English Skills with Readings 7th Edition by John Langan

Exercise 24

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
1 In kindergarten I experienced the fear of failure that haunts many schoolchildren. 2 My moment of panic occurred on my last day in kindergarten at Charles Foos Public School in Riverside, California. 3 My family lived in California for three years before we moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where my father was a personnel manager for Mutual of Omaha. 4 Our 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. 5 Our teacher was a pleasant-faced woman who had resumed her career after raising her own children. 6 She called off every name but mine, and I was left sitting alone in the class while everyone else left, the teacher included. 7 I sat there in absolute horror. 8 I imagined that I was the first kid in human history who had flunked things like crayons, sandbox, and sliding board. 9 Without getting the teacher's permission, I got up and walked to the bathroom and threw up into a sink. 10 Only when I ran home in tears to my mother did I get an explanation of what had happened. 11 Since 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. 12 My moment of terror and shame had been only a misunderstanding.
The numbers of the irrelevant sentences: __________ _______
2. How to Prevent Cheating
1 Instructors should take steps to prevent students from cheating on exams. 2 To begin with, instructors should stop reusing old tests. 3 A test that has been used even once is soon known on the student grapevine. 4 Students will check with their friends to find out, for example, what was on Dr. Thompson's biology final last term. 5 They may even manage to find a copy of the test itself, "accidentally" not turned in by a former student of Dr. Thompson's. 6 Instructors should also take some commonsense precautions at test time. 7 They should make students separate themselves-by at least one seat-during an exam, and they should watch the class closely. 8 The 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. 9 Last of all, instructors must make it clear to students that there will be stiff penalties for cheating. 10 One of the problems with our school systems is a lack of discipline. 11 Instructors never used to give in to students' demands or put up with bad behavior, as they do today. 12 Anyone caught cheating should immediately receive a zero for the exam. 13 A person even suspected of cheating should be forced to take an alternative exam in the instructor's office. 14 Because cheating is unfair to honest students, it should not be tolerated.
The numbers of the irrelevant sentences: __________ ______________
3. Other Uses for Cars
1 Many people who own a car manage to turn the vehicle into a trash can, a clothes closet, or a storage room. 2 People who use their cars as trash cans are easily recognized. 3 Empty snack bags, hamburger wrappers, pizza cartons, soda cans, and doughnut boxes litter the floor. 4 On the seats are old scratched CDs, blackened fruit skins, crumpled receipts, crushed cigarette packs, and used tissues. 5 At least the trash stays in the car, instead of adding to the litter on our highways. 6 Other people use a car as a clothes closet. 7 The 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. 8 Sweaty, smelly gym clothes will also find a place in the car, a fact passengers quickly discover. 9 The world would be better off if people showed more consideration of others. 10 Finally, some people use a car as a spare garage or basement. 11 In 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. 12 The trunk may also contain an extra spare tire, a dented hubcap, a gallon container of window washer fluid, and old stereo equipment. 13 If apartments offered more storage space, probably fewer people would resort to using their cars for such storage purposes. 14 All 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
1 Adults visit amusement parks for several reasons. 2 For one thing, an amusement park is a place where it is acceptable to "pig out" on junk food. 3 At the park, everyone is drinking soda and eating popcorn, ice cream, or hot dogs. 4 No one seems to be on a diet, and so buying all the junk food you can eat is a guilt-free experience. 5 Parks should provide stands where healthier food, such as salads or cold chicken, would be sold. 6 Another reason people visit amusement parks is to prove themselves. 7 They 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. 8 Going on a scary ride is a way to feel courageous and adventurous without taking much of a risk. 9 Some rides, however, can be dangerous. 10 Rides that are not properly inspected or maintained have killed people all over the country. 11 A final reason people visit amusement parks is to escape from everyday pressures. 12 When people are poised at the top of a gigantic roller coaster, they are not thinking of bills, work, or personal problems. 13 A scary ride empties the mind of all worries-except making it to the bottom alive. 14 Adults 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
1 When my friend Tom sets to work in the kitchen, disaster often results. 2 Once 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. 3 Unfortunately, the toaster was a fairly new one that I had just bought for him three weeks before, on his birthday. 4 On another occasion, he had cut up some fresh beans and put them in a pot to steam. 5 I was really looking forward to the beans, for I eat nothing but canned vegetables in my dormitory. 6 I, frankly, am not much of a cook either. 7 The 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. 8 Finally, 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. 9 In addition, the meatballs were burned on the outside but almost raw inside. 10 The tomato sauce, on the other hand, turned out well. 11 For some reason, Tom is very good at making meat and vegetable sauces. 12 Because 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: _____ _____ ______ ______ _____