39. Without her cat in her lap, she felt alone during the long train ride.

simple sentence *****
compound sentence
complex sentence
compound-complex sentence

40. He steeled his nerve, and he walked into the police station to confess.

simple sentence
compound sentence *********
complex sentence
compound-complex sentence

42. She was not sure how to _discuss_ the sensitive topic.

had discussed
discussing
discuss******
have been discussed

43. Many community colleges have a policy of _granting_ admission to students who have obtained their
GED.

having granted
will grant
will be granting
granting********

44. She _understood_ what he was saying to her, but she did not grasp its significance.

understand
understands
understood*****
understanding

Thank you in advance - my choices are marked with ********

ok Thank you

Your choices look good to me.

Steve did you or Writeteacher ever read

Beowulf?

I read Beowulf a long, LONG time ago.

Here are some excellent websites for it:

http://lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/

http://www.mcgoodwin.net/pages/beowulf.html

39. Without her cat in her lap, she felt alone during the long train ride. - Complex sentence

40. He steeled his nerve, and he walked into the police station to confess. - Compound sentence
42. She was not sure how to discuss the sensitive topic. - Discuss
43. Many community colleges have a policy of granting admission to students who have obtained their GED. - Granting
44. She understood what he was saying to her, but she did not grasp its significance. - Understood

39. The sentence "Without her cat in her lap, she felt alone during the long train ride" is a simple sentence because it contains only one independent clause.

40. The sentence "He steeled his nerve, and he walked into the police station to confess" is a compound sentence because it contains two independent clauses ("He steeled his nerve" and "he walked into the police station to confess") joined by the coordinating conjunction "and."

42. The correct form of the verb to fill the blank in the sentence "She was not sure how to _discuss_ the sensitive topic" is "discuss," which is marked with ***.

43. The correct form of the verb to fill the blank in the sentence "Many community colleges have a policy of _granting_ admission to students who have obtained their GED" is "granting," which is marked with ***.

44. The correct form of the verb to fill the blank in the sentence "She _understood_ what he was saying to her, but she did not grasp its significance" is "understood," which is marked with ***.