Home › OSSLT (Literacy Test) › English › Writing Conventions › Read this sentence: "Pavlov would sound a tone a…
Read this sentence: "Pavlov would sound a tone and then gave the dogs the meat powder." Which revision corrects it?
AChange "a tone" to "the tones"
BChange "gave" to "give"
CChange "dogs" to "dog's"
DChange "meat" to "meats"
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Change "gave" to "give"
1. The helper "would" reaches across the "and": Pavlov would sound a tone and then would give the powder.
2. After a helper like "would," the verb must stay in its base form: "give," never "gave."
3. "Gave" breaks out of the shared helper, so changing it back to "give" repairs the sentence, option B.
4. Option A only swaps one noun phrase for another and leaves the broken verb untouched.
5. Option C turns a plain plural into a possessive nobody needs, adding an error instead of removing one.
6. Option D changes "meat" to a plural and does nothing about the verbs.
_Source: OpenStax Psychology 1e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Learning", section 6.2 Classical Conditioning_
Related questions
Read this sentence: "There is several important points that you should know if you plan toRead this phrase: "the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the laboratory assistants' fRead this sentence: "Organisms do not lose its drive for these things." Which revision corRead this sentence: "Sophia is five, therefore she sits in a time-out for five minutes." ORead this sentence: "Salivating to food in the mouth is reflexive, so no learning is involRead this sentence: "Pavlov, a Russian scientist, performed extensive research on dogs andRead this sentence: "Kate and Scott were able to feed, pet, and even kissing these amazingRead this sentence: "The swarm of stingrays bumped and rubbed up against their legs like h