English Skills with Readings 9th Edition by John Langan, Zoe Albright

Exercise 3

2 Evaluating Paragraphs for Unity

Each of the following five paragraphs contains sentences that are off target sentences that do not support the opening point—and so the paragraphs are not unified. In the interest of paragraph unity, such sentences must be omitted.

Cross out the irrelevant sentences and write the numbers of those sentences in the spaces provided. The number of spaces will tell you the number of irrelevant sentences in each paragraph.

1. ???A Kindergarten Failure

1In kindergarten I experienced the fear of failure that haunts many schoolchildren. 2My moment of panic occurred on my last day in kindergarten at Charles Foos Public School in Riverside, California. 3My family lived in California for three years before we moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where my father was a personnel manager for Mutual of Omaha. 4Our teacher began reading a list of names of all those students who were to line up at the door in order to visit the first-grade classroom. 5Our teacher was a pleasant-faced woman who had resumed her career after raising her own children. 6She called off every name but mine, and I was left sitting alone in the class while everyone else left, the teacher included. 7I sat there in absolute horror. 8I imagined that I was the first kid in human history who had flunked things like crayons, sandbox, and sliding board. 9Without getting the teacher's permission, I got up and walked to the bathroom and threw up into a sink. 10Only when I ran home in tears to my mother did I get an explanation of what had happened. 11Since I was to go to a parochial school in the fall, I had not been taken with the other children to meet the first-grade teacher at the public school. 12My moment of terror and shame had been only a misunderstanding.

The numbers of the irrelevant sentences: __________     _______

2. ???How to Prevent Cheating

1Instructors should take steps to prevent students from cheating on exams. 2To begin with, instructors should stop reusing old tests. 3A test that has been used even once is soon known on the student grapevine. 4Students will check with their friends to find out, for example, what was on Dr. Thompson's biology final last term. 5They may even manage to find a copy of the test itself, "accidentally" not turned in by a former student of Dr. Thompson's. 6Instructors should also take some commonsense precautions at test time. 7They should make students separate themselves—by at least one seat—during an exam, and they should watch the class closely. 8The best place for the instructor to sit is in the rear of the room, so that a student is never sure if the instructor is looking at him or her. 9Last of all, instructors must make it clear to students that there will be stiff penalties for cheating. 10One of the problems with our school systems is a lack of discipline. 11Instructors never used to give in to students' demands or put up with bad behavior, as they do today. 12Anyone caught cheating should immediately receive a zero for the exam. 13A person even suspected of cheating should be forced to take an alternative exam in the instructor's office. 14Because cheating is unfair to honest students, it should not be tolerated.

The numbers of the irrelevant sentences: __________     ______________

3. ???Other Uses for Cars

1Many people who own a car manage to turn the vehicle into a trash can, a clothes closet, or a storage room. 2People who use their cars as trash cans are easily recognized. 3Empty snack bags, hamburger wrappers, pizza cartons, soda cans, and doughnut boxes litter the floor. 4On the seats are old scratched CDs, blackened fruit skins, crumpled receipts, crushed cigarette packs, and used tissues. 5At least the trash stays in the car, instead of adding to the litter on our highways. 6Other people use a car as a clothes closet. 7The car contains several pairs of shoes, pants, or shorts, along with a suit or dress that's been hanging on the car's clothes hanger for over a year. 8Sweaty, smelly gym clothes will also find a place in the car, a fact passengers quickly discover. 9The world would be better off if people showed more consideration of others. 10Finally, some people use a car as a spare garage or basement. 11In the backseats or trunks of these cars are bags of fertilizer, beach chairs, old textbooks, chainsaws, or window screens that have been there for months. 12The trunk may also contain an extra spare tire, a dented hubcap, a gallon container of window washer fluid, and old stereo equipment. 13If apartments offered more storage space, probably fewer people would resort to using their cars for such storage purposes. 14All in all, people get a lot more use out of their cars than simply the miles they travel on the road.

The numbers of the irrelevant sentences:________     __________     __________

4. ????Why Adults Visit Amusement Parks

1Adults visit amusement parks for several reasons. 2For one thing, an amusement park is a place where it is acceptable to "pig out" on junk food. 3At the park, everyone is drinking soda and eating popcorn, ice cream, or hot dogs. 4No one seems to be on a diet, and so buying all the junk food you can eat is a guilt-free experience. 5Parks should provide stands where healthier food, such as salads or cold chicken, would be sold. 6Another reason people visit amusement parks is to prove themselves. 7They want to visit the park that has the newest, scariest ride in order to say that they went on the Parachute Drop, the seven-story Elevator, the Water Chute, or the Death Slide. 8Going on a scary ride is a way to feel courageous and adventurous without taking much of a risk. 9Some rides, however, can be dangerous.10Rides that are not properly inspected or maintained have killed people all over the country. 11A final reason people visit amusement parks is to escape from everyday pressures. 12When people are poised at the top of a gigantic roller coaster, they are not thinking of bills, work, or personal problems. 13A scary ride empties the mind of all worries—except making it to the bottom alive. 14Adults at an amusement park may claim they have come for their children, but they are there for themselves as well.

The numbers of the irrelevant sentences: __________    ___________    ________

5. ????A Dangerous Cook

1When my friend Tom sets to work in the kitchen, disaster often results. 2Once he tried to make toasted cheese sandwiches for us by putting slices of cheese in the toaster along with the bread; he ruined the toaster. 3Unfortunately, the toaster was a fairly new one that I had just bought for him three weeks before, on his birthday. 4On another occasion, he had cut up some fresh beans and put them in a pot to steam. 5I was really looking forward to the beans, for I eat nothing but canned vegetables in my dormitory. 6I, frankly, am not much of a cook either. 7The water in the Teflon pan steamed away while Tom was on the telephone, and both the beans and the Teflon coating in the pan were ruined. 8Finally, another time Tom made spaghetti for us, and the noodles stuck so tightly together that we had to cut off slices with a knife and fork. 9In addition, the meatballs were burned on the outside but almost raw inside. 10The tomato sauce, on the other hand, turned out well. 11For some reason, Tom is very good at making meat and vegetable sauces. 12Because of Tom's kitchen mishaps, I never eat at his place without an Alka-Seltzer in my pocket, or without money in case we have to go out to eat.

The numbers of the irrelevant sentences: _____    _____   ______   ______    _____

Step 1 of 5

on Evaluating Paragraphs for Unity (150-153)

1.?“A Kindergarten Failure”: 3, 5