ELPAC Practice

Which sentence contains an error in subject-verb agreement? (The Year I Worked and Studied)

Read a Student Essay · ELPAC Grades 11–12 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

An essay written as if by a classmate, with numbered sentences. The student finds the sentence containing the error.

Read the essay. Then answer the questions.

The Year I Worked and Studied

  1. Last September I took a job stocking shelves at a hardware store three evenings a week.
  2. My parents worried that the hours would pull my grades down, and for the first two months they were right.
  3. I was finishing homework after ten o'clock and falling asleep in my first-period class.
  4. What changed was not the job but the way I planned around it.
  5. I started writing down every assignment on a paper calendar taped inside my locker door.
  6. Each of the three shifts have a different start time, so I learned to check the calendar before I agreed to anything.
  7. I also began using the forty minutes on the bus to read instead of scrolling.
  8. By December my grades had recovered, and my manager had given me a key to the stock room.
  9. The job taught me something school had not: how to work beside adults who expect me to keep up.
  10. Therefore, I would not tell every student to take an evening job.
  11. The hours cost me the debate team, and I still notice that on Saturdays.
  12. What I would say is that a schedule you write down is worth more than one you carry in your head.
  13. That habit is the part of last year I plan to take with me to college.

The question

Choose the best answer.

Which sentence contains an error in subject-verb agreement?

  • Sentence 2: “My parents worried that the hours would pull my grades down, and for the first two months they were right.”
  • Sentence 8: “By December my grades had recovered, and my manager had given me a key to the stock room.”
  • Sentence 11: “The hours cost me the debate team, and I still notice that on Saturdays.”
  • Sentence 6: “Each of the three shifts have a different start time, so I learned to check the calendar before I agreed to anything.”Correct answer

Why “Sentence 6: “Each of the three shifts have a different start time, so I learned to check the calendar before I agreed to anything.”” is correct

This tests subject-verb agreement in a sentence built to trigger a proximity error. The subject is 'Each', which is singular and takes 'has', but the plural noun 'shifts' sits directly in front of the verb and pulls writers toward 'have'. Have the student cross out the phrase beginning with 'of' and read what remains: 'Each ... has a different start time.'

Why the other answers are wrong

  • Sentence 2: “My parents worried that the hours would pull my grades down, and for the first two months they were right.” — 'They were right' agrees with the plural subject 'my parents'; the length of the sentence is what makes it look suspect.
  • Sentence 8: “By December my grades had recovered, and my manager had given me a key to the stock room.” — Both verbs in sentence 8 are past perfect and agree with their subjects.
  • Sentence 11: “The hours cost me the debate team, and I still notice that on Saturdays.” — 'The hours cost me' is a correct past-tense form of an irregular verb, and learners expecting an -ed ending often flag it wrongly.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 11–12, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 11–12. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.

This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.