THEA Writing Exam Practice Page
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Free THEA Writing Exam Practice Questions
Instructions: Read the entire passage below and then answer the questions that follow each paragraph. Write down your answers, and then check them in the next section once you have finished the test.
Paragraph 1
(1) In the Black Hills in the state of South Dakota, four visages protrude from the side of a mountain. (2) The faces are those of four United States’ presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. (3) Directed by the Danish-American sculptor John Gutzon Borglum, working on this giant display of outdoor art was a Herculean task that took fourteen years to complete.
Question 1
1. Which is the best decision regarding the underlined portion of sentence 3, reproduced below?
Directed by the Danish-American sculptor John Gutzon Borglum, working on this giant display of outdoor art was a Herculean task that took 14 years to complete.
A. Leave it as it is now.
B. Delete the words “giant display of”
C. Change the word “working” to “having worked”
D. Change the word “working” to “the work”
Paragraph 2
(4) A South Dakota state historian named Doane Robinson originally conceived of the idea for the memorial sculpture. (5) He proposed that the work be dedicated to popular figures who were prominent in the western United States and accordingly suggested statues of western heroes such as Buffalo Bill Cody and Kit Carson. (6) Deeming a project dedicated to popular heroes frivolous, Borglum rejected Robinson’s proposal. (7) It was Borglum’s firm conviction that the mountain carving be used to memorialize individuals of national importance.
Question 2
2. Which version of the underlined portion of sentence 7, reproduced below, provides the most effective contrast to the point mentioned in the previous sentence?
It was Borglum’s firm conviction that the mountain carving be used to memorialize individuals of national importance.
A. Leave it as it is now.
B. national—not heroic—importance
C. national, rather than regional, importance
D. national, not western, importance
Paragraph 3
(8) Mount Rushmore therefore became a memorial dedicated to the four presidents who were considered most pivotal in U.S. history. (9) Washington was chosen on the basis of being the first president. (10) Jefferson, who was of course a president, was also instrumental in the writing of the American Declaration of Independence. (11) Lincoln was selected on the basis of the mettle he demonstrated during the American Civil War and Roosevelt for his development of Square Deal policy, as well as for being a proponent of the construction of the Panama Canal. (12) Commencing with Washington’s head first, Borglum realized that it would be best to work on only one head at a time to make each one compatible with its surroundings. (13) To help visualize the final outcome. (14) He fashioned a 1.5-meter-high plaster model on a scale of 1 to 12.
Question 3
3. Which version of the underlined portion of sentence 8, reproduced below, provides the most effective topic sentence for paragraph 3?
Mount Rushmore therefore became a memorial dedicated to the four presidents who were considered most pivotal in U.S. history.
A. Leave it as it is now.
B. national memorial dedicated
C. national memorial, dedicated
D. memorial, dedicated
Paragraph 4
(15) Work on the venture began in 1927 and was completed in 1941. (16) The financing required in order to create such a massive monument surpassed all expectation. (17) The total cost of the project was nearly one million dollars. (18) The financing for the project was provided mostly from national government funds and also from charitable donations from magnanimous members of the public.
Question 4
4. Sentence 17 is reproduced below.
The total cost of the project was nearly one million dollars.
The student is considering adding the following text at the end of the sentence:
, which would be worth over seventy million dollars today
Should the student make this addition there?
A. No, because it makes the sentence unnecessarily lengthy.
B. No, because it breaks up the chronological flow of the paragraph.
C. Yes, because it emphasizes how expensive the project was.
D. Yes, because most of the financing was provided by members of the public.
Answers to the Free THEA Writing Exam Practice Questions
1. The correct answer is D. The grammatical subject of this clause refers to the phrase “a Herculean task,” which means a task that requires a huge amount of work. The phrase “a Herculean task” is a singular noun phrase, so we need to use another singular noun phrase (the work) at the start of this clause.
2. The correct answer is C. The phase “rather than regional” is grammatically correct and provides the best contrast to the geographical region of the western United States.
3. The correct answer is B. The use of the word “national” links back to the idea of national importance in the previous sentence. No comma is needed here since we have a restrictive clause that defines the memorial.
4. The correct answer is C. Putting the cost of the project in today’s money is a useful addition because it emphasizes, in real terms, now expensive the project was.
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