EXERCISE W3-1

 

Identify any inferences or judgments you see in the sentences below.  Explain why you think so. 

 

a.  Eating vegetables is better for your health than eating ice cream.

 

b.  The president is a citizen of the United States.

 

c.  The Bible has been around for so long that it must be the best-selling book ever.

 

d.  Thirty-nine percent of the households in the U.S. own at least one dog, according to the Humane Society of America.

 

e.  Thirty-three percent of households in the U.S. own at least one cat, according to the Humane Society of America, so people don't like cats as much as dogs.

 

f.  There are a lot of dogs in the U.S.

 

EXERCISE W3-2

 
In the textbook, on page 61, the following passage appears:
 

Hayakawa says that judgments tend to shut down thought because they are conclusions. There's little for an audience to say after such a conclusion excpet that they agree or disagree with the judgment.  And judgments say more about he speaker or writer's state of mind than about external circumstances.  He gives as an example the statement, "She's the sweetest little girl in all the world!" The speaker and listeners might get the false impression that something has been said about the little girl, but the sentence really says much more about the speaker's attitude toward her. 

 
Write a 250- to 400-word response that describes your understanding of this passage, specifically how the quoted comment says more about the speaker's attitude than about the girl herself. 

 

EXERCISE W3-3

 

For the following sentences, please first circle the subject of the sentence, and underline the verb.  Then identify whether the sentence contains the passive voice.  If it does, rewrite it into the active voice.

 

a.  Ice cream should be consumed in small quantities.

 

b.  To be president, a person has to be a citizen of the United States.

 

c.  The Bible was for sale at the bookstore.

 

d.  Dogs are owned by 39 percent of households in the country.

 

e.  About a third of the nation’s households own at least one cat.

 

f.  Dogs are more popular than cats.

 

EXERCISE W3-4

 

Correct the following sentences to conform to AP style, if necessary.

 

a.  The 10 students waited two hours in line for concert tickets Monday.

 

b.  Other students complained that, after waiting in line for 2 hours for concert tickets, none of the     1000 tickets remained.

 

c.  The five year old boy called 911.

 

d.  The new geosciences and physics building is budgeted at 32 million dollars.

 

e.  The new geosciences and physics building will take two years to complete.

 

f.  The soccer team won with a final score of 2-1.

 

g.  The city council’s final vote was 3 in favor and 5 against.

 

h.  2015 is the tenth anniversary of the Columbia Media Center’s groundbreaking.