What word is best to substitute for the underlined words in the following sentence? You can hear the nurses' laughter all the way down the hallway.

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The phrase 'the nurses' laughter' indicates possession by the nurses, a plural subject. Therefore, the appropriate possessive pronoun to use in this context is 'their,' which correctly reflects possession by multiple nurses. Choice A ('his') is singular and refers to a male subject, not suitable for a group of nurses. Choice B ('hers') is singular and refers to a female subject, not suitable for a group of nurses. Choice C ('them') is a pronoun used for a group of people, but it doesn't indicate possession as required in the sentence.

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The phrase 'the nurses' laughter' indicates possession by the nurses, a plural subject. Therefore, the appropriate possessive pronoun to use in this context is 'their,' which correctly reflects possession by multiple nurses. Choice A ('his') is singular and refers to a male subject, not suitable for a group of nurses. Choice B ('hers') is singular and refers to a female subject, not suitable for a group of nurses. Choice C ('them') is a pronoun used for a group of people, but it doesn't indicate possession as required in the sentence.

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: C

Rationale: The word 'boys'' should be spelled as 'boys' in this context. The correct possessive form of the plural noun 'boys' does not require an apostrophe before the final S, which indicates possession. In this sentence, the intent is to show that the pranks belong to the four boys collectively, so the correct possessive form is 'boys' without the additional apostrophe.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The correct word to use in this sentence is 'taking' to show the continuous aspect of the action. The sentence should read: 'Having taking one pill at bedtime, the patient was able to sleep for eight hours.' 'Taking' is the present participle form of the verb 'take,' which is appropriate in this context to indicate the ongoing action of taking a pill at bedtime. Choice A, 'took,' is incorrect as it is the simple past tense, not suitable for this sentence's structure. Choice B, 'take,' is the base form of the verb, which does not fit the sentence's requirement for a participle. Choice D, 'taken,' is the past participle form, which is also unsuitable for showing the ongoing action required in this context.

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: C

Rationale: The correct answer is 'C: herself.' In this sentence, 'herself' is the reflexive pronoun that correctly refers back to Mary Ann. It shows that Mary Ann is giving credit to herself for studying hard and passing the test. The use of 'oneself' (choice A) would be incorrect here as it is too general and does not specify Mary Ann. Choices B and D ('itself' and 'themselves') are also incorrect because they do not match the singular subject 'Mary Ann.' Therefore, 'herself' is the only option that fits both grammatically and contextually in this sentence.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: The correct word to use in this sentence is 'volunteered' as it indicates an action that Cathy did in the past. The sentence suggests that Cathy was engaging in volunteering at the hospital for the first time, so the past tense form 'volunteered' is the most appropriate choice. Choice B ('volunteering') is incorrect because it is the present participle form and does not fit the past tense context of the sentence. Choice C ('was volunteered') is passive voice and implies that someone else made Cathy volunteer, which is not the intended meaning. Choice D ('volunteer') is incorrect as it is the base form of the verb and does not match the past tense requirement of the sentence.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: The word 'her' is the best substitute for the underlined words 'the nurse' in the sentence. This substitution avoids redundancy and provides clarity by referring back to the nurse as a third-person singular pronoun, maintaining coherence and avoiding ambiguity. 'He' (choice B) and 'his' (choice C) are incorrect as they do not align with the gender of the nurse in the sentence. 'It' (choice D) is also incorrect as it does not refer appropriately to a person.