ELA Writing/Text Purposes/Etc. Review

Read the paragraph from a student’s argumentative essay.

This week, our class will vote on how to use the money we raised through our annual Fall Festival. The class will decide whether the money should be spent on a class field trip or on a set of electronic tablets for the library. I think the funds should be spent on tablets. The tablets can be checked out by students for use at home, just like a library book. If the tablets are preloaded with educational games and books, then students will get hours of reading and working on other brain-challenging tasks.

Which sentence should be added to the paragraph to acknowledge the opposing claim?

• Tablets are more convenient to take back and forth to school than heavy books, and the tablets can be updated to include the most current information for any middle-school subject

• Our librarian has agreed to load the tablets with educational games and books that are appropriate for any middle-schooler.

• Some classmates favor the field trip because it will be an unforgettable experience, but that experience lasts only one day, while the experiences offered by tablets will be ongoing.

• We have raised enough money to purchase at least ten tablets, maybe more, if we use the school account to purchase the tablets in bulk.

Read the paragraph.

1 More than a hundred years ago, Europeans who wanted to drink coffee typically tied up coffee grounds in a little piece of cloth and boiled it in a pot of water. 2 Some grounds usually got through the cloth and mixed with the drink. 3 The coffee also tasted very bitter. 4 Melitta Bentz invented a much better system for brewing coffee that involved using a heavy paper filter and a pot with holes punched in it. 5 When she poured the boiling water through this contraption, the paper held the coffee grounds, water drained through, and the resulting beverage was a ton better.

Which edit should be made to maintain the formal style of the paragraph?

• Change “a pot of water” to “some water” in sentence 1.

• Change “mixed” to “stirred” in sentence 2.

• Change “punched” to “placed” in sentence 4.

• Change “a ton better” to “much improved” in sentence 5.

Read the paragraph from a student’s narrative.

1 Jennifer sat in the last row, waiting for her name to be called. 2 She had heard three speeches so far, and she knew her competitors were first-rate. 3 Jennifer looked for the thousandth time at her notes. 4 She knew she didn’t need them, but it reassured her to see the words on the cards.

Which sentence should be added between sentence 2 and sentence 3 to establish the context of the paragraph?

• This was the final round of the state finals in public speaking, and Jennifer had already competed against some outstanding competitors to win her spot in the finals.

• Jennifer had been imagining this day for weeks, and she wanted nothing more than to stay calm and remember her key points when her turn came.

• The wait was practically unbearable, but Jennifer hoped to win, and to do that, she needed to study her competition

• Jennifer had plenty of experience as a speaker, but as she waited for her turn, she felt a flutter in her stomach and her hands were trembling.

Read the draft of a paragraph from a student report on the difference between dogs and wolves.

1 Even though dogs descended from wolves, the two species have some important differences. 2 One difference is that wolves are much more involved in a pack. 3 They have close pack structures and depend on the pack to hunt and raise their litters of pups. 4 Unlike wolves, animals that eat a plant-based diet are called “herbivores.” 5 Dogs, on the other hand, do not have to depend on each other to catch food or raise their young.

Which sentence should be removed because it is NOT appropriate for the purpose of this paragraph?

• sentence 2

• sentence 3

• sentence 4

• sentence 5

A student is writing a research paper focusing on how the United Nations began.

Which resource would be BEST for locating reliable information about the origin of the United Nations?

• an online essay written by a person who visited the United Nations Office at New York City

• a book of essays written by historians about the reasons the United Nations was founded

• a collection of interviews with people from different countries explaining what they think of the United Nations

• a travel guide for New York City, with a chapter about what to see and do when visiting the United Nations Office

The sentence below has a spelling error.

In the laboratory, we set up the apparatus efficiently in aproximately 10 minutes.

Which word is NOT spelled correctly?

• laboratory

• apparatus

• efficiently

• aproximately

Based on the word parts, what is the meaning of universal in the sentence?

They want to know why some stories receive universal acceptance, and others do not.

• possible

• regular

• common

• serious

Which sentence uses commas correctly?

• She was happy with the quick, satisfying results.

• The group decided to stage the old, original, play.

• They painted the old barn with a bright, red paint.

• We went to the beach and built a sturdy, sand tower.

Which sentence contains an error between the relationship of ideas?

• Coming home late, they went straight to bed.

• Walking in the door, the lights were turned on.

• Without being warned, we heard them yell, “Surprise!”

• "Hello!” he shouted, waving to us from across the street.

Which revision of the sentence BEST expresses the ideas clearly and concisely?

The first thing that we need to take care of when we meet during club time for the Spanish Club is figuring out when we will have elections and also finding out who can be available to be working at the booth for the club fair at school.

• Finding a date for elections and then also finding someone who can work at the Spanish Club booth at the club fair are both things that we need to take care of when we meet during club time.

• During the time we meet for Spanish club, our most urgent first thing that we should try to take care of is a date for elections and club fair stuff.

• A thing we may want to take care of in Spanish Club is elections and who can be on hand for the Spanish Club booth at the club fair at school when it happens

• During our Spanish Club meeting, we most urgently need to decide on a date for elections and who can work at the Spanish Club booth at the school’s club fair.