Which sentence is written correctly? “When the bell rang, the students closed their books and walked to lunch”
Use Standard Grammar, Usage, and Spelling to Edit · TELPAS Grades 6–7 writing. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 2: find and fix an error in a short text. On the real test some of these are typed answers or sentence rewrites. Here they are multiple choice so they can be checked.
The question
Read the sentences. Choose the one that is written correctly.
Which sentence is written correctly?
- When the bell rang, the students closed their books and walked to lunch.Correct answer
- When the bell rang, the students close their books and walked to lunch.
- When the bell rings, the students closed their books and walks to lunch.
- When the bell rang, the students closed there books and walk to lunch.
Why “When the bell rang, the students closed their books and walked to lunch.” is correct
This works like a sentence rewrite item. The student has to check every verb for consistent tense and agreement and look for confused words. In the correct sentence all three verbs (rang, closed, walked) are in the past tense, and "their" is used for belonging.
Why the other answers are wrong
- When the bell rang, the students close their books and walked to lunch. — "Close" is present tense while "rang" and "walked" are past tense.
- When the bell rings, the students closed their books and walks to lunch. — The tenses are mixed, and "walks" does not agree with the plural "students."
- When the bell rang, the students closed there books and walk to lunch. — "There" should be "their," and "walk" should be past tense.
Practice more of this
More writing practice for Grades 6–7, or see the TELPAS practice test for 6th and 7th grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.