1.
Botanists recognize over fifty different species of sunflower, and variance exists even
in those species. One species, the silverleaf sunflower, ______ both an early-flowering
ecotype that tends to grow in coastal areas and a late-flowering ecotype that grows
inland.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. encompassing
B. to encompass
C. encompasses
D. having encompassed
2. Antarctic pearlwort, a low-growing shrub with characteristic yellow flowers, is one of
only two native flowering plants which ______ in Antarctica.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. were occurring
B. occur
C. are occurring
D. will have occurred
3. Before the museum closed permanently, it faced financial challenges that ______ a
large deficit and declining ticket sale revenues.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. include
B. will include
C. would include
D. included
4.Rabinal Achí is a precolonial Maya dance drama performed annually in Rabinal, a
town in the Guatemalan highlands. Based on events that occurred when Rabinal was a
city-state ruled by a king, ______ had once been an ally of the king but was later
captured while leading an invading force against him.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. Rabinal Achí tells the story of K'iche' Achí, a military leader who
B. K'iche' Achí, the military leader in the story of Rabinal Achí,
C. there was a military leader, K'iche' Achí, who in Rabinal Achí
D. the military leader whose story is told in Rabinal Achí, K'iche' Achí,
5. Having returned from the ocean to the stream where it was born, an adult salmon's
life cycle ends when it spawns and dies, after which its offspring start the cycle anew.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. an adult salmon's life cycle ends when it spawns and dies,
B. an adult salmon spawns and dies, completing its life cycle,
C. the spawning and death of an adult salmon complete its life cycle,
D. the life cycle of an adult salmon is complete when it spawns and die,
6. While popular depiction might characterize surfing as a summer sport, the reality is
that winter conditions are considered better for surfing. Generated by seasonal storms
far off the coast, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. surfers highly prize the large, predictable sets of waves that are created by winter
swells.
B. winter swells reach the shore as large, predictable sets of waves that are highly
prized by surfers.
C. the shore causes large winter swells to break in predictable sets of waves highly
prized by surfers.
D. winter is highly prized by surfers for large swells that break in large, predictable sets
of waves.
7. Slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo's debut novel The Poet X, winner of the 2018 National
Book Award for Young People's Literature, is composed of ______ protagonist,
fifteen-year-old Xiomara Batista.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. poem's putatively written by the novel's
B. poem's putatively written by the novels'
C. poems putatively written by the novels'
D. poems putatively written by the novel's
8. Labor unions are formed in order to protect ______ through collective bargaining,
which gives employees greater leverage while ensuring they are treated equally by
management.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. workers' rights
B. worker's rights
C. workers rights'
D. workers' rights'
9. The striated ______ walls are the result of erosion and frost weathering having
exposed layers of multicolored sedimentary rock.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. patterns' of a canyons
B. patterns of a canyons'
C. pattern's of a canyon's
D. patterns of a canyon's
10. When they were first discovered in Australia in 1798, duck-billed, beaver-tailed
platypuses so defied categorization that one scientist assigned them the name
Ornithorhynchus paradoxus: "paradoxical bird-snout." The animal, which lays eggs but
also nurses ______ young with milk, has since been classified as belonging to the
monotremes group.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. it's
B. their
C. they're
D. its
11.The African Games Co-production Market, one of over 180 annual international
conferences supporting video game development, ______ the growth of the African
gaming industry by helping start-up studios in Africa find partners.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. promotes
B. promote
C. are promoting
D. have promoted
12. Wanda Diaz-Merced, an astrophysicist who is blind, has developed software that
can translate astrophysical data into sound. Such tools ______ astrophysicists to detect
subtle patterns in data—patterns that may not be evident in graphs and other visual
formats.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. has enabled
B. enable
C. is enabling
D. enables
13. In 2015, a team led by materials scientists Anirudha Sumant and Diana Berman
succeeded in reducing the coefficient of friction (COF) between two surfaces to the
lowest possible level—superlubricity. A nearly frictionless (and, as its name suggests,
extremely slippery) state, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. reaching superlubricity occurs when two surfaces' COF drops below 0.01.
B. superlubricity is reached when two surfaces' COF drops below 0.01.
C. when their COF drops below 0.01, two surfaces reach superlubricity.
D. two surfaces, when their COF drops below 0.01, reach superlubricity.
14. After winning the 1860 presidential election, Abraham Lincoln appointed Edward
Bates, Salmon P. Chase, and William H. Seward to his cabinet. Lincoln's decision was
surprising, since each of these men had run against him, but historians have praised it,
noting that Lincoln ______ his rivals' diverse talents to strengthen his administration.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. will leverage
B. is leveraging
C. has leveraged
D. leveraged
15. In 1990, California native and researcher Dipro Prattoy left his position as chief of
the Intelligent Systems Technology Branch at a NASA research center ______ the
space agency's astronaut training program.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. to join
B. is joining
C. joined
D. joins
16. In 1994, almost 200 years after the death of Wang Zhenyi, the International
Astronomical ______ the contributions of the barrier-breaking 18th-century astronomer
and author of "Dispute of the Procession of the Equinoxes," naming a crater on Venus
after her.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. Union, finally acknowledging
B. Union, having finally acknowledged
C. Union would finally acknowledge
D. Union to finally acknowledge
17. Classical composer Florence Price's 1927 move to Chicago marked a turning point
in her career. It was there that Price premiered her First Symphony—a piece that was
praised for blending traditional Romantic motifs with aspects of Black folk music—and
______ supportive relationships with other Black artists.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. developing
B. developed
C. having developed
D. to develop
18. Photographer Ansel Adams's landscape portraits are iconic pieces of American art.
However, many of the ______ of landscapes were intended not as art but as marketing;
a concessions company at Yosemite National Park had hired Adams to take pictures of
the park for restaurant menus and brochures.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. photographer's early photos
B. photographers early photos
C. photographer's early photos
D. photographer's early photos
19. Ten of William Shakespeare's plays are classified as histories. Although each one of
these plays, which include Henry V and Richard III, ______ on a single historical figure
(specifically, an English king), some, such as Henry VI Part One and Henry VI Part Two,
feature different episodes from the same monarch's life.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. focuses
B. focus
C. are focused
D. were focused
20. Official measurements of the Mississippi River's length vary: according to the US
Geologic Survey, the river is 2,300 miles long, whereas the Environmental Protection
Agency records its length as 2,320 miles. This disparity can be explained in part by the
fact that rivers such as the Mississippi expand and contract as ______ sediment.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A. one accumulates
B. they accumulate
C. it accumulates
D. we accumulate
