Typically, water that has evaporated remains in the sky in cloud form for less than ten days before falling to Earth again as precipitation. Which of the following parts of speech is 'remains' as used in the sentence?

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: In the sentence, 'water that has evaporated remains in the sky,' the word 'remains' is functioning as a verb. It is describing the action of water staying in the sky in cloud form for a certain duration. Verbs are words that express actions, occurrences, or states of being, and in this case, 'remains' is indicating the state of the water being in the sky in cloud form. The other choices are incorrect: 'noun' refers to a person, place, thing, or idea; 'adjective' describes or modifies a noun; and 'adverb' typically modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb, but in this sentence, 'remains' is not being modified by an adverb.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: The comma following 'Day' is used incorrectly. Commas are typically not used after single-word identifiers like 'Day' in a sentence unless they are part of a list. In this case, the holiday is referred to as 'Parents' Day,' where the apostrophe is used correctly to indicate possession. The comma following 'Day' is unnecessary and should be removed for proper punctuation. Choices A and D both use apostrophes correctly to indicate possession, so they are not incorrect. The comma following 'Congo' in choice C is necessary to set off the introductory phrase 'a public holiday in the Democratic Republic of Congo.' Therefore, the correct answer is B.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The best way to revise and combine the underlined portion of the sentences is by using a semicolon to show a stronger connection between the two ideas. Using 'however' after the semicolon helps to contrast the innocuous superstition with the negative outcome that sometimes occurred, providing a smoother flow between the ideas. Choice A is incorrect as it lacks a proper conjunction or punctuation to connect the ideas. Choice B is incorrect as 'but' does not effectively contrast the ideas as 'however' does. Choice D is incorrect as a colon is used to introduce a list or explanation, which is not suitable in this context where a contrast is needed.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: The correct answer is B. In this phrase, the words 'Senator' and 'California' are capitalized correctly since they refer to a specific position and a proper noun, respectively. 'Senator' is capitalized as it is part of the title and 'California' is capitalized as a proper noun. Choice A is incorrect because 'President' should be capitalized when it precedes a specific name, like 'President Carter.' Choice C is incorrect because 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' are not proper nouns and should not be capitalized. Choice D is incorrect because only 'New Year's Eve' should be capitalized as it is a proper noun for the event.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: Sentence C correctly maintains the pronoun-antecedent agreement. In this sentence, the antecedent is 'number of people,' and the pronoun 'it' is used to refer back to this antecedent. The singular pronoun 'it' matches the singular antecedent 'number,' making the sentence grammatically correct. Choice A is incorrect because it uses the plural pronoun 'they' to refer back to the singular antecedent 'storm.' Choice B is incorrect as it uses the plural pronoun 'they' to refer back to the singular antecedent 'each of the cars.' Choice D is incorrect because it uses the singular pronoun 'he or she' to refer back to the plural antecedent 'many people.' This creates a lack of agreement between the pronoun and its antecedent.