Free Writing Skills MCQs with Answers

1. Choose the sentence with correct parallel structure.

• A. She likes swimming, cycling and to run.
• B. She likes swimming, cycling and running.
• C. She likes to swim, cycling and running.
• D. She likes swim, cycle and to run.

Explanation: Items joined in a list must share the same grammatical form, so three gerunds are consistent while mixing a gerund with an infinitive is not. The alternative correct version would be to swim, to cycle and to run. Faulty parallelism is one of the most commonly tested writing errors.

2. Identify the dangling modifier: Walking to the hospital, the rain began to fall.

• A. The sentence is correct
• B. Walking to the hospital wrongly appears to describe the rain
• C. began should be begun
• D. the rain should be a rain

Explanation: The introductory phrase must describe the subject of the main clause, but here that subject is the rain, which cannot walk. Correcting it means naming the walker, as in walking to the hospital, I felt the rain begin to fall. Dangling modifiers produce sentences that are grammatically neat but absurd in meaning.

3. Choose the correctly written sentence.

• A. The doctor told the patient that he needed rest, which was true.
• B. Being tired, the exam was difficult.
• C. To pass the test, hard work is required.
• D. Having studied all night, the paper seemed easy to him.

Explanation: Only the first sentence keeps every modifier attached to something that can logically perform the action. In the others, an exam cannot be tired, hard work cannot pass a test and a paper cannot study all night. Rewriting each with a human subject would repair them.

4. Identify the run on sentence.

• A. The lecture ended early; the students left.
• B. The lecture ended early, the students left.
• C. The lecture ended early, so the students left.
• D. Because the lecture ended early, the students left.

Explanation: Two independent clauses joined by nothing more than a comma form a comma splice, which is a type of run on. It is repaired with a semicolon, with a coordinating conjunction after the comma, or by subordinating one clause, all three of which appear as the other options. A full stop would also work.

5. Identify the sentence fragment.

• A. Although the results were promising.
• B. The results were promising.
• C. The results, which were promising, were published.
• D. Promising results were published.

Explanation: A subordinating conjunction such as although turns the clause into a dependent one, so it cannot stand alone and needs a main clause to complete it. Adding one gives although the results were promising, further trials were needed. A fragment may contain a subject and a verb yet still be incomplete.

6. Choose the correctly spelled word.

• A. occurence
• B. occurrence
• C. ocurrence
• D. occurrance

Explanation: Occurrence doubles both the c and the r and ends in ence, which is why it is misspelt so often. The doubling follows from the stress falling on the second syllable when the suffix is added, the same rule that gives referred and preferred. Reading the word syllable by syllable helps.

7. Choose the correct word: The medicine had a strong ____ on the patient.

• A. affect
• B. effect
• C. affects
• D. efect

Explanation: Effect is the noun meaning result, while affect is the verb meaning to influence, so the medicine affected the patient and had an effect on him. The rare noun affect is a psychological term for emotional expression and can be ignored here. Substituting the word result mentally settles most cases.

8. Choose the correct word: The hospital accepted all patients ____ those with contagious diseases.

• A. accept
• B. except
• C. expect
• D. aspect

Explanation: Except means excluding, while accept means to receive willingly, and the sentence needs the sense of leaving a group out. Expect means to anticipate and aspect means a feature or side of something. These four are confused because they sound similar in rapid speech.

9. Choose the correct word: There were ____ complications than expected.

• A. less
• B. fewer
• C. lesser
• D. little

Explanation: Fewer is used with countable nouns such as complications, while less is used with uncountable ones such as time, money or water. The distinction is widely ignored in speech but is marked in tests. Lesser means smaller in importance and is not a quantity word at all.

10. Choose the correct word: The two departments agreed to divide the funds ____ themselves.

• A. between
• B. among
• C. amongst all
• D. within

Explanation: Between is used for two parties and among for three or more, and here there are exactly two departments. Had there been five departments, among would be correct. The rule is sometimes relaxed when relationships between several pairs are meant, but tests apply the simple version.