Last Semester's Exam

MEDIA WRITING ONE
MSFP 160
Instructor: Nicola Winstanley
FINAL GRAMMAR EXAM DECEMBER 18th Please answer the multi-choice questions below.
Make sure you read each question and option CAREFULLY.
This exam is worth 9% of your final grade.

GOOD LUCK!!

A. PARTS OF SPEECH.
Identify the underlined words in each sentence as follows:
a. Adverb
b. Adjective
c. Verb
d. Preposition
e. Noun or pronoun

1. The black door swung open and banged against the wall.
2. Walking fast, and wearing a silk suit, James stepped into the long hallway.
3. A worried look crossed his face as he quickly entered the conference room.
4. Three colleagues were waiting for him in the room.
5. They fired accusations at him.
6. An angry look crossed his face, but he did not respond.
7. His fists were clasped tightly, and he stared straight ahead.
8. The others in the room gradually became silent.



B. PARTS OF A SENTENCE
Identify the underlined words or phrase in each sentence below as follows:
a. Complete subject
b. Prepositional Phrase
c. Conjunction
d. Verb
e. Object

9. Writers usually pursue stories in two ways.
10. Many begin with the plot in mind.
11. They start by outlining the dramatic points, and soon characters and settings begin to fill in
the empty spaces.
12. Others begin with a character; someone they’ve seen at school, on campus, in a restaurant,
or someone they know.
13. They describe the character, and create a story around them.
14. I begin with a picture, or a mental image that might even come to me in a dream.
15. I try to explore its significance.
16. I visualize the image, and allow it to create a feeling in me.
17. I sketch the image in words, and soon it includes characters and a plot.
18. The image I am examining now is of a sad little girl and a talking crow together on a drizzly day.

C. CONJUNCTIONS

19. Which of the following sentences contains subordinating conjuction(s)?

a.) i b.) ii & iii c.) ii d.) i & ii e.) iii & iv

i. Easter Island is a tiny, volcanic, barren isolated place.
ii. Statues dominate the island, but the people who built them are gone.
iii. The people are extinct because they gave their lives to create the statues.
iv. They used the resources on the island as if they would last forever.

20. Which of the following sentences contains coordinating conjunction(s)?

a.) i & ii b.) ii & iv c.) ii & iii d.) iii & iv e.) ii, iii & iv

i. Our global civilization may face a similar fate.
ii. Our resources are shrinking, and we place too high a demand on them.
iii. We erect not stone heads, but high-rises and highways.
iv. Will we notice the last tree fall, or will we continue as always?



D. PUNCTUATION
Which of the following sentences (in each group) contains correct punctuation?

21.
a. Don’t worry about grammar, keep the flow of words going.
b. Don’t worry about grammar; keep the flow of words going.
c. Don’t worry, about grammar, keep the flow of words going.
d. Don’t worry, about grammar; keep the flow of words going.

22.
a. A good way to get one’s ideas going is just to begin writing.
b. A good way to get ones idea’s going is just to begin writing.
c. A good way to get ones ideas going is just to begin writing.
d. A good way to get ones’ ideas going is just to begin writing.

23.
a. Start with whatever comes to mind, and as soon as you finish a sentence, begin another.
b. Start with whatever comes to mind and as soon as you finish a sentence begin another.
c. Start with whatever comes to mind, and as soon as you finish a sentence begin another.
d. Start with whatever comes to mind and as soon as you finish a sentence, begin another.

24.
a. “I won’t do it”! Sam yelled, at his poor, long-suffering mother.
b. “I won’t do it,” Sam yelled; at his poor long-suffering Mother.
c. “I won’t do it!” Sam yelled at his poor, long-suffering mother.
d. “I wont do it!” Sam yelled at his poor long-suffering mother.




25.
a. Mr. Smith will contact you on M.S.N.
b. Mr Smith will contact you on MSN.
c. Mr. Smith will contact you on MSN
d. Mr. Smith will contact you on MSN.




26.
a. She wrote a beautiful story about Mother Nature and sent it to her father.
b. She wrote a beautiful story about mother nature and sent it to her father.
c. She wrote a beautiful story about Mother Nature and sent it to her Father.
d. She wrote a beautiful story about mother nature and sent it to her Father.



E. VERBS: TENSE
Please indicate which of the following sentence contains a verb in the wrong tense:
27. [Mixed tense: analysis]
a. In her latest collection of short stories, Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro examined the lives of characters who have experienced some kind of jarring violence.
b. In one story, the main character remembers purposely drowning an intellectually disabled girl at summer camp.
c. In another, a woman’s children are murdered by her husband.
d. These stories are unlike what I have come to expect from Munroe.

28. [Past tense: narrative.]
a. The process of getting into the dining room was a nightmare to him.
b. Between halts and stumbles, jerks and lurches, locomotion had at times seemed impossible.
c. But at last he made it, and was seated alongside her.
d. The array of knives and forks frightens him.
[From Martin Eden, by Jack London.]



F. VERBS: AGREEMENT
In the following sentences you are given two options, where the first one is correct, please indicate “a” on your answer sheet; where the second one is correct, please indicate “b” on your answer sheet.
29. At least once a week fish and chips is/are the main dish for dinner.
30. The interior halls as well as the gallery was/were redecorated before the tourist season.
31. Each of the rooms were/was beautiful.
32. All but three of the projects has/have been completed.
33. Everybody at the Smiths’ were/was wearing a costume.

G. SENTENCE FAULTS
Please identify the sentence faults (if any) in the following sentences:
a. Correct
b. Comma splice
c. Fragment
d. Run on sentence
34. We could go to Mexico.
35. Or maybe Cuba.
36. I want to take the kids, I want to spend some time with them.
37. They would love it, I think it would be ok.
38. It would still be relaxing.
39. I wouldn’t have to spend the whole time chasing after them I think they will just play.






F. MISPLACED MODIFIERS
Please identify the following sentences on your answer sheet:
a. Correct
b. Dangling modifier
c. Misplaced modifier
40. While singing in the shower, I heard my neighbour banging on the wall.
41. To understand world affairs, a daily newspaper should be read.
42. Singing in the shower, my neighbour rang the doorbell.
43. Walking through the supermarket, the oranges looked tempting.
44. Paris is, by many visitors today, considered one of the most exciting cities in the world.
45. After writing the grammar test, the students were ecstatic to have finished.