Exam 8: Proofreading to Correct Your Personal Error Patterns

To catch errors most effectively,

Read the paragraph and then select the letter of the correct answer for each of the questions that follow. Use the following to answer questions : (1) Without saying a word, people can communicate a confident attitude with different kinds of body language. (2) Lifting up the chin so that the head is held high can be one sign of confidence. (3) Maintaining direct eye contact during interactions with others is another way of indicating self-assurance. (4) Confident people also state their opinions forcefully and assertively. (5) But one thing they do not do is slouch; instead, they stand tall, with a straight spine and a chest pointing forward, not slumped forward. (6) Finally, people with confidence tend to stand with their weight distributed evenly on both legs rather than putting all of their weight on just one leg. (7) Just by positioning the head, torso, and legs in these ways makes a person feel more confident about himself or herself. -What kind of order is used to organize the details in this paragraph?

Read the essay below. For each of the questions that follow, select the letter of the correct answer. Use the following to answer question: Quit Smoking Now (1) In the United States today, an estimated 25.9 million men and 22.8 million women are smokers. Every day, about 3,000 people under the age of eighteen become smokers. Still, though, four out of every five smokers wish they could quit. For a number of reasons, every individual who smokes should try very hard to kick the habit. (2) One obvious reason to stop smoking is to save money-quite a lot of it, as a matter of fact. The cost of a pack of cigarettes is now about $5, so a two-packs-a-day smoker will pay $304 per month and $3,650 per year to support his or her habit. This is money that could be stashed away in a savings account and spent on a home, a car, or a dream vacation. Americans often have inadequate savings accounts, and they could improve their finances by paying saved cash rather than charging the cost of purchases on credit cards. (3) The most important reason to stop smoking, though, is to improve health. Smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to suffer from colds, headaches, and insomnia. A third of smokers complain of debilitating fatigue, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory disorders. Worst of all, though, smoking causes a host of deadly diseases; in fact, it is a major cause of heart attack, stroke, and cancer. Every year, 400,000 people die from tobacco-related diseases. (4) Smoking causes bad breath and yellows teeth. It also leaves a foul odor in the hair, clothing, and surroundings of not only the person who smokes but also everyone in close proximity to the smoker. Smoking ages the skin, too, making smokers look older than their years. (5) Because smoking harmful in all of these respects, the best thing smokers can do for themselves and their loved ones is quit. They should try all of options available, such as nicotine patches and smoking cessation programs. Quitting is difficult thing to do, but it's worth it. -What type of order (time order, space order, or order of importance) organizes the details in paragraph 3?

Select the letter of the correct noun for the blank in each sentence. -Both __________ taught at the local community college.

Read the essay below. Then, select the letter of the correct answer for each of the questions that follow. An Old Skill for a New Technological World (1) People who will have to work with computers, either at school or on the job, will have to do a lot of typing on a computer keyboard. (2) They can try to use their two index fingers to peck out the characters they need to form words and sentences, or they can take the time to learn how to touch-type, which involves memorizing the positions of all of the keys and then using each of the ten fingers to press various keys without looking at them. (3) The second method is certainly the more preferable of the two options. (4) Learning to touch-type is a valuable skill for several reasons. (5) The ability to touch-type will, most importantly, save a lot of time. (6) Hunting for and tapping out letters using only two fingers is clumsy, frustrating, and slow. (7) Touch-typing, however, allows a computer user to type many times faster. (8) With practice, as the skill becomes more automatic, the typist's fingers fly over the keys, generating documents and messages much more efficiently. (9) Learning to touch-type also prevents distractions that interrupt the flow of thought required during writing. (10) People who do not know how to touch-type must use a portion of their attention to search for the right keys. (11) For touch-typists, however, typing is an automatic skill that requires no conscious thought, so they are free to concentrate on expressing their ideas. (12) Finally, acquiring touch-typing skill will reduce strain on the hands, fingers, arms, eyes, and neck. (13) While the two-fingered approach to typing requires that hands stay lifted up in the air so that all keys will remain visible, touch-typing allows the computer user to rest his or her arms and hands on the desk or machine and make use of smaller, more efficient finger movements. (14) Therefore, the hands, fingers, and arms do not get tired as easily. (15) The eyes of touch-typists do not have to move constantly back and forth from the keyboard to the computer screen; they can stay focused on the screen. (16) Because the head does not need to bend forward to see the keys, strain on the neck and upper back is lessened or eliminated. (17) For all of these reasons, computer-users should invest a little time, effort, and money into completing a touch-typing course. (18) After a few months of practice, they will be glad that they learned a skill that will benefit them the rest of their lives. -Which of the following sentences is the topic sentence of the first body paragraph?

Select the letter of the sentence with the correct relative pronoun and the correct punctuation. -_____

Select the letter of the sentence that is punctuated correctly. -_____

Select the letter of the group in which all of the words are spelled correctly. -_____

A blank space appears where the verb should be. Select the letter of the correct helping verb and past participle form. -Mary ______ a dozen jazz albums with her.

Study the body of the following paragraph. Then select the letter of the most accurate topic sentence for the blank. -_______________________________________________________. The scent of lavender has a calming effect, slowing down the heart rate and encouraging shoppers to linger in the store, increasing the chance that they'll buy products. The smell of vanilla, too, puts customers at ease and helps them feel more relaxed. The spicy scent of cinnamon, too, makes people feel good because they tend to associate it with happy memories, and happier people are much more likely to spend money. Citrus scents make shoppers feel happy and open-minded, improving their mood and making them more likely to purchase. Not surprisingly, many retail stores now go so far as to spray the air with specific scents to help boost sales.

Read the paragraph and then select the letter of the correct answer for each of the questions that follow. Use the following to answer questions : (1) Without saying a word, people can communicate a confident attitude with different kinds of body language. (2) Lifting up the chin so that the head is held high can be one sign of confidence. (3) Maintaining direct eye contact during interactions with others is another way of indicating self-assurance. (4) Confident people also state their opinions forcefully and assertively. (5) But one thing they do not do is slouch; instead, they stand tall, with a straight spine and a chest pointing forward, not slumped forward. (6) Finally, people with confidence tend to stand with their weight distributed evenly on both legs rather than putting all of their weight on just one leg. (7) Just by positioning the head, torso, and legs in these ways makes a person feel more confident about himself or herself. -Which sentence is the topic sentence of the paragraph?

Select the letter of the sentence with the correct verb form. -_____

Select the letter of the item that is not parallel with the other items in the group. -_____

Select the letter of the item that is not parallel with the other items in the group. -_____

Read the paragraph below and answer the questions that follow it. (1) According to a study conducted by the United Nations, Americans work much longer hours than Europeans. (2) In the United States, about 86% of men and 66% of women work more than 40 hours per week. (3) In contrast, few Europeans ever work over 40 hours per week, and full-time workers in several European counties, such as France, work as little as 30-35 hours per week. (4) The average American puts in 1,800 hours per year on the job; in some European counties, full-time workers put in as few as 1,400 hours per year. (5) Companies typically give their full-time American employees only two week's paid vacation every year whereas they give European workers 4-6 week's annual vacation leave. (6) European counties have laws that guarantee workers a minimum amount of vacation time and limit the length of the workweek to a maximum of 48 hours. (7) The United States, however, has no such laws for its workers. -Does this paragraph compare, contrast, or both?

Select the letter of the sentence in which all of the adjectives and adverbs are correct. -_____

Select the step of the writing process that would include each of the following tasks. -Arranging ideas in an outline

Select the letter of the complete subject and the complete verb in each sentence. -Lula has been driving all night.

Select the letter of the sentence in which all of the apostrophes are used correctly. -_____

Select the letter of the sentence in which all of the prepositions are correct. -_____