever you would breathe' a usable comma rule on an editing question?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The 10 students in the back row, finished the test early.

Semicolons

  1. How it worksHow does a semicolon demand a complete sentence on both sides before it is allowed?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through punctuating 'The tide rises twice a day the moon pulls the ocean toward it.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a semicolon correct in front of a piece like 'because the road flooded'?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when 'however' follows a semicolon, as in 'It rained; however, we played'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The tide rises 3 times a day the moon pulls the ocean toward it.

Colons

  1. How it worksHow does a colon require a complete sentence in front of it and a payoff behind it?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through adding a colon to 'The expedition lacked one thing fresh water.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a colon interchangeable with a semicolon when both of them can join two sentences?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The expedition lacked one thing fresh water for the last 9 days.

Apostrophes for Possessives

  1. How it worksHow does moving the apostrophe across the s switch ownership from one person to many?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through punctuating 'the three boys bikes' and then 'the childrens coats.'
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to the apostrophe when the owner's name already ends in s, like James?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't an apostrophe used to build a plural, as in a sign reading 'two banana's'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
There are 7 boys, and each of them owns a bike. Which sentence reports that correctly?

Its Versus It Is and Other Contraction Traps

  1. How it worksHow does expanding a contraction back into two words settle which spelling a sentence needs?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'Its raining, so the dog wants it's blanket.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'your' correct in a sentence like 'Your the fastest runner on the team'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. Its raining, so the dog wants it's blanket and the 6 towels from the porch.

Parallel Structure

  1. How it worksHow do items in a list have to share one grammatical shape to fit the same slot?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'The job requires patience, curiosity, and being able to code.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a list parallel merely because all three of its items are the same length?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to parallelism inside a paired structure like 'not only this but also that'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. She spends 12 hours a week swimming, biking, and to run.

Commonly Confused Words

  1. How it worksHow does asking whether a word names the action or the result sort 'affect' from 'effect' every time?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through choosing among 'then', 'than', and 'that' in 'The trial lasted longer then expected.'
  3. Going furtherWhat changes between 'fewer' and 'less' once you ask whether the thing can be counted?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'could of' a real phrase even though it is exactly what 'could've' sounds like?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Choose the best correction. The trial lasted 7 weeks longer then anyone expected, and the delay effected the verdict.

Precise Word Choice and Cutting Wordiness

  1. How it worksHow does deleting redundant words shrink a sentence while the meaning meter never moves?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through trimming 'In my personal opinion, I think the plan is basically a good one.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the shortest choice automatically best when it quietly drops a necessary detail?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to a phrase that repeats what its own verb already carries, like 'returned back'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Which revision is the most concise while keeping the meaning? In my personal opinion, I think the plan to plant 148 trees is basically a good one.

The Sentence-Combining Heuristic

  1. How it worksHow do you combine sentences by asking what gets repeated and how the ideas are connected?
  2. How it worksHow does naming the link as cause, contrast, or sequence choose the joint before you write a word?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through combining 'Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament. Gauff beat Venus Williams there at fifteen.'
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't the longest combination the best one when a shorter version keeps every fact?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens when three sentences have to become one without a single idea going missing?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Combine these sentences. Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament, first played 141 years ago. Gauff beat Venus Williams there at fifteen.

Combining by Coordination

  1. How it worksHow does each coordinating conjunction assert one specific relationship between two equal clauses?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through combining 'The soil was poor. The tomatoes thrived.' with the conjunction that fits.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'and' a safe default when the two ideas actually contradict one another?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Combine these sentences with the conjunction that fits. The soil in the 9 raised beds was poor. The tomatoes thrived.

Combining by Subordination

  1. How it worksHow does subordinating a clause push it into the background and promote the other one?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through combining 'The bridge closed for repairs. Traffic doubled downtown.' using 'when' and then 'because'.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes when a subordinate clause is moved to the front of the sentence?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't every relationship between two statements expressible with 'and then'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Combine these sentences so that the traffic is the main news. The bridge closed for repairs lasting 12 weeks. Traffic doubled downtown.

Combining with Appositives and Modifying Phrases

  1. How it worksHow does an appositive fold an entire definition sentence into a pair of commas?
  2. How it worksHow does a participial opener like 'Defeating a champion' compress a second sentence into three words?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through folding 'Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithm. She was a mathematician.' into one sentence.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a participial phrase safe to add when its doer is not the subject of the main clause?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Combine these sentences into one. Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithm at the age of 32. She was a mathematician.