Exam 1: College Writing Skills with Readings

Locate and correct the ten sentence skills mistakes in the following passage. The mistakes are listed in the box below. As you locate mistakes, place checks in the spaces provided. Then make your corrections directly to the passage. Another field that seems to attract eccentric teachers is English. One of my high school English teachers Mr. Karlinsky used to carry a long wooden pointer around the room. When he spotted a student who was not paying attention. He would sneak up from behind and rap the pointer as hard as possible on the student's desk. The unexpected and earsplitting crack would cause the victims body to rise at least six inches from the desk chair. College has its share of strange English teachers as well, for example, one of my professors liked to draw on the board. Dr. Sandlin would stroll around the room, chalk in hand, waiting for the chance to draw something. Then she would spend thirty minutes of a fifty-minute class drawing Shakespeare's Globe Theater or a seventeenth-century sword. The oddest English teacher I have had was Mr. Shaw, who taught a drama course. Mr. Shaw loved the sound of his own voice, when we read a play, he would take all the parts. Standing behind the lectern Mr. Shaw would run through an entire play by himself. While the students either fell asleep, doing homework for other classes, or read magazines. Mr. Shaw was so happy to be acting he did not seem to mind. At the end of class, as we picked up our books and head out the door, Mr. Shaw could still be heard booming out the end of a scene from Hamlet or The Glass Menagerie.

EVALUATING AN ESSAY FOR UNITY, SUPPORT, COHERENCE, AND SENTENCE SKILLS (II) In this activity, you will evaluate an essay in terms of the four bases of unity, support, coherence, and sentence skills. Evaluative comments follow each supporting paragraph in the essay below. Circle the letter of the one statement that applies in each case. -My Parents' Vulnerability As I've watched my parents get older, my perception of them has completely changed. Our roles seem to be reversing. They were once the strong ones, and I was the dependent child. But now they sometimes turn to me for help, and I feel they are no longer as powerful as I thought they were. In many ways, my parents are now very weak. This shift has forced me to confront an uncomfortable truth. As people age, they become increasingly vulnerable and susceptible to danger. For one thing, my parents are more vulnerable than ever to money problems. They live in a mobile home park; they bought their trailer with the savings they managed to accumulate over the years. My parents worry that the rent for their lot will go up again, as it has in the past. They also worry about the rumor that the park is being sold and all the tenants may be evicted; they know they cannot afford to move on their social security income and my father's small pension. A car problem can be big trouble for my parents, too. Because they live on a very tight budget. An unexpected car repair can mean that they must cut back on food and other essentials. Since my parents walk a financial tightrope, they are liable to be badly hurt at any time. A) The paragraph contains an irrelevant sentence. B) The paragraph lacks key supporting details at one spot. C) The paragraph lacks transitions. D) The paragraph contains a run-on and a fragment. In addition, my parents are vulnerable to health problems. My mother has always had problems with her inner ear, and this affects her sense of balance. Her dizzy spells are more frequent now, and we are thus concerned that she may fall and break a leg or hip. She is also susceptible to bronchitis and flu. As she gets older, every episode seems to get worse and to leave her weaker than ever. My father's health problems are even more severe than my mother's. I know that either one of my parents could become terribly sick at any moment. A) The paragraph contains an irrelevant sentence. B) The paragraph lacks key supporting details at one spot. C) The paragraph lacks transitional words. D) The paragraph contains a run-on and a fragment. Finally, my parents are very vulnerable to dishonest people and others who want to do them harm. Last year, for example, while my parents were at the supermarket, someone broke into their trailer and stole their television. The police told my parents that burglars like to prey on old people because they can't fight back. Burglars have even been known to take advantage of people with disabilities for the same reason. In addition, some people have tried to use my parents for their own gain. A salesman almost talked them into signing an expensive contract for lawn work they didn't need. Another time, one of my teenage cousins tried to borrow three hundred dollars from them, claiming he wanted to buy a car. He really wanted the money to buy drugs to sell. A) The paragraph contains an irrelevant sentence. B) The paragraph lacks key supporting details at one spot. C) The paragraph lacks transitional words. D) The paragraph contains a run-on and a fragment. In conclusion, my parents seem to need more protection now that they are older. They can be easily hurt by money troubles, health problems, and unkind people. Seeing them falter in their old age has prompted me to rethink my notions of "aging with grace" and commit myself to helping this vulnerable population. Though I wish I could singlehandedly protect them from the difficulties they confront, the perils faced by our elder population must be answered by the culture at large. Together, we must rethink the way we treat and ignore elderly men and women-like my parents.

IDENTIFYING ADEQUATELY DEVELOPED PARAGRAPHS Each of the following body paragraphs is part of a larger essay. Two of the paragraphs provide sufficient details to support their topic sentences convincingly. Write AD for adequate development beside those paragraphs. There are also two paragraphs that, in large part, use vague, wordy, or general sentences as a substitute for real supporting details. Write U for underdeveloped beside those paragraphs. -______ 2. Owning a new car can have its drawbacks. For instance, the new car owner parks in the farthest-out parking spaces so that his or her car won't be scratched or dented. Then he or she winds up hiking a quarter mile or so to reach the shopping center. A new car also demands constant attention. The owner feels he or she must immediately wipe off any bird droppings, mud splashes, or water stains from the exterior, chores that those with 'junkers' never bother about. A new car, in addition, forces its owner to avoid all indoor parking garages or restaurants with valet parking. The sight of a car attendant gunning that brand-new car up a ramp or squeezing it into a tiny space could cause heart failure.

FILL-IN: The five prewriting techniques are 1) freewriting, 2) questioning, 3) making a ____________________, 4) clustering, and 5) preparing a scratch outline.

In order to locate a book called An Unfinished Woman, where in the book file should you look?

RUN-ONS In the space provided, write R-O beside run-on sentences. Write C beside sentences that are punctuated correctly. Some of the run-ons have no punctuation between the two complete thoughts; others have only a comma. Correct each run-on by using (l) a period and capital letter, (2) a comma plus a joining word, or (3) a semicolon. Do not use the same method of correction in each sentence. -_____ 4. I could tell the room had been dusted, for all the pictures were crooked.

FRAGMENTS Each word group in the student paragraph below is numbered. In the space provided, write C if a word group is a complete sentence; write F it if is a fragment. You will find ten fragments in the paragraph. -Calling In Sick ¹It takes skill to call in sick to work with a phony excuse. ²And not sound like a faker. ³First of all, one must be sure to speak directly to the boss. ⁴Not to a co-worker or secretary. ⁵If a person talks to a co-worker who doesn't like him or her. ⁶The co-worker may "forget" to give the boss the message. ⁷Making the person look totally irresponsible. ⁸Or the co-worker may tell the boss, in a sarcastic tone, "Terry is sick again." ⁹Transmitting the message that this is definitely a fakery. ¹⁰Second, being careful not to ruin the excuse by overacting or exaggerating. ¹¹For example, coughing on the phone like a tuberculosis victim or sneezing after every word. ¹²Also, it's important not to claim that this is a complicated disease. ¹³Such as bronchitis combined with pneumonia. ¹⁴A simple excuse sounds more truthful, so it's worth sticking with the flu or a stomach virus. ¹⁵The most important technique involved in calling in sick is making sure one doesn't get caught. ¹⁶The person must, for instance, be willing to stay home all day. ¹⁷So that a co-worker can't say, "I tried to reach him, but he doesn't answer." ¹⁸And it's critical to never return to work after sick leave with a suntan or an ankle broken while skiing. ¹⁹If a person follows these tips when calling in sick. ²⁰No one can accuse him or her of "faking it." 1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____ 6. _____ 7. _____ 8. _____ 9. _____ 10. _____ 11. _____ 12. _____ 13. _____ 14. _____ 15. _____ 16. _____ 17. _____ 18. _____ 19. _____ 20. _____

IDENTIFYING ADEQUATELY DEVELOPED PARAGRAPHS Each of the following body paragraphs is part of a larger essay. Two of the paragraphs provide sufficient details to support their topic sentences convincingly. Write AD for adequate development beside those paragraphs. There are also two paragraphs that, in large part, use vague, wordy, or general sentences as a substitute for real supporting details. Write U for underdeveloped beside those paragraphs. -______ 3. One way we could improve our lives would be by banning cars. The environment would improve, and the change for the better would be apparent in healthier lives for all of us. Without cars, Americans would have other benefits as well. An important one that should not be forgotten is the safety factor. There are many accidents that occur every year in which cars are involved. If all of these accidents could be avoided, everyone would benefit, and the country would be safer for all of us in living our everyday lives. In addition, the pace of our lives would slow down. There would be less worry and anxiety to deal with if people were not moving about in cars.

Some of the questions that follow are true-false or multiple choice questions, and some require you to write short answers. -_____ Supporting paragraphs in an essay need their own topic sentences.

RUN-ONS In the space provided, write R-O beside run-on sentences. Write C beside sentences that are punctuated correctly. Some of the run-ons have no punctuation between the two complete thoughts; others have only a comma. Correct each run-on by using (l) a period and capital letter, (2) a comma plus a joining word, or (3) a semicolon. Do not use the same method of correction in each sentence. -_____ 2. I respect my parents, I resent their attempts to choose a career for me.

What is the title and who is the author of the article? ________________________________

A paper is considered supported when ______________________.

FILL-IN: Two common purposes of papers are 1) to make and defend a _______________ and 2) to present information on a subject.

INFORMATION LITERACY Some of the questions that follow are true-false or multiple choice questions, and some require you to write short answers. -_____Encyclopedias and atlases fall under the category of "General References."

THE FOURTH STEP IN ESSAY WRITING (II): COMBINING SENTENCES THROUGH COORDINATION AND SUBORDINATION On separate paper, use coordination and subordination to combine the groups of simple sentences below into one or (in most cases) two longer sentences. Omit repeated words. Since a variety of combinations is possible, you might want to jot several combinations on your paper. Then read them aloud to find the combination that sounds best. Keep in mind that, very often, the relationship between ideas in a sentence will be clearer when subordination rather than coordination is used. 1. • Everyone laughed at the boss's story. • Stan laughed harder than anyone else. • He didn't get the joke. 2. • My car developed an annoying rattle. • I took it to the service station. • The mechanic couldn't find what was wrong. 3. • I have always wanted to play the piano. • My parents couldn't afford music lessons. • I still want to learn. • I am taking an adult ed course at our high school. 4. • A Vietnamese restaurant opened in our town. • It has been doing a tremendous business. • The food is reasonably priced. • It is a delicious combination of Chinese and French cooking. 5. • A person at the party told a racist joke. • I decided to leave. • My boyfriend told me to calm down. • I didn't want to be around people like that. 6. • The burner was set only at "medium." • The soup boiled over the top of the pot. • The mixture hit the hot stove. • It smoked, hissed, and bubbled. 7. • I couldn't decide which of the two sweaters to buy. • The saleswoman convinced me to take both. • At home, I regretted the expensive purchase. • I vowed to return one of the sweaters. 8. • Debbie felt nervous and out-of-place at the party. • She sat by herself at the end of the couch. • She didn't want people to feel sorry for her. • She kept a strained smile on her face. 9. • Mr. Blatt always mixes up the students' names. • People get the feeling he doesn't care. • Being called by another name is embarrassing. • It makes the students feel unimportant as well. 10. • The Mars Curiosity rover made an apparently exciting discovery. • It turned out to be a shiny piece of robot litter. • Curiosity continues its exploration of Mars. • Scientists believe Curiosity will make many more discoveries, perhaps even fossils.

Another name for clustering is

RUN-ONS In the space provided, write R-O beside run-on sentences. Write C beside sentences that are punctuated correctly. Some of the run-ons have no punctuation between the two complete thoughts; others have only a comma. Correct each run-on by using (l) a period and capital letter, (2) a comma plus a joining word, or (3) a semicolon. Do not use the same method of correction in each sentence. -_____ 3. The most popular language in the world is Chinese more than a billion people speak it.

_____ The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature lists magazine articles under both subject and author.

IDENTIFYING TRANSITIONS AND OTHER CONNECTING WORDS The following selections use transitions, repeated words, synonyms, and pronouns to tie together ideas. The connecting words you are to identify have been boldfaced. In the space provided, write T for Transition, RW for Repeated Word, S for Synonym, or P for Pronoun. -______ 4. The finest sandpapers can buff eggshells and hull peanut skins. In contrast, the toughest abrasives can grind through inches of steel in seconds.

A good way to use the Internet to find books on your topic is to