Writing Lecture Two

<talk about grammar errors, and logic in writing>

Sentence Completion Questions

18 out of 67 questions on the "critical reading" section ask students to "complete the sentence." Thus over a quarter of your score (more than 35%) on this exam depends on how well you can figure out these "fill-in-the-blank" types of questions Let's look at some examples and improve our ability to answer this type of question.

Example:

Once the underdog Republican Scott Brown defeated the favored Democrat Martha Coakley for the U.S. Senate seat long held by the late Democrat Ted Kennedy, it became clear that __________ between the Republicans and Democrats would ___________.

(A) agreement ... continue

(B) conflict ... persist

(C) bipartisanship ... occur

(D) cooperation ... prevail

(E) negotiations ... be unthinkable

The key to success on these sentence completion questions are the following:

• the correct pair typically has some natural relation to each other, either as opposites or as a common matter of speech
• awkward pairs can typically be eliminated
• the context should guide you to the first word, and the context should give you clues as to what the second word should be in relation to the first

<understanding point of sentence before trying to fill in blanks>

<identifying tension between blanks before filling them in>

<dealing with words of unknown meaning by using context>

Focus on Writing Section

The writing section begins with an essay that you are given 25 minutes to write.

The remainder of the writing section is 49 multiple-choice questions to be completed in only 35 minutes (one 25-minute section and one 10-minute section).

The 49 multiple choice questions are divided as follows:

• improving sentences (25 questions)
• identifying grammar errors in sentences (18 questions)
• improving paragraphs (6 questions).

Biggest mistakes

• cramming
• scheduling test-taking too late
• not managing time
• under-emphasizing, then over-emphasizing significance of test

Homework Assignment

<read lecture>

<writing exam questions>