This section is designed to measure your ability to recognize language that is appropriate for standard written English. There are two types of questions in this section, with special directions for each type.
Directions: Questions 1-30 are incomplete sentences. Beneath each sentence you will see four words or phrases, marked (A), (B), (C), and (D). Choose the one word or phrase that best completes the sentence.
Directions: In questions 31-40 each sentence has four underlined words or phrases. The four underlined parts of the sentence are marked (A), (B), (C) and (D). Identify the one underlined word or phrase that must be changed in order for the sentence to be correct.
Reading Comprehension
Directions: In this section you will read two passages followed by questions.
Directions: You are to choose the one best answer, (A), (B), (C), or (D) to each question. Questions 41-45 are based on the following passage:
In 1920, after some thirty-nine years of problems with disease, high costs, and politics, the Panama Canal was officially opened, finally linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by allowing ships to pass through the fifty-mile canal zone instead of traveling some seven thousand miles around Cape Horn. It takes a ship approximately eight hours to complete the trip through the canal and costs an average of fifteen thousand dollars, one tenth of what it would cost an average ship to round the Horn. More than fifteen thousand ships pass through its locks each year. The French initiated the project but sold their rights to the United States, which actually began the construction of the project. The latter controlled it until the end of the twentieth century when Panama took over its duties."
Questions 46 through 50 are based on the following passage:
As a result of the recent oil crisis, 9.9 million of California's 15 million drivers were subjected to an odd-even plan of fuel rationing. The governor signed a bill forcing drivers with license plates ending in odd numbers to buy fuel only on odd-numbered days, and those ending in even numbers - on even-numbered days. Those whose plates were all letters or specially printed had to follow the odd-numbered plan as well. Exceptions were made only for emergencies and out-of-state drivers. Those who could not get fuel were forced to walk, bike, or skate to work. This plan was expected to eliminate the long lines at many service stations. Those who tried to purchase more than twenty gallons of fuel or tried to fill a more than half filled tank would be fined and possibly imprisoned.