TSI Grammar Practice

Which answer choice best combines the two sentences below? Each individual fragment is tiny. Picture by picture, enormous databases of street views are transformed into driving directions.

• Picture by picture, enormous databases of street views are transformed into driving directions, but each individual fragment is tiny.

• Each individual fragment being tiny, enormous databases of street views are transformed into driving directions picture by picture.

• Though each individual fragment is tiny, picture by picture, enormous databases of street views are transformed into driving directions.

• Despite tiny fragments, each individual transforms enormous databases of street views into driving directions.

Which answer choice best combines the two sentences below? Junot Diaz wrote The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was awarded to Diaz for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, written by Junot Diaz, and awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

• Junot Diaz wrote The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, he was awarded the 3008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for this novel.

• The 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was awarded to Junot Diaz for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

• Written by Junot Diaz and awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Which answer choice best combines the two sentences below? Sonia Sanchez recited her poem “This is Not a Small Voice.” The students were inspired.

• When Sonia Sanchez recited her poem “This is Not a Small Voice,” the students were inspired.

• The students were inspired, Sonia Sanchez recited her poem “This is Not a Small Voice.”

• The poem “This is Not a Small Voice” recited by Sonia Sanchez, it was inspiring for the students.

• Inspired by the poem “This is Not a Small Voice,” Sonia Sanchez recited for the students.

Which sentence contains information irrelevant to the passage as a whole and should be deleted? (1) There is a growing concern that golf courses are bad for the environment, especially with the decreasing number of golfers. (2) Golf courses showed a 36% decline in golfers over 10 years. (3) Golfing is a good form of exercise. (4) At the same time, golf courses use massive amounts of water. (5) Many feel that this land could be put to more productive use.

• Sentence 1

• Sentence 2

• Sentence 3

• Sentence 4

Which sentence contains information irrelevant to the passage as a whole and should be deleted? (1) Today, author Kate Chopin is well known for her colorful short stories about life in New Orleans. (2) George Cable, her contemporary, is also known for writing about New Orleans. (3) After falling into obscurity, her work was rediscovered in the 1960s. (4) Chopin’s stories are notable for their themes of issues facing women of the day, such as a lack of independence.

• Sentence 1

• Sentence 2

• Sentence 3

• Sentence 4

Select the best version of the underlined part of the sentence. If you think the original sentence is best, choose the first answer: To enter the tournament, the student or teacher have to pay $10, and all of the proceeds go to help build a new greenhouse.

• teacher have to

• teacher has to

• teacher must have to

• teacher had to

Select the best version of the underlined part of the sentence. If you think the original sentence is best, choose the first answer: Many people believe it to be a myth or a hoax, some truly believe they have seen it.

• Many people

• Although many people

• Groups

• Research shows we

Select the best version of the underlined part of the sentence. If you think the original sentence is best, choose the first answer: Seahorses eat with the use of their snouts to suck up plankton and by using their tails to hook onto coral or seagrass.

• with the use of

• in using

• by using

• for use of

Select the best version of the underlined part of the sentence. If you think the original sentence is best, choose the first answer: According to the meteorologist, the storm that started east of the mountains represent a threat.

• represent

• represents

• representing

• it represented

Select the best version of the underlined part of the sentence. If you think the original sentence is best, choose the first answer: Audiences at most concerts cheer so loudly that the music gets drowned out by the noise.

• cheer

• cheers

• cheering

• cheered