New SAT Writing Workbook Episode 1 Part 6 potx

Moreover, the rights of the many must be limited in order to prevent individuals from a loss of their rights and freedoms... The instructions for the test include the following: mark the

Rewrite the following sentences, replacing euphemisms withprecise words.

13 The political candidates had a frank exchange of views.

14 Dave enjoyed going out to eat with his friends, but his table

manners were lacking in polish

15 As children, the boys relied on the pugilistic arts to solve their

disagreements

Rewrite the following sentences, replacing self-important languagewith precise, direct language

16 The nimble dashing flow of water changed from a bluish hue to

moving snow as it cascaded over the granite pillows below

17 The book society sought celebrated wordsmiths to elevate its

literary audience

Rewrite the following passages, eliminating overly emotional wordsand flowery language.

18 Reggie’s decision not to have a DJ for the party shows how

stubborn and inept he is at planning social engagements

19 The generous and giving nature of Tan was manifested by his gift

to the university

20 The sustaining values that parents convey to their progeny is

created through the multitudinous experiences one has in alifetime

Rewrite the following sentences, removing slang or jargon Useprecise, direct language

21 The stockbroker told his client that the company’s earnings and

P/E multiple indicated that the equity would increase in value

22 The interaction of the pressure gradients was indicative of a

coming rainstorm

Rewrite the following sentences, removing “deadwood” andredundancies Use precise, direct language.

23 It is a fact that Sun is the fastest runner in the school.

24 Kristalle did not get the job that she wanted due to the fact that

she did not turn in her application on time

25 A great deal of time and money is spent on scientific projects

that have uncertain benefits

26 I find that to understand an assignment I often have to read it a

couple of times and take notes

27 The golden retriever ran around the side of the corner of the

building to get the stray ball that was thrown by the girl

Rewrite the following passages, making them more succinct

28 The tasks that are placed before American politicians change

from time to time due to new priorities

29 Mary worked hard to complete her reading, and then she

worked on her term paper

30 The sailors watched from the deck as the golden orb of the

setting sun made its final appearance as it set behind the clouds

Rewrite the following passages by combining sentences Make sure

to use precise, concise language and do not alter the author’s

meaning

31 In the past, it was common to find social functions for the young

centered on the family Today, most social functions are ated with school in some fashion

associ-32 Wonda, Carla, and Jaresa were in an argument They were upset

because each of them wanted to be the lead singer

Rewrite the following sentences, making them shorter withoutchanging their meaning Keep in mind that there is no one correctanswer.

33 Since the United States was first created, political parties were

developed so that people with essentially the same viewpointhad a means of expressing their thoughts as to how the govern-ment should be run

34 A lunar eclipse occurs when a shadow caused by the earth

blocking the light from the sun falls across the visible portion ofthe moon, but not all observers see the same thing because oftheir unique view of the moon

Rewrite the following sentence by using each of the openers

identified by the letters (A), (B), and (C) You may substitute

words, but do not change the author’s meaning Keep in mind thatthere is no one correct answer

Note: Not all of these new beginnings are ones that you are likely

to use in an SAT I essay because they may not be as concise orclear to the reader But learning which ones work and which onesdon’t in particular situations helps you with your revision process

35 Moreover, the rights of the many must be limited in order to

prevent individuals from a loss of their rights and freedoms

(A) Prepositional phrase:

(B) Infinitive phrase:

(C) Inverted order:

Rewrite the following passage by using each of the sentencestructures identified by the letters (A), (B), (C), and (D) Although

it may not be possible to maintain all of the author’s originalthoughts in each sentence structure, try to keep as much aspossible

36 The urban environment is one of the most complex on Earth.

People too often focus only on the human elements, but manyanimals and plants thrive in the city

(A) Simple sentence:

(B) Compound sentence:

(C) Complex sentence:

(D) Compound-complex sentence:

The following sentences may have an error in capitalization,

abbreviation, or punctuation Identify the error and the means tocorrect the mistake

37 The instructions for the test include the following: mark the

correct answer in the proper oval and make sure to darken theentire oval

38 11 players can form a football team.

39 The colors of the American flag are red, white and blue.

40 Mark yelled at his brother, “Dad said, Don’t play in the

44 The author was quoted as saying, “I believe that writers can

sway public opinion—these people can be hard to convince.”

45 The “Bible” is the most widely owned book in the United States.

46 Many people mistakenly believe that San Francisco California is

the state’s capital

47 Hakeem said, “I feel that this is the best movie I’ve seen in a

long time.”

48 The cars lights were being turned on as it grew dark.

49 The earthquake hit at rush hour; commuters still remember the

shaking motion

50 All of us sometimes forget to cross our ts.

ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS

CHECK YOUR WRITING SKILLS, PAGES 113–124

Check your answers against these suggested responses Rememberthat except for the capitalization and punctuation sentences, there is

no one correct way to rework a sentence If you are still unsureabout some of the ways to revise your writing, review the 10 rulesagain Complete the additional exercises presented on page 128

1. The streetlights brightened and dimmed as the storm interruptedthe electricity

2. The moviegoers complained about the people talking

3. John missed only two questions on his history examination

4. Our team overcame the opposing team’s large half-time lead andwent on to win the game easily

5. Kathy skied as fast as she could to avoid an avalanche.

6. The first frost of autumn energizes me.

7. Jamie and Ali concentrated on their game.

8. Surveys often use estimates to calculate certain statistics

9. The poet’s image of a sunny day seemed to establish the overallmood of the poem very well

10. The robin’s egg was nestled in its home of twigs

11. Carla suddenly understood and was able to solve her problem

12. When the supervisor told me that I was getting a raise, I was happy

13. The political candidates disagreed

14. Dave enjoyed going out to eat with his friends, but his tablemanners were poor

15. As children, the boys solved their disagreements by fighting

16. The river changed from blue to white as it cascaded over the rocks

17. The literary society searched for well-known authors to interest

its members

18. Reggie’s decision not to have a DJ for the party shows how little

experience he has in planning parties

19. Tan’s generosity was evident in his gift to the university.

20. A lifetime of experiences creates lasting values that parents pass

on to children

21. The stockbroker told his client that based on past performance,the company’s stock price would rise.

22. The forecast called for rain

23. Sun is the fastest runner in the school

24. Kristalle did not get the job that she wanted because she did not

turn in her application on time

25. Significant time and money is spent on scientific projects that

have uncertain benefits

26. To understand an assignment, I often have to read it severaltimes and take notes

27. The golden retriever ran around the corner of the building to getthe stray ball that the girl had thrown

28. The tasks for American politicians periodically change due tonew priorities

29. Mary worked hard to complete her reading and then her termpaper

30. The sailors on the deck watched the setting sun disappearbehind the clouds

31. Social functions in the past were family-oriented, but today theyare school-centered

32. Wonda, Carla, and Jaresa argued passionately about who should

be the lead singer

33. Political parties were developed in the United States so that

like-minded people could express their opinions about thegovernment

34. Observers in various areas of the earth see different views of a

lunar eclipse, which is created by the earth’s shadow on themoon blocking the sunlight

35 (A) Prepositional phrase

In addition, the rights of the many must be limited in order

to prevent individuals from a loss of their rights andfreedoms

(B) Infinitive phrase

To clarify the point, the rights of the many must be limited

in order to prevent individuals from a loss of their rightsand freedoms

(C) Inverted order

To prevent individuals from a loss of their rights andfreedoms, the rights of the many must be limited

36 (A) Simple sentence

The complex urban environment has a thriving population

of plants and animals

37. The instructions for the test include the following: Mark thecorrect answer in the proper oval and make sure to darken theentire oval

Rule: Capitalize the first letter after a colon if the word begins

a complete sentence.

38. Eleven players can form a football team

Rule: Spell out numbers that begin a sentence.

39. The colors in the American flag are red, white, and blue

Rule: Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses in a series.

40. Mark yelled at his brother, “Dad said, ‘Don’t play in the yard!’ ”

junk-Rule: Use single quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation.

41. There were eighty-three volunteers who went to paint the

Rule: Use commas to set off nonessential elements.

43. The team was devastated by its loss; however, the players

45. The Bible is the most widely owned book in the United States.

Rule: Do not underline or place in quotation marks the titles

of holy books such as the Koran or the Bible, or their parts.

46. Many people mistakenly believe that San Francisco, California, isthe state’s capital

Rule: Use a comma to separate each part of a geographical name of two or more parts.

47. Hakeem said, “I feel that this is the best movie I’ve seen in a

long time.”

Rule: Place a comma or period inside the final quotation mark.

48. The cars’ lights were being turned on as it grew dark

Rule: Add an apostrophe to show the possessive case of plural nouns ending in s or es.

49. The earthquake hit at rush hour—commuters still remember theshaking motion

Rule: Use dashes to indicate an abrupt change of thought, a dramatic interrupting idea, or a summary statement.

50. All of us sometimes forget to cross our t’s.

Rule: Use an apostrophe and an s to write the plurals of

numbers, symbols, and letters.

MORE PRACTICE

For additional practice in revising your own writing to make it moreeffective, complete the following suggested activities:

1 Choose one of the practice essays that you wrote when working

through Chapter 4 Review it for passive voice and the use ofprecise words Circle any verbs, nouns, and adjectives that youcould improve Underline any passive voice

Choose one sentence to improve Rework it here

Choose another sentence and revise it here.

Compare your revised sentences to your original sentences Do theytell you more about your topic? Are they more interesting? Remember

to use active voice and precise words in whatever you write

2 Choose any two of your practice essays Review them for trite

expressions, clichés, slang, and jargon Circle any instances thatyou find Use the blank lines below to rephrase the sentences tomake them clearer and more precise

Essay 1

Essay 2

Didn’t find any examples of tired, overused expressions or slang?Great! That’s one area that you won’t have to worry about for theSAT I essay Be sure to keep up the good work

Found a couple of worn-out expressions, some slang, or jargon?Recognize that this is one area that you will have to be careful about

in your writing From now on, avoid using them in all your writing

3 Choose two other of your practice essays Check them for

redundancies and “deadwood.” On separate sheets of paper,revise each essay once to eliminate redundancies and “dead-wood.”

As you write essays and papers for your classes, watch out for thishabit of repeating what you have to say It is a major weakness ofwriters and means they haven’t organized their ideas before theybegin to write

4 On a separate sheet of paper, revise one of your practice essays

by combining and breaking apart sentences to see how muchsentence variety you can introduce—and still keep the sense ofwhat you have to say

Practice this skill of varying sentence structures as you write essaysand papers for class It makes your writing much more interestingthan a paragraph of simple sentences all beginning with a subjectfollowed by a verb

5 Revise the following sentence three different ways to remove the

CHECK OFF

Before you continue on to Part II,

• Can you summarize what you learned about writing effectiveprose?

• Do you know which rules apply to areas of your own writing?

• Do you know how you are going to work on those areas in yourwriting?

Make a plan to practice writing and revising your own work everyday between now and SAT I test day Even if all you write is theanswers to textbook review questions, practice using a variety ofsentence structures, active voice, and precise words

Part II Practicing Standard

English for Writing

In Chapters 6 through 9, you will learn

• Basic information about the multiple-choice section on the SAT I

• General test-taking strategies for the multiple-choice questions

• The differences between the Identifying Sentence Errors, ImprovingSentences, and Improving Paragraphs sections on the Writing test

• Strategies for answering each type of test item

• How to recognize 100 of the most common usage errors instandard written English

You will also practice

• Answering simulated test items for each type of multiple-choicequestion on the SAT I Writing test

Chapter 6

ABOUT THE MULTIPLE-CHOICE SECTION

Your goals for this chapter are to

• Learn basic information about the multiple-choice section on the

SAT I Writing test

• Analyze the question types for sentence errors, improving

sen-tences, and improving paragraphs

• Answer simulated test items to become familiar with the different

types of multiple-choice question formats used on the SAT IWriting test

The Writing test on the SAT I includes multiple-choice questions thatassess your knowledge of standard written English This chapterprovides basic information for the multiple-choice section on theWriting test, as well as suggestions for developing a strategy forattacking the questions Chapters 7, 8, and 9 will help you review theconventions of standard English while mastering techniques foranswering the specific types of multiple-choice questions

In addition to helping you identify sentence errors, improvesentences, and improve paragraphs in the multiple-choice section, thereviews in Chapters 7, 8, and 9 can also help you with your ownwriting The grammar, usage, mechanics, and word choice decisionsyou need to make to answer the multiple-choice questions correctlycan sensitize you to look for and correct similar problems in yourown writing

The idea is to become so familiar with good writing that itbecomes second nature to you You will have sharpened your writingskills so much that your first drafts will need fewer and fewer

revisions