Content Writing Skills Test 2016 – Upwork Test Answers

Upwork Content Writing Skills Test 2016. 

69 Answered Test Questions:

1. Given below are some examples of sentences that must be avoided in formal writing.

I. All’s fair in love and war.
II. It’s not rocket science.
III. I’m not gonna talk to that guy again.
IV. Oh, he’s such a cool dude!

Select the answer options that correctly describe these sentences.

Answers:
a. I and II are cliches.
b. III and IV employ slang words. 
c. I and III contain oxymorons.
d. II and IV are colloquialisms.

2. Select the sentences which are grammatically INCORRECT.

Answers:
a. Sophie is responsible for sales of refrigerators, stocking merchandise and writing orders. 
b. You look really tired. What’s the matter?
c. The facts were collected and carefully organized.
d. One of my best friend is getting married next week.

3. Fill in the blank with the correct spelling of the missing word.

Announcing a huge annual profit, the businessman said he was _________ to his staff as well as his customers for his success.

Answers:
a. grateful
b. greatful
c. greatfull
d. gratefull

4. Identify the MISSPELLED word/s in the following sentence.

The speaker’s main argument was that the ability to think wholistically was necessary to find a viable solution to the problem of illegal immigration.

Answers:
a. argument
b. wholistically
c. immigration
d. All the above three words have been misspelled.
e. No word in the sentence has been misspelled.

5. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:
a. Mischievous
b. Occurence
c. Caribbean
d. Yacht

6. BestBoats is a startup with the following inventory of products:

Type of boat Product name
Yacht Series Y
Amanda is assigned to create copy for webpages for BestBoats.com website, which should attract visitors searching for buying Yachts, and provide information about the same. Which is the best way Amanda can create the copy for the webpages so that they rank higher in the organic search results?
Page Title Meta Description Paragraph Heading on Page
A BestBoats Series Y by BestBoats Buy the BestBoats Series Y by BestBoats – Best quality assured. BestBoats Series Y
B Buy Boats- BestBoats Series Y by BestBoats Buy Boats- Best Quality Boats from BestBoats .Series Y by BestBoats is the dream Yacht you have been waiting for. Boats from BestBoats : Series Y
C Yachts from BestBoats – Best quality, Best Deals on Yachts, Highest rated Yachts Yachts from BestBoats . Yacht Series Y by BestBoats is the dream Yacht you have been waiting for. Yachts from BestBoats – BestBoats Series Y

Answers:
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. All copies will lead to similar results.

7. In this question, you are given three incomplete sentences with two alternatives each to fill in the blanks. Identify the correct alternative for each sentence, and using the numbers denoting those alternatives, select the answer option that represents all the three correct alternatives.

I. The President, together with his wife, _______________ (1. greets / 2. greet) the guests cordially.
II. Fifty dollars _______________ (1. is / 2. are) the price of that cell phone.
III. Every one of those girls _______________ (1. study / 2. studies) in my school.

Answers:
a. 1, 1, 2
b. 1, 2, 2
c. 2, 1, 2
d. 2, 2, 1

8. In the image given above, you are given three incomplete sentences in Column I and three missing words in Column II. Identify the sentence/s which has/have been correctly matched with the missing word/s in Column II.

Answers:
a. 1-i
b. 2-ii
c. 3-iii
d. All of the above

9. What kind of writing style will you use for describing a university application process meant to be read by the student applicants and/or their parents?

Answers:
a. Use italics for the parents and bold text for the students or vice versa.
b. Use your normal writing style.
c. Use a style suited for the parents, as they are more important.
d. Use a style suited for the students, as they are more important.
e. Use a style that will be read by both the students and the parents equally successfully.

10. Searching for “2010 OR 2011” (without quotes) in Google will show result pages that:

Answers:
a. Show both the years.
b. Show either of the two years.
c. Show pages with the search term “2010 OR 2011”.
d. Shows either 2010 or 2011, or both 2010 and 2011.

11. In the context of copyright, the phrase “exclusive right” means that:

Answers:
a. the copyright holder is free to exercise the bundle of rights that come with the ownership of the copyright. 
b. no one other than the copyright holder can use the work without the holder’s authorization under any circumstances.
c. Both a and b.
d. Neither a nor b.

12. What is the best style of writing for online content?

Answers:
a. Formal style
b. Conversational style
c. A mix of formal and conversational style
d. Depends on the target audience

13. Writing materials like pens, papers, envelopes are collectively called _________. Something standing still is _________.

Answers:
a. Stationery / Stationary
b. Stationary / Stationery
c. Stationery / Stationery
d. Stationary / Stationary

14. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct set of words from the options below.

Although _________ wanted to keep the boat all to _________, I knew it would be used extensively by both Susan and _________.

Answers:
a. I/myself/myself
b. I/me/I
c. I/myself/I
d. I/myself/me

15. Which of the following statements about the following copyright notation are true?

“Copyright 2008 Mathew S. Johnson.”

Answers:
a. 2008 indicates the year for which the copyright is valid.
b. 2008 indicates the year of first publication. 
c. Mathew S. Johnson is the author of the content, even though he may not hold the copyright.
d. Mathew S. Johnson is the copyright holder.

16. What happens if you type the words Certification -Networking in the Google search box?

Answers:
a. Google shows web pages that contain the word Certification and also those that contain the word Networking.
b. Google shows all the web pages containing the words Certification and Networking.
c. Google shows all the web pages in which the words Certification and Networking appear together.
d. Google shows web pages that contain the word Certification, but do not contain the word Networking.

17. Which of the following statements are correct with regard to the images within a webpage?

Answers:
a. Images cannot be spidered by the search engines.
b. Important keywords related to the image should be placed in the ALT text. 
c. Images should always be kept close to the top of a webpage.
d. Image maps should be used while including the images.

18. What does the term Keyword Prominence refer to?

Answers:
a. It refers to the fact that choosing high traffic keywords leads to the best return on investment.
b. It refers to the importance attached to getting the right keyword density.
c. It refers to the fact that the keywords placed in important parts of a webpage are given priority by the search engines. 
d. It refers to the fact that the keywords in bold font are given priority by the search engines.

19. Complete the following sentence .

The better an emulsifier is, the longer the oil and the water take to _______________.

Answers:
a. seperate
b. separate
c. separete
d. seperete

20. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT with regard to searching for information on a certain place on the internet?

Answers:
a. The information available on the official website of a country in which the place is located is the most reliable source.
b. The information available on forums and blogs may or may not be correct and hence needs further verification.
c. The information provided on Wikipedia may or may not be authentic and reliable.
d. The information provided by a non-government website which sells tickets to visit the place is the most authentic.

21. Two of the sentences given below have some mistakes. Select those sentences.

Answers:
a. The actors’ convincing acting perfectly complimented the movie’s powerful storyline. 
b. No sooner had the author enunciated his principal argument than a lively debate ensued among the participants of the seminar.
c. Waterborne diseases, as the term suggests, spread through contaminated water.
d. A hoard of people gathered outside the burning shop making it difficult for the fire fighters to douse the flames.

22. Which of the following is/are regarded as (a) Search Engine Optimization best practice/s?

Answers:
a. Cross-linking
b. Cloaking
c. Keyword stuffing
d. Having unique content
e. All of the above
f. None of the above

23. A short introductory statement in a published work such as a book is called:

Answers:
a. foreword
b. forword
c. forward
d. foreward

24. Which of the following words has/have been spelled correctly?

Answers:
a. Excercise
b. Millenium
c. Irresistable
d. Priviledge
e. All the words have been spelled correctly.
f. None of the words have been spelled correctly.

25. At what places in the sentence given below should commas be used?

Mark Twain’s novels she believes stand the test of time.

Answers:
a. There should be a comma after believes.
b. There should be a comma after novels and another one after believes. 
c. There should be a comma after novels.
d. No commas are required.

26. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct set of words from the options below.

The _________ was _________ for his unfair _________ of the book.

Answers:
a. critique/critiqued/critique
b. critique/criticized/critic
c. critic/criticized/critic
d. critic/criticized/critique

27. Complete the following sentences with the correct pair of words.

I. I wanted to give her a _______________ of my mind but stopped myself from doing so.
II. _______________ of mind is not a luxury, but a basic necessity of human beings.

Answers:
a. piece…peace
b. peace…piece
c. piece…piece
d. peace…peace

28. Copying a few lines from one of Shakespeare’s works without giving credit to him would be considered:

Answers:
a. Copyright violation
b. Plagiarism
c. Theft
d. Piracy

29. Complete the sentence below with an appropriate word.

He _________ the books on the table and went out to play immediately.

Answers:
a. Lied
b. Layed
c. Laid
d. Lay

30. Which of the following is true in the context of Search Engine Optimization?

Answers:
a. It is preferable to optimize one web page for only one keyword. 
b. A keyword density of 15-20 % is regarded as optimum.
c. The title of a web page should be at least 10 words long.
d. It is best to concentrate the keywords in the middle of the web page.

31. Do you have to use a copyright notation on all copies of your content for the web?

Answers:
a. No. A copyright notation is no longer an absolute necessity of the Copyright Act.
b. Yes. The copyright notation is necessary to protect the content.
c. No. As long as the website has a general copyright notation, it is not required to be placed below all content.

32. Complete the following sentence with the correct combination of words.

Our lawyers have informed us that while the new tax laws will not __________ our business directly, they may have an adverse _________ on the spending power of our customers.

Answers:
a. effect / affect
b. affect / affect
c. effect / effect
d. affect / effect

33. What is Anchor Text?

Answers:
a. It is the main body of text on a particular webpage.
b. It is the text within the left or top panel of a webpage.
c. It is the visible text that is hyperlinked to another page. 
d. It is the most prominent text on the page that the search engines use to assign a title to the page.

34. To come before is to _________, whereas to come after is to _________.

Answers:
a. Preceed / Succeed
b. Precede / Secede
c. Preceed / Seceede
d. Precede / Succeed

35. What are some of the ways to make an article effective?

Answers:
a. Write long articles. The longer an article, the more informative it is.
b. Provide a catchy title, preferably containing a keyword.
c. Break the rules of grammar.
d. Write short and crisp sentences and stick to the point.

36. Google displays up to _____ characters of the title tag of a webpage.

Answers:
a. 56
b. 66
c. 70
d. 80

37. Searching for the phrase “Research Techniques Test” (within quotes) in the Google search box will yield:

Answers:
a. Results excluding pages which have the phrase Research Techniques Test in the webpages.
b. Results including pages which contain exactly the same phrase, i.e., Research Techniques Test.
c. Results including pages which have the words Research, Techniques and Test in any order. 
d. Results including pages which have the words Research, Techniques and Test marked in bold.

38. Read the following text and point out why it does NOT make for an effective reading.

Techniques for increasing eBay sales

You have been selling merchandise on eBay for quite a while now but haven’t managed to pull in the kind of sales you were expecting? Here are some smart yet simple methods to enhance your sales.

Choose a decent name and logo for your business and create a website where you give all the information a buyer could need. Next, create your own eBay store as having your own eBay store has many advantages, like you can have a longer listing duration as compared to a buy- it-now or auction style listing and you can list every single item that forms part of your inventory.

When you are selling on eBay, you are competing not only with the other sellers on eBay, but also with those selling on other websites and the conventional on-site sellers. Pricing is thus very crucial. Try and determine a price that will make buyers feel happy and won’t leave you feeling like you were not doing business but charity. Offer as many payment and delivery options as you can, such as PayPal which is a trusted and very popular mode of payment and is sure to get you a bigger number of customers than you have been getting so far.

Answers:
a. Overuse of the passive voice
b. Overuse of bold text
c. Overly long sentences
d. Inadequate information
e. Overuse of jargon
f. Ineffective formatting

39. Which of the following acts constitutes copyright infringement?

Answers:
a. Reproducing facts or ideas.
b. Reproducing a work which is in the public domain.
c. Reproducing copyrighted material for “fair use”.
d. Reproducing copyrighted material on a free website.

40. Which of the following sentences are grammatically INCORRECT?

Answers:
a. The organizers are expecting less participants this time.
b. Users need to login to submit their comments.
c. Ricky is one of those people who loves eating out with the family. 
d. A very unique thing about the kids in this class is that they were all born on the same date!

41. At what point in time does the copyright for original website content originate?

Answers:
a. When the author displays the copyright sign below the content or website.
b. At the time the work is created.
c. When the work is registered with the copyright and trademark office. 
d. When the work goes online.

42. Complete the following sentence with the correct combination of words.

He is a _________ writer who writes under a _________ name.

Answers:
a. fictional; fictional
b. fictitious; fiction
c. fiction; fictitious
d. fiction; fiction

43. Could you be guilty of copyright infringement for writing a review, commentary or summary of a copyright protected work (along with giving due credits to the copyright holder for his work) without the permission of the copyright holder?

Answers:
a. Yes
b. No

44. Fill in the blanks with the correct pair of words.

He was _______________ of the fact that he had made a major mistake by not heeding his _______________.

Answers:
a. conscience…conscience
b. conscience…conscious
c. conscious…conscious
d. conscious…conscience

45. A word which means the same as “Clever” is spelled as:

Answers:
a. Ingenius
b. Ingeneous
c. Ingenious
d. Ingineous

46. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT with regard to searching for information on a certain product on the internet?

Answers:
a. The information available on the official website of the product manufacturer is the most reliable source.
b. The information available on forums and blogs centered around the product may or may not be reliable.
c. The information provided in the first link on Google search result page is the most reliable source of information related to the product. 
d. The information available on a website which offers to sell the product online may or may not be reliable.

47. Select the words which have been INCORRECTLY spelled.

Answers:
a. Accomodate
b. Maintainance
c. Dilemma
d. Indispensible

48. Consider the three sentences given below and identify the reason why they are not good sentences.

I. It is very unusual to find someone who has never told a deliberate lie on purpose.
II. I will revert back to you very soon.
III. You must first finish this task before you go.

Answers:
a. Use of more words than needed. 
b. Lack of clarity of meaning.
c. Pretentious writing style.

49. Given below are five sets of words each containing a correct spelling and an incorrect spelling of the words. Select those sets which have been arranged in the order Incorrect Spelling / Correct Spelling.

Answers:
a. Vacillate / Vascillate
b. Weird / Wierd
c. Calandar / Calendar
d. Embarass / Embarrass
f. Accommodate / Accomodate

50. Consider the following sentences and select the appropriate answer from the options given thereafter.

Sentence 1: He makes sure to doing yoga everyday.
Sentence 2: He has made yoga part of his everyday life.

Answers:
a. Sentence 1 is correct, but Sentence 2 is not.
b. Sentence 1 is incorrect, but Sentence 2 is correct.
c. Both sentences are correct. 
d. Both sentences are incorrect.

51. What results will Google generate for you if you type inurl:content writer in the search box?

Answers:
a. It will show web pages containing the word “content” in the URL, and the word “writer” in the URL or anywhere else in the document.
b. It will show web pages containing the words “content writer” in the URL. 
c. It will show web pages containing the words “content writer” in the title.
d. It will show web pages containing the words “content writer” in the links to the page.

52. Which of the following is/are important component/s of formatting?

Answers:
a. Font size
b. Font type
c. Size of paragraphs
d. Use of headings and sub-headings
e. a and b
f. c and d
g. a, b, c and d

53. Do you need Wikipedia’s permission to reuse textual content contained on that website?

Answers:
a. Yes. Failing to obtain such permission will amount to copyright infringement.
b. No. However, the reproduced material must conform to the licensing agreements under which Wikipedia’s content is licensed. 
c. Wikipedia is silent on this issue, so it is hard to say if the permission is needed or not.

54. Consider the following sentences and select the appropriate answer from the options given thereafter.

Sentence 1: You look so different from what you did a year ago! What have you done?
Sentence 2: You look so different than what you did a year ago! What have you done?

Answers:
a. Sentence 1 is correct, but Sentence 2 is not.
b. Sentence 1 is incorrect, but Sentence 2 is correct. 
c. Both sentences are correct.
d. Both sentences are incorrect.

55. Complete the following sentence with the correct answer option.

Look at _______________ in that mirror!

Answers:
a. you
b. our
c. you’re
d. yourself

56. What things should you bear in mind when writing something?

Answers:
a. Your target audience.
b. Your purpose for writing.
c. The message you want to convey.
d. a and b
e. b and c
f. a, b and c

57. Which of the following would you use if you want to search a query on multiple search engines simultaneously?

Answers:
a. A mega search engine
b. A specialty search engine
c. A meta search engine
d. The deep Web

58. Complete the following sentence

The _______________ was a few meters away from the doctor’s clinic.

Answers:
a. cemetery
b. cemetary
c. cemetarey
d. cemetry

59. Select the correct sentence from among the following.

Answers:
a. The person sitting besides the young boy is his father.
b. She looked all around the place to ensure nobody was watching her.
c. People have been observing this ritual since ages. It is unlikely they will abandon it so easily. 
d. The hall was jam-packed with people and yet things were so quite it seemed there was not a soul inside.

60. Fill in the blanks with the correct pair of words.

Carl managed to ____________ the situation with his wit and tact even as everyone waited with ____________ breath to know the final outcome of the meeting between the rivals.

Answers:
a. diffuse…baited
b. defuse…bated
c. diffuse…bated
d. defuse…baited

61. Which of the following sentence constructions are INCORRECT?

Answers:
a. They had rarely ever been seen talking to each other before that day.
b. Me and my sister went for a movie last night. 
c. At the age of ten, Jack’s parents sent him to a boarding school.

62. Identify the correct sentence construction from the following list of sentences.

Answers:
a. The trapped miners families feared for the safety of their loved ones. 
b. He was very anxious about his mother’s health, which was deteriorating with each passing day.
c. Having slept through the day, the night didn’t seem to pass.
d. If they would have gone to the party, they would have had a lot of fun.

63. From among the four sentences given below, identify the sentences which contain words confused with other words because of similarity in pronunciation or meaning.

Answers:
a. Skin lightning creams are extremely popular in Asia.
b. The conservation scientist emphasized the need for everyone to be economic with their use of water. 
c. The chairman of the company spoke with great clarity and succeeded in making everyone see the rationale behind his controversial decisions.
d. Can you please prepare a breakdown of the report, Sue?

64. Which of the following search operators lists web pages that are similar to the web page (URL) specified by you?

Answers:
a. similar:URL
b. related:URL
c. like:URL
d. site:URL

65. Consider the following sentence.

I have been busy in preparing for my final examination.

If you are asked to correct this sentence, which of the options given below will you choose?

Answers:
a. I was busy in preparing for my final examination.
b. I am busy in preparing for my final examination.
c. I have been busy preparing for my final examination. 
d. The sentence needs no correction.

66. A short introductory statement or passage in a published work, such as a book, is called a:

Answers:
a. foreword
b. forword
c. forward
d. foreward

67. Which of the following is among the search engine optimization “best practices”?

Answers:
a. Cross-linking
b. Cloaking
c. Keyword stuffing
d. Having unique content
e. All of the above
f. None of the above

68. Which of the following statements regarding Search Engine Optimization is/are true?

Answers:
a. In the title tag, the keywords should be placed at the end.
b. Including keywords in the anchor text is a good SEO strategy. 
c. Keywords should never be used in the URL.
d. All of the above are true.

69. This question contains three incomplete sentences numbered, I, II and III, and each of these sentences has two options to fill in their blanks. Identify the correct option for each sentence, and using the numbers denoting those options, select the answer that represents all the three correct options.

I. The president, together with his wife, _______________ (1. greets / 2. greet) the guests cordially.
II. Fifty dollars _______________ (1. is / 2. are) the price of that cell-phone.
III. Every one of those girls _______________ (1. study / 2. studies) in my school.

Answers:
a. 1, 1, 2
b. 1, 2, 2
c. 2, 1, 2
d. 2, 2, 1