Spring Writing Test

I.      Correct the faulty parallel construction in the sentences below.  (2 pt. each)

1.           Yesterday I cleaned the bedroom, the living room, and baked pies.

2.           Jared hates broccoli, taking baths, and to write essays.

3.           Mrs. Jacobson stayed home to clean her house quickly, carefully, and in a complete manner.

4.           The dictionary can be used to find these: word meanings, pronunciations, correct spellings, and looking up irregular verbs.

5.           To run and weight-lifting are important physical exercises. 

6.           Katie had to go to school, her job, and run errands.

7.           This spring I plan to rake out old leaves, dead growth, plant flowers, and vegetables.

II.   Fix the following incomplete, run-on or comma splice sentences.  Some sentences may need to be split, and some may need combining.  (2 pt. each)

1.      When the baby noticed me.  He smiled and giggled.

2.      Even though the baby did not know me.  Reached out to grab my hand.

3.      The old grandmother laughed.  Her eyes shining brightly. 

4.      They quickly became friends.  Which was only natural.

5.      My friends come with me everywhere I go we like to hang out together.

6.      My writing improves if I work hard do the assignments corrections.

7.      Those in Minnesota are glad that spring has come the Narnians were also waiting for the snow to leave.

III.             Rewrite the following sentences to get rid of the passive “there is/are/will be/was, etc.” construction. (3 pt. each)

1.       There are some new books in the library.  The school bought them because there was more money in the account.

2.      Last year there were six students who wanted to be the lead in the school play.  Not all of them were good actors.

3.      Because there are many frozen pizzas in the freezer, we will have friends over after school.

4.      There is another storm coming.  We must get to the store to stock up on junk food.