Editing Skills Flashcards

Which sentence correctly uses a dash (em dash)?

Answer: She had one goal — to win the championship.

An em dash sets off a dramatic or emphatic clause without additional punctuation around it.

What is wrong with: 'Everyone should bring their own lunch, and also they should bring a snack.'?

Answer: Redundancy — 'also' and 'and' repeat the additive idea

'And also' is redundant; either 'and' or 'also' alone is sufficient.

Which sentence uses passive voice? (Passive voice is not always wrong, but identify it.)

Answer: The report was submitted by the intern.

Passive voice features a form of 'be' + past participle with the agent in a 'by' phrase.

Which sentence correctly uses 'that' vs. 'which'?

Answer: The car that I bought last year broke down.

'That' introduces a restrictive clause essential to identifying which car; no commas are used.

Identify the tense shift error: 'She walked into the room and sees the package on the table.'

Answer: 'sees' should be 'saw' to maintain past tense throughout

Verbs in a narrative sequence should remain consistent in tense; 'saw' matches 'walked'.

Which revision eliminates the double negative?

Answer: I don't have no idea what happened. → I don't have any idea what happened.

Double negatives ('don't' + 'no') cancel each other; replace 'no' with 'any' to correct it.

Which sentence is written in a consistently formal register suitable for academic writing?

Answer: The study yielded unexpected results, prompting further investigation by the researchers.

Formal academic writing uses precise vocabulary and avoids colloquialisms like 'kind of' or 'totally'.