ELPAC Practice

Which sentence has a verb that does not agree with its subject? (Why Our School Should Start Later)

Read a Student Essay · ELPAC Grades 6–8 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.

Why Our School Should Start Later

  1. Last spring our student council asked every sixth-grade homeroom how much sleep students were getting on a school night.
  2. The results surprised even the teachers who had helped us write the questions.
  3. Almost half of the students we surveyed reported fewer than seven hours.
  4. Doctors who study adolescent sleep says that middle school students need nine or ten hours.
  5. Our first bell rings at 8:00, which means that many of us are awake by half past six.
  6. When I asked my older sister about her high school, she told me that her classes begin at 8:30.
  7. She has more energy now than she did two years ago, and her grades have improved as well.
  8. Some people argue that a later start would interfere with after-school sports and with the jobs that older students hold.
  9. That is a fair concern, and it deserves a real answer rather than a quick dismissal.
  10. Districts that have already moved their start times report that attendance improved and that number of accidents involving teenage drivers went down.
  11. If the evidence is this strong, our school board should at least agree to study the question.

The question

Choose the best answer.

Which sentence has a verb that does not agree with its subject?

  • Sentence 2: “The results surprised even the teachers who had helped us write the questions.”
  • Sentence 3: “Almost half of the students we surveyed reported fewer than seven hours.”
  • Sentence 4: “Doctors who study adolescent sleep says that middle school students need nine or ten hours.”Correct answer
  • Sentence 7: “She has more energy now than she did two years ago, and her grades have improved as well.”

Why “Sentence 4: “Doctors who study adolescent sleep says that middle school students need nine or ten hours.”” is correct

This tests subject-verb agreement when a relative clause sits between the subject and the verb. The subject of sentence 4 is the plural 'Doctors', so the verb must be 'say'; the writer has attached the singular '-s' because the word closest to the verb is 'sleep'. Covering the clause 'who study adolescent sleep' and reading 'Doctors say' is the quickest way to expose the error.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • Sentence 2: “The results surprised even the teachers who had helped us write the questions.” — 'The results surprised' is correct, and the verb inside the relative clause, 'had helped', matches 'teachers'.
  • Sentence 3: “Almost half of the students we surveyed reported fewer than seven hours.” — 'Almost half of the students ... reported' is correct; students who treat 'half' as singular may expect an '-s', but past-tense verbs are not marked for number in the first place.
  • Sentence 7: “She has more energy now than she did two years ago, and her grades have improved as well.” — Both verbs are right: 'She has' is singular and 'her grades have improved' is plural, and the change between them is required, not an error.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 6–8, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 6–8. 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.