Editing Skills Flashcards

Which sentence correctly uses a hyphen?

Answer: She is a well-known author.

Compound modifiers before a noun are hyphenated: 'well-known author'.

Which version corrects the faulty pronoun reference: 'When Tom met Jake, he was nervous.'?

Answer: When Tom met Jake, Tom was nervous.

Replacing the ambiguous pronoun with a specific name clarifies who was nervous.

Which word is the correct choice: 'They decided to (lay/lie) the documents on the table.'?

Answer: lay, because it takes a direct object ('documents')

'Lay' is a transitive verb that requires a direct object; 'lie' is intransitive.

Which sentence demonstrates correct comma usage with an introductory clause?

Answer: After the game ended, the players shook hands.

A comma is placed after an introductory dependent clause before the main clause.

Choose the correctly spelled word to complete: 'The judge ruled that the defendant was ___.'

Answer: innocent

'Innocent' is the correct spelling, derived from Latin 'innocens'.

Which edit improves conciseness in: 'Due to the fact that it was raining, the game was canceled.'?

Answer: Because it was raining, the game was canceled.

'Due to the fact that' is a wordy phrase that should be replaced with 'because'.

Which sentence correctly distinguishes 'fewer' from 'less'?

Answer: She has fewer mistakes on her paper.

'Fewer' is used with countable nouns (mistakes); 'less' is used with uncountable nouns.