which of the following uses commas in a series correctly

ATI TEAS 7

English and Language Usage TEAS

1. Which of the following uses commas in a series correctly?

A. Jericka went to the store for milk, bread, and eggs.
B. For breakfast, Jason wanted to make French toast, bacon, and eggs.
C. Aj had a lot to do the next day, including homework, hockey practice, and chores.
D. Paz's mom, dad, and sister would come to watch his game.

Correct answer: A

Rationale: Option A is the correct answer as it uses commas to separate items in a series ('milk, bread, and eggs'). In option B, the comma after 'bacon' is unnecessary. Option C correctly uses commas to separate the items in the series ('homework, hockey practice, and chores'). Option D incorrectly omits commas between 'mom' and 'dad,' and 'dad' and 'sister,' making it incorrect for a series of three or more items.

2. What kind of error is present in the following sentence? This summer, I'm planning to travel to Italy, take a Mediterranean cruise, go to Pompeii, and eat a lot of Italian food.

A. Parallelism
B. Sentence fragment
C. Misplaced modifier
D. Subject-verb agreement

Correct answer: A

Rationale: The correct answer is A, parallelism. The sentence contains a parallelism error because the verbs in the list are not in the same grammatical form. In a parallel structure, all items in a list should be formatted consistently. In this case, 'take a Mediterranean cruise' and 'going to Pompeii' are not parallel. 'Go to Pompeii' should be corrected to 'visit Pompeii' to maintain parallelism. Choices B, C, and D are incorrect because the sentence is a complete sentence, does not have any misplaced modifiers, and does not involve subject-verb agreement errors.

3. Which of the answer choices best combines the following four sentences into two sentences? I'm usually good about keeping track of my keys. I lost them. I spent hours looking for them. I found them in the freezer.

A. I lost my keys, even though I'm usually good about keeping track of them. I found them in the freezer and spent hours looking for them.
B. I spent hours looking for my keys and found them in the freezer. I had lost them, even though I'm usually good about keeping track of them.
C. I'm usually good about keeping track of my keys, but I lost them. After spending hours looking for them, I found them in the freezer.
D. I'm usually good about keeping track of my keys, but I lost them in the freezer. I had to spend hours looking for them.

Correct answer: C

Rationale: Combining the sentences is most effective when using 'but' to contrast the two ideas. Option C is concise, clear, and provides the best flow, accurately capturing both the contrast 'but I lost them' and the sequence of events 'After spending hours looking for them, I found them in the freezer.' Options A, B, and D do not effectively combine the sentences or maintain the sequence of events and contrast between keeping track of the keys and losing them.

4. Which of the following words contains an exception to a spelling rule?

A. Unclear
B. Memorize
C. Noticeable
D. Grieved

Correct answer: C

Rationale: The correct answer is C, 'Noticeable.' This word contains an exception to the common spelling rule of dropping the 'e' before adding a suffix starting with a vowel. In this case, the 'e' is retained in 'noticeable' before adding the suffix '-able.' Choices A, B, and D do not involve any spelling rule exceptions. 'Unclear,' 'Memorize,' and 'Grieved' follow standard spelling conventions without any irregularities.

5. Eventually, he stopped hiding the fact that he did not know Spanish and admitted that he had been deceiving them for months. Which of the following words is misspelled in the sentence above?

A. hiding
B. admitted
C. deceiving
D. eventually

Correct answer: B

Rationale: The correct answer is 'B' – 'admitted'. The word 'admited' is misspelled; the correct spelling is 'admitted.' 'Hiding,' 'deceiving,' and 'eventually' are all spelled correctly in the sentence provided. 'Hiding' is the action of concealing something, 'deceiving' is the act of causing someone to believe something that is not true, and 'eventually' means at some later time or in the end. These words are correctly spelled and used in the context of the sentence.