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Excellence in Business Communication, 12e (Thill/Bovee)
Chapter 17 Handbook of Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage
1) Which of the following is a demonstrative pronoun?
A) he
B) this
C) who
D) anyone
E) either
Difficulty: Difficult
Classification: Critical Thinking
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
2) Which of the following possessive phrases is not correct?
A) the team’s contract with the players
B) the teams’ contract with the players
C) its advantages to the players
D) it’s advantages to the players
E) the plans for the team
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
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3) What is the tense of the verb in this sentence? “We had given Tim the money a week before
he arrived.”
A) present
B) past
C) future
D) past perfect
E) auxiliary
Difficulty: Easy
Classification: Critical Thinking
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
4) Which of the following italicized words is an adjective?
A) too dark
B) silent movie
C) into the theater
D) badly missed
E) paid in full
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
5) Which of the following is a sentence fragment?
A) The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
B) He put the package in the mail right away.
C) Come here.
D) Moxie, depending on his friends for support.
E) Try it.
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Critical Thinking
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
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6) What is the problem with this sentence? “We can give him a small raise, he deserves it.”
A) comma splice
B) sentence fragment
C) dangling modifier
D) excessive infinitives
E) incorrect participles
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
7) Which one of the following punctuation marks is used to separate a dependent clause at the
beginning of a sentence from the rest of the sentence?
A) semicolon
B) colon
C) comma
D) dash
E) hyphen
Difficulty: Difficult
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
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8) Which of the following terms should not be hyphenated?
A) The relationship was long-term.
B) We had a long-term relationship.
C) That is one self-confident politician.
D) I introduced her as my ex-wife.
E) Please meet my mother-in-law.
Difficulty: Difficult
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
9) In the following sentence, which word should not be capitalized? “After talking with President
Hilda Bruckner, Morton decided that the Insurance industry would provide a suitable career for
someone who was a graduate of the Department of Business at Gable University.”
A) Department
B) President
C) Gable
D) Insurance
E) University
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
10) Which of the following words is misspelled?
A) accomodate
B) exaggerate
C) occurrence
D) receive
E) forth
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
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11) The plural of “son-in-law” is “sons-in-law,” but the possessive is “son-in-law’s.”
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
12) The pronoun “who” is in the nominative case; the pronoun “whom” is in the objective case.
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Critical Thinking
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
13) The verb “do” is an example of a regular verb.
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
14) The difference between “lie” and “lay” is that “lie” is an intransitive verb and “lay” is a
transitive verb.
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
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15) Many adverbs are formed by adding “-ly” to adjectives.
Difficulty: Easy
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
16) A linking verb is always followed by a noun, pronoun, or adjective.
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
17) A semicolon is used to separate independent clauses when the second clause begins with a
conjunctive adverb such as “however” or “therefore.”
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
18) You should include a comma when a date consists only of the month and year.
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
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19) Punctuation goes inside quotation marks if the whole sentence is quoted but outside the
quotation marks if only the last part of the sentence is a quote.
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages
20) The following sentence uses all words correctly: She was disinterested in paying me a
complement.
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Compose and shape business messages