HSPT Language Skills › Clarity of Expression: Sentence Completion
Which of the following completes the sentence shown below so that it expresses its ideas most clearly?
When baking cookies in the oven, __________.
it is important to make sure they are cooked thoroughly
thoroughly cooked is what they should be
their being cooked thoroughly is something it is important to make sure of
cooking them thoroughly is something it is important to make sure of
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."