GED and HiSET language arts — grammar and usage, part 2

The editing questions on both high-school-equivalency exams reach further than sentence fragments and subject-verb agreement. The HiSET Language Arts – Writing framework lists pronoun case, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, clarity and logical transitions among its writing conventions and language skills, and the GED Reasoning Through Language Arts test covers the same ground under grammar and language. This second grammar set picks up where the first one in this category stops, with the rules that were left out there.

Each of the twelve questions prints one faulty sentence of the kind adults actually write: an office email, a sign at a checkout, a note about a shift, a letter turning down an application. The four options describe possible repairs in words, such as "Change 'me' to 'I'", rather than printing four nearly identical versions of the sentence. The skill is the same: find the fault and choose the fix that corrects it without creating a new one.

The set covers pronoun case in a compound subject (Marcus and I) and a compound object (to Dana and me), with the quick test of dropping the other person; who and whom, tested by answering with he or him; capital letters for streets, states and a title placed before a name, and none for seasons or a common noun like company; fewer for things you can count; loose and lose, principal and principle, accept and except; however joining two complete sentences, which needs a semicolon before it; apostrophes wrongly added to plurals, including a family name; a sentence padded with repetitions such as reconvene again and final outcome; and a joining word that states the wrong relationship between two ideas.

Every explanation says why each wrong repair fails, because on these questions the near-miss is the lesson. The flashcards give each rule with a correct example from adult life.

The written work asks you to correct sentences yourself and explain the rule in a line, which is closer to what the essay requires: an essay is scored partly on control of these same conventions. The oral exam reads you faulty sentences one at a time and asks what you would change and how you would check it.

One honest limit: a quiz shows a single sentence, while the exams embed their editing questions in whole drafts such as letters and reports. Reading your own writing aloud slowly, sentence by sentence, is the best way to carry these rules over to that format. Zestly is an independent study tool, not affiliated with GED Testing Service or the HiSET program, and no score is promised.

• Choose I or me in a compound subject or object, and who or whom in a clause
• Apply capitalization rules to seasons, common nouns, street and state names, and titles before a name
• Tell apart fewer and less, loose and lose, principal and principle, accept and except
• Punctuate two sentences joined by however with a semicolon and a comma
• Remove apostrophes from plurals and cut redundant words
• Choose a joining word that states the real relationship between two ideas

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the HiSET Language Arts – Writing content categories (III. Writing Conventions: pronoun case, capitalization, punctuation, spelling; II. Language Facility: precise expression; I. Organization of Ideas: logical transitions — HiSET Test at a Glance) and the GED Reasoning Through Language Arts topic 'Grammar and Language'. All sentences are original.