22 Reading & Evidence Analysis Practice Questions & Answers

1. 1. Read the passage and answer the question. Many shoppers assume that a food labeled "low fat" is automatically a healthier choice. When manufacturers remove fat, however, they often replace it with added sugars or refined starches to keep the product palatable. A reduced-fat cookie may therefore contain nearly as many calories as the original, and it may raise blood sugar faster. Nutritionists who study these products report that shoppers who trust the front-of-package claim frequently eat larger portions, believing the food carries no cost. The information that matters most is printed on the back, in the ingredient list and the nutrition panel, where the substitutions are visible. Which statement best expresses the implied main idea of the passage?

   • A.Cookies labeled "reduced fat" contain exactly the same number of calories as regular cookies.
   • B.The ingredient list and nutrition panel are a better guide than a front "low fat" claim.✓ Answer
   • C.Manufacturers are legally required to disclose added sugars on the front of the package.
   • D.Added sugars are the single leading cause of poor health in the United States.

   An implied main idea is the single point that every detail in the passage converges on, even though no sentence states it outright. Here the substitution of sugar for fat, the similar calorie count, the larger portions, and the closing reference to the back of the package all point to the same conclusion: the front-of-package claim is unreliable and the panel on the back is the better guide. The "exactly the same number of calories" choice distorts "nearly as many," and the choices about a legal front-label requirement and sugar as the single leading cause of poor health add claims the passage never makes.

   Ref QB-JY9J9FSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.2.4 (infer implied main ideas of paragraphs or whole texts)Report a problem with this question

2. 2. Read the passage and answer the question. A city's largest single use of electricity is not its factories but its buildings, and most of that power is spent heating, cooling, and lighting space that no one is using. When one mid-sized city required new commercial buildings to install occupancy sensors and programmable thermostats, electricity use in those buildings fell by about a fifth within two years, even though the number of workers inside them rose. Retrofitting older buildings is slower and more expensive, but engineers estimate that sealing air leaks alone would cut heating demand substantially. The cheapest unit of energy, as one engineer put it, is the one never generated. The author's main idea is that reducing wasted energy in buildings is an effective way to lower a city's electricity demand. Which detail most directly supports that main idea?

   • A.Electricity use in the new buildings fell about a fifth while worker numbers rose.✓ Answer
   • B.A city's factories also consume electricity.
   • C.Retrofitting older buildings is slower and more expensive than equipping new ones.
   • D.An engineer described the cheapest unit of energy as the one never generated.

   A supporting detail must function as evidence for the claim, not merely restate it. Only the finding that electricity use in the new buildings fell about a fifth reports a measured outcome that links the intervention to lower electricity use, and the note that worker numbers rose at the same time rules out the competing explanation that the buildings were simply emptier. The engineer's line about the cheapest unit of energy is a memorable restatement of the idea rather than evidence for it, and the remarks about factories and costlier retrofits are background or a qualification.

   Ref QB-4GT22HSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.2.5 (determine which detail(s) support a main idea)Report a problem with this question

3. 3. Read the memo and answer the question. TO: All Warehouse Staff FROM: Operations Manager SUBJECT: Change to Shift Start Times Beginning next month, first shift will start at 6:30 a.m. rather than 7:00 a.m. We recognize that the change is inconvenient for some of you. We are making it because the earlier start lets us finish loading before the interstate traffic peak. During the three weeks we tested the earlier start with the Dock B crew, average delivery delays dropped from 41 minutes to 9 minutes, and overtime hours fell by 12 percent. Staff who need a schedule accommodation should contact their supervisor before the fifteenth. Which sentence provides the evidence the writer uses to support the claim that the earlier start time improves operations?

   • A."We recognize that the change is inconvenient for some of you."
   • B."We are making it because the earlier start lets us finish loading before the interstate traffic peak."
   • C."Staff who need a schedule accommodation should contact their supervisor before the fifteenth."
   • D."During the three weeks we tested the earlier start with the Dock B crew, average delivery delays dropped from 41 minutes to 9 minutes, and overtime hours fell by 12 percent."✓ Answer

   Evidence is observed or measured information offered to show that a claim is true, which is different from the reason or rationale behind a decision. The sentence about finishing loading before the interstate traffic peak states the manager's reasoning about why the change should work, while the Dock B sentence reports actual results from a three-week trial — specific figures for delays and overtime — and is therefore the evidence. The sentences acknowledging the inconvenience and directing staff to their supervisor are an acknowledgment and an instruction and make no case at all.

   Ref QB-KYMVEGSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.8.2 (identify the specific piece of evidence used to support a claim)Report a problem with this question

4. 4. Read the passage and answer the question. A company that sells a vitamin D supplement advertises that its product "restores healthy energy levels." As proof, the advertisement offers two things. First, it cites a published study showing that people with a diagnosed vitamin D deficiency often report fatigue. Second, it prints three customer letters describing how much better the writers felt after a month on the supplement. The advertisement does not report any study in which people took this supplement and were compared with a similar group that did not. Which statement best evaluates the evidence offered in the advertisement?

   • A.The evidence is irrelevant, because vitamin D has nothing to do with fatigue.
   • B.The evidence is sufficient, because a published study is more reliable than customer letters.
   • C.The evidence is relevant but insufficient, because no comparison group is reported.✓ Answer
   • D.The evidence is sufficient, because three separate customer letters confirm the published study.

   Relevance and sufficiency are separate tests: evidence can be on topic and still fail to establish the claim. The deficiency study is relevant because it connects vitamin D status to fatigue, but it says nothing about what this product does for ordinary buyers, and testimonials cannot separate the supplement's effect from expectation, seasonality, or other changes because there is no comparison group. That missing comparison is exactly what makes the evidence insufficient rather than irrelevant.

   Ref QB-ZFR2HDSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.8.3 (evaluate the relevance and sufficiency of evidence)Report a problem with this question

5. 5. Read the letter and answer the question. To the Editor: Our town should not close the branch library on Ash Street. Circulation records show the branch lent 61,000 items last year, more than the two other branches combined. Its meeting room was booked 214 days, mostly by job seekers using the free computers. Closing it would be the most short-sighted decision this council has ever made. The council's savings estimate does not include the cost of the extra bus service the town would have to add for residents on the east side. — R. Alvarez Which sentence states an unsupported opinion rather than a claim backed by evidence in the letter?

   • A."Circulation records show the branch lent 61,000 items last year, more than the two other branches combined."
   • B."Its meeting room was booked 214 days, mostly by job seekers using the free computers."
   • C."The council's savings estimate does not include the cost of the extra bus service the town would have to add for residents on the east side."
   • D."Closing it would be the most short-sighted decision this council has ever made."✓ Answer

   A supported claim can be checked against something the writer actually provides; an unsupported opinion is a value judgment that no information in the text tests. The sentences on circulation and meeting-room bookings cite verifiable records, and the sentence about the extra bus service names a specific cost the council's figure leaves out, but "the most short-sighted decision this council has ever made" is a superlative judgment that would require a comparison with every past decision the letter never offers.

   Ref QB-GYJVWCSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.8.4 (distinguish supported claims from unsupported claims)Report a problem with this question

6. 6. Read the passage and answer the question. A neighborhood association argued for its new streetlight program this way: "Since the lights went up on Poplar Street in March, reported burglaries on that street have fallen. Clearly the lights caused the drop. Anyone who questions the program is simply indifferent to public safety." The association did not mention that a police substation opened two blocks away in February, or that reported burglaries fell across the entire district that spring. Which statement best describes the flaw in the association's reasoning?

   • A.It relies on a statistic that is too old to be relevant to the current program.
   • B.It defines the word "burglary" differently from the way the police department defines it.
   • C.It draws an analogy between streetlights and policing that does not fit the situation.
   • D.It treats a sequence in time as proof of cause and attacks opponents instead of answering them.✓ Answer

   Two classic reasoning errors appear together. Assuming that because the drop followed the lights the lights must have caused it ignores the alternative explanations the passage supplies — the new substation and the district-wide decline — and calling critics "indifferent to public safety" attacks the person rather than the argument, which cannot make the causal claim any stronger.

   Ref QB-2G4DPESource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.8.5 (assess validity of reasoning and identify fallacious reasoning)Report a problem with this question

7. 7. Read the editorial and answer the question. The state should require every new home to include the wiring and conduit needed for a rooftop solar array. Installing that wiring during construction adds only a few hundred dollars to the cost of a house; adding it to a finished home costs several thousand, because walls must be opened and closed again. Homeowners who decide to add panels ten years from now will thank us for the foresight. Which unstated assumption must be true for the editorial's argument to hold?

   • A.Rooftop solar panels generate more electricity than a typical household uses.
   • B.The state already requires builders to install solar panels on every new home.
   • C.A meaningful number of these homeowners will actually want to add solar panels at some later point.✓ Answer
   • D.Electricians charge the same hourly rate for new construction and for retrofit work.

   An unstated premise is the link a conclusion silently depends on. The editorial's whole case is a cost comparison whose savings only exist if the wiring is eventually used, so if almost no homeowner ever adds panels, the mandate spends money on every new house and saves nothing. The argument does not depend on electricians' hourly rates, since the passage attributes the higher retrofit cost to opening and closing walls, and a state rule already requiring panels would make the proposal unnecessary.

   Ref QB-HYW74ESource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.8.6 (identify an underlying premise or assumption and evaluate its support)Report a problem with this question

8. 8. Read the two passages and answer the question. Passage 1 (Downtown Merchants Association): Closing Third Street to cars would hurt the very businesses the plan claims to help. We mailed a survey to our 90 members; 62 replied, and 48 of those said that most of their customers arrive by car. Our members already compete with online sellers. Asking shoppers to park four blocks away will send them somewhere else. Passage 2 (City planning office): Cities that have closed a downtown street to cars have generally seen retail sales on that street rise. Counts taken on Third Street on six weekdays found that 71 percent of people entering stores had walked or arrived by bus. The merchants' fear is understandable, but it rests on what owners believe about their customers rather than on a count of who actually comes through the door. How do the two passages differ in the kind of evidence each relies on?

   • A.Passage 1 relies on national data, while Passage 2 relies on a local opinion survey.
   • B.Passage 1 relies on owners' beliefs, while Passage 2 relies on direct counts of shoppers.✓ Answer
   • C.Both passages rely on the same street counts but interpret those counts differently.
   • D.Passage 1 cites expert testimony, while Passage 2 offers only the writer's personal opinion.

   When two arguments reach opposite conclusions about the same proposal, the useful comparison is what each one counts as evidence. Passage 1 measures owners' beliefs about their customers through a mailed survey, while Passage 2 measures behavior directly by counting how people arriving at stores actually got there — which is why Passage 2 can claim the merchants' figure describes an impression rather than the traffic itself.

   Ref QB-XF2D6BSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.9.3 (compare two argumentative texts on the same topic and analyze the evidence each emphasizes)Report a problem with this question

9. 9. Read the passage and answer the question. A high school newsletter reported: "Since our cafeteria added a salad bar last fall, students are clearly eating better." The school's own food-service records for the same school year show these daily averages. Salad bar servings: 45 in the fall, 52 in the spring. Hot lunch entrées: 610 in the fall, 604 in the spring. À la carte snack purchases: 380 in the fall, 455 in the spring. Enrollment stayed at about 1,050 students all year. How do the food-service records relate to the newsletter's claim?

   • A.They weaken the claim, because snack purchases rose far more than salad servings.✓ Answer
   • B.They are unrelated to the claim, because they record purchases rather than nutrition.
   • C.They confirm the claim, because salad bar servings increased from fall to spring.
   • D.They confirm the claim, because the number of hot lunch entrées decreased.

   Quantitative information has to be read as a whole pattern, not mined for the one number that fits the claim. Salad servings rose by 7 a day in a school of about 1,050 students, while snack purchases rose by 75 a day over the same period, so the records show the overall mix of food students bought shifting toward snacks — evidence that contradicts rather than supports "students are clearly eating better."

   Ref QB-EYU7KASource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.7.2 (analyze how quantitative information extends, clarifies, or contradicts the text)Report a problem with this question

10. 10. Read the passage and answer the question. Genetic tests sold directly to consumers can tell a customer that she carries a variant associated with a higher risk of a particular disease. Association, however, is not destiny. Most such variants raise risk by a small amount, and most people who develop the disease do not carry the variant at all. Diet, exercise, and access to regular medical care still account for much of the difference in outcomes. Genetic counselors report that customers tend to respond to a result in one of two unhelpful ways: alarm that treats a small risk as a diagnosis, or a sense of permission to ignore their habits because "the test came back clean." Which conclusion is best supported by the passage as a whole?

    • A.A test result is limited and should not replace attention to habits and medical care.✓ Answer
    • B.Direct-to-consumer genetic tests are inaccurate and should not be sold.
    • C.People who carry a risk variant will develop the disease unless they change their diet.
    • D.Most diseases are caused entirely by lifestyle rather than by inherited factors.

    A valid conclusion synthesizes the passage's main ideas without reaching past them. The text combines three points — small increases in risk, the large role of diet, exercise, and medical care, and two mistaken reactions in opposite directions — and only the conclusion that a test result is limited and should not replace attention to habits and medical care accounts for all three. The other choices each state something stronger than the evidence given: the passage never questions the tests' accuracy, never says the variant makes disease certain, and never rules out inherited factors.

    Ref QB-VKBTBDSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.2.8 (draw conclusions requiring synthesis of multiple main ideas)Report a problem with this question

11. 11. Read the notice and answer the question. NOTICE TO RESIDENTS — BUILDING C The laundry room will be closed from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday while the drain lines are cleared. We know this is short notice. The lines are being cleared because three machines flooded last month after contractor-grade drop cloths were washed in them; those cloths shed heavy fibers that our traps cannot handle. Residents who need to do laundry on Tuesday may use the Building A room at no extra charge. Please keep drop cloths, pet bedding, and area rugs out of the machines. What is the writer's implicit purpose in explaining what caused the flooding?

    • A.To keep residents from washing items that damage the machines.✓ Answer
    • B.To assign legal responsibility for the damage to specific residents.
    • C.To argue that the building needs to purchase new washing machines.
    • D.To apologize for the short notice given to residents.

    An implicit purpose is inferred from how details are arranged rather than from a stated intention. The cause is not needed simply to announce a closing, and it is followed immediately by the request to keep drop cloths, pet bedding, and rugs out of the machines, so the explanation functions as the setup for that request. An apology for short notice describes only the single sentence acknowledging it, and assigning legal blame or arguing for new machines are aims the notice never pursues.

    Ref QB-D4HYWDSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.6.3 (infer an author's implicit purpose from details in the text)Report a problem with this question

12. 12. Read the passage and answer the question. From a speech delivered to a state constitutional convention: "We are asked to wait. We were asked to wait when the first petition was read in this hall, and we waited. We were asked to wait when the second petition was read, and we waited. We are asked to wait again tonight. A right that must always wait is not a right at all; it is a favor, and a favor can be withdrawn by whoever granted it." Which rhetorical technique does the speaker use most prominently in the middle of the passage, and what does it accomplish?

    • A.Analogy, which compares the convention hall to a courtroom.
    • B.Repetition and parallelism, which emphasize how many times the same delay has been demanded.✓ Answer
    • C.Enumeration, which lists the specific provisions contained in the petitions.
    • D.A qualifying statement, which concedes that the delay may have been reasonable.

    Repetition means restating the same words, and parallelism means casting successive ideas in the same grammatical pattern; here "We were asked to wait when… and we waited" recurs with only the ordinal changed. That identical structure makes the delays feel like a series rather than isolated events, which is what sets up the conclusion that a right postponed indefinitely is only a favor. No comparison, itemized list, or concession appears in those lines.

    Ref QB-WKP5HESource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.6.4 (analyze rhetorical techniques: analogy, enumeration, repetition and parallelism, juxtaposition of opposites, qualifying statements)Report a problem with this question

13. 13. Read the passage and answer the question. In photosynthesis, a leaf does not simply absorb whatever light strikes it. Pigments in the chloroplast capture particular wavelengths and pass the energy along a chain of molecules. If that chain becomes saturated — that is, if energy arrives faster than it can be moved along — the additional light does no good and can even damage the tissue. Growers who add more lamps to a greenhouse without also managing temperature and carbon dioxide often find that their plants do not respond at all. As it is used in the passage, "saturated" most nearly means

    • A.soaked through with liquid
    • B.chemically combined with oxygen
    • C.colored deeply and vividly
    • D.filled to capacity✓ Answer

    Multiple-meaning words are settled by the context around them, not by the most familiar meaning. The dash construction that follows — "if energy arrives faster than it can be moved along" — defines the term directly as a limit on how much the chain can carry, and the next clause confirms it by saying additional light does no good. Soaking, vivid color, and combination with oxygen are all real senses of the word, but none fits an energy-transfer chain.

    Ref QB-E4VA4FSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.4.1 / L.4.1 (determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text)Report a problem with this question

14. 14. Read the passage and answer the question. From a cover letter: "For six years I have coordinated scheduling for a twelve-person crew, and I have learned to anticipate the conflicts that a printed schedule hides. I am confident that the same habit of looking one week ahead would serve your dispatch office well." The writer wants to replace the word "confident" without changing the tone of the letter. Which word best preserves the professional, measured tone of the original?

    • A.hopeful
    • B.cocky
    • C.convinced✓ Answer
    • D.adamant

    Near-synonyms differ in connotation and register, so the right substitution has to match both the strength of the original claim and the formality of the document. "Convinced" keeps the same measured assurance in the same professional register; "hopeful" weakens the claim into a wish, "cocky" is informal and implies arrogance, and "adamant" suggests stubborn insistence rather than reasoned confidence.

    Ref QB-TKM5ZASource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.4.2 / L.4.2 (analyze how meaning or tone is affected when one word is replaced with another)Report a problem with this question

15. 15. Read the passage and answer the question. Community solar programs let households that cannot install their own panels buy a share of a nearby array and receive a credit on their utility bill. Renters in particular gain access to savings that were once available only to homeowners. __________, the credit is only as valuable as the utility's rate structure allows; in places where the credit is calculated at the wholesale rate rather than the retail rate, subscribers may save very little. Which transition best fits the blank and signals the relationship between the two ideas?

    • A.Furthermore
    • B.For example
    • C.Consequently
    • D.Nevertheless✓ Answer

    A transition has to name the actual logical relationship between the sentences it joins. The sentence after the blank limits the benefit just described rather than adding to it, causing it, or illustrating it, so a concessive contrast marker is required: "Furthermore" would signal an added benefit, "Consequently" a result, and "For example" an illustration, all of which misdescribe the turn the paragraph takes.

    Ref QB-B4TAKBSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.5.3 / L.1.9 (analyze transitional language and how it refines meaning)Report a problem with this question

16. 16. Read the passage and answer the question. (1) Most people picture a food desert as a rural county with no grocery store for forty miles. That picture is accurate, but it is incomplete. (2) In a dense city, a family may live within a half mile of three stores and still be unable to buy fresh produce, because those stores are convenience outlets that stock shelf-stable packaged goods. Distance on a map is not the same thing as access. (3) Programs that measure success only by counting the stores within a given radius will therefore report progress in neighborhoods where nothing on the shelves has changed. What is the function of paragraph 2 in the structure of the passage?

    • A.It summarizes the evidence that paragraph 3 goes on to present in detail.
    • B.It offers a counterexample that refines the definition introduced in paragraph 1.✓ Answer
    • C.It introduces a new topic that is unrelated to the rest of the passage.
    • D.It concedes that the common picture described in paragraph 1 is entirely mistaken.

    Adjacent paragraphs are related by the work each does for the one before it. Paragraph 1 ends by calling the common picture "accurate, but incomplete," and paragraph 2 supplies exactly the missing case — nearby stores that still leave a family without produce — which sharpens the definition rather than replacing it. Calling paragraph 1 entirely mistaken overstates the relationship, and paragraph 3 draws a consequence rather than presenting evidence that paragraph 2 could summarize.

    Ref QB-UKYF6CSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator R.5.2 (analyze the structural relationship between adjacent sections of text)Report a problem with this question

17. 17. Read the passage and answer the question. Marisol had promised herself she would not open the shop's ledger until Sunday. She opened it Thursday. The columns said what she already knew; the numbers had been telling her the same thing since March, and every month she had answered them with a longer list of hours. She closed the book, wiped a counter that was already clean, and stood in the doorway watching the bus stop across the street. At six she turned the sign, walked to the back room, and began writing the letter to her landlord that she had been composing in her head for three weeks. Which statement best expresses a theme developed in the passage?

    • A.Hard work will eventually overcome any business difficulty.
    • B.People often see an unwelcome truth long before they are willing to act on it.✓ Answer
    • C.Obligations to family matter more than financial success.
    • D.Small businesses fail mainly because their owners keep poor records.

    A theme is the general idea about people or life that the specific details add up to. Marisol already knows what the ledger says, the numbers have said it since March, and the letter has been written in her head for three weeks — every detail measures the gap between knowing and acting. The idea that hard work overcomes any difficulty is contradicted by the longer hours that changed nothing, the idea that poor records sink small businesses is contradicted by the careful ledger she keeps, and the family-obligations theme introduces a family conflict the passage never mentions.

    Ref QB-C46NRCSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicators R.2.6 (identify a theme) and R.3.2 (make inferences about characters)Report a problem with this question

18. 18. Read the two passages and answer the question. Passage A (community health flyer): PROTECT YOUR FAMILY FROM LEAD. Homes built before 1978 may contain lead paint. Do not sand or scrape old paint yourself. Run the cold tap for 30 seconds before using water for cooking or drinking. Ask your landlord for the results of the last inspection. Free blood testing for children is available at the health center every Wednesday. Passage B (science article): Lead interferes with the enzymes that build hemoglobin and with the signaling between nerve cells. Because a child's nervous system is still developing, and because a child absorbs a larger fraction of the lead she swallows than an adult does, the same exposure produces larger effects in children. Researchers have not identified a blood level below which these effects disappear. Which statement best compares the purposes of the two passages?

    • A.Both passages explain the biological mechanism by which lead causes harm.
    • B.Passage A argues against a public health policy, while Passage B defends that policy.
    • C.Passage A tells readers what to do, while Passage B explains how lead harms the body.✓ Answer
    • D.Passage B is written for a general audience, while Passage A is written for specialists.

    Two texts on the same topic can be compared by what each is built to do for its reader. Passage A is a sequence of imperatives naming steps a household can take, so its purpose is to prompt action, while Passage B explains enzymes, nerve signaling, and absorption rates in order to account for why children are more affected. Neither passage takes a side in a policy dispute, and calling Passage B general-audience and Passage A specialist reverses the audiences the two formats actually address.

    Ref QB-ZKR52JSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicators R.7.3 and R.9.2 (compare two texts to evaluate purpose, emphasis, and intended audience)Report a problem with this question

19. 19. Read the passage from a customer-service letter and answer the question. "Thank you for writing to us. We received your request on the third and reviewed it the same day. (1) The replacement part is on back order, we expect it to ship within ten days. As soon as it leaves our warehouse, you will receive a tracking number by email." Which version of sentence (1) is correct?

    • A.The replacement part is on back order, we expect it to ship within ten days.
    • B.The replacement part is on back order; we expect it to ship within ten days.✓ Answer
    • C.The replacement part is on back order we expect it to ship within ten days.
    • D.The replacement part is on back order, expecting it to ship within ten days.

    Two independent clauses may be joined by a semicolon, by a comma plus a coordinating conjunction, or separated into two sentences — but never by a comma alone. "The replacement part is on back order" and "we expect it to ship within ten days" can each stand alone, so the original punctuation is a comma splice, the version with no punctuation between the clauses creates a fused sentence, and the "expecting it to ship" version leaves the participial phrase with no logical subject.

    Ref QB-H4XAMJSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator L.2.2 (correct run-on sentences, fused sentences, and comma splices)Report a problem with this question

20. 20. Read the passage from a workplace memo and answer the question. "The safety committee has finished reviewing last quarter's incident reports. The committee will publish (1) __________ findings on Friday, and supervisors should go over the report with their crews before the next shift begins." Which choice correctly completes blank (1)?

    • A.its✓ Answer
    • B.it's
    • C.its'
    • D.their

    "Its" is the possessive form of "it" and takes no apostrophe, while "it's" is only ever the contraction of "it is" or "it has" — substituting "it is" here produces "the committee will publish it is findings," which is nonsense. The form "its'" does not exist in standard English, and "their" is plural and does not agree with the singular antecedent "committee" as it is used in this sentence.

    Ref QB-4442WASource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicators L.1.1 (frequently confused words and homonyms) and L.2.3 (apostrophes)Report a problem with this question

21. 21. Read the passage from a parking policy notice and answer the question. "Employees may use the west lot on weekends beginning this month. (1) Having been repaved last month, drivers should note that the lot's stall lines have not yet been painted." Which revision of sentence (1) is best?

    • A.Drivers should note that the lot, which was repaved last month, does not yet have painted stall lines.✓ Answer
    • B.Having been repaved last month, the lot's stall lines have not yet been painted.
    • C.Having been repaved last month, drivers should note that the lot's stall lines have not yet been painted.
    • D.Having repaved the lot last month, drivers should note that the stall lines have not yet been painted.

    An introductory participial phrase attaches to the noun that immediately follows it, so the original sentence says the drivers were repaved. The revision beginning "Having been repaved last month, the lot's stall lines" still misattaches the phrase, this time to the stall lines, and "Having repaved the lot last month, drivers" changes the meaning by making the drivers the ones who did the repaving; only "the lot, which was repaved last month" places the phrase in a relative clause directly beside "the lot," the noun it actually describes.

    Ref QB-KKWUAASource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator L.1.5 (correct dangling and misplaced modifiers and illogical word order)Report a problem with this question

22. 22. Read the passage from a public posting and answer the question. "Thank you to everyone who contributed to the winter drive. The box of donated coats and blankets (1) __________ in the front office until Friday, when volunteers from the shelter will pick it up." Which choice correctly completes blank (1)?

    • A.remain
    • B.have remained
    • C.remains✓ Answer
    • D.are remaining

    A verb agrees with the head of the subject, not with a noun inside an intervening prepositional phrase. The subject here is the singular noun "box," and "of donated coats and blankets" merely describes it, so the singular verb "remains" is required; "remain," "have remained," and "are remaining" are all plural forms pulled in by the nearby plural nouns "coats" and "blankets."

    Ref QB-54FC3CSource: GED Testing Service, Assessment Guide for Educators: RLA — Indicator L.1.7 (subject-verb agreement with compound subjects, interceding phrases, and collective nouns)Report a problem with this question

Practice questions based on the GED Testing Service Assessment Guide for Educators and standard high-school-equivalency curriculum. GED is a registered trademark of the American Council on Education; this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACE or GED Testing Service. Passing scores, fees, retake limits, and age and residency eligibility are set by GED Testing Service and by individual states and change over time — confirm current requirements for your state before testing. Note that the Reasoning Through Language Arts test also includes an extended-response essay, which multiple-choice practice cannot cover. About the GED test →