Weeks 10,11,12 - Assignment 1

Week 10, 11, 12: Assignment 1
Exercise 37:
Expand the following sentences by adding the modifiers called for. (You might want to review
participial phrases and relative clauses in Chapter 9.)
1. My cousin [aunt, uncle, sister, etc.] who ___________ surprised everyone at the family
reunion.
A. Add a who-clause that describes one of your relatives.
B. Add a dependent clause that explains what your relative did that was so surprising.
C. Finally, add an absolute phrase at the end of the sentence – a close-up detail.
 My spontaneous aunt and uncle who surprised everyone at the family reunion with
the news that they were selling their house and put all their savings in buying a
camper and traveling America.
2. From the window we watched the cyclists.

A. Add a series of participial phrases that tell what the cyclists were doing.
B. Now add an appositive at the end of the sentence as a comment on the whole scene.
 From the window we watched the cyclists warm up, stretch and fix their bicycles,
something that most people wouldn’t know how to do.
3. At the far end of the counter sat a trucker.

A. Add an appositive to describe the trucker.
B. Now add two prenoun modifiers to explain what sort of counter it is so that the reader
will be better able to picture the scene.
C. Add an appositive at the end that provides a close-up detail.
 At the far end of the counter sat a trucker, muscular in built, drinking coffee with the
morning sun shining through the window on him and his silver wavy hair.
4. Endless cars jammed the freeway.

A. Open this sentence with an adverbial clause or phrase that tells when.
B. Now add a series of absolute phrases that describe the cars.
 When an unexpected accident happened, endless small cars jammed the freeway,
their horns blaring and beeping combative with one another.
1
Exercise 38:
Problems of subject–verb agreement sometimes occur when modifiers follow the headword of
the subject noun phrase:
1. The statement on the income tax form about deductions for children and other dependents
was simply unreadable.
2. The type of career that many graduates are hoping to pursue pays high salaries and provide
long vacations.
3. Apparently, the use of robots in factories has been responsible for a great deal of worker
dissatisfaction.
4. The problems associated with government deregulation have been responsible for the
economic plight of several major airlines in recent years.
5. The impact of computers on our lives is comparable to the impact of the industrial revolution.
6. The amount of money and time I spend on computer games is more than I can afford.
Exercise 39:
Fill in the blanks with variations of the words shown on the chart, changing or adding
derivational affixes to change the word class. In some cases, you may think of more than one
possibility.
Noun Verb Adjective Adverb

1. Grief grieve grieving grievously
2. Variety vary various variously
3. Ability enable able ably
4. defense defend defending defensively
5. quickening quicken quickest quickly
6. pleasure please pleasant pleasantly
7. type type typical typically
8. prohibition prohibit prohibitive prohibitively
9. critic critique critical critically
10. validation validate valid validly
2
11. appreciation appreciate appreciable acceptably
12, danger endanger dangerous dangerously
13. acceptance accept acceptable acceptably
14. purity purify pure purely
15. stealth steal stolen stealthily
Exercise 40:
As you read the following sentences, pay particular attention to the italicized words; replace
them with words that are more precise.
1. The guest speaker’s powerful denunciation of our foreign policy seems inappropriate at the
awards banquet.
2. The foreman gives his orders in a suddenly manner.
3. It is usually an irrelevant to argue with radicals of any persuasion; they are unlikely to be
influenced by mere reason.
4. The basketball players seemed exhausted as they took the court for the second half.
5. The choir members were thrilled about their summer trip to Europe.
6. The members of Congress were astonished at the extent of voter cynicism towards
Washington.
Exercise 41:
Prepositions most frequently precede noun phrases, but they can precede other types of nominals
as well. Locate the prepositions in the following sentences and identify the nominals that follow
them (noun phrases, pronouns, gerunds, nominal clauses).
1. The canyon formed in a relatively short period of time. Noun phrase
2. We were interested in exploring the canyon, so we spoke to the guide about camping
overnight. Gerund phrase
3. We listed closely to what the guide told us about the trail leading into the canyon. Noun
phrase
4. We trekked fifteen miles without really knowing where we were headed. Gerund phrase
3
Exercise 42:
Edit the following passages, paying special attention to the pronoun problems.
1. Claire has always been interested in children and plans to make that as her profession when
she graduates. Both Claire and I are majoring in early childhood education.
2. As they advocated in earlier times, the goal of animal-rights activists is not just to prevent
animal cruelty but also to promote the idea that they have intrinsic value and that they have a
right to live. As a result of their efforts, the Public Health Service has revised their policy
regarding the treatment of laboratory animals.
3. When my sister Beth asked me to go to Salem with her to visit our grandmother, I had no idea
that she was sick. We were almost there before she told me that she had experienced stomach
cramps since early morning. Our grandmother took one look at her, then called the doctor, and
immediately drove her to the nearest hospital, which turned out to be a good decision. The
doctor’s findings turned out to be appendicitis.
Exercise 43:
Edit the following passages, paying particular attention to the nonstandard use of pronouns and
to those with unclear referents.
1. I recall with great pleasure the good times that we the children had at our annual family
reunions when I was young. Our cousins and us, along with some younger aunts and uncles,
played volleyball and softball until dark. They were a lot of fun.
2. Aunt Yvonne and Uncle Bob always brought enough homemade ice cream for them and
everyone else as well. There was a great rivalry, I remember, between my brother and I over
who could eat the most. Nearly everyone made a pig of himself.
3. It seems to my cousin Terry and I that the grownups were different people at those family
reunions. That may be true of family reunions everywhere.
4. The adults seemed to act like us kids. Once, in a water fight, my uncle started chasing my
brother and I with a huge bucket of water. Because he and I were faster, Uncle Bob couldn’t
catch us. When he wasn’t looking, his own kids pelted him with water balloons. That always
makes us laugh when we get together.

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Week 10, 11, 12: Assignment 1

2. From the window we watched the cyclists.

3. At the far end of the counter sat a trucker.

4. Endless cars jammed the freeway.

Noun Verb Adjective Adverb

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