Exam 1: Writing Effective Paragraphs

Instructions: Read the definition below and answer the question(s) that follow. Success does not mean obtaining material wealth but using your strengths and talents to make the world a better place. List the synonym, the class, or the negation that helps to define the subject of the sentence.

Instructions: Select the letter of the correct answer for each of the following questions. Which of the following does not involve paraphrasing?

Instructions: The following sentences form a passage. Select the correct noun for each blank. Many newspaper ____ written about Robinson criticized him.

Instructions: For each set of sentences below, choose the sentence in which capital letters and punctuation have been used correctly. Select the letter of the correct answer. Which sentence uses capital letters and punctuation correctly?

Instructions: The following sentences form a passage. Select the correct adjective or adverb for each blank. For seventy-three years, the Titanic lay ____ on the ocean floor.

Instructions: Read the following paragraph. For each set of sentences below the paragraph, select the letter of the sentence that provides the best revision for consistency; parallel structure; sentence variety; and fresh, concise language. On December 4, 1872, the crew of the Dei Gratia discovered a ship named the Mary Celeste drifting in the Atlantic. Some of them rowed out to investigate. According to their account, the ship was seaworthy, but a lifeboat was missing, and not one single, solitary person was on board. It seemed that the Mary Celeste s crew simply vanished into thin air without a trace, leaving their oilskin boots and pipes behind. The Mary Celeste s captain recorded his last entry in the ship s log book on November 25 when the ship lands on an island in the Azores. An Admiral Court inquiry found no evidence of foul play or piracy, and praise for the crew of the Dei Gratia for safely bringing both vessels to harbor. The public didn t give a hoot about the incident until young Arthur Conan Doyle s fictional version of the event made them chomp at the bit to learn more in 1884. Conan Doyle described untouched breakfasts and still-warm cups of tea on the captain s table. The public began to confuse fiction with the facts. Obsessed with the mystery, many people developed theories about what happened; some suggested, for example, that the ship experienced a seaquake, and others wondering if the Dei Gratia s men slaughtered everyone. Which sentence provides the best revision for consistency; parallel structure; sentence variety; and fresh, concise language?

Instructions: Select the letter of the correct verb or verbs for each sentence. Tsunamis ( are , is ) caused by underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or land shifts beneath the ocean s surface.

Instructions: Read the definition below and answer the question(s) that follow. Netiquette means good online manners. The subject of the sentence is ____.

Instructions: Select the letter of the answer that correctly identifies each of the types of prewriting illustrated below. The prewriting below is an example of Something that angers me I get so annoyed by people who drive SUVs. Most of the time, you see just one or two people in a huge vehicle that seats seven or nine people. People in these vehicles wasting gas could be driving more fuel-efficient cars and helping to make oil supplies last longer. Aggravating to try to see around them. They completely block the view of people in cars, that s unsafe. When trying to make a right turn and one pulls up beside me, I can t see oncoming traffic any more. Roads less safe with SUVs on them. In accidents, the people who get injured or killed are the ones in the car, not the SUV.

Instructions: The following sentences form an essay. Select the correct preposition for each blank. Unsung Innovators Inferior to none as a salesman, William Durant (1861-1947) relied ____ rapid expansion and aggressive marketing to make Buick, within four years, the best-selling American car.

Instructions: The paragraphs of the following essay have been scrambled so that they are out of order. Read them and then answer the question(s) that follow. Evaluating a Web Site _____ (1) Next, find out more about the person or people who created the web site. (2) Scroll down to the bottom of the page to look for the author s name, or click on links such as About Us, Biography, or Who Am I? (3) These links will usually lead to more information about the individual or organization responsible. (4) Look for details about the author s credentials. (5) Is he or she an expert, with education, training, or experience in the subject matter? (6) If no information about the site s creator is provided or if that person offers no proof of authority, the information may not be reliable. (7) Remember that anyone can create an Internet web site; therefore, researchers should verify that the person who posted the information knows what he or she is talking about. _____ (8) First, begin by examining the URL, or Internet address, of the web site. (9) In particular, examine the last three letters of the address, which reveal the domain of a site as an educational institution, government agency, nonprofit organization, or commercial company. (10) Usually, the first three types of domains, which end in .edu , .gov , .mil , .us , and .org , tend to be reliable sources of information. (11) The primary purpose of sites that end in .com, on the other hand, may be to persuade viewers to buy something rather than provide them with accurate, unbiased information. (12) A .com web site could also be someone s personal web site, which may or may not offer reliable information. _____ (13) Using this procedure helps researchers get their facts straight. (14) Mining the Internet for information will almost always produce gold, but finding that gold often requires sifting through and discarding worthless rocks. _____ (15) Finally, in addition to finding out more about the site s creator, look for a few other indicators of quality information. (16) The date the page was last updated, for example, should be fairly recent. (17) In addition, note whether the author mentions the sources of his or her information. (18) Sources that are documented with footnotes or links, especially if they refer to scholarly or academic journals and books, are usually more reputable. (19) Also, don t forget to notice the overall look of the site. (20) Is the page crowded with advertisements? (21) If so, its main purpose may be selling rather than informing. (22) Is the text filled with grammatical or spelling errors? (23) These kinds of mistakes may indicate untrustworthy information. _____ (24) The Internet offers millions of web sites; however, they re not all created equal. (25) Some of them contain accurate information, and some contain only opinions, inaccurate information, or information that s been manipulated in some way. (26) Therefore, people who use a search engine to look for web sites about a particular topic need to know how to distinguish a credible web site from a dud. (27) To evaluate the trustworthiness of a web site, online researchers can use a three-step procedure. Select the number of the sentence that is the thesis statement of this essay. a. Sentence 27 b. Sentence 24 c. Sentence 8

Instructions: For each group of sentences below, select the letter of the sentence that is limited enough to be the topic sentence of a good paragraph. Select the good topic sentence.

Instructions: The following sentences form a passage. Select the correct past tense verb for each blank. The day ____ early at Flamingo in Everglades National Park.

Instructions: In each of the following plans, one detail has nothing to do with the topic sentence; it is merely a bit of irrelevant information. Select the letter of the irrelevant detail. Our meal at the Captain s Table Restaurant was absolutely delicious.

Instructions: For each of the following sentences, select the list of words that should include apostrophes. Its nobodys business how I spend my spare time.

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow. (1) Both a cold and the flu can make you miserable, but they are different in several ways. (2) Experts say a cold will go away by itself. (3) However, the flu can lead to pneumonia and other serious or even deadly problems. (4) A cold usually comes on gradually, accompanied by little or no fever. (5) In contrast, the flu comes on suddenly, and its fever can spike as high as 104 degrees and linger for three or four days. (6) Someone with a cold might experience mild body aches and fatigue, but the flu often brings severe body aches, deep fatigue, chills, and a major headache. (7) In general, a cold is wet, with much congestion, a runny nose, and even runny eyes. (8) The flu, on the other hand, is far drier, marked by a dry cough. What two things are being compared and/or contrasted?

Instructions: Select the correct past participle for each blank. Clearly, the bulb has ____ a permanent place not only in the hearts of Livermore residents, but also in the pages of electrical history.

Instructions: Select True if the statement is true or False if the statement is false. Double-spacing between sentences can make errors easier to spot.

Instructions: For each sentence below, choose the correct preposition to insert. Select the letter of the correct answer. ____ April, Chan will have paid off his credit cards.

Instructions: Select the letter of the correct answer for each of the following questions. Another word for plagiarism is