Exam 1: Writing Effective Paragraphs

Instructions: For each of the following sentences, choose the correct noun to fill in each blank. Select the letter of the correct answer. ____ who have questions about nutrition during pregnancy should contact the health center for more information.

Instructions: For each pair of sentences below, select the letter of the option that provides the best sentence variety. Which answer choice provides the best sentence variety?

Instructions: Each general statement below is followed by several examples. Select the letter of the example that does not clearly illustrate the generalization. Throughout history, people have built huge walls to separate two populations.

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow. (1) The wide availability of canned, frozen, and precooked foods has definitely improved people s lives by freeing up time that used to be spent preparing meals. (2) However, these convenience foods have also had some negative consequences. (3) One effect has been a rise in obesity. (4) Because plentiful convenience foods need little to no preparation time, many people have developed a tendency to eat too much and put on too much weight. (5) These foods also tend to contain unhealthy ingredients like preservatives and high amounts of salt. (6) Therefore, people who rely too heavily on them can find themselves with health problems such as heart disease. (7) Another negative result of convenience foods has been the death of family dinner time. (8) Now that people can grab prepackaged foods on the run, they just don t try as hard to sit down to a meal as a family. (9) Convenience foods have also contributed to Americans rushed lifestyle overall. (10) Unfortunately, when it became easy to just microwave a burrito and keep going, sitting down and eating a relaxed meal seemed like a waste of precious time. How many effects does the writer include to develop the topic sentence?

Instructions: Check the following paragraph(s) for unity. Select the number of the sentence that does not belong in the paragraph. Identify the sentence that does not belong. (1) Some very odd things have been sold on eBay, the online auction site. (2) One man recently sold his forehead for advertising space. (3) The winning bid was $37,000. (4) When pop singer Justin Beiber cut off his long, famous hair, the locks sold for over $40,668, and several sellers have offered buyers a chance to own singer Britney Spears s used chewing gum. (5) A cheese sandwich said to bear an image of the Virgin Mary went for $28,000. (6) A cinnamon bun that supposedly looked like Mother Teresa was stolen from a coffeehouse in Nashville, Tennessee. (7) One eBay shopper paid $4,550 for a vampire-killing kit, and another bought a serial killer s fingernails for $9.99. (8) The meaning of life sold for a mere $3.26, and another buyer got Nothing! Absolutely Nothing! for $1.03.

Instructions: Choose the sentence in which every adjective and adverb is correct. Select the letter of the correct answer. In which sentence is every adjective and adverb correct?

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. Libraries of the Future - Now _____ (1) A third illustration of a library breaking the old mold, the Cerritos Public Library in New Mexico strives for mixed-media experience that reflects modern culture. (2) The first titanium-clad building in the U.S., this sleek library s golden skin changes colors with the weather. (3) Its lobby, where a 15,000-gallon saltwater aquarium reproduces a coral reef, looks more like the inside of a futuristic shopping mall than a library. (4) Video screens flash images such as movie clips, and visitors glide in space-age elevators. (5) Librarians don t sit behind desks; instead, armed with headsets and handheld computers, they greet visitors and move among them to offer assistance and guidance. (6) In the children s library, kids can project themselves onto a video screen beside a life-size replica of a T. rex dinosaur. (7) The library aims, through interaction and sensory experience, to stimulate library-goers imaginations and curiosity, inspiring them to grab one of the library s 300,000 books and start reading. _____ (8) A second, even more experimental example is the Salt Lake City Library, which has become one of Utah s top attractions since it opened in 2003. (9) The curved glass skin of the building dazzles visitors with views of the city and the Wasatch Mountains beyond, and a roof garden overlooks the entire Salt Lake Valley. (10) Like Seattle s library, this has won architectural awards, but unlike Seattle, it has been called the unquietest library in America. (11) Inside, music pumps through speakers, and librarians wear No Shhh! buttons, although the five floors do get quieter the higher one goes. (12) Patrons can sip coffee at a caf , browse a huge CD and DVD collection, surf the Internet on one of the 163 computers, stroll through an art gallery, or attend a lecture or concert in the auditorium. (13) Of course, they can also help themselves to one of the books in the library s 500,000-volume collection. _____ (14) As information-seekers began turning to computers and the Internet, some people predicted the death of the public library, which supposedly would serve no purpose in an electronic world. (15) But that has not happened. (16) On the contrary, many city planners now think that libraries will take on a new role for busy people in the twenty-first century. (17) In fact, pioneering cities are spending vast sums to reinvent their libraries as community information centers that not only integrate the latest technology but also attract visitors with art, music, comfort, and beautiful design. _____ (18) To achieve the goal of expanding their citizens knowledge and literacy, savvy library planners know that, first, they must draw people inside. (19) In the case of these three libraries, the plan seems to be working. (20) Library membership at all three has risen dramatically. (21) Residents who never before set foot in a library are regulars, and after school, young people hang out and do homework. (22) As such extreme library makeovers are revealed, old perceptions of libraries as stuffy or boring shatter. (23) Wired? Enlightening? Gorgeous? Cool? (24) It might be a library. _____ (25) One example is the new library in Seattle, Washington, which opened in 2004 to worldwide praise. (26) After studying feedback from residents, librarians, and library users of all ages, architect Rem Koolhaas created at a cost of $165 million a modernistic copper and glass building with interior touches of eye-popping color. (27) Employees describe it as so much fun to work in that they never miss a day. (28) Library-goers enter a huge, welcoming living room where they can relax, socialize, read, or connect wirelessly to the Internet. (29) Virtual guides on large monitors greet people and later pop up helpfully on screens throughout the library. (30) At the building s core, a continuous, user-friendly spiral of bookshelves holds the library s collection. (31) Patrons can get help from librarians, search for information on 132 computers, or chat online with the virtual reference service in a space Koolhaas calls the mixing chamber. (32) In the teen center, young patrons can enter sound domes and blast ear-splitting music without disturbing anyone else. Select the number of the sentence that is the thesis statement of this essay. a. Sentence 14 b. Sentence 17 c. Sentence 18

Instructions: The following sentences form a paragraph. For each pair, select the answer with more sentence variety. Which answer choice has sentence variety?

Instructions: Each group of sentences below could be unscrambled and written as a paragraph. Read each group, and select the letter of the topic sentence for each. Select the topic sentence.

Instructions: The following sentences form an essay. If the sentence contains a pronoun error, select Pronoun error. If the sentence is free of pronoun errors, select Correct. Janice, my best friend, and me did this together.

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: The following sentences form an essay. Select the correct preposition for each blank. Unsung Innovators He was angry ____ Durant s marketing a small, inexpensive car bearing his prestigious name.

Instructions: In each set below, one sentence in the set contains an error. Select the letter of the sentence that contains an error. Which sentence contains an error?

Instructions: Select the correct noun for each blank. The developers are building another ____ across from ours.

Instructions: Choose the correct words to insert in each of the following sentences. Then select the letter of the correct response. Each of the nominees prepared ____ acceptance speech just in case.

Instructions: Read the passage and then answer the question(s) that follow. According to sports writer Ian Stafford, the British hold the record for winning the world s oddest competitions . In one of these bizarre events, contestants contort their faces and are judged on their ugliness. One competitor removed half his dentures and reversed the other half, rolled his eyes, and tucked his nose into his mustache and upper lip to achieve prize-winning ugliness. Another of these eccentric contests is snail racing. Opponents in this case are, of course, snails, which are placed in the center of a thirteen-inch cloth circle. The first to reach the edge of the circle wins. The race often takes four to five minutes, although the all-time champion (owned and trained by an English seven-year-old) finished the course in two minutes. Toe wrestling, bog snorkeling, worm charming the British have emerged as unconquered rivals in all of these so-called sports. Perhaps you think that sports writer Ian Stafford should win first prize in the Biggest Liar in the World Competition. No, every one of these outlandish games exists. You can check them all out on the Internet. What pronoun refers to the subject of this passage?

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Some say that the Greek myth of Icarus teaches the importance of moderation and self-control. ____ As he strapped on their wings, Daedalus warned his boy not to fly too near the sun, or the heat would melt the wax. ____ To escape from a prison tower in the Mediterranean Sea, the inventor Daedalus made wings for himself and his son Icarus out of feathers, thread, and wax. ____ Just as his father feared, the blazing sun melted the wax, the wings fell apart, and Icarus plummeted to his death. ____ Daedalus and Icarus leapt from the tower and began flying over the sea. ____ Soaring higher and delighting in his ability to fly toward the sun, Icarus ignored his father s advice.

Instructions: Each group of sentences below could be unscrambled and written as a paragraph. Read each group, and select the letter of the topic sentence for each. Choose the topic sentence.

Instructions: In each of the sentences below, choose the correct words to fill in the blanks. Then select the letter that indicates your choice. Marcos couldn t decide ____ the special ____ in The Phantom Menace were more impressive ____ the ones in Return of the Jedi .

Instructions: In each pair of sentences below, carefully determine the exact relationship between the sentences. Then select the transitional expression that clearly expresses this relationship. A blizzard hit the airport. ____, all flights were cancelled.