Question
Read this paragraph.
(1) Devon spent several hours preparing for an upcoming audition for a play at the community theater. (2) First he did vocal exercises to practice his diction and projection so that his words would carry clearly throughout the large auditorium. (3) Then he studies the text of the monologue to better understand the emotions, and motivations of the character he plans to portray. (4) Finally he recited his monologue in front of a mirror many times, making slight adjustments and improvements to his performance each time.
How should the paragraph be revised?
- ASentence 1: Change spent to had spent, AND insert a comma after play.
- BSentence 2: Change did to does, AND insert a comma after projection.
- CSentence 3: Change studies to studied, AND delete the comma after emotions.
- DSentence 4: Change recited to recites, AND delete the comma after times.
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
The question asks for the necessary revisions to the paragraph. Option C is correct because the errors appear in sentence 3 of the paragraph. The word “studies” is in the present tense, but it should be changed to “studied” to match the past tense established in the paragraph (“spent,” “recited”). Additionally, the comma after the word “emotions” needs to be removed because the words “emotions and motivations” are part of a group (series) of two elements, and when there are only two elements in a series, a comma is not used.
Option A is incorrect because sentence 1 does not need to be revised. The word “spent” is correct in the past tense, and there is no need to insert a comma after the word “play.”
Option B is incorrect because sentence 2 does not need to be revised. The word “did” is correct as written in the past tense, and there is no comma needed after the word “projection” because “so” is not functioning as a conjunction but rather as part of the conjunction phrase “so that,” which does not take a comma.
Option D is incorrect because sentence 4 does not need to be revised. The word “recited” is correct as written in the past tense, and the comma after “times” is needed in order to separate the modifying phrase “making slight adjustments and improvements to his performance each time” from the main clause.
Question analysis
This grammar and punctuation question gives a four-sentence paragraph about Devon preparing for a theater audition. Each answer choice pairs a verb change with a comma change in a single sentence. Students judge verb tense and comma use together, since a choice is right only if both of its edits are needed.
- Grade level
- Grade 6 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Below grade 7 Verb tense consistency and basic comma use are taught before grade 7, and this paragraph is short and plain. Each choice bundles two edits, so a student who finds one real error can confirm the answer with the other.
- Estimated difficulty
- Routine: one familiar step, little to misread.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 1, recall and reproduction · mainly apply
- What makes it hard
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Question and choices: about grade 9, 136 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 tense error is easy to hear: “Then he studies” breaks a past-tense story told with “spent,” “did” and “recited.” Spotting either half of the correct choice is enough to find it, which is why this is one of the easier editing questions. Students who go wrong are usually drawn by a comma rule they half remember, such as a comma before “so,” and stop checking the verb.
A rule that doesn't sound wrong minor Working it out
The comma in “emotions, and motivations” separates just two items, and many students have learned to put a comma before “and” in any list without counting the items. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
Each choice bundles a verb change and a comma change in a different sentence, so all four sentences must be checked, and a choice is right only if both of its edits are needed. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Strategy: Note the tense of the paragraph’s first verb, check every other verb against it, and only then test whether the comma half of that choice is also needed.
The wrong answers, classified
A Verb tense or form (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Thinks “had spent” is needed because the preparing came before the audition, and accepts a comma after “play” that would split “a play at the community theater.”
B Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Follows the rule of a comma before “so” joining two clauses, missing that “so that” introduces a purpose clause and takes no comma, and accepts the present-tense “does.”
D Verb tense or form (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Notices that the tenses clash but takes the present-tense “studies” as the standard, shifts “recited” to match, and drops the comma that sets off “making slight adjustments.”
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
Each choice makes two changes to one sentence: a verb change and a comma change. The right choice is the one where both changes fix real errors. If either change is not needed, the choice is wrong.
Check the verb tenses
Tense is the time a verb shows: past, present or future. A paragraph should stay in one tense. Example: Yesterday I walk to school should be Yesterday I walked to school.
This paragraph tells about the past: “spent,” “did,” “recited.” But sentence 3 says “Then he studies the text.” “Studies” is present tense. It should be “studied.”
Check the comma rule for pairs
Use commas in a list of three or more things: apples, pears, and plums. But two things joined by “and” take no comma: apples and pears.
Sentence 3 says “the emotions, and motivations.” That is only two things. So the comma after “emotions” should go.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. “Spent” is already past tense. A comma after “play” would cut off “at the community theater.”
- B is wrong. “Does” would be present tense, which is the mistake, not the fix. And “so that” takes no comma before it.
- C is right. Both changes fix real errors in sentence 3.
- D is wrong. “Recites” would be present tense. The comma after “times” is needed. It sets off the describing words “making slight adjustments.”
Watch out: D notices that the tenses don’t match, but it fixes the wrong verb. Three verbs are past and one is present, so change the present one.
Choose the answer
With both fixes, sentence 3 says he studied the text to understand the emotions and motivations of the character. So the answer is C.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
D is tempting because it also spots the tense problem. But it changes “recited,” which was already right, to match the one wrong verb. It also removes a comma that is needed. Both of C’s edits fix real errors, so C is the only choice that works.
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The original DOE question
