Identify the incorrect usage of punctuation in the following sentence: 'The children, eager to play, ran outside; it was a beautiful day.'

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The sentence contains two independent clauses that should be separated by a semicolon or period, not a comma. The incorrect punctuation is the period after 'outside.' A period or semicolon is needed to correctly separate the two independent clauses. The comma after 'children' and 'play' are correctly used to set off non-essential participial phrases. Choice D is incorrect as there is a punctuation error in the sentence.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: Parallel structure means using the same grammatical form for elements in a list. Option (B) uses parallel gerunds ('reading,' 'watching,' 'spending'), making it the correct choice. The other options have inconsistencies in the form of the listed activities, making them grammatically incorrect. Option (A) starts with 'I enjoy' but then switches to '-ing' verbs. Option (C) changes from 'like' to '-ing' verbs, breaking parallelism. Option (D) lists 'reading' correctly but then switches to singular nouns ('movies,' 'friends'), which is not parallel.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: The clause 'While the movie was playing' acts as an adverbial modifier because it describes the time when the action of 'I snuck out' occurred, making it an adverbial clause. Choice A is correct as it is a subordinate clause that functions as an adverb to provide information about the time of the main action. Choices B, C, and D are incorrect as they do not serve as adverbial modifiers in the context of the sentence.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant sound in neighboring words. In the sentence 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,' 'quick' and 'brown' both start with the 'k' sound, but only 'quick' aligns with the definition of alliteration as it repeats the 'k' sound found at the beginning of the words.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: Colons are used to introduce a list or explanation that follows an independent clause. In this case, option A correctly uses a colon to introduce a list of snacks after an independent clause. Choice B lacks an independent clause before the colon, making it incorrect. Choice C is incorrect as it should have an independent clause before the colon. Choice D incorrectly uses a colon as a comma would be more appropriate to introduce the list of items.