Writing Skills Flashcards

Which sentence is correctly written in active voice?

Answer: Toni Morrison wrote the novel.

In active voice, the subject ('Toni Morrison') performs the action ('wrote'), making the sentence direct and clear.

A writer wants to shift from an informal to a formal tone. Which revision is best?

Answer: Change 'kids' to 'children'

Replacing informal slang or colloquialisms like 'kids' with their formal equivalents like 'children' raises the register of the writing.

Which option correctly identifies the error in: 'Each of the students must bring their own pencil.'?

Answer: Pronoun-antecedent disagreement in number

The indefinite pronoun 'each' is singular, so the pronoun should be 'his or her' rather than 'their' in strict formal usage.

Which technique best helps a writer maintain coherence across multiple paragraphs?

Answer: Using pronouns and transitional phrases to link ideas

Strategic use of pronouns and transitions creates a logical flow by connecting each paragraph's ideas to what came before.

Which revision best fixes the comma splice in: 'The results were surprising, the researchers published immediately.'?

Answer: The results were surprising; the researchers published immediately.

A semicolon correctly joins two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction, eliminating the comma splice.

Which organizational strategy is most effective for a compare-and-contrast essay about two novels?

Answer: Alternate point-by-point comparisons of the same feature in both novels

Point-by-point organization allows readers to directly compare each feature across both subjects without losing track of connections.

What does it mean when a reader says an essay 'buries the lede'?

Answer: The most important point appears too late in the text

'Burying the lede' means the central claim or most newsworthy information is hidden deep in the text rather than stated upfront.