CPW Writing Techniques & Style 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence best demonstrates the 'show, don't tell' principle?
- She was nervous before the presentation.
- Her hands trembled as she gripped the podium, sweat beading on her forehead. (Correct answer)
- The presentation made her feel anxiety.
- She experienced nervousness during the event.
Correct answer: Her hands trembled as she gripped the podium, sweat beading on her forehead.
'Show, don't tell' uses specific sensory details and actions rather than labeling emotions directly.
Question 2: What is the primary function of a topic sentence in a paragraph?
- To provide a transition to the next paragraph
- To offer supporting evidence for the thesis
- To state the paragraph's main idea and focus (Correct answer)
- To summarize the entire essay
Correct answer: To state the paragraph's main idea and focus
A topic sentence introduces and controls the central idea that the rest of the paragraph develops.
Question 3: When should a writer use the passive voice intentionally?
- To make all sentences more formal and academic
- When the agent is unknown, unimportant, or deliberately withheld (Correct answer)
- To vary sentence length throughout a document
- Whenever the subject performs an action on an object
Correct answer: When the agent is unknown, unimportant, or deliberately withheld
Passive voice is appropriate when the doer of an action is irrelevant, unknown, or strategically omitted.
Question 4: What distinguishes a 'loose' sentence from a 'periodic' sentence?
- Loose sentences are shorter; periodic sentences are longer
- Loose sentences state the main clause first; periodic sentences delay it until the end (Correct answer)
- Loose sentences use simple language; periodic sentences use complex vocabulary
- Loose sentences are informal; periodic sentences are always formal
Correct answer: Loose sentences state the main clause first; periodic sentences delay it until the end
A loose sentence front-loads its main idea, while a periodic sentence withholds the main clause for emphasis at the end.
Question 5: Which revision best eliminates the dangling modifier in 'Running through the park, the trees looked beautiful'?
- Running through the park, and the trees looked beautiful.
- Running through the park, she noticed the trees looked beautiful. (Correct answer)
- The trees, running through the park, looked beautiful.
- Through the park while running, beautiful trees were seen.
Correct answer: Running through the park, she noticed the trees looked beautiful.
The modifier 'Running through the park' must attach to the subject performing that action, which is 'she,' not 'the trees.'
Question 6: What is 'purple prose'?
- Writing that uses too little descriptive language
- Overly ornate, extravagant writing that calls attention to itself (Correct answer)
- A formal style used in legal documents
- Writing that avoids all figurative language
Correct answer: Overly ornate, extravagant writing that calls attention to itself
Purple prose refers to writing so flowery and exaggerated that it disrupts narrative flow and feels overwrought.
Question 7: Which technique creates emphasis by deliberately repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses?
- Epistrophe
- Chiasmus
- Anaphora (Correct answer)
- Asyndeton
Correct answer: Anaphora
Anaphora is the rhetorical device of repeating a word or phrase at the start of consecutive clauses, as in 'We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds.'
CPW Writing Techniques & Style 2
Which sentence best demonstrates the 'show, don't tell' principle?