Also in 2026 Practice Test C English, question 48.
Question
Which sentence contains an error in its construction and should be revised?
(1) In 1976, the National Basketball Association (NBA) absorbed several teams of the American Basketball Association (ABA), including the New York Nets, who played in the Long Island area at the time. (2) The owner of the Nets decided to take the team to New Jersey after the team had financial troubles, where the team played for thirty-five seasons. (3) The New Jersey Nets had sixteen playoff appearances, including two appearances in the NBA finals. (4) In 2012, the team changed ownership and returned to New York, where the team now plays under the name the Brooklyn Nets.
- Asentence 1
- Bsentence 2
- Csentence 3
- Dsentence 4
Show the answer
Correct answer: B
The question asks for the identification of the sentence that has an error in its construction and should be revised.
A. Incorrect. There are no errors in the structure of sentence 1. The clause “who played in the Long Island area at the time” correctly modifies the noun “New York Nets.” “Who” is the correct relative pronoun to serve as the subject of the modifying clause because it refers to people rather than objects or things.
B. CORRECT. Sentence 2 contains a structural error. The current placement of the clause “where the team played for thirty-five seasons” suggests that the clause is modifying the term “financial troubles,” which is illogical. The clause “where the team played for thirty-five seasons” should immediately follow the location, “New Jersey.” A revised version of the sentence might read, “After the team had financial troubles, the owner of the Nets decided to take the team to New Jersey, where the team played for thirty-five seasons.”
C. Incorrect. There are no errors in the structure of sentence 3. The phrase “including two appearances in the NBA finals” is a nonrestrictive phrase that provides further detail about the team’s “sixteen playoff appearances.” The phrase is set off by a comma because it is not essential to understanding the meaning of the sentence.
D. Incorrect. There are no errors in the structure of sentence 4. The clause “where the team now plays under the name the Brooklyn Nets” is a nonrestrictive clause that provides further detail about the team after its move back to New York in 2012. The clause is set off by a comma because it is not essential to understanding the meaning of the sentence.
Question analysis
This editing question gives a four-sentence paragraph tracing the Nets basketball team from Long Island to New Jersey and back to Brooklyn, and asks which sentence is built incorrectly. The sentences are long, with commas, parentheses and describing clauses, so students must check what each clause actually describes instead of trusting how smoothly it reads.
- NYS standards
- 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Placing clauses so they describe the right word is a grade 7 grammar standard. The paragraph is short and plain, but the correct sentences also carry commas and describing clauses, which matches a careful grade 7 editing task.
- Estimated difficulty
- Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
- Every choice must be checked minor
- Complex sentences minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Question and choices: about grade 7, 108 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
The faulty sentence is easy to understand, because the reader supplies the link between New Jersey and the thirty-five seasons without noticing the clause is in the wrong place. Students who go by sound skip it and suspect a busier sentence instead, most often the first, with its parentheses and a “who” that refers to a team. The question rewards asking, for each describing clause, which word it actually sits beside.
A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
Sentence 2’s “where the team played for thirty-five seasons” follows “financial troubles,” not “New Jersey,” but readers silently attach it to the state, so the misplaced clause does not sound wrong. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
The stem names no kind of error, and every sentence carries a describing clause or phrase, from “who played” to “including two appearances” to a second “where” clause, so all four must be tested. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Sentence 1 runs 31 words with two abbreviations in parentheses and a “who” clause, which makes a correct sentence look like the likeliest home for an error. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Strategy: In each sentence, find every describing clause or phrase and the word just before it. Ask whether the clause can logically describe that word; a mismatch marks the sentence to revise.
Traps
- Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.
The wrong answers, classified
A Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Believes “who” cannot refer to a team, or distrusts the long sentence with two abbreviations, though “who played in the Long Island area” correctly describes the New York Nets.
C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Takes “including two appearances in the NBA finals” for a fragment tacked on with a comma, though the phrase correctly adds detail to “sixteen playoff appearances.”
D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Hears the shift from “returned” to “now plays” as a tense error, though “now” marks the present, and this “where” clause sits right after New York, the place it describes.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks which sentence is built wrong. The facts may all be true. The problem is how the parts of a sentence fit together. The question doesn’t say what kind of error to look for. So you need to test all four sentences.
Learn the rule about describing clauses
A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. Some clauses describe a word. They often start with who or where. A describing clause must sit right next to the word it describes. If it lands next to the wrong word, the sentence says something silly. Example: We went to the beach after the storm, where we swam all day. That says we swam in the storm! Fix: After the storm, we went to the beach, where we swam all day.
Test sentence 2
Sentence 2 ends “after the team had financial troubles, where the team played for thirty-five seasons.” The clause starting with “where” sits right after “financial troubles.” So the sentence says the team played inside its money problems. The clause should describe New Jersey, the place. Fix: After the team had financial troubles, the owner of the Nets decided to take the team to New Jersey, where the team played for thirty-five seasons.
Test sentences 1, 3 and 4
- Sentence 1: “who played in the Long Island area at the time” comes right after “the New York Nets.” A team is a group of people, so who works.
- Sentence 3: “including two appearances in the NBA finals” comes right after “sixteen playoff appearances.” It adds a detail about them, so it fits.
- Sentence 4: “where the team now plays” comes right after “New York,” a place. The word “now” makes the present tense right.
Watch out: Sentence 1 looks busy, with two names in parentheses. That makes choice A tempting. But long is not the same as wrong.
Pick the answer
Only sentence 2 puts a describing clause next to the wrong words. So the answer is B, sentence 2.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
Sentence 1 is the closest wrong answer, because it is long and uses who for a team. But its clause sits right next to the Nets, the team it describes. In sentence 2, the “where” clause sits next to “financial troubles,” not New Jersey. That is why B is right.
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The original DOE question
