Writing and Communication Skills

Which one of the following sentences if deleted will not disturb the flow of the paragraph?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

(1) Under the present system of mass education by classes so much stress is laid on teaching and so little on active learning. (2) The child is not encouraged to discover his own powers, thus losing intellectual independence and all capacity to judge for himself. (3) The over-taught child is the advertising-believing propaganda–swallowing, demagogue–led man. (4) Such is the man who makes modern democracy the force it is. (5) Moreover, lessons in class leave him mainly unoccupied. (6) He has to be coerced into learning what does not interest him and the information acquired mechanically is rapidly forgotten. (7) Quite naturally, the child, being bored and unoccupied, is also mischievous. (8) A strict external discipline becomes necessary unless there is to be chaos and pandemonium. (9) The child learns to obey, not to control himself. (10) He loses moral as well as intellectual independence. (11) Such are the main defects in the current system of mass education. (12) Many others could be mentioned but there are defects in detail. (13) We need a new system of universal education of the same kind as that proved so successful in the training of detectives and infants, but modified so as to be suitable for older boys and girls. (14) We need a system of individual education.

Which of the following is the best revision of the underlined portion of sentence no. (3) below? These methods, when applied in politics, still represent

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

Which of the following is the best version of underlined portion of sentence 5? still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

The author's argument could be strengthened by

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

(1) Under the present system of mass education by classes so much stress is laid on teaching and so little on active learning. (2) The child is not encouraged to discover his own powers, thus losing intellectual independence and all capacity to judge for himself. (3) The over-taught child is the advertising-believing propaganda–swallowing, demagogue–led man. (4) Such is the man who makes modern democracy the force it is. (5) Moreover, lessons in class leave him mainly unoccupied. (6) He has to be coerced into learning what does not interest him and the information acquired mechanically is rapidly forgotten. (7) Quite naturally, the child, being bored and unoccupied, is also mischievous. (8) A strict external discipline becomes necessary unless there is to be chaos and pandemonium. (9) The child learns to obey, not to control himself. (10) He loses moral as well as intellectual independence. (11) Such are the main defects in the current system of mass education. (12) Many others could be mentioned but there are defects in detail. (13) We need a new system of universal education of the same kind as that proved so successful in the training of detectives and infants, but modified so as to be suitable for older boys and girls. (14) We need a system of individual education.

Which of the following can most logically be added after sentence [13] to conclude the essay?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

What is the error in sentence 10?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

Which of the following is the best way to rephrase sentence 9?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

Which of the following is the best way to revise sentence 10? (Reproduced below) The question is, which method is the most practical, the most successful and most popular?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] There are two principal methods of treating disease. [2] One is the combative, the other the preventive. [3] The trend of medical research henceforth has almost entirely been along combative lines, although the progressive physician learns to work more and more along preventive lines. [4] The slogan of medical science has been, "Kill the germ and cure the disease." [5] The usual procedure is to wait until acute or chronic diseases have fully developed, and then, if possible, to subdue them by means of drugs, surgical operations, and by means of the morbid products of disease, in the form of serums, antitoxins, vaccines, etc.
[6] The combative methods fight disease with disease, poison with poison, and germs with germs and germ products. [7] In the language of the Good Book, it is "Beelzebub against the Devil." [8] The preventive method does not wait until diseases have fully developed and gained the ascendancy in the body, but concentrates its best endeavors on preventing, by hygienic living and by natural methods of treatment, the development of diseases. [9] By these put the human body in a normal and healthy condition which is practically proof against infection or contagion by disease taints and miasmas, and against the inroads of germs, bacteria and parasites.
[10] The question is, which method is the most practical, the most successful and most popular? [11] Which will stand the test in the great struggle for existence?
[12] The medical profession has good reason to be alarmed by the inroads made in its work by irregular, unorthodox systems, schools and cults of treating human ailments. [13] But instead of raging at the audacious presumption of these interlopers, would it not be better to inquire if there is not some reason for the astonishing spread and popularity of these therapeutic innovations?

Which of the following sentences can be removed from the essay, without affecting the flow of the argument?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] There are two principal methods of treating disease. [2] One is the combative, the other the preventive. [3] The trend of medical research henceforth has almost entirely been along combative lines, although the progressive physician learns to work more and more along preventive lines. [4] The slogan of medical science has been, "Kill the germ and cure the disease." [5] The usual procedure is to wait until acute or chronic diseases have fully developed, and then, if possible, to subdue them by means of drugs, surgical operations, and by means of the morbid products of disease, in the form of serums, antitoxins, vaccines, etc.
[6] The combative methods fight disease with disease, poison with poison, and germs with germs and germ products. [7] In the language of the Good Book, it is "Beelzebub against the Devil." [8] The preventive method does not wait until diseases have fully developed and gained the ascendancy in the body, but concentrates its best endeavors on preventing, by hygienic living and by natural methods of treatment, the development of diseases. [9] By these put the human body in a normal and healthy condition which is practically proof against infection or contagion by disease taints and miasmas, and against the inroads of germs, bacteria and parasites.
[10] The question is, which method is the most practical, the most successful and most popular? [11] Which will stand the test in the great struggle for existence?
[12] The medical profession has good reason to be alarmed by the inroads made in its work by irregular, unorthodox systems, schools and cults of treating human ailments. [13] But instead of raging at the audacious presumption of these interlopers, would it not be better to inquire if there is not some reason for the astonishing spread and popularity of these therapeutic innovations?

In context what is the best place for sentence (8)?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

Which of the following will most strengthen the author's argument in paragraph 3?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] There are two principal methods of treating disease. [2] One is the combative, the other the preventive. [3] The trend of medical research henceforth has almost entirely been along combative lines, although the progressive physician learns to work more and more along preventive lines. [4] The slogan of medical science has been, "Kill the germ and cure the disease." [5] The usual procedure is to wait until acute or chronic diseases have fully developed, and then, if possible, to subdue them by means of drugs, surgical operations, and by means of the morbid products of disease, in the form of serums, antitoxins, vaccines, etc.
[6] The combative methods fight disease with disease, poison with poison, and germs with germs and germ products. [7] In the language of the Good Book, it is "Beelzebub against the Devil." [8] The preventive method does not wait until diseases have fully developed and gained the ascendancy in the body, but concentrates its best endeavors on preventing, by hygienic living and by natural methods of treatment, the development of diseases. [9] By these put the human body in a normal and healthy condition which is practically proof against infection or contagion by disease taints and miasmas, and against the inroads of germs, bacteria and parasites.
[10] The question is, which method is the most practical, the most successful and most popular? [11] Which will stand the test in the great struggle for existence?
[12] The medical profession has good reason to be alarmed by the inroads made in its work by irregular, unorthodox systems, schools and cults of treating human ailments. [13] But instead of raging at the audacious presumption of these interlopers, would it not be better to inquire if there is not some reason for the astonishing spread and popularity of these therapeutic innovations?

All of the following can be inferred from the passage about Hemingway's style of writing, except

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Ernest Hemingway’s style of writing cultivated a mass following for him not only while he was alive but also after his death. Most essayists and critics agree that Hemingway abhorred the use of adjectives and used nouns exhaustively in order to prevent his characters from being bigger than life. Others have accused Hemingway of being rather bland in the description of his characters and transferring the onus onto the readers to build the characters in the way that seems fit to them. Another belief that has emerged about his writing is that he made the characters and their dialogues stay in our heads by laying selective emphasis and by the use of repetition. Hemingway himself acknowledged that he did most of his work in his head and that any sentence, before it could be penned down, had to fit his standards of comprehension and brevity. Hemingway acknowledged that he sometimes felt that his style of writing was more suggestive than direct and that the reader had to involve himself to not miss the subtle nuances of his (Hemingway’s) writings.

Directions: Identify the sentence(s) or part(s) of sentence(s) that is/are correct in terms of grammar and usage (including spelling, punctuation and logical consistency). Then, choose the most appropriate option.

A. Regardless of personal beliefs,

B. you have the responsibility to report the facts as impartially as possible.

C. There's nothing more for me to say.

D. Undergraduates, as well as us graduate students,

E. are at the low end of the academic totem pole.

Which of the following would make the most logical final sentence for the essay?

Direction for questions 1 to 6: The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answers for the questions that follow. Some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask you to consider organization and development. In choosing answers, follow the requirements of standard written English.

Passage – I
(1) Last summer, I wrote an essay for a Freshman Composition course on the subject of race relations. (2) It was called "A Single-Hued World: Laughable or Logical?", the paper explored the effects of a world where people could not visually distinguish race.
(3)The constantly reoccurring issue of race is one I'm familiar with. (4) I'm biracial and I love it, but I detest standardized forms that demand I label myself as one race. (5) I don't see my ethnicity as "check only one," and I don't feel this is an option.
(6) I do think about race, though, and I feel very strongly that race relations will naturally improve with time, as a two-stage process occurs. (7) First, ethnic differences should continue to be celebrated, as they are currently in California. (8) Cultural holidays, festivals, and trends will gain popularity across nationalities, and races historically degraded will gain the pride necessary to attain cultural confidence. (9) Mexican, Black, Asian Pride will grow greatly, and people will appreciate contrasts between them.
(10) The passing time would lead to equality of races, which will become an obvious state and it will diminish then. (11) In time, equality of races will become an obvious state, and the importance of race will diminish. (12) If people don't have to fight for their value as people, their insecurities will vanish. So in time, I believe racial differences will evolve into a triviality, something easily ignored.

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Which of the following most effectively revises the underlined portions of sentences 11 and 12 (reproduced below) in order to combine the sentences? "I know I can do it," I keep encouraging my self. My mind generates zero ideas for my essay: which is due six hours from now.

Direction for questions 7 to 12: The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answers for the questions that follow. Some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask you to consider organization and development. In choosing answers, follow the requirements of standard written English.

Passage – II
(1) In life people have to make choices, in my life I have had to make many, many choices.  (2)  I think that my biggest decision or choice would be my application and move to college. (3) This would be considered the biggest decision I would have to make in my life so far.
(4) When your senior year in high school rolls around, most people have to start thinking about what they want to do with their lives in the next four years, and what will happen after these four years are done.
(5) This was a time in my life when I had to make a choice about what I was going to do. (6)  I knew that I wanted to do something that involved the technology of computers and I thought I wanted to be an engineer. (7) Well that was a choice I made, and it was not exactly a choice I thought about adequately. (8) Engineering just wasn't what I was meant to do.
(9) Computer engineering (the major that I choose first semester) was a lot more than I expected. (10)  I ended up failing Physics, Calculus and Chemistry!  (11)  In addition to that, I was subject to separation from < > college. (12) Well, now a decision really had to be made; a choice had to be made.
(13)  My parents told me to think about other colleges and to think about other things to do instead of college, but I knew that <  > was right for me. (14)  They often suggested that I go to community college for a semester or two and make sure that I was doing something that I wanted to do. (15) I had attended the community college in my area during my last year in high school to take some extra courses, and I truly detested the place.  (16)I really did not want to go anywhere but <  >.
(17)   So I petitioned for readmission to a new department at<  >. (18)  I decided that I should focus my studies on something other than engineering, because it was much more than I had expected, and it was flat out, too hard for me.
(19)  Eventually I was allowed back, and as of right now I am on academic warning.  (20)  This is a result of my low GPA from last semester. (21)  I know this time around I will do better.  (22)  As I really messed up the last semester due to my choice of classes that made me skate on thin ice. (23) My CHOICE to come back and give this my all, and to do well, is the right CHOICE for me. (24)  <  > is the right place for me.
(25)  People sometimes underestimate the power of choice in their lives. (26)  They don't realize the impact that it can have. (27)  Obviously I didn't realize it earlier this year.