2 2

Writing and Language Practice

35 MIN U TES, 44 Q UE S T IO NS

Turn to Section 2 of your answer sheet to answer the questions in this section.D

DIRECTIONS

Each passage below is accompanied by a number of questions. For some questions, you
will consider how the passage might be revised to improve the expression of ideas. For
other questions, you will consider how the passage might be edited to correct errors in
sentence structure, usage, or punctuation. A passage or a question may be accompanied by
one or more graphics (such as a table or graph) that you will consider as you make revising
and editing decisions.

Some questions will direct you to an underlined portion of a passage. Other questions will
direct you to a location in a passage or ask you to think about the passage as a whole.

After reading each passage, choose the answer to each question that most effectively
improves the quality of writing in the passage or that makes the passage conform to the
conventions of standard written English. Many questions include a “NO CHANGE” option.
Choose that option if you think the best choice is to leave the relevant portion of the
passage as it is.

Questions 1-15 are based on the following passage. 1

A) NO CHANGE
Miami Time B) tribe, a Native American, people
C) tribe, a Native American people
My family is part of the Miami 1 tribe a Native
D) tribe; a Native American people
American people, with strong ties to territory in
present-day Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Growing up in
2
the Midwest, I often heard my grandmother talk about
At this point, the writer would like to provide a
“Miami time.” When she was doing something she loved, glimpse into the grandmother’s interests. Given that
whether it was 2 making freezer jam or researching all the choices are true, which one best accomplishes
this purpose?
tribal history, she refused to be
A) NO CHANGE
B) being actively involved in her pursuits,
C) things I really hope she’ll teach me one day,
D) historical research as well as domestic projects,

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 2 2
3 rushed in a hurry. “I’m on Miami time today,” she 3
would say. Conversely, if we were running late for an A) NO CHANGE
4 appointment. She would chide us by saying, “Get a B) hurried or rushed.
C) made to go faster or rushed.
move on. We’re not running on Miami time today, you
D) rushed.
know.”
5 It was a difficult concept for me to grasp. My
4
grandmother tried to explain that “Miami time” referred
A) NO CHANGE
to those 6 moments, when time seemed to slow down
B) appointment; she
or stand still. Recently, the meaning of her 7 words C) appointment and she
D) appointment, she

5
Given that all the choices are true, which one
provides the best opening to this paragraph?
A) NO CHANGE
B) I remember being late for a doctor’s appointment
one day.
C) My grandmother lived with us, and as a result she
and I became close over the years.
D) My son asks me about my grandmother, whom
he never met.

6
A) NO CHANGE
B) moments when
C) moments, as if
D) moments, because

7
A) NO CHANGE
B) spoken statements to my ears
C) expressed opinions on the matter
D) verbal remarks in conversation

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 2 2
started to sink in. One morning, my son and I 8 will 8
inadvertently slip out of the world measured in seconds, A) NO CHANGE
minutes, and hours, and into one measured by curiosity B) inadvertently slip
C) are inadvertently slipping
and sensation.
D) inadvertently slipped
[1] On a familiar trail near our house, I was pushing
Jeremy in his stroller and 9 were thinking of the day
9
ahead and the tasks I had to complete. [2] Suddenly, he
A) NO CHANGE
squealed with pure delight and pointed toward a clearing.
B) were having thoughts
[3] There, two 10 does and three fawns stood watching C) thinking
us. [4] Five pairs of ears flicked like antennae seeking a D) DELETE the underlined portion.
signal. [5] After a few moments, the deer lowered their
heads and began to eat, as if they had decided we were 10
harmless. [6] By then, my son’s face was full of wonder. A) NO CHANGE
11 B) does, and three fawns
C) does and three fawns,
D) does and, three fawns

11
For the sake of the logic and coherence of this
paragraph, Sentence 3 should be placed:
A) where it is now.
B) before Sentence 1.
C) after Sentence 1.
D) after Sentence 4.

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 2 2
We spent the rest of the morning veering from the 12
trail to investigate small snatches of life. Lizards lazing in A) NO CHANGE
the sun and quail 12 rustled through grasses surprised B) rustling
C) were rustling
us. Wild blackberries melted on our tongues. 13 For
D) DELETE the underlined portion.
example, the aroma of crushed eucalyptus leaves tingled
in our noses.
13
By the time we found our way back to the car, the
A) NO CHANGE
sun was high in the sky. We had taken three hours to
B) On the other hand, the
complete a hike we usually finished in forty-five minutes. C) Just in case, the
Yet the hike felt 14 shorter then ever. As we drove off, I D) The
remembered something else my grandmother used to say:
“Miami time passes all too quickly.” 14
A) NO CHANGE
B) more shorter then
C) the shortest than
D) shorter than

Question 15 asks about the preceding passage as a

whole.

15
Suppose the writer’s goal had been to write a brief
essay conveying a personal experience with “Miami
time.” Would this essay successfully fulfill that goal?
A) Yes, because it presents the narrator’s firsthand
experience of a morning spent in Miami time.
B) Yes, because it reveals that after a conversation
with the grandmother, the narrator decided to
live in Miami time.
C) No, because it shares the views of more than one
person with regard to the meaning of Miami
time.
D) No, because the term “Miami time” belonged to
the grandmother, not to the narrator.

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 2 2
Questions 16-30 are based on the following passage. 16
A) NO CHANGE
Faith Ringgold’s Quilting Bee B) flowers and eight
C) flowers. Eight
The artist Faith Ringgold has made a name for herself
D) flowers, eight
with her “story quilts,” lively combinations of painting,
quilting, and storytelling. Each artwork consists of a
17
painting framed by quilted squares of fabric and story A) NO CHANGE
panels. One of these artworks, The Sunflowers Quilting B) Instead, the
Bee at Arles, depicts a scene of women at work on a quilt C) Furthermore, the
in a field of towering yellow 16 flowers that eight African D) The
American women sit around the quilt that covers their
laps. Who are these people stitching among the flowers? 18
What brings them so close that their shoulders touch? A) NO CHANGE
B) of this gathering the story on two horizontal
17 Thus, the answers to these questions can be found
panels of text.
in the artwork itself. Ringgold has told 18 the story of C) on two horizontal panels the story of this
this gathering on two horizontal panels of text. One panel gathering of text.
is sewn into the piece’s top border, the other into 19 it’s D) the story on two horizontal panels of text of this
gathering.

19
A) NO CHANGE
B) its’
C) its
D) their

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 2 2
bottom border. These eight 20 women the story explains, 20
strove 21 in their various ways to support the cause of A) NO CHANGE
justice in the world. B) women, the story explains—
C) women the story explains—
In 22 reality, these women never met to piece together
D) women, the story explains,
a quilt. The scene comes out of the 23 artists imagination
as a statement of the unity of purpose that she perceives
21
in their lives. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman
The underlined phrase could be placed in all the
fought to abolish slavery and, later, 24 was active in the following locations EXCEPT:
crusade for suffrage. Newspaper journalist Ida B. Wells A) where it is now.
B) after the word support.
C) after the word cause.
D) after the word world (ending the sentence with a
period).

22
A) NO CHANGE
B) summary,
C) addition,
D) contrast,

23
A) NO CHANGE
B) artist’s imagination
C) artists’ imagination
D) artists imagination,

24
A) NO CHANGE
B) was actively engaged
C) was engaged
D) were active

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 2 2
25 courageously spoke out for social and racial justice 25
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Given that all the choices are true, which one
Establishing her own hair products 26 business, herself provides the most relevant information at this point
in the essay?
in the first decade of the twentieth century, 27 millions A) NO CHANGE
of dollars were later bequeathed by Madam C. J. Walker B) married Ferdinand Barnett, editor of the first
to charities and educational institutions. Among the Black newspaper in Chicago, the Chicago
Conservator.
C) wrote for newspapers in Memphis, New York
City, and finally, Chicago.
D) was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1862,
the eldest of eight children.

26
A) NO CHANGE
B) business belonging to her
C) business, herself,
D) business

27
A) NO CHANGE
B) Madam C. J. Walker later bequeathed millions of
dollars to charities and educational institutions.
C) charities and educational institutions later
received millions of dollars from Madam C. J.
Walker.
D) millions of dollars were later bequeathed to
charities and educational institutions by Madam
C. J. Walker.

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 2 2
schools that benefited from this 28 generosity, were those 28
that Mary McLeod Bethune opened and ran in order to A) NO CHANGE
provide a better education for Black students. And Fannie B) generosity; were
C) generosity were
Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, and Rosa Parks showed leadership
D) generosity were:
and strength during the civil rights 29 movement, it
happened in the 1950s and 1960s.
29
In the artwork, Ringgold has surrounded these women
A) NO CHANGE
with bright sunflowers. The flowers seem to celebrate the
B) movement, it took place in
women’s accomplishments and the beauty of their shared C) movement, that happened in
vision. 30 D) movement of

Question 30 asks about the preceding passage as a

whole.

30
If the writer were to delete the preceding sentence,
the essay would primarily lose:
A) an interpretation of the artwork that serves to
summarize the essay.
B) a reflection on the women depicted in the
artwork that compares them to Ringgold.
C) a description of a brushwork technique that refers
back to the essay’s opening.
D) an evaluation of Ringgold’s artistic talent that
places her in a historical context.

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 2 2
Questions 31-44 are based on the following passage. 31
A) NO CHANGE
1902: A Space Odyssey B) have allowed
C) allows
Our technologically advanced times 31 has allowed
D) was allowing
filmmakers to create spectacular science fiction films
to intrigue us with worlds beyond our experience.
32
Imagine the excitement in 32 1902 when audiences A) NO CHANGE
first saw Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon), a B) 1902, and when
groundbreaking movie produced by Georges Méliès. C) 1902, which
[1] Undaunted, Méliès honed his photographic skills to D) 1902, where
tell fantasy stories instead. [2] Méliès, a French magician,
was fascinated by the workings of the new motion picture 33
camera. [3] Specializing in stage illusions, he thought the A) NO CHANGE
B) their
camera offered potential to expand 33 its spectacular
C) his
magic productions. [4] By 1895, he was working with the
D) it’s
new invention. [5] He found 34 out, however, that the
public preferred live magic acts to filmed versions. 35
34
A) NO CHANGE
B) out, however;
C) out, however
D) out however,

35
For the sake of the logic and coherence of this
paragraph, Sentence 1 should be placed:
A) where it is now.
B) after Sentence 2.
C) after Sentence 3.
D) after Sentence 5.

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 2 2
Méliès’s magician’s eye led him to discover the basics 36
of special effects. 36 He experimented with effects such The writer is considering deleting the preceding
as speeding up and slowing down the action, reversing sentence from the essay. The sentence should NOT be
deleted because it:
it for backward movement, and superimposing images A) describes Méliès’s ability as a magician, which is
of fantastic creatures over real people. Using overhead important to understanding the essay.
pulleys and trapdoors, 37 he was able to do interesting B) begins to explain the techniques of trick
photography that Méliès eventually learned.
things.
C) creates a transition that provides a further
Aware of the popularity of Jules Verne’s science fiction connection between Méliès the magician and
novels, Méliès saw exciting possibilities in filming a space Méliès the filmmaker.
D) indicates that Méliès’s interest in learning about
odyssey. The interplanetary travel film that he created, A
trick photography existed before his interest in
Trip to the Moon, had production costs of $4,000, magic.
38 highly excessively for its time. In this film, a space
capsule 39 that is fired and thereby launched and 37
projected from a cannon lands in the eye of the Man in Given that all the choices are true, which one would
best conclude this sentence so that it illustrates
Méliès’s skill and inventiveness?
A) NO CHANGE
B) he used effects commonly seen in his stage
productions.
C) his actors could enter and leave the scene.
D) he perfected eerie film entrances and exits.

38
A) NO CHANGE
B) exceeding highly
C) high excessively
D) exceedingly high

39
A) NO CHANGE
B) fired
C) fired from and consequently projected
D) fired and thereby propelled

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 2 2
the Moon. In a strange terrain filled with hostile 40
40 creatures, the space travelers experience many A) NO CHANGE
adventures. They escape back to Earth in the capsule B) creatures, who they now realize live there,
C) creatures, whom they are encountering,
by falling off the edge of the 41 moon, landing in the
D) creatures who are found there,
occean, they bob around until a passing ship finally
rescues them.
41
Producing the film long before interplanetary
A) NO CHANGE
explorations 42 had began, Méliès could 43 arouse his
B) moon after landing
C) moon. Landing
D) moon, after landing

42
A) NO CHANGE
B) would of begun,
C) have began,
D) had begun,

43
Which of the following alternatives to the underlined
word would be LEAST acceptable?
A) whet
B) stimulate
C) awaken
D) disturb

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 2 2
audience’s curiosity with unconstrained fantasy. 44
44 People are still going to theaters to see science fiction Given that all the choices are true, which one would
films. most effectively express the writer’s viewpoint about
Méliès’s role in science fiction filmmaking?
A) NO CHANGE
B) This first space odyssey provided the genesis for a
film genre that still packs theaters.
C) Méliès made an important contribution to
filmmaking many years ago.
D) In Méliès’s production even the film crew knew a
lot about space.

Question 45 asks about the preceding passage as a

whole.

45
Suppose the writer’s goal had been to write a brief
essay highlighting the contributions a single artist can
make to a particular art form. Would this essay fulfill
that goal?
A) Yes, because the essay asserts that Méliès’s work
as a magician never would have succeeded
without the contributions of the artists in the film
industry.
B) Yes, because the essay presents Méliès as a
magician who used his talents and curiosity to
explore and excel in the film world.
C) No, because the essay focuses on the process of
making science fiction films, not on a single
artist’s work.
D) No, because the essay suggests that it took many
artists working together to create the success that
Méliès enjoyed.

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 2 2
Questions 46-60 are based on the following passage. 46
A) NO CHANGE
Nancy Drew in the Twenty-First Century B) gone out of
C) went from
I thought the Nancy Drew mystery series had 46 went
D) gone from
out of style. I was sure that girls growing up today would
have more up-to-date role models and my generation’s
47
favorite sleuth 47 would of been retired to the
A) NO CHANGE
48 library’s dusty, back rooms. I was wrong. B) would have been
Nancy Drew, the teenaged heroine of 49 heaps of C) would of
young adult mystery 50 novels, is alive and well and D) DELETE the underrlined portion.
still on the job. I know because my niece, Liana, and her
48
A) NO CHANGE
B) libraries dusty,
C) libraries dusty
D) library’s dusty

49
Which choice provides the most specific information?
A) NO CHANGE
B) a high number
C) hundreds
D) plenty

50
A) NO CHANGE
B) novels, is alive,
C) novels is alive,
D) novels is alive

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 2 2
friends were reading 51 that all summer long. By the 51
time Liana went back to 52 school and had followed A) NO CHANGE
Nancy Drew on a safari to 53 solve The Spider Sapphire B) the mysteries
C) up on that
Mystery and had explored Incan ruins for clues to The
D) it over
Secret of the Crossword Cipher. 54 With Nancy’s help,
Liana had read about different places and various cultures
52
all over the world.
A) NO CHANGE
B) school, she had
C) school, having
D) school, she

53
A) NO CHANGE
B) solve:
C) solve;
D) solve,

54
Given that all the choices are true, which one best
illustrates the variety of settings for the Nancy Drew
mysteries and also expresses Liana’s interest in these
books?
A) NO CHANGE
B) Along with Nancy, Liana had many breathtaking
adventures involving all sorts of colorful
characters.
C) With Nancy in the lead, Liana had chased
suspects from Arizona to Argentina, from
Nairobi to New York.
D) Through her exposure to Nancy, Liana learned
about many new places around the world.

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 2 2
When I was a girl in the 1960s, my friends and I loved 55
Nancy Drew. 55 We loved her loyal companions, her At this point, the writer is thinking about adding the
bravado, and 56 there was a love for her freedom to do following true statement:

what she wanted. We 57 also loved how smart she was One of a number of series that have featured the
young female detective, the Nancy Drew Mystery
and how pretty, how confident and successsful. We were Story series was begun in 1930 and now totals
173 books.
Should the writer make this addition here?
A) Yes, because it supports statements about the
longevity and popularity of this series.
B) Yes, because it helps to explain why the narrator
“loved Nancy Drew.”
C) No, because it distracts the reader from the main
focus of this paragraph.
D) No, because it fails to include relevant
information about the author of the series.

56
A) NO CHANGE
B) a love for her freedom to do what she wanted.
C) her freedom to do what she wanted.
D) the freedom to do as one wants.

57
Which of the following alternatives to the underlined
portion would be LEAST acceptable?
A) furthermore
B) therefore
C) likewise
D) DELETE the underlined portion.

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 2 2
surprised and delighted that eighteen-year-old Nancy was 58
so accomplished at so many things. She 58 was able to A) NO CHANGE
solve crimes, win golf tournaments, kick bad guys in the B) was capable of solving crimes,
C) was good at crime solving,
shins, and impress her father’s distinguished clients. She
D) solved crimes,
did it all—and without scuffing her shoes or losing her
supportive boyfriend, Ned.
59
Liana and her friends don’t seem to care that Nancy
A) NO CHANGE
is pretty or popular. They laugh mockingly I think,
B) successful they already know
at Nancy’s friend Bess, who squeals at spiders. They C) successful; they know
prefer her other girlfriend George, the judo expert and D) successful, knowing
computer whiz. They skip over the long descriptions of
outfits and fashion accessories. According to Liana, they 60
just want to get on with the story. Which choice most effectively supports the point
Perhaps I am overly optimistic, but I’d like to believe being made in the first part of this sentence?
A) NO CHANGE
that Liana’s generation doesn’t love Nancy Drew because
B) the answers to the mysteries of their lives.
she’s successful girl detective. They don’t need to be
C) a strong role model for their generation.
reminded that girls can be 59 successful they know that. D) the ability to overcome obstacles.
What these girls need and love are the stories themselves:
60 those exciting adventure tales spiced with mystery.

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 2 2
Questions 61-75 are based on the following passage. 61
A) NO CHANGE
Visiting Mars on a Budget B) When
C) From
With its distinctive red tint and its polar ice caps, the
D) Those
planet Mars has fascinated humans for thousands of
years. 61 There were ancient Babylonian astronomers
62
who associated Mars with their war god Negral, to
Given that all the choices are true, which one is
twentieth-century science fiction writers 62 whose works most relevant to the statement that follows in this
become best-sellers, this planet has often been a symbol sentence?
A) NO CHANGE
of ill will and danger.
B) with their wild imaginations about outer space,
63 The United States has competed with other
C) who penned spine-tingling stories of “little green
countries to explore space. By 2003, the National men from Mars,”
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 64 would D) who created images of Mars in literature,
of sent thirty spacecraft to the red planet,
63
Given that all the choices are true, which one best
leads from the preceding paragraph to the subject of
this paragraph?
A) NO CHANGE
B) Today, such negative associations seem to be
dissipating.
C) In 1958, the United States founded an agency to
run its space program.
D) Earth and Mars are both planets in the inner
solar system.

64
A) NO CHANGE
B) had sent
C) send
D) have sent

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 2 2
65 speculation has been prompted that a human voyage 65
may no longer be the stuff of fiction. 66 Few would deny A) NO CHANGE
that the idea of a human mission to Mars is exciting, who B) to which speculation has prompted
C) prompting speculation
is ready to pay for such an expedition?
D) which is speculation
Recent reports suggest that the cost of a human voyage
to Mars could run as high as 100 billion dollars. This is
66
a startling number, especially in light of the fact that the
A) NO CHANGE
International Space Station, the most ambitious NASA
B) Maybe a few
project 67 yet, carried a projected price tag of “only” C) Although few
17 billion dollars. In the end, NASA overspent on the D) Few, if any,
International Space Station. 68 One can only imagine
67
A) NO CHANGE
B) yet
C) yet:
D) yet—

68
The writer is considering adding the following true
information to the end of the preceding sentence
(placing a comma after the word Station):
with a final construction cost of almost 30 billion
dollars.
Should the writer make this addition?
A) Yes, because it strengthens the assertion made in
this sentence by adding explicit detail.
B) Yes, because it proves space flight will be more
affordable in the future.
C) No, because it weakens the point made in the
paragraph about the cost of human flight to Mars.
D) No, because it detracts from the essay’s focus on
the human experience in travel to Mars.

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 2 2
69 if the final price of a human voyage to Mars would be. 69
In contrast, the two Mars Rovers— 70 robotic A) NO CHANGE
spacecraft launched in 2003—carried a combined price B) what
C) how
tag of less than one billion dollars. These Rovers are
D) DELETE the underlined portion.
sophisticated pieces of technology, with the 71 capacity
and ability to examine soil and rocks. Their equipment
70
may answer questions that have long been posed about
Given that all the choices are true, which one most
the presence of water and life on Mars. effectively describes what the Mars Rovers are?
Sending machines unaccompanied by humans to Mars A) NO CHANGE
does drain some of the romance out of 72 aging or older B) which captured the imagination of the general
public—
C) the products described at length in the media—
D) familiar to many who watched the news coverage
at the time—

71
A) NO CHANGE
B) genuine capacity
C) potential capacity
D) capacity

72
A) NO CHANGE
B) old age
C) aging old
D) age-old

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 2 2
visions of space travel. 73 In other words, we need to 73
keep in mind that the right equipment can accomplish A) NO CHANGE
as much as any crew of scientists, if not more— 74 such B) For that reason alone,
C) In that time frame,
as a fraction of the cost. Before any astronaut boards a
D) Even so,
spacecraft for that distant planet, the staggering expense
of such a mission should be carefully considered. 75
74
A) NO CHANGE
B) at
C) but only
D) DELETE the underlined portion.

75
The writer is considering ending the essay with the
following statement:
With the passage of time, humans will continue
to graze in awe toward the heavenly skies as a
source of inspiration and mystery.
Should the writer add this sentence here?
A) Yes, because it captures the emotion that is the
basis for the space exploration described in the
essay.
B) Yes, because it invites the reader to reflect on the
insignificance of money in relation to the mystery
of space.
C) No, because it does not logically follow the essay’s
chronological history of people who traveled in
space.
D) No, because it strays too far from the essay’s focus
on Mars and the cost of sending humans there.

STOP
If you finish before time is called, you may check your work on this section only.
Do not turn to any other section.

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