These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Unless a source is credited, every passage was written by Marlbridge for this page. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric to help you check your work; they are not an official scoring guideline. No calculator is needed.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which sentence uses subordination?
- (A) “The lights went out, and the crowd fell silent.”
- (B) “The lights went out; the crowd fell silent.”
- (C) “When the lights went out, the crowd fell silent.”
- (D) “The lights went out, so the crowd fell silent.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). “When the lights went out” is a dependent clause attached to the main clause “the crowd fell silent”.
- (A) joins two independent clauses with “and” (coordination).
- (B) joins them with a semicolon (coordination).
- (D) joins them with “so”, a coordinating conjunction.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
“The old school was loved by the town, and the new school was admired by the county.” The use of “and” between two parallel independent clauses mainly suggests
- (A) that the first idea is less important than the second.
- (B) that the two ideas are of roughly equal weight.
- (C) that the second idea is a condition of the first.
- (D) that the writer is conceding a point.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Coordination with matching clause shapes presents the ideas as balanced.
- (A) would be signalled by subordinating the first clause.
- (C) a condition needs a word such as “if” or “unless”.
- (D) a concession needs a word such as “although”.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
In “The proposal is cheap because it uses existing buildings,” what relationship does the subordinate clause express?
- (A) A contrast
- (B) A reason
- (C) A condition
- (D) A sequence in time
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). “Because” introduces the reason the proposal is cheap.
- (A) A contrast would use “although” or “but”.
- (C) A condition would use “if” or “provided that”.
- (D) A time sequence would use “after” or “when”.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
A writer wants to argue that a festival was too noisy, while acknowledging that it brought visitors. Which sentence best serves that purpose?
- (A) “Although the festival brought visitors, it was too noisy for the neighbourhood.”
- (B) “The festival was too noisy for the neighbourhood, although it brought visitors.”
- (C) “The festival brought visitors and it was too noisy.”
- (D) “Because the festival brought visitors, it was loud.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The concession about visitors is subordinated; the main clause and the end position carry the criticism about noise.
- (B) puts the noise in the main clause but ends on the visitors, softening the criticism.
- (C) treats both ideas as equal and does not signal a stance.
- (D) invents a causal link between visitors and loudness that the writer did not intend.
Question 5 (multiple choice · stretch)
Which sentence correctly joins two independent clauses?
- (A) “The audit was late, the council was blamed.”
- (B) “The audit was late; the council was blamed.”
- (C) “The audit was late, although; the council was blamed.”
- (D) “The audit was late the council was blamed.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). A semicolon can join two related independent clauses.
- (A) is a comma splice: a comma alone cannot join two independent clauses.
- (C) is ungrammatical: “although” cannot sit by itself before a semicolon.
- (D) is a run-on sentence with no punctuation or conjunction.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Read the sentence below, written by Marlbridge.
“While the minister promised action, the clinic closed, the waiting list grew, and the nurses went home exhausted.”
Explain how the structure shapes the reader’s view of the minister. (4 marks)
Sample answer and suggested rubric
Sample. The minister’s promise is placed in a subordinate clause beginning “While”, so it becomes a background circumstance rather than an achievement. The three clauses after the comma are coordinated and equal in rank, so the clinic’s closing, the growing list and the exhausted nurses are presented as a list of consequences with equal weight. The effect is to set a promise against a series of failures, which invites the reader to judge the minister harshly.
| Mark | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the subordinate clause (“While the minister promised action”) |
| 1 | Explains that subordination treats the promise as background |
| 1 | Identifies the coordinated clauses |
| 1 | Explains the effect of equal weight and accumulation on the view of the minister |
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Two ideas: (i) the city’s new bike lanes reduced cycling accidents; (ii) the new bike lanes removed forty parking spaces.
(a) Write one sentence that argues for the lanes, with idea (ii) as a concession. (2 marks) (b) Write one sentence that argues against the lanes, with idea (i) as a concession. (2 marks) (c) Explain how the structure of the sentences produces the opposite stances. (2 marks)
Sample answer and suggested rubric
(a) “Although the new lanes removed forty parking spaces, they reduced cycling accidents.” (b) “Although the new lanes reduced cycling accidents, they removed forty parking spaces.” (c) In each, the concession is in the subordinate clause “Although…” and the main idea in the independent clause at the end of the sentence, so the reader takes the final idea as the writer’s point.
| Mark | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | (a) subordinates (ii) and keeps (i) as the main clause |
| 1 | (a) keeps the facts accurate |
| 1 | (b) subordinates (i) and keeps (ii) as the main clause |
| 1 | (b) keeps the facts accurate |
| 1 | (c) identifies subordination of the concession |
| 1 | (c) identifies the main clause or end position as the stressed idea |
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
Abraham Lincoln wrote in his Second Inaugural Address (1865, public domain): “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other.”
Explain how coordination contributes to the effect of this sentence. (5 marks)
Sample answer and suggested rubric
Sample. The two halves of the sentence are joined by a semicolon and “and”, so neither is subordinate: the two sides are presented as equals. The first half is built from matching verbs (“read”, “pray”) and similar objects (“the same Bible”, “the same God”), which stresses what the two sides share. The final clause, “each invokes His aid against the other”, is coordinated with the first in the same plain form, but it reveals the contradiction in what the two sides do with that common faith. Because the grammar gives both sides equal weight, Lincoln can expose the paradox without blaming either, which suits an address meant to reconcile the nation.
| Mark | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies coordination (semicolon and “and”) |
| 1 | Explains that it presents the two sides as equals |
| 1 | Notes the repeated form or matching words (“the same Bible… the same God”) |
| 1 | Explains the effect of the last clause as an irony or paradox |
| 1 | Links the effect to Lincoln’s purpose or audience |
How did you do? If you missed Questions 1 to 5, reread “Two ways to join ideas”. If you lost marks in 6 to 8, check that you named the relationship the structure creates and linked it to a purpose.