English — Grammar & Usage
The box of old photographs ___ been sitting in the attic for years. Which choice is correct?
- Aare
- Bhave
- ChasCorrect
- Dwere
Why: The subject is 'box' (singular), not 'photographs', which is part of the prepositional phrase 'of old photographs'. A singular subject takes the singular verb 'has'.
English — Punctuation & Rhetoric
Which punctuation correctly joins these two independent clauses: 'The rain stopped ___ we went outside.'
- Astopped, we went
- Bstopped we went
- Cstopped; we wentCorrect
- Dstopped, we, went
Why: Two independent clauses cannot be joined by a comma alone (a comma splice) or by nothing (a run-on). A semicolon correctly links two closely related independent clauses without a conjunction.