Ohio Graduation Test
unk
2005
District: na
State: OH

Below is the state of Ohio’s question, followed by their critique and explanation. Just think of all the drills on “standard” English this will subject students to. And don’t you wish the Explainer wrote better English?

Sample Writing Test Item
Aligned to Ohio Writing Process Standard

Use the sentence below to answer the following question:

Due to the fact of a broken muffler on his car, my grandfather is canceling his drive across town to the bookstore, postponing his visit at the barber shop, and will reschedule his doctor’s appointment.

As a peer, you’ve been asked to edit a fellow student’s sentence above. Using the writer’s checklist below, give your fellow student feedback by indicating two rules that apply to the errors in the sentence. Then rewrite the sentence correctly.

Writer’s Checklist
Good writing includes the following:
+Standard English
+Complete sentences
+Parallel structure
+Agreement of subject and verb

State of Ohio Explanation

One rule broken relates to standard English. The phrase, Due to the fact, is not standard English. The other rule broken relates to parallel structure. The subject in the sentence, the grandfather, is doing three things: canceling, postponing and rescheduling. Each of these actions should be written in this way so that the present participle is used consistently. The sample above shows that the student broke the consistency or lost parallel structure by writing will reschedule instead of rescheduling. If the sentence is rewritten in standard English and with parallel structure, it would read:
As a result of the broken muffler on his car, my grandfather is canceling his drive across town to the bookstore, postponing his visit to the barber shop and rescheduling his doctors appointment.
OR
As a result of the broken muffler on his car, my grandfather will cancel his trip across town to the bookstore, postpone his visit to the barber shop and reschedule his doctors appointment.