Dependent Clauses and Types of Sentences Exercises

Click within the small circle to the left of your choice for each answer. A javascript box will appear to tell you that your choice is correct or incorrect. After clicking "OK" within the javascript alert, you may try another answer or proceed to the next question if your first choice was correct. The phrase "prescriptively correct" means that other possibilities might be acceptable in informal writing or speech, but the prescriptively correct option would be most recommended for formal, academic writing.

 1. What is true of the following example? "Many people probably think that politeness is simply a social lubricant."
A. It contains a prepositional phrase.
B. It contains an adjectival clause.
C. It contains an adverbial clause.
D. It contains a noun clause.
E. None of the above.

2. What is true of the following example? "The expanding economy of the 1920s created new freedom for young people, who began to break away from their families and live on their own."
A. It contains a noun clause.
B. It contains an adverbial clause.
C. It contains a relative clause.
D. It contains no dependent clause.

3. What is true of the following example? "If society as a whole cannot be rejuvenated, the individual needs to work for personal certainty."
A. It contains a noun clause.
B. It contains an adverbial clause.
C. It contains an adjectival clause.
D. It contains an appositive phrase.
E. None of the above.

4. What is true of the following example? "He did not care about why I wanted a dog."
A. It contains a noun clause.
B. It contains an adverbial clause.
C. It contains an adjectival clause.
D. It contains an appositive phrase.
E. None of the above.

5. What is true of the following example? "The man whose dog you wanted is here."
A. It contains a noun clause.
B. It contains an adverbial clause.
C. It contains a relative clause.
D. It contains an appositive phrase.
E. None of the above.

6. What is true of the following example? "College students who spend four years on their degrees generally make more money than graduates of two-year colleges."
A. It contains a restrictive noun clause.
B. It contains a non-restrictive noun clause.
C. It contains a restrictive relative clause.
D. It contains a non-restrictive relative clause.
E. None of the above.

7. What is true of the following example? "You might hurt yourself if you don't watch out."
A. It contains a noun clause.
B. It contains an adverbial clause.
C. It contains an adjectival clause.
D. It contains an appositive phrase.
E. None of the above.

8. What is true of the following example? "A man had just married an automobile."
A. It is a simple sentence.
B. It is a complex sentence.
C. It is a compound sentence.
D. It is a compound-complex sentence.
E. None of the above.

9. What is true of the following example? "The ape is accepted, and sits quietly smoking a cigar and reading a newspaper, which he holds upside down."
A. It is a simple sentence.
B. It is a complex sentence.
C. It is a compound sentence.
D. It is a compound-complex sentence.
E. None of the above.

10. What is true of the following example? "He doesn't like it, but he wants it to like him."
A. It is a simple sentence.
B. It is a complex sentence.
C. It is a compound sentence.
D. It is a compound-complex sentence.
E. None of the above.