English Grammar and Usage in Writing and Speaking: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.1 - Common Core: 8th Grade English Language Arts

Answer: Running. Here running is used as a gerund, a verb form that serves as a noun. You’re looking for a thing - a way to stay in shape - and of the options “running” is the only gerund that can perform the role of a noun.

Here you’re looking for a noun that can pair with “sculpture” as a hobby for someone who likes art. “Painting” is a gerund, a verb form used as a noun (other -ing gerunds that make good hobbies are swimming, running, dancing, eating…), and fits perfectly: painting is a hobby. “Using paint” could also be considered a gerund but note that the structure “using paint and sculpture” seems to suggest that she’s using both paint and sculpture, when really the hobby is creating sculpture. So that is incorrect. The same goes for “to paint and sculpture” making it sound like “to sculpture” is the hobby. Finally “paint” is a noun, but it’s not a hobby - it’s something you might use while pursuing your hobby.

The word “frightened” is a verb used as an adjective in this case, describing that Joshua was frightened by the scary movie. Because the phrase beginning with “frightened” appears next to a comma and then a complete thought (“Joshua hid behind the couch” could be its own sentence) you must use “frightened” as a modifier here, meaning that it should not get its own subject (e.g. “he was frightened”). You cannot connect two complete clauses with merely a comma (you need to have a coordinating conjunction like “and” or “but” after the comma to connect two clauses), so here you must simply have a verb used as an adjective, and “frightened” is the correct answer.

This sentence employs two -ing verbs as participial modifiers, a verb form used to describe. Notice that the sentence could end where the comma is: “Laura spent most of last summer at Lake Geneva” would be a perfectly grammatical and informative sentence. After the comma, “swimming...and enjoying” tells us more about how she spent that summer at the lake - it adds extra description and therefore fits a common type of verbal, an -ing participial modifier following a comma at the end of a complete clause. With the other answer choices, if you were to select NO CHANGE the verbs “swimming” and “she enjoyed” are not in the same tense even though they took place during the same time frame, and that is a mistake. The same mismatched tense mistake is inherent in the other wrong choices, and also note that the answer beginning with “she swam” leads the after-comma portion with a noun + verb - an independent clause - which cannot be separated by merely a comma (it requires a coordinating conjunction such as “and” or “so” to follow the comma).

Here the word “was” is used as a past-tense verb and “startled” is used as a description (a participle is a verb used to describe). Note that, when used as an active verb, “startled” requires a predicate: Joanna could have startled someone else or a dog, but you can’t say that she just “startled” without an object. The same goes for “startles” or “is startling” - neither has a recipient of the phrase “Joanna startles _____” so neither can be correct. And “she became startled” is a redundant phrase since the word “Joanna” immediately precedes the blank, so you don’t need “she” as a subject - you already have the subject “Joanna.”

Answer: Annoyed. The word “annoyed” here is used as a participle, a verb used as an adjective. Often the -ed form of a verb - looking like past tense - is used in a modifying phrase to begin a sentence; look for a phrase beginning with -ed, then a comma, then a person’s name and you’ll generally have that structure of a description of a person, then that person as the subject of the sentence.

Annoying could also be used as a participle, but it doesn’t fit in this instance because it doesn’t describe the subject, Melissa - she’s not the one annoying someone, she’s the one who has become annoyed by Pankaj.

Cooking here is used as a gerund, a verb form used as a noun. Note that Will’s other hobbies - photography and travel - are each nouns, so to have a parallel and consistent list of items we need the blank to be a noun, also. The -ing form of verbs (cooking, sailing, swimming, hiking) can be used as a gerund, and you will often find it used for actions in lists of hobbies or activities.

The first blank should use the word “inspired” as a participle, a verb used to describe. Note that the portion before the comma does not have a subject doing the verb “inspire” so it is there to modify the noun immediately after the comma, Ally. Note, too, the word “by” that follows the blank. You can certainly be inspired by something, but to say that you are “inspiring by” means that you’re the subject, and clearly here Ally is the one being inspired.

The second blank uses “baking” as a gerund, a verb used as a noun. Ally has become enamored with a new thing, and that thing is baking.

Here the first verb “became” needs to be an active verb so that this is a properly constructed sentence. The main clause of the sentence is “the oak became Jessica’s friend” (the phrase “while to some it was simply a tree” is a dependent clause that does have a subject and verb, but due to the word “while” it cannot stand alone as a sentence).

Later in the sentence, “providing” and “acting” are participles, verbs used to describe. The -ing form of a verb is very commonly used at the ends of complete clauses following a comma to tell us more about the action. Here these participles tell us how the tree acted as a friend to Jessica: it provided shade and acted as a variety of playground equipment.

Note that two answer choices mix the verb tenses past the comma: “providing and acted” and “provided and acting.” While you could have a list of three past tense verbs (the oak became, provided, and acted) as a list of things the oak did, you cannot mix and match verbs in a list. Since each of those sentences has at least one -ing verb and one -ed verb, you’re not dealing with a list of three verbs, so you know that the -ing verbs are being set up as participles.

A participle is a verb form ending in –ed or –ing that is used as an adjective. Past and present participles often function as adjectives that describe nouns. Which baby? The crying baby. Crying describes the baby.

Answer: "Jim cast his fishing rod into the water and within minutes he caught a fish." The original sentence mixes the active voice (“Jim cast his fishing rod into the water” with the passive voice (“a fish was caught”). This sets up an unclear meaning - do we really know that “a fish was caught” means that Jim caught it? Or did Jim cast his rod and someone else caught a fish? The correct answer uses the active voice for both verbs of the sentence: Jim cast his rod and Jim caught the fish. This makes it crystal clear what happened in the sentence.

Answer: “abide” The sentence uses the imperative mood - the verb form that commands - to say that the student handbook mandates two things. Because of that, you should connect both verbs mandated by the handbook to the phrase “the handbook mandates that students ______” The handbook mandates that students wear appropriate clothing. And the handbook mandates that students abide by certain rules. Note that the -ing form of the verb suggests that that is ongoing, but the mandate really conveys the idea that this is a command for all times, not a temporary, current action.

Answer: Priyanka has been learning French and taking Geometry. Notice that this sentence talks about what has happened since Priyanka started high school a month ago. The word “since” suggests that the events started recently and are still going on, and the fact that she only started school a month ago means that it is quite unlikely she has already finished learning French or taking Geometry. And the fact that both events have been occurring in the same short timeframe suggests that they should be in the same tense. The “started recently and is still ongoing” tense is the present perfect continuous tense, constructed by has been + an -ing verb. Therefore “Priyanka has been learning French and taking Geometry” is correct. Note, also, that “will learn” or “will take” does not match with the time signal of “since starting high school” which means that the action started in the past, but “will” means that it will begin in the future.

Answer: “ran so swiftly that she recorded a record time” Two choices in this problem use the passive voice “a record time was recorded” but notice that the passive voice does not directly assign the record time to Allyson. “a record time was recorded” could mean that anyone in the race set a record, leaving it unclear what really happened. And notice, also, that since the record time occurred in the past (either “was recorded” or “she recorded”), the simple past tense “ran so swiftly” is the most efficient way to say what happened - and it is the same tense as “started so quickly.” The correct answer will use the simple past tense “ran so swiftly” and the active voice “she recorded a record time” to create a logical sequence of events and a clear meaning as to who set the record.

Answer: “to use headlights even during daylight hours and wear seat belts.” This sentence uses the imperative mood - the verb form that makes commands to say that drivers are required to do two things: 1) use headlights and 2) wear seat belts. The imperative mood uses a command (such as “requires”) plus the infinitive form of the verb (e.g. “to use”), minus the word “to.” So you would say that “the law requires drivers to use headlights” or “the law requires drivers to wear seat belts.” Since the law requires both things, you need “the law requires drivers to use...and wear” and only one sentence has that. The choices that include “should” or “need to” do so redundantly and incorrectly: you wouldn’t say “the law requires drivers they need to wear” because “need to” or “should” is already conveyed by the word “requires.”

Answer: Last month, Carlton began doing his own laundry and will start flossing his teeth after every meal. In this sentence, the modifier “last month” applies to every action in the sentence, so the shift from the past tense “began” to the future tense “will start flossing” does not get the timeline right. “Will start flossing” cannot take place in the past. Notice that the sentences about Will and Jeff take active steps to properly shift to the future: in the sentence about Will, the word “so” sets up a cause and effect situation: because Will increased his grades in the past, the result is that he will be able to go to his dream school in the future. And in the sentence about Jeff, the shift from past to future follows the same action: Jeff started an action (walking to school) and plans to keep doing that action. In both of those sentences, also, the pronoun “he” begins a new clause (“he will be attending” and “he plans to keep doing so”) which also sets up a new timeframe. With the sentence about Carlton, there is no pronoun to reintroduce Carlton in a new context.

Answer: “wished that she were able to fly; now, as a pilot, she does” This sentence requires a shift in verb voice and tense. As a child, Melissa wished that something were the case, and that requires the subjunctive mood “Melissa wished that she were able to fly” (note that “was” would be incorrect as it suggests that she really did fly as a child). But nowadays it’s no longer a wish: she’s a pilot so she does fly. Note that the verbs “is” or “does” have to carry over a verb that has already been stated (“fly”). The word “is” cannot work, because you would never say “she is fly” but instead would have to say “she is flying.” But you can say “she does fly,” making “she does” correct.

If you want to play soccer on Tuesday, he or she must call the park first. This sentence does NOT correct the error in the shift of person. “Someone” is the third person and “you” is the second person so these tenses do not match. The same goes for “If you want to play soccer on Tuesday, he or she must call the park first.” “You” is the second person and “he or she” is third-person singular so they are mismatched. The other choices are all in the same tense and have corrected the error.

The word “take” in the first portion of the sentence is written in an imperative mood while “you should call” in the second half is written in an indicative mood so there is a shift in mood. An imperative mood gives a command while an indicative mood states a fact or asks a question. In order to correct the shift, both parts of the sentence must be in the same mood. By correcting the sentence with “and then call the doctor.” both halves are now written in an imperative mood.