CLEP College Composition Exam (Latest
2023/ 2024 Update) Questions and Verified
Answers| 100% Correct | Already Graded A
Q: Which part of this sentence is incorrect?
The people whom helped me with this don’t have the least idea how to moderate.
A. whom
B. don’t
C. least
D. to moderate
Answer:
A. whom
Q: Which of following selections is not correct:
A. There were many people in the store.
B. I don’t know if there are any people here that speak French.
C. My friend has much money in the bank.
D. We don’t have a lot of time today.
Answer:
C. My friend has much money in the bank.
Q: Read each sentence carefully, paying particular attention to the underlined portions. You
will find that the error, if there is one, is underlined. If there is an error, select the one underlined
part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If there is no error, select No error.
The orbits of comets in our solar system are much more eccentric than planet Earth, which
revolves around the Sun following a relatively circular path. No error
A. are much
B. than planet Earth
C. revolves around
D. following
E. No error
Answer:
B. than planet Earth
Q: Which part of this sentence is incorrect?
My friend says that when she goes to the store one can’t find any good prices anymore and that
this is the reason why she shops online now.
A. says
B. goes
C. one
D. now
Answer:
C. one
Q: In context, which of the following is best to do with sentence 12 (reproduced below) ?
Highlighting each joke with just the right volume, duration, and quality of laughter to prompt
audiences at home to laugh at the intended times.
A. Insert a comma after “laughter” and change “to prompt” to “prompting”.
B. Add “with the performance” at the end of the sentence.
C. Add it to the end of sentence 11, using a comma before the word “highlighting.”
D. Delete it from the passage.
E. Leave it as it is.
Answer:
C. Add it to the end of sentence 11, using a comma before the word “highlighting.”
Q: (1) Winter counts are physical records, mainly drawings on animal hides or muslin, that
Plains Indians, primarily the Lakota, used for showing each year of their history. (2) In this
method, a year consists of one event recorded as an image in the winter count. (3) People could
keep track of other events, such as births and deaths, by knowing the years in which it occurred.
(4) In consultation with members of the Lakota people, curators at the Smithsonian Institution
created an online exhibit of about a thousand winter counts.
(5) Scholars generally agree that collectively, probably, they chose which event would stand for
a year. (6) An event chosen to represent a year was not necessarily the most important of that
year, just one that was memorable for everyone in the group. (7) One person was the keeper of
the winter count. (8) Once the group made its selection, he then recorded this event.
(9) Like any calendar, the winter counts named years but did not go into detail about what
happened. (10) Here is where the keeper of the winter count came in. (11) He was the group’s
official historian. (12) He remembered stories passed down to him and could place them in the
winter count. (13) He could provide the significance of the events chosen to represent the years
in the winter count. (14) Fortunately, several keepers were interviewed and their stories recorded
in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
(15) Even without their accompanying oral histories, however, the winter counts show that life
for the Lakota was always on the move.
Deleting which of the following sentences would most improve the coherence of the passage?
A. Sentence 2
B. Sentence 4
C. Sentence 9
D. Sentence 10
E. Sentence 15
Answer:
B. Sentence 4
Q: (1) Winter counts are physical records, mainly drawings on animal hides or muslin, that
Plains Indians, primarily the Lakota, used for showing each year of their history. (2) In this
method, a year consists of one event recorded as an image in the winter count. (3) People could
keep track of other events, such as births and deaths, by knowing the years in which it occurred.
(4) In consultation with members of the Lakota people, curators at the Smithsonian Institution
created an online exhibit of about a thousand winter counts.
(5) Scholars generally agree that collectively, probably, they chose which event would stand for
a year. (6) An event chosen to represent a year was not necessarily the most important of that
year, just one that was memorable for everyone in the group. (7) One person was the keeper of
the winter count. (8) Once the group made its selection, he then recorded this event.
(9) Like any calendar, the winter counts named years but did not go into detail about what
happened. (10) Here is where the keeper of the winter count came in. (11) He was the group’s
official historian. (12) He remembered stories passed down to him and could place them in the
winter count. (13) He could provide the significance of the events chosen to represent the years
in the winter count. (14) Fortunately, several keepers were interviewed and their stories recorded
in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
(15) Even without their accompanying oral histories, however, the winter counts show that life
for the Lakota was always on the move.
The passage as a whole could be clarified by adding which of the following before the first
sentence?
A. A brief paragraph comparing Native American timekeeping methods with calendar-based
ones
B. An excerpt of an interview with a Lakota keeper of the winter counts
C. An analysis of how certain events make time seem longer than it really is
D. An example of a student who learned about her Native American background and became a
keeper of winter counts
E. A discussion of how winter is viewed differently in different cultures
Answer:
A. A brief paragraph comparing Native American timekeeping methods with calendar-based
ones
Q: (1) While chocolate was highly esteemed in Mesoamerica, where it originated, its adoption
in Europe was initially slow. (2) There is a common belief that Europeans needed to “transform”
chocolate to make it appetizing. (3) However, while Spaniards did put sugar, which was
unknown to indigenous Americans, into chocolate beverages, this additive was not completely
innovative. (4) Mesoamericans were already sweetening chocolate with honey, and the step from
honey to sugar—increasingly more available than honey because of expanding sugar plantations
in the Americas—is a small one. (5) Likewise, although Spaniards adjusted Mesoamerican
recipes by using European spices, the spices chosen suggest an attempt to replicate harder-to-find
native flowers. (6) There is no indication the Spaniards deliberately tried to change the original
flavor of chocolate.
The discussion of honey in sentence 4 primarily serves to
A. detail the origins of an innovative practice
B. present an example of a valid theory
C. introduce a new topic for discussion
D. extend a prior analogy
E. refute a particular belief
Answer:
E. refute a particular belief
Q: What is the matter with the style of this paragraph?
The number one is difficult. It is hard to define. People have tried. Is it a set? Is it a
correspondence? Is it a unit? It is difficult to know. Sometimes less is more. Such a low number
is not easy. People have defined it. Others have disproven them. They keep trying for a
definition. Perhaps someday we all will agree.
A. it is hard to define the number one
B. there are too may questions in the paragraph
C. sentence length and variation is highly limited
D. the verb tenses are too inconsistent
Answer:
C. sentence length and variation is highly limited
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Ambiguity
A possible double meaning that may confuse a listener or reader
Colloquial
Used in some dictionaries to label words appropriate only in informal speech
Consistency
The result of staying within one pattern and avoiding confusing shifts in tense or grammatical perspective
Convention
the customary way of doing things; what a reader or listener expects or is used to
Economy
The sparing use of words, avoiding unnecessary wordiness or duplication
Formal
the kind of English appropriate in serious discussion and writing
Grammar
the study of the forms of words and their arrangement in a language
Informal
the kind of Standard English we use in casual conversations and personal letters
Non-standard
the everyday language of those with little formal education; inappropriate in school, business, or writing
Redundancy
unintentional repetition, needless duplication
Slang
extremely informal language; often used in a disrespectful manner
Standard
the language of our institutions- of school, church, business, and government
Word
parts of speech
Phrase
group of related words acting together as one part of speech; not containing both a subject and verb
Clause
group of related words containing a subject and a verb
Sentence
group of words containing a subject and a verb and expressing a complete thought
Paragraph
group of sentences organized around a central or main idea
Verb
a word that expresses action or helps to make a statement
Subject
a word or words naming person, place, thing, or idea about which something is being said
Compound Subject/Compound Verb
Two or more subjects or verbs connected by and or or
Direct Object
A noun or pronoun that answers the question whom or what after an action verb. It receives the action of the verb.
Subject Complement/Predicate Nominative
A noun or pronoun (or adjective) which follows a be or linking verb and renames or describes the subject. (Think of a be or linking verb as an = sign)
Nomative Pronoun
used as subject or subject complement (I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who, whoever)
Objective Pronoun
used as an object of verb or of preposition (me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom, whomever)
Possessive Pronoun
shows ownership (my, mine, you, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs, whose, whosoever)
Pronoun Rule #1
Anyone, everyone, someone, everybody, somebody, anybody, and nobody are singular. The singular pronoun his is used with them
Pronoun Rule #2
Avoid double subjects and useless pronouns
Pronoun Rule #3
when a pronoun modifies a gerund (a verbal noun), it is used as an adjective and is in the possessive case.
Pronoun Rule #4
Never use hisself or theirself, use himself or themselves
The principal parts of a Verb
1) the present tense (I break)
2) the past tense (I broke)
3) the past participle (I have broken). This form is used with a helping verb.
Verb Rule #1
of is not a substitute for have
Verb Rule #2
ought is not preceded by have or had
Verb Rule #3
would or should forms of the verb are not used in if clauses
Verb Rule #4
use the present subjunctive form in an if clause of a statement that is obviously not true. This is called a condition contrary to fact. The verb most frequently involved is to be. The present of to be in the subjunctive is were.
Infinitive
usually proceeded by to: it is used as a noun, adjective or adverb. It can never be the main verb of the sentence.
Participle
used as an adjective. The present participle ends in ing. Past participles have several endings (ed, d, t, n, en)
Gerund
The ing form used as a noun
Adjectives and Adverbs
have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative
Adjective and Adverb Rule #1
After linking verbs such as look, seem, appear, taste, smell, feel, sound, use adjectives to describe the subject
Adjective and Adverb Rule #2
Really is an adverb; real is an adjective. Do not use real to modify another adjective
Adjective and Adverb Rule #3
Adjectives do not modify verbs
Adjective and Adverb Rule #4
Good is never an adverb
Adjective and Adverb Rule #5
Since scarcely and hardly are negative already, they should not be accompanied by another negative
Adjective and Adverb Rule #6
Irregardless is not a word. Use regardless
Preposition Rule #1
Generally, a sentence should not end with a preposition. However, you may end a sentence with a preposition if it will make the sentence smoother
Preposition Rule #2
Avoid unnecessary prepositions
Preposition Rule #3
‘Between’ refers to two persons, groups, or things; ‘among’ refers to more than two.
Preposition Rule #4
Use ‘because of’ not ‘due to’ to introduce a phrase
Preposition Rule #5
do not use ‘off of’ in place of ‘from’ or ‘off’
Preposition Rule #6
‘into’, not ‘in’, implies going within
Conjunction Rule #1
Use ‘since’ or ‘because’ instead of ‘being’ or ‘being that’ or ‘seeing as how’ to introduce a clause
Conjunction Rule #2
use ‘as’, not ‘like’, as a connective between clauses
Conjunction Rule #3
‘while’ means “duration of time.” It cannot be used in place of ‘but’, ‘although’, or ‘and’
Conjunction Rule #4
do not say “the reason is because.” Use “the reason is.”
Conjunction Rule #5
do not say “the place is where.” Use “the place is.”
denotation
the objective definition of a word
connotation
the emotional associations we have with a word
How to avoid ambiguity of pronouns
1) Give pronouns clear antecedents (he, she, it, who, etc.)
2) Avoid general reference (this, that, it, and which)
3) Avoid weak reference
4) Avoid the indefinite use of the pronouns ‘they’, ‘you’, and ‘it’
Causes of ambiguity: modifiers and comparisons
1) Misplaced modifier
2) Dangling modifier
3)Two-way modifiers
4) Incomplete comparisons
Fragment
A part of a sentence written as though it were a complete sentence.
Coordination
a way to join dependent and independent clauses to form sentences. If these clauses are not connected properly, both by connectives and punctuation, the result is a run-on sentence.
Excessive Coordination
fails to show precise relationships between ideas. It is not usually true that every idea you wish to express should carry equal weight.
Subordination
consist of an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.
Facts
A fact is something that actually happened and can be proven to be true. If you choose to support an idea with facts, make sure that your facts can be verified and are not merely opinion. for example, you might write a paragraph developing the idea that 1968 was a momentous year by citing the events of that year.
Examples
Sometimes a topic sentence may be developed by giving one or more examples of the truth it expresses. The topic sentence “Our school has a club to fit everyone’s interest,” could be developed with examples.
Incident
An incident or brief event may provide an effective means of illustrating the idea expressed in a topic sentence. For example, the topic sentence “Sometimes a pet can seem human,” could be developed by a brief story that illustrated the point.
Reasons
Topic sentences often make statements that provoke the question “why?” In general, the writer who starts with such a statement should give reasons to support it. For example, a paragraph on the subject of why we should have a woman president could be developed with reasons.
Comparison and Contrast
Paragraphs may be developed by comparisons (which show similarities) or by contrasts (which show differences) or by a combination of the two. a special note is needed about the organization of the type of paragraph. It may be done point by point; that is by, making a statement about one thing and comparing or contrasting it immediately with another.