Deck 10: Writing Correct and Effective Sentences

Question 1

Sentences are often easier to understand and more emphatic if new information appears in which position?

A) at the beginning of the sentence
B) in the middle of the sentence
C) after a semicolon
D) at the end of the sentence

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What is Simplified English?

A) It is a way to teach English to elementary-school children.
B) It is writing that has been dumbed down.
C) It is a set of about 1,000 English words used for writing technical manuals in certain industries.
D) It is English written in sentences with five or fewer words.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of these sentences shows parallel structure?

A) The line cook should follow the printed recipe; do not change the chef's dessert.
B) Our current structure is saving us money and reducing our downtime.
C) The speakers will include partners of accounting firms, businesspeople, and insurance agents.
D) We need to buy more drywall, lumber, tools, and hire the subcontractors.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Where do real or conceptual subjects often get "buried" within confusing sentences?

A) in dangling modifiers
B) in prepositional phrases before weak verbs
C) in prepositional phrases following weak subjects
D) None of the responses are correct.

Question 5

Which of the following sentences illustrates the best approach to writing about people with disabilities?

A) An arthritis sufferer typically takes medications daily.
B) People with advanced cases of scleroderma should avoid cold climates.
C) A person with severe rheumatoid arthritis is likely to be confined to a wheelchair.
D) Systemic lupus is an abnormal disability for young males.

Question 6

The following passage exhibits which of the characteristics listed below?
Not many rescuers are trained to handle hazardous materials. Provide care only when safe to do so, establish a safe zone, and call for help. When a rescuer commences patient care, he should focus on basic life support and finalize his plan to decontaminate the patient.

A) sexist language
B) dangling modifier
C) negative construction
D) fancy words

Question 7

Which sentence below shows a comma splice?

A) The 728B polo shirt is our most popular model, and it offers an unequaled blend of comfort and durability.
B) The 728B polo shirt is our most popular, comfortable, attractive, durable, and cost-effective model.
C) The 728B polo shirt is our most popular model, because it offers an unequaled blend of comfort and durability.
D) The 728B polo shirt is our most popular model, it offers an unequaled blend of comfort and durability.

Question 8

In many cases, removing which type of phrase following a noun will make your writing more concise?

A) adjectival phrase
B) prepositional phrase
C) transitional phrase
D) adverbial phrase

Question 9

"Refer to the person first, the disability second" is one of the guidelines for using the people-first approach to writing about people with disabilities. Which of the following are other guidelines discussed in the chapter?

A) Remember that handicap and disability are synonymous terms.
B) Refer to a person who uses a wheelchair as wheelchair bound or confined to a wheelchair.
C) Refer to people with disabilities as abnormal, as opposed to atypical.
D) All responses are correct.
E) None of the responses are correct.

Question 10

How should you punctuate a restrictive modifier?

A) Use commas to separate it from the rest of the sentence.
B) Use dashes to separate it from the rest of the sentence.
C) Add no extra punctuation.
D) Precede it with a comma and the word which.

Question 11

Which of the following sentences has a strong subject?

A) The firm issued a statement about the newly promoted lawyers.
B) The statement from the college about the newly promoted professors was published in the newspaper.
C) The use of fireworks in this city is strictly prohibited.
D) The challenge of pursuing higher education while using a foreign language should not be underestimated.

Question 12

Which type of modifier is NOT identified in Chapter 10 as a problem?

A) an adjectival modifier
B) a squinting modifier
C) a dangling modifier
D) a misplaced modifier

Question 13

To what does a pronoun need to refer?

A) its antecedent
B) its precedent
C) its antonym
D) its adverb

Question 14

In what way is the following list flawed?
The Ventura Aquifer program objectives are the following:
characterization of groundwater quality
to provide data to support Best Management Practices (BMP)
relating data to agricultural land-use practices

A) The list is not punctuated correctly.
B) The list is not parallel in structure.
C) The lead-in is not grammatically complete.
D) The list uses the wrong verb tense.

Question 15

Chapter 10 suggests that the passive voice is generally more appropriate than the active voice in four circumstances. One is when the agent is clear from the context, as in "Students are required to take both writing courses," in which it is clear that the college sets the requirements. Under what other circumstances is the passive voice generally more appropriate?

A) when the agent is less important than the action
B) when the agent is unknown
C) when a reference to the agent is embarrassing, dangerous, or in some other way inappropriate
D) All responses are correct.
E) None of the responses are correct.

Question 16

Which of the following sentences has a strong verb?

A) The acquisition of properties south of the factory is expected to continue.
B) Stephen is responsible for collection of our quality-assurance data.
C) Decades of deception by politicians have left the populace numb and apathetic.
D) Download the test file before you start to answer the questions.

Question 17

In which of the following sentences is qualifying information emphasized?

A) The schedule could fall apart if anyone is absent for several days.
B) Shellie will get promoted if she improves her performance rating.
C) If the new administrator gets her way, all of the adjunct instructors will get raises.
D) I will finish my homework if I can stop watching television.

Question 18

What level of formality does technical communication usually require?

A) very informal to informal
B) informal to moderately formal
C) moderately formal to highly formal
D) None of the responses are correct.

Question 19

The following passage violates which of the basic principles for effective sentences listed below?
The site marks the beginning of a first-year riparian forest buffer. Monitoring equipment was located essentially where this stream joined Cook Creek at the end of the forest riparian buffer. Monitoring data indicated improved water quality within the tributary. It is our opinion that this could be the result of the riparian forest buffer being created.

A) Avoid euphemisms.
B) Avoid unnecessarily fancy words.
C) Avoid wordy phrases.
D) Avoid filler.

Question 20

Which of the following is a run-on sentence?

A) The adventurer walked for days and days, for weeks on end, for what seemed like an eternity; he found himself in a state of perpetual exhaustion.
B) He is a little bit sour, she is a little bit sweet, and I am a little bit stale.
C) I left the room when he yelled at me.
D) Vote for Pedro he will represent you well.

Question 21

Chapter 10 describes several techniques for avoiding sexist language. One technique is to include a disclaimer such as following: "The use of the pronoun he does not in any way suggest a male bias."

Question 22

Per diem is an example of what type of phrase for accountants and human-resources personnel?

Question 23

Subjects and verbs must agree in tense.

Question 24

The sentence "Employees who seek their supervisor's advice often can improve their performance" contains an example of which type of modifier?

Question 25

What is the past perfect tense used to describe?

Question 26

In a passive-voice sentence, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed by the verb.

Question 27

Identify one of the four strategies listed in Chapter 10 for avoiding ambiguous pronoun references.

Question 28

Nominalized verbs help you communicate clearly and concisely.

Question 29

New and important information should come at the beginning of a sentence, where readers will be sure to notice it.

Question 30

What two guidelines will help you to avoid causing confusion when using clusters of adjectives?

Question 31

A sentence with a negative construction uses a word or phrase to describe what something is not. One example is the use of not many rather than few.

Question 32

Chapter 10 describes six techniques for avoiding sexist language. What are two of them?

Question 33

Identify one of the four cases in which it is better to use passive voice than active voice.

Question 34

What is Simplified English?

Question 35

A euphemism is a bit of shoptalk, a word or phrase that has a precise meaning to members of a particular group, organization, profession, or occupation but may have little meaning for people outside that group.

Question 36

A nominalization is a verb that has been transformed into a noun, as when to install becomes to effect an installation, or to analyze becomes to conduct an analysis.

Question 37

Which type of modifier lacks an antecedent?

Question 38

What is a euphemism?

Question 39

A sentence using negative construction expresses bad news or the writer's dissatisfaction or unhappiness.

Question 40

The guidelines for preparing text to be translated are generally similar to the guidelines for writing clearly and concisely.