Final Review: Revising and Editing

Read the sentence from Paragraph 4.

A true hodge-podge, lacking any real unifying story, readers of Roughing It still find the book appealing because of its descriptions of the land they love.

Which revision of the sentence is BEST?

• Readers, a true hodge-podge, still find Roughing It appealing even though it lacks any unifying story because of its descriptions of the land they love.

• A true hodge-podge, lacking any real unifying story, readers of Roughing It still find it appealing because of its descriptions of the land they love.

• A true hodge-podge, because it lacks any real unifying story, Roughing It still appeals to readers because of its descriptions of the land they love.

• A true hodge-podge, readers of Roughing It still find the book appealing, despite its lack of any real unifying story, because of its descriptions of the land they love.

Read the sentence from Paragraph 4.

Reading Roughing It is hard. A peer reviewer suggests that the writer revise the underlined word in the sentence to be more precise.

Which word BEST replaces hard in the sentence?

• challenging

• exhausting

• impossible

• futile

Read the sentence from Paragraph 3.

He also tells about having found a rich “claim," containing enough silver ore to make Twain and his partner wealthy, unfortunately, both he and his friend who were mining the ore neglected to record their claim.

How should the underlined portion of this sentence be written?

• wealthy unfortunately, both

• wealthy; unfortunately, both

• wealthy; unfortunately both

• Leave as is.

Read the sentence from Paragraph 3.

Twain cites the examples of some few people who "struck it rich" while the vast majority of miners never found a rich vein of silver.

What is the correct way to revise the underlined portion of the sentence?

• people who, "struck it rich," while

• people who "struck it rich," while

• people, who "struck it rich" while

• people, who "struck it rich," while

To BEST develop the discussion of the coyote and dog further in the essay, which organizational structure should the writer use?

• comparison and contrast

• cause and effect

• order of importance

• proposition and support

Which word from the essay is spelled incorrectly?

• chronicle

• depictions

• anecdote

• memoires

Read the sentence from Paragraph 3.

Throughout Roughing It, Twain describes miners engaged in prospecting, and panning for silver, and gold and trying to sell mines they have already established.

What is the correct way to write the underlined part of the sentence?

• prospecting, and panning for silver, and gold, and trying

• prospecting and panning for silver and gold and trying

• prospecting, and panning for silver and gold, and trying

• prospecting and, panning for silver and gold, and trying

Read the sentence from Paragraph 2.

The coyote suddenly runs faster than the dog and is gone. A peer reviewer advises the writer to revise the sentence so that it is more descriptive.

Which revision is MOST descriptive?

• The coyote quickly outpaces the dog and is gone.

• The coyote suddenly outpaces the dog, disappearing among the desert shrubs.

• The coyote runs off into the desert, leaving the dog behind.

• The coyote outpaces the dog quickly, and eventually is out of sight.

Read the thesis statement for the essay.

Roughing It chronicles the sometimes scattered memories of Mark Twain's adventures as a silver miner.

Which sentence from this essay BEST supports the thesis?

• When he arrived in New York City six years later, he was no longer Sam Clemens.

• Twain argues that the coyote only appears to be foolish and slow.

• Unlike some memoirs written by former miners, Roughing It is not the story of a person who struck it rich, but the story of a person who almost did.

• Reading Roughing It is hard.

Read the sentence below.

Mark Twain traveled across the country he later wrote about his experiences.

Which revision corrects the run-on sentence?

• Mark Twain traveled across the country, and he later wrote about his experiences.

• Mark Twain traveled, and across the country later wrote about his experiences.

• Mark Twain traveled across, and the country he later wrote it.

• No revision is necessary.