5 exercises — practise illustrating a general claim with a specific "case in point".
0 / 20 completed
1 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses "case in point" as a standalone sentence fragment to introduce an illustrating example?
"Case in point: last year's database upgrade took three extra weeks" correctly preserves the standard fixed order "case in point" followed by a colon. Options B, C, and D all scramble the three-word phrase into an ungrammatical order.
2 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses "a case in point" as a noun phrase within a full sentence?
"...last Tuesday's disk-space alert is a case in point" correctly uses the fixed noun phrase "a case in point" as the complement of "is". Options B, C, and D each substitute or reorder a word in the fixed phrase, breaking it.
3 / 20
Which sentence correctly distinguishes "case in point" (a specific example chosen to illustrate a just-stated general claim) from "for example" (a neutral introducer that does not itself claim illustrative force)?
"For example, we could use either Redis or Memcached... Case in point: the recommendation engine needed a custom in-memory index..." correctly uses "for example" for a neutral option and "case in point" to specifically illustrate the stated claim about performance-critical services. Options B, C, and D swap or merge the two phrases incoherently.
4 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses "case in point" to illustrate a claim about flaky tests?
"Case in point, the checkout suite has been ignored by half the team for months..." correctly keeps the three fixed words in standard order, here followed by a comma instead of a colon, which is also an accepted punctuation choice. Options B, C, and D all scramble the internal word order.
5 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses "a case in point" to describe a specific incident as an illustration of a broader pattern of technical debt?
"...the payment processor integration is a case in point, having been rewritten twice..." correctly uses the fixed noun phrase "a case in point". Options B, C, and D each insert extra words or scramble the fixed phrase's word order.
6 / 20
Sarah: 'I'm seeing intermittent failures on the user authentication service. It seems to be related to a race condition when handling JWT refresh tokens. A case in point was this morning's outage where five users were locked out for fifteen minutes.' What is the best way for David, the team lead, to respond to this update?
The question tests understanding of using 'a case in point' to introduce a concrete example. Option B is too passive and doesn't elicit further clarification. Option A is irrelevant. Option D suggests immediate action without seeking more information – the key function of 'a case in point' is to *prompt* deeper investigation.
7 / 20
Mark (in a PR review comment): 'This change introduces a potential security vulnerability. A case in point is the lack of input validation on the `user_id` parameter in this function.' Which of the following best reflects Mark's intention?
The core purpose of 'a case in point' is to illustrate a particular issue. Option A misinterprets its function as simply stating best practice. Option C and D are too broad and don't relate to the specific vulnerability Mark is pointing out. Option B accurately captures his intent – he's using the example to emphasize the severity of the problem.
8 / 20
Elena (in a Slack message): 'We've been struggling with slow API response times. A case in point is yesterday's request to retrieve user profile data, which took over 30 seconds – unacceptable given our SLAs.' What does Elena primarily aim to achieve by stating this?
Elena is using 'a case in point' to highlight a concrete event. This isn't just complaining; it's presenting evidence for an investigation. Options A and D are too subjective. Option B best reflects the practical purpose – framing the specific instance as justification for action.
9 / 20
Ben (in a PR description): 'This refactoring addresses several legacy code smells. A case in point is the duplicated logic within the `calculate_discount` method, which has been consolidated into a single reusable function.' What is Ben's primary goal with this phrasing?
Ben is using 'a case in point' to explain *why* the refactoring was necessary. The phrase serves as evidence supporting the changes. Options A and D are too general. Option B accurately reflects the purpose – providing a concrete example to support a claim about the refactoring's value.
10 / 20
Chloe (during a standup): 'I spent most of yesterday debugging an issue with our automated tests. A case in point was the test that consistently failed due to a timing issue when interacting with the external payment gateway – it highlighted a lack of proper synchronization between services.' How should Chloe best follow up on this?
Chloe's use of 'a case in point' identifies a root cause. The best follow-up is to acknowledge this specific issue and its implications (the lack of synchronization) rather than immediately addressing the symptom (the failing test). Options A and B are premature. Option D ignores the valuable diagnostic information provided.
11 / 20
Sarah: 'I'm seeing intermittent failures on the user authentication service. It seems to be related to a race condition when handling JWT refresh tokens. A case in point was this morning's outage where five users were locked out for fifteen minutes.' What is the best way for David, the team lead, to respond to this update?
The question tests understanding of using 'a case in point' to introduce a concrete example. Option B is too passive and doesn't elicit further clarification. Option A is irrelevant. Option D suggests immediate action without seeking more information – the key function of 'a case in point' is to *prompt* deeper investigation.
12 / 20
Mark (in a PR review comment): 'This change introduces a potential security vulnerability. A case in point is the lack of input validation on the `user_id` parameter in this function.' Which of the following best reflects Mark's intention?
The core purpose of 'a case in point' is to illustrate a particular issue. Option A misinterprets its function as simply stating best practice. Option C and D are too broad and don't relate to the specific vulnerability Mark is pointing out. Option B accurately captures his intent – he's using the example to emphasize the severity of the problem.
13 / 20
Elena (in a Slack message): 'We've been struggling with slow API response times. A case in point is yesterday's request to retrieve user profile data, which took over 30 seconds – unacceptable given our SLAs.' What does Elena primarily aim to achieve by stating this?
Elena is using 'a case in point' to highlight a concrete event. This isn't just complaining; it's presenting evidence for an investigation. Options A and D are too subjective. Option B best reflects the practical purpose – framing the specific instance as justification for action.
14 / 20
Ben (in a PR description): 'This refactoring addresses several legacy code smells. A case in point is the duplicated logic within the `calculate_discount` method, which has been consolidated into a single reusable function.' What is Ben's primary goal with this phrasing?
Ben is using 'a case in point' to explain *why* the refactoring was necessary. The phrase serves as evidence supporting the changes. Options A and D are too general. Option B accurately reflects the purpose – providing a concrete example to support a claim about the refactoring's value.
15 / 20
Chloe (during a standup): 'I spent most of yesterday debugging an issue with our automated tests. A case in point was the test that consistently failed due to a timing issue when interacting with the external payment gateway – it highlighted a lack of proper synchronization between services.' How should Chloe best follow up on this?
Chloe's use of 'a case in point' identifies a root cause. The best follow-up is to acknowledge this specific issue and its implications (the lack of synchronization) rather than immediately addressing the symptom (the failing test). Options A and B are premature. Option D ignores the valuable diagnostic information provided.
16 / 20
Sarah: 'I'm seeing intermittent failures on the user authentication service. It seems to be related to a race condition when handling JWT refresh tokens. A case in point was this morning's outage where five users were locked out for fifteen minutes.' What is the best way for David, the team lead, to respond to this update?
The question tests understanding of using 'a case in point' to introduce a concrete example. Option B is too passive and doesn't elicit further clarification. Option A is irrelevant. Option D suggests immediate action without seeking more information – the key function of 'a case in point' is to *prompt* deeper investigation.
17 / 20
Mark (in a PR review comment): 'This change introduces a potential security vulnerability. A case in point is the lack of input validation on the `user_id` parameter in this function.' Which of the following best reflects Mark's intention?
The core purpose of 'a case in point' is to illustrate a particular issue. Option A misinterprets its function as simply stating best practice. Option C and D are too broad and don't relate to the specific vulnerability Mark is pointing out. Option B accurately captures his intent – he's using the example to emphasize the severity of the problem.
18 / 20
Elena (in a Slack message): 'We've been struggling with slow API response times. A case in point is yesterday's request to retrieve user profile data, which took over 30 seconds – unacceptable given our SLAs.' What does Elena primarily aim to achieve by stating this?
Elena is using 'a case in point' to highlight a concrete event. This isn't just complaining; it's presenting evidence for an investigation. Options A and D are too subjective. Option B best reflects the practical purpose – framing the specific instance as justification for action.
19 / 20
Ben (in a PR description): 'This refactoring addresses several legacy code smells. A case in point is the duplicated logic within the `calculate_discount` method, which has been consolidated into a single reusable function.' What is Ben's primary goal with this phrasing?
Ben is using 'a case in point' to explain *why* the refactoring was necessary. The phrase serves as evidence supporting the changes. Options A and D are too general. Option B accurately reflects the purpose – providing a concrete example to support a claim about the refactoring's value.
20 / 20
Chloe (during a standup): 'I spent most of yesterday debugging an issue with our automated tests. A case in point was the test that consistently failed due to a timing issue when interacting with the external payment gateway – it highlighted a lack of proper synchronization between services.' How should Chloe best follow up on this?
Chloe's use of 'a case in point' identifies a root cause. The best follow-up is to acknowledge this specific issue and its implications (the lack of synchronization) rather than immediately addressing the symptom (the failing test). Options A and B are premature. Option D ignores the valuable diagnostic information provided.
What will I practise in ""Case In Point" for Exemplification — IT Grammar Exercise"?
Practise using the fixed phrase "case in point" to introduce a specific, concrete example that illustrates a just-stated general claim, distinct from the
How many exercises are in this module?
This module has 20 multiple-choice exercises, each with instant feedback and a full explanation of the correct answer.
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How is this different from reading an article on the same topic?
Articles explain grammar rules in prose; this exercise tests and reinforces those rules through active recall with immediate feedback — the two work best together.
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Every exercise is written by the CoderSlingo team, drawing on real workplace English used in IT roles, then reviewed for accuracy and clarity.