HSPT Language Skills - HSPT Language Skills

The sentence that would best conclude this paragraph is "Events like the Boston Tea Party are important on their own, but take on extra significance when viewed as part of the chain of events that led to a revolution." The paragraph as a whole discusses the causes and effects of the Boston Tea Party. The last sentence in the paragraph as it's presented focuses on how the Boston Tea Party was one of the causes of and events leading up to the American Revolution.

The sentence about lead type vs. wooden type and and the sentence about illuminated manuscripts are related to the history of book publishing, but not to the contents of the paragraph specifically. If either were used as the concluding sentence for this paragraph, it would make for a confusing, irrelevant conclusion.

Both of the remaining answer choices shown below relate to the history of publishing and specifically to the invention of the printing press and moveable type, so we need to focus on how they differ.

"Moveable type and the printing press had a huge effect on Europe and helped pave the way for the Scientific Revolution, which was in full swing in the seventeenth century."

"Due to the way it decreased the time and effort involved in publishing and distributing a book, the printing press and moveable type together helped create a publishing boom in which books became more accessible than ever before in Europe."

The answer choice here listed first summarizes the effect that the invention of the printing press and moveable type had on Europe before considering how this event helped cause the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution isn't mentioned anywhere in the paragraph provided, so it is off-topic in this particular paragraph. This sentence would thus not make the best conclusion.

The best answer is the answer choice here listed second. This sentence summarizes the effect that the printing press and moveable type had on the European publishing industry at the time, which is much more closely related to the content of the provided paragraph.

Sentence 5 should be omitted from the paragraph because the information it presents is irrelevant to the topic of discussion. Sentence 5 reads, "If people don’t pay their taxes today, it is a crime called tax evasion, and they can get in big trouble with the government and go to jail." The passage as a whole focuses on the causes and effects of the Boston Tea Party. Sentence 5's shift to a present-day tax issue is outside of the passage's scope, making the sentence irrelevant.

The sentence that contains the capitalization error is shown below.

I started my paper with the sentence, "flightless birds are fascinating."

The quoted sentence should begin with a capital letter. The corrected sentence would read,

I started my paper with the sentence, "Flightless birds are fascinating."

Each of these sentences uses correct capitalization. In "Big Ben and the London Bridge are two major landmarks in London, England," "Big Ben" is a proper noun because it is the name of a landmark, and "London" and "England" are capitalized because they are the name of a city and a country, respectively. In "The Great Wall of China stretches for thousands of miles across China," "The Great Wall of China" is capitalized because it is a landmark and "China" is capitalized because it is the name of a country. In "The Eiffel Tower forms one of the most famous silhouettes on the Parisian skyline," "Eiffel Tower" is capitalized because it is a landmark and "Parisian" is capitalized because it is an adjective formed from the name of a city, Paris.

The sentence that contains the grammatical error is shown below.

Which one of these cookies over there in the bakery case looks most delicious to you?

The error occurs in the sentence's use of the word "these." Later in the sentence, the phrase "over there" is used; this tells us that the cookies are located at some relatively distant position from the speaker and the addressee. Because of this distance, we need to use the demonstrative pronoun "those," which is used for relatively distant people and things, as opposed to "these," which is used for people and things located relatively close by.

The corrected sentence would read,

Which one of those cookies over there in the bakery case looks most delicious to you?

The answer choice that contains the a grammatical error is "Robins are one of the first bird to show up at the beginning of spring." The phrase "one of the first bird" does not make grammatical sense. Here, "one" does not need to agree with "bird." "Bird" needs to be changed to "birds." This is because the sentence is specifying that robins are one out of a group of birds (all birds that show up in spring). Thus, to convey that the speaker is specifying robins as one bird out of a group of birds, the singular "bird" needs to be changed to the plural "birds." The corrected sentence would read, "Robins are one of the first birds to show up at the beginning of spring."

The clearest option is "Hawks are amazing predators that can survive in cities by catching and eating small birds and rodents." This answer choice avoids the use of the passive voice and connects the idea of catching and eating small birds and rodents to hawks being amazing predators and their ability to survive in cities in a single sentence.

The sentence that contains the spelling error is "It’s a good thing that Fred recieved the package before he left on his trip." The misspelled word is "received." It should be spelled "received." Remembering the phrase "'I' before 'E' except after 'C'" can help you avoid errors like this in the future!

The sentence that contains a spelling error is "To avoid bad breathe, one should always brush one's teeth before meeting an important person." This is a tricky spelling error—"breathe" should be "breath." "Breathe" isn't a typo in every sentence; it is a verb that means to inhale and exhale regularly. That doesn't make any sense in this sentence, though! We need a word that acts as a noun and means the air that you exhale. That word is "breath." The corrected sentence would read, "To avoid bad breath, one should always brush one's teeth before meeting an important person."

The best answer choice is "Stegosaurus was a large herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period, the same period during which dinosaurs like Archaeopteryx, Pterodactylus, and Brontosaurus lived." This answer choice provides a general introduction of Stegosaurus that works well as a sentence preceding the details about Stegosaurus and its name found in the rest of the paragraph.

"Many carnivorous dinosaurs ate herbivores like Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Apatosaurus to survive." - This answer choice introduces three dinosaurs, so it doesn't function as well as the correct answer does as an introductory sentence to a paragraph about Stegosaurus.

Dinosaurs have fascinated modern humans since we started uncovering their massive bones buried in the Earth." - This answer choice introduces the concept of dinosaurs in general, but is too general to serve as a good introduction to the rest of the paragraph's details about one particular kind of dinosaur.

"Museums are great places to learn more about dinosaurs as well as other ancient animals like mammoths and saber-toothed cats." - This sentence introduces the concept of museums as a location to learn about many types of ancient animals. It is far removed from the details about Stegosaurus found in the rest of the paragraph.

The sentence that contains the grammatical error is shown below.

Which one of these cookies over there in the bakery case looks most delicious to you?

The error occurs in the sentence's use of the word "these." Later in the sentence, the phrase "over there" is used; this tells us that the cookies are located at some relatively distant position from the speaker and the addressee. Because of this distance, we need to use the demonstrative pronoun "those," which is used for relatively distant people and things, as opposed to "these," which is used for people and things located relatively close by.

The corrected sentence would read,

Which one of those cookies over there in the bakery case looks most delicious to you?

The answer choice that contains the a grammatical error is "Robins are one of the first bird to show up at the beginning of spring." The phrase "one of the first bird" does not make grammatical sense. Here, "one" does not need to agree with "bird." "Bird" needs to be changed to "birds." This is because the sentence is specifying that robins are one out of a group of birds (all birds that show up in spring). Thus, to convey that the speaker is specifying robins as one bird out of a group of birds, the singular "bird" needs to be changed to the plural "birds." The corrected sentence would read, "Robins are one of the first birds to show up at the beginning of spring."

Sentence 5 should be omitted from the paragraph because the information it presents is irrelevant to the topic of discussion. Sentence 5 reads, "If people don’t pay their taxes today, it is a crime called tax evasion, and they can get in big trouble with the government and go to jail." The passage as a whole focuses on the causes and effects of the Boston Tea Party. Sentence 5's shift to a present-day tax issue is outside of the passage's scope, making the sentence irrelevant.

The correct answer choice is "it is important to make sure they are cooked thoroughly." The correct complete sentence is "When baking cookies in the oven, it is important to make sure they are cooked thoroughly." This answer choice uses the phrase "it is important" in a location that avoids wordiness and confusion. It also avoids unnecessary complex verb forms (e.g. "their being cooked thoroughly") and wordiness combined with ending the sentence with the preposition "of."

The sentence that contains the spelling error is "It’s a good thing that Fred recieved the package before he left on his trip." The misspelled word is "received." It should be spelled "received." Remembering the phrase "'I' before 'E' except after 'C'" can help you avoid errors like this in the future!

The sentence that contains a spelling error is "To avoid bad breathe, one should always brush one's teeth before meeting an important person." This is a tricky spelling error—"breathe" should be "breath." "Breathe" isn't a typo in every sentence; it is a verb that means to inhale and exhale regularly. That doesn't make any sense in this sentence, though! We need a word that acts as a noun and means the air that you exhale. That word is "breath." The corrected sentence would read, "To avoid bad breath, one should always brush one's teeth before meeting an important person."

The correct answer choice is "it is important to make sure they are cooked thoroughly." The correct complete sentence is "When baking cookies in the oven, it is important to make sure they are cooked thoroughly." This answer choice uses the phrase "it is important" in a location that avoids wordiness and confusion. It also avoids unnecessary complex verb forms (e.g. "their being cooked thoroughly") and wordiness combined with ending the sentence with the preposition "of."

The clearest option is "Hawks are amazing predators that can survive in cities by catching and eating small birds and rodents." This answer choice avoids the use of the passive voice and connects the idea of catching and eating small birds and rodents to hawks being amazing predators and their ability to survive in cities in a single sentence.

Conjunctions are like grammatical hinges between two ideas. To choose the correct conjunction, we need to analyze how the meanings of the two parts of the sentence connect. In the first part of the sentence, we're told that Francine is forgetful and has something she needs to remember. How might this connect to the idea of writing a grocery list? The first part of the sentence is a cause or impetus for Francine to write a grocery list. So, we need to pick out a conjunction that conveys cause and effect.

The two parts of the sentence do not oppose one another or conflict, so "but," "however," or "nevertheless" cannot be correct. The correct answer is "therefore." This is the only conjunction listed in the answer choices that conveys the cause-and-effect that we logically need for this sentence.