Grade Seven Writing Achievement Test - May 2008
Annotated Item 3
Standard and Benchmark Assessed:
Standard:
Benchmark:
Writing Conventions
C. Use grammatical structures to effectively communicate ideas in writing.
Multiple Choice Question:
3.
Which sentence contains a conjunction?
A. The train whistled loudly at the station gate.
B. The train whistled at the station gate in Elyria.
C. The freight train, which was late, arrived at 9:00.
D. The passenger train was late, but we were on time.
Commentary:
This multiple choice question asks students to use their knowledge of conjunctions to answer the
question. Answer choice A is incorrect. The sentence does not include a word that connects word,
phrases or sentences. Answer choice B is incorrect. Although the sentence does include
prepositions (i.e., at, in), which show a relationship to things such as place, direction, time, manner
and cause, the sentence does not contain conjunctions, which connect words, phrases or
sentences. Answer choice C is incorrect. Although the phrase, which was late, provides additional
information about the freight train, it is not presented in the sentence to connect words or phrases.
Answer choice D is correct. The sentence uses the conjunction but, to connect two phrases.
Performance Data:
The percentage of public school students selecting answer choice D for question 3 on the May
2008 Grade 7 Writing Achievement Test was 51%.
Keyword:
Grade 7 Writing, Conjunction, May 2008
Source: Ohio Department of Education
May 07