Select the phrase in the following sentence that is not used correctly. Before their hospitalization, the children had rarely eaten three meals a day.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The phrase 'had rarely' is not used correctly in the sentence. The correct form should be 'rarely eaten' instead of 'had rarely' to convey the past tense of the children's eating habits before their hospitalization. 'Had rarely' is incorrect because it does not match the structure needed to describe the children's eating habits in the past. Choices A, B, and D are grammatically sound and fit appropriately in the sentence.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: The correct sentence should be: 'Because of a major accident on the freeway, the emergency room was overcrowded.' A comma is needed after 'freeway' to separate the introductory dependent clause from the independent clause that follows. Choice A (Period) is incorrect as it would create two separate sentences. Choice C (Exclamation point) is incorrect as there is no exclamation in the sentence. Choice D (Semicolon) is incorrect as it is used to separate closely related independent clauses.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: The correct answer is 'A - spoke to the patient's parents.' In this sentence, the past tense 'spoke' should be used to match the past tense 'had,' indicating an action that already took place. Choices B, C, and D are incorrect because they use present or future tenses, which do not match the past tense 'had' in the sentence.

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The word 'their' is used incorrectly in the sentence. The correct word should be 'they're,' which is a contraction for 'they are.' The sentence should say: The boys leapt up, happy to assist their favorite teacher. Choice A, 'leapt,' is correctly used as the past tense of 'leap.' Choice B, 'happy,' is also correctly used as an adjective to describe the boys' emotional state. Choice C, 'assist,' is appropriately used as a verb to show the boys' willingness to help.

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The word 'his' is the possessive form of the pronoun 'Mr. Menotti,' indicating that the belongings belong to him. Using 'her,' 'him,' or 'he' would not be grammatically correct in this context as they do not reflect the possession by Mr. Menotti. 'Her' would imply the belongings belong to his wife, 'him' is an objective pronoun, and 'he' is a subject pronoun, neither of which correctly shows possession.