Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT) Practice Test

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $2.99 payment

Prepare for the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test with comprehensive questions and detailed explanations. Enhance your understanding and readiness for college-level courses with practice exams that cover a wide range of topics.

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.

Which sentence DOES NOT have parallel structure?

Charlie looked under the bed, in the closet and on top of the table.
The water parks close early, charge too much, and get too crowded.
Charlie looked under the bed, in the closet, and checked on top of the table.
The concert hall was messy, stuffy, and loud.

The correct answer is: Charlie looked under the bed, in the closet, and checked on top of the table.

The identified sentence that lacks parallel structure is notable for its inconsistency in grammatical form. In this case, the first two elements, "under the bed" and "in the closet," maintain a prepositional phrase format, while the third element, "checked on top of the table," shifts to a different verb form. This shift disrupts the rhythm and coherence that parallel structure provides. When constructing lists, maintaining a similar grammatical structure across all items enhances clarity and flow for the reader. In the other sentences, all items are consistently presented in a manner that aligns with parallel structure, such as using the same form for each list item, whether they are all prepositional phrases or nouns. For effective writing, parallel structure is essential as it helps convey a sense of balance and organization.