CHAPTER 2 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 44 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ –BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– LearningExpress Skill Builders • CHAPTER 2 45 ANSWER KEY SENTENCE FRAGMENTS 1. I love talking to people, noticing their reactions, and sensing when they are happy or sad. 2. I love noticing people’s reactions, especially when they think I am not looking. 3. I have a special ability to be a distant observer,off to the side, where no one is looking. SENTENCE ERRORS 1. Cigarette smoking should be banned from all public areas. It is a foul and disgusting habit. 2. It should be banned altogether. Cigarettes are dangerous to both the smoker and the people near them. 3. Another reason to ban smoking is that it is dis- respectful to others. Why would anyone deliber- ately want to show such disrespect or cause anger and hostility when trying to enjoy a meal or per- formance? 4. Public areas are where people come to enjoy themselves. They do not want to be bothered with cigarette smoke. USING SEMICOLONS There are several ways to correct the sentence errors in this passage. This is one possible revision. Most people began smoking when they were teenagers; they were unaware of the long-term health consequences they faced. They were more concerned with looking grownup and trying to imitate the movie stars or television personalities they saw. As they began to realize the damage that they were inflicting on their bodies, they tried to stop, but it proved impossible for most of them. The addictive properties of nicotine were too difficult to overcome. Despite heart and lung damage they continued to light up. Unless the tobacco industry gets serious about advertising the negative consequences of cigarette smoking, more and more teenagers will pick up the habit every day. As they enter adulthood these teenagers will be facing serious future health problems. PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT ERROR 1. From where Matt and Candace lived, they could see the water. 2. The class was the largest one in the history of the school, and it was determined to be the best. 3. When a person is really anxious for an education, he/she should let nothing stop him/her. 4. Running a computer too long forces it into sleep mode. 5. Swimming across a river like this is difficult because it has such a strong current. DOUBLE NEGATIVES 1. The author’s main point throughout is that human cloning would destroy family relation- ships. 2. Physicians do not have time for mistakes in their research on this topic because human life cannot be sacrificed. 3. There were too many errors in experiments on mammals and no doctor can be sure that he will –BASIC GRAMMAR– CHAPTER 2 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 46 –BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– not create deformed humans in these experi- ments. 4. No clones will have unique identities therefore no clones will be individuals. 5. If we wait for perfect animal results then no human cloning experiments will happen any time soon. HOMONYM ERRORS 1. whether 2. principle 3. patience 4. angle 5. there 6. guerilla 7. past 8. accepted 9. through 10. it’s PROOFREADING There are several different ways to correct the sentence errors in the next two passages. Below you will find two possible rewrites. NEW YORK, NEW YORK New York City is one of my favorite cities to visit. The museums and art galleries are amazing but too big and too diverse to see all in one trip. So, I have been back many times and not just for the art. I like the restaurants; I like the department stores; I like the theater. I saw four different Broadway plays last time I was there. I also went to Shea Stadium and saw the Mets play. They lost, but it was a great game. It was very crowded, and the subway ride going back to my hotel was very interesting although not very safe. I felt very overwhelmed by the crowded platforms. The people were pushing and shoving; I was afraid I would be hurt or at the very worst mugged and robbed. All in all, the good outweighs the bad. I’ll go back to New York any time! COLLEGE VISITATIONS When visiting colleges, my parents and I traveled to five different schools, each in a different city, each a very different kind of school. We visited a very large school and we saw a very small school. We went to a big city, a small city, and a small town. We saw schools with huge libraries. Two had libraries that were almost all online. They had very few books or magazine collections at all; the magazines were all online which is a good thing because it makes it easier to read when doing research. The schools I liked best were the two smallest ones. They made my parents and me feel most welcome. I really liked the kids who took us around, and I know that fitting in wouldn’t be a problem for me. Dress was a major similarity. I also realized that the weather was good at one because it was winter, and the snow was minimal. Naturally, that ruled out the University of Buffalo! LearningExpress Skill Builders • CHAPTER 2 47 SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT PRONOUN ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT WORDS COMMONLY CONFUSED COURAGE By sentence: 1. Correct 2. Correct 3. Correct 4. lose his/her faith 5. the effects 6. Correct 7. Correct 8. Correct 9. Correct 10. Fused sentence. But this time was life threatening. Even his friends doubted his common sense. 11. Correct 12. Fused sentence. However, when they got him to shore he was unconscious. There were vital signs but they were weak; the paramedics pronounced him in great danger. 13. Correct 14. Correct 1. it’s 2. principle, their 3. complemented 4. it’s 5. too, patients 6. whether, it’s 7. passed 8. to, dessert 9. effects 10. alter 1. he/she 2. his/her 3. his 4. he/she 5. we 6. his/her 7. his/her 8. his/her 9. he/she 10. his/her 1. helps 2. has 3. has 4. were 5. has 6. has 7. was 8. has, is 9. has 10. were 11. thinks 12. fear, loves 13. plot 14. was 15. are 16. were 17. was 18. was 19. are 20. sells 21. is 22. reviews 23. graduates 24. remains 25. reports –BASIC GRAMMAR– CHAPTER 2 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 48 15. Fused sentence. Matt is16 and Nan13. She admires everything he does. 16. Comma splice and homonym error. She stayed at his bedside for three full days until he woke up. Christmas had already passed. 17. for Nan, too. 18. Comma splices. To this day everyone tries to fig- ure out who was the real hero; who had the most courage; who learned the most. 19. Correct 20. Comma splices and homonym error. Matt never ice skated again. Nan kept him as her hero. Our family regained its faith. –BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– LearningExpress Skill Builders • CHAPTER 3 49 C • H • A • P • T • E • R SUMMARY Does this sound familiar to you? You’ve just read two whole pages of text and you can’t remember a thing you’ve read. You read it again, this time determined to get it right. You stop midway; you start yet again. You give up and put the book away for later. Just like writer’s block stops you from writing, drifting away while reading can be terribly frus- trating, and it can derail an otherwise determined acade- mic career. So why is it so difficult to read effectively? Is there anything you can do about it? et’s start by defining effective reading. For most academic read- ing, whether it is a textbook (non-fiction), a novel or short story (fiction), or a piece of poetry, effective reading should mean that you can paraphrase, or put in your own words, what you have just read. You should also be able to: ■ identify the main idea ■ identify facts or details which support the main idea ■ draw inferences ■ interpret visual information ■ identify vocabulary ■ distinguish fact from opinion ■ recognize an organizational pattern READING COMPREHENSION 3 3 L L . he/she 10 . his/her 1. helps 2. has 3. has 4. were 5. has 6. has 7. was 8. has, is 9. has 10 . were 11 . thinks 12 . fear, loves 13 . plot 14 . was 15 . are 16 . were 17 . was 18 . was 19 . are 20. sells 21. . sense. 11 . Correct 12 . Fused sentence. However, when they got him to shore he was unconscious. There were vital signs but they were weak; the paramedics pronounced him in great danger. 13 . Correct 14 reports –BASIC GRAMMAR– CHAPTER 2 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 48 15 . Fused sentence. Matt is16 and Nan13. She admires everything he does. 16 . Comma splice and homonym error. She stayed at his bedside