Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The word 'shear' means to cut, while 'sheer' in this context means 'complete' or 'unqualified.' The correct spelling in the sentence should be 'sheer.' Choice A, 'peeked' is the correct past tense of 'peek,' meaning to glance quickly or briefly. Choice B, 'through' is the correct preposition to indicate moving in one side and out the other. Choice D, 'scene,' is the correct term for a part of a play or movie, not 'seen,' which is the past participle of 'see.'

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: The suffix "-ness" indicates a state or quality, as seen in words like "happiness" (the state of being happy). Choice A, "-ic," typically denotes characteristics or qualities, such as in "heroic." Choice C, "-ous," often signifies the presence of a quality or relationship, like in "poisonous." Choice D, "-ful," usually means full of or characterized by, as in "beautiful." Therefore, the correct answer is B because it best fits the description of indicating a state or quality.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: The passage uses precise, technical language typical of scientific writing, indicating the writer is a researcher. Choice A is incorrect as the passage does not reflect a business context. Choice C is incorrect as there is no indication that the writer is a student or in an academic setting. Choice D is incorrect as the content of the passage does not align with literature or creative writing.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: The correct answer is B. Parallel structure ensures that items in a series or list are in the same grammatical form. In choice A, 'to run' disrupts the parallel structure since 'hiking' and 'swimming' are gerunds. Choice C similarly breaks the parallelism by using 'to swim' in a different form. Choice D is incorrect because it lacks consistent parallelism, as 'hiking' is not followed by gerunds like 'swimming' and 'running.' Therefore, only choice B maintains proper parallel structure by using gerunds ('hiking,' 'swimming,' and 'running') consistently.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: Choice C is the correct answer. The sentence is punctuated correctly with commas separating the city, state, and the rest of the sentence. In Choice A, there should be a comma after 'California' to correctly separate the city and state. Choice B lacks a comma after 'California,' creating a run-on sentence. Choice D incorrectly uses a comma before the year '2011,' which disrupts the flow of the sentence.