Proofreading Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. A proof contains two closely related independent clauses: “The deadline was Friday. The team submitted the files early.” Which revision joins them correctly with a semicolon?
Although the deadline was Friday; the team submitted the files early.
The deadline; was Friday, and the team submitted the files early.
The deadline was Friday; the team submitted the files early.
The deadline was Friday; and because the team submitted the files early.
2. Which revision makes the list grammatically parallel?
The role involves checking facts, correcting grammar, and formatting pages.
The role involves fact-checking, correcting grammar, and page layouts.
The role involves checking facts, grammar correction, and to format pages.
The role involves to check facts, correcting grammar, and page formatting.
3. Two editors jointly own a set of notes. Which wording expresses that meaning correctly?
Write “the two editor’s notes,” placing the apostrophe before the s.
Write “the two editors’ notes,” placing the apostrophe after the plural s.
Write “the two editors notes,” because plural possessives need no apostrophe.
Write “the two editor notes’,” treating “editor notes” as the owner.
4. The intended meaning is that Priya—not anyone else—corrected page 10. Which sentence expresses that meaning most clearly?
Priya only corrected page 10.
Priya corrected only page 10.
Only Priya corrected page 10.
Priya corrected page 10 only after lunch.
5. A draft reads, “The committee has reached it's decision.” Which correction is appropriate?
Replace “it's” with “its'” to show possession.
Change the sentence to “The committee have reached their decision.”
Change the sentence to “The committee has reached its decision.”
Keep “it's” because the apostrophe marks possession.
6. The approved source says “from,” but the typeset proof says “form.” What kind of letter-level error is this?
An omission
An insertion
A transposition
A substitution
7. Which sentence uses “complimented” and “complemented” correctly?
The client complemented the designer, and the new palette complimented the layout.
The client complimented the layout, and the new palette complimented the designer.
The client complemented the designer, and the new palette complemented the praise.
The client complimented the designer, and the new palette complemented the layout.
8. Which sentence has correct subject-verb agreement?
Neither the editor nor the designer is available.
Neither the editor nor the designer are available.
Neither the editor or the designer is available.
Neither the editor nor the designers is available.
9. The revised policy will ___ how invoices are checked. Which word correctly completes the sentence?
effect, because the sentence needs a verb meaning “influence”
affect, because the sentence needs a verb meaning “influence”
affect, because the sentence needs a noun meaning “result”
effect, because “will” must always be followed by a noun
10. A proof contains the phrase “a well known author.” The two words jointly modify “author.” What should the proofreader do?
Insert a hyphen to produce “a well-known author.”
Move the space to produce “a well known-author.”
Join all three words as “a-well-known author.”
Leave the phrase unchanged because compound modifiers are never hyphenated.
11. What is the primary purpose of proofreading final page proofs?
To replace the publication’s style guide with the proofreader’s preferences
To restructure the argument and rewrite weak sections from scratch
To add new examples wherever the pages have unused space
To catch remaining errors and verify that layout and typesetting match the approved copy
12. A project style sheet specifies “email,” but one page uses “e-mail.” What is the most appropriate proofreading action?
Leave the variation because readers can understand both forms.
Change every instance of “email” to the single outlier form, “e-mail.”
Mark every occurrence for review without applying the stated style.
Change the lone “e-mail” to “email” for consistency with the style sheet.
13. The sentence “After reviewing the proof, several errors were still visible” has a dangling modifier. Which revision fixes it?
After the proof, several reviewed errors were still visible.
After reviewing the proof, Lena could still see several errors.
Several errors, after reviewing the proof, were still visible.
After reviewing, the proof still had several visible errors.
14. A house style requires job titles appearing after a person’s name to be lowercase. Which treatment follows that rule?
Write “Maya Chen, managing director, approved the proof.”
Capitalize only the second word of the title: “managing Director.”
Capitalize the entire title because it follows a proper name.
Remove the title and write “Managing Director Maya Chen approved the proof.”
15. A writer has one brother and adds nonessential information about where he lives. How should the sentence be punctuated?
Use one comma after “Bristol”: “My brother who lives in Bristol, is an architect.”
Set off the extra information with two commas: “My brother, who lives in Bristol, is an architect.”
Omit commas because every relative clause must be restrictive.
Place a colon before the extra information: “My brother: who lives in Bristol is an architect.”
16. In conventional proofreading, what does the instruction “stet” mean?
Insert a space at the marked position.
Move the marked text to the next line.
Set the marked text in italics.
Ignore the marked correction and let the original text stand.