Praxis Writing : Correcting Agreement Errors
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Praxis Writing
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Sentence Correction
Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.
All students in my program hope to become a rich, famous author, but statistics indicate that none of us will.
All students in my program hope to become rich, famous authors, but statistics indicate that none of us will.
All students in my program hope to become a rich and famous authors, but statistics indicate that none of us will.
All students in my program hope to become a rich, famous author, but statistics indicate that none of us will.
All students in my program hope to become a rich, famous author, but statistics indicate that not any of us will.
All students in my program hope to become rich, famous authors, but statistics indicate that none of us will.
In this sentence, "all students" establishes a plural subject. Therefore the "rich, famous author" must be changed to a plural form: "All students in my program wish to become rich, famous authors."
Because the writer is included in "all students in my program," the most correct version of this sentence would include the author in the assertion that "none of us will."
Example Question #2 : Sentence Correction
Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.
It is explicitly stated in the employee handbook that all workers must supply his or her own steel-toed shoes.
that all workers must supply their own steel-toed shoes.
that all workers must supply his or her own steel-toed shoes.
that any worker must supply their own steel-toed shoes.
that each worker must supply their own steel-toed shoes.
that all workers must supply their own steel-toed shoes.
This question asks you to recognize and correct a pronoun-antecedent agreement error. "All workers" is plural, therefore the pronoun that refers to it must also be plural. Thus, the correct version of the sentence is: "It is explicitly stated in the employee handbook that all workers must provide their own steel-toed shoes."
If the workers are made individual ("each worker") then the correct pronoun form would be "his or her," because the individual pronoun is required but the gender of the worker is not specified.
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