Parenthetical Expression Quiz

You can do this quiz online or print it on paper. It covers grammar and
punctuation explained on our Parenthetical Expression page.

1. A parenthetical expression is a word or words that

add details to a sentence

are essential to a sentence

2. A parenthetical expression doesn’t change a sentence’s basic

punctuation or length
structure or meaning

3. If a parenthetical expression is cut from a sentence, the sentence

won’t make sense

will still make sense

4. "Global temperatures, as expected, are rising." The parenthetical

expression is

as expected
are rising

5. In Question 4 above, which shows where the parenthetic begins and ends?

a set of quotation marks

a pair of commas

6. Which can separate a mid-sentence parenthetic from the rest of a

sentence?

commas, round brackets or long dashes

commas, semi-colons or quotation marks

7. Which sentence includes a parenthetical expression?

 The traffic’s terrible, as usual.
It isn’t always this bad, is it?

8. "She likes him very much – or so it seems." Which is the parenthetical

expression?

very much
or so it seems

9. Which includes a correctly-punctuated parenthetical expression?

Rock music (or rock-n-roll) began in America.

Rock music, or rock-n-roll – began in America.

10. "Trump – as we all now know – won the election." Without the parenthetic,
the sentence is

as we all now know

Trump won the election