FYS writing test

Which is the Oxford or serial comma in the following sentence?

Excuse me, but I get a little suspicious when you go to the store and buy only a candy bar, a brown bag, and a lighter.

brown bag,

Which comma in the following passage is a comma splice:        

When students arrive at Augustana, they are greeted by an army of upper-classmen, ready to carry their belongings to their residence hall room. This is an Augustana welcome, this is an expression of our core value of community.

Augustana welcome,

What's one way to fix the comma splice in the previous question? When students arrive at Augustana, they are greeted by an army of upper-classmen, ready to carry their belongings to their residence hall room. This is an Augustana welcome, this is an expression of our core value of community.

What's a second way to fix the comma splice in the previous question? When students arrive at Augustana, they are greeted by an army of upper-classmen, ready to carry their belongings to their residence hall room. This is an Augustana welcome, this is an expression of our core value of community.

Identify the voice—active or passive—in the following sentence. 

Videos of people eating Tide PODS® were banned from YouTube for safety reasons.

passive voice

Identify the voice—active or passive—in the following sentence. 

Rob Oliver relinquished his duty as president of Augustana in 2017. 

active voice

Identify the voice—active or passive—in the following sentence.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z are considered the wealthiest couple in America.

passive voice

Identify the voice—active or passive—in the following sentence.

Ellen DeGeneres has donated millions of dollars to charities and people in need.

active voice

Why might a writer choose to use active voice?

Why might a writer choose to use passive voice?

properly punctuate the sentence.

There are fewer parking spots than there are students at Augustana certainly this must be remedied.

properly punctuate the sentence.

Nikolai asked his boss “what would you possibly do without me”

properly punctuate the sentence.

When my order ships I will sit outside in a lawn chair by the mailbox until it arrives.

properly punctuate the sentence.

Our New York City tourist guide a stylish gentleman named Stefon took us to a disturbingly bizarre nightclub.

properly punctuate the sentence.

My boss’s coat that was designed by Marc Jacobs is worth more than my car.

properly punctuate the sentence.

FYS is a class that prepares you to write college-level essays but it also encourages you to develop your own writing voice and make good writing choices.

Indicate whether the use of the colon in the following sentence is correct or incorrect. 

Socrates is sometimes credited with the following phrase: “You can catch flies with honey, but you can catch more honeys being fly.”

correct

Indicate whether the use of the colon in the following sentence is correct or incorrect. 

The dung beetle steals elephant poop and rolls it to a safe place to store eggs: therefore, it is the coolest beetle.

incorrect

Indicate whether the use of the colon in the following sentence is correct or incorrect.

The colon: my third favorite punctuation mark.

incorrect

Identify the following as a complete sentence or sentence fragment.

Haven’t done that.

sentence fragment

Identify the following as a complete sentence or sentence fragment.

Having not done that but being too immodest to admit the oversight that may have cost them dearly.

sentence fragment

Identify the following as a complete sentence or sentence fragment.

Snow covered the ground just last week.

complete sentence

Identify the following as a complete sentence or sentence fragment.

Before the spring advances too far and the geese defecate all over the bike trail.

sentence fragment

Identify the following as a complete sentence or sentence fragment.

But with last week being National Library Week and all, I’m still recovering from the festivities.

complete sentence

Identify the following as a complete sentence or sentence fragment.

It meows.

complete sentence

Indicate whether the words in bold should be in italics or quotation marks.

The episode is called Pickle Rick.

quotation marks

Indicate whether the words in bold should be in italics or quotation marks.

This episode appears in Season 3 of the show entitled Rick and Morty.

italics

Indicate whether the words in bold should be in italics or quotation marks.

Anzaldúa addresses the matter of linguistic terrorism in the chapter How to Tame a Wild Tongue.

quotation marks

Indicate whether the words in bold should be in italics or quotation marks.

Ronson’s breakthrough book was The Men Who Stare at Goats from 2004.

italics

Indicate whether the words in bold should be in italics or quotation marks.

There was an excellent piece on phosphorus runoff in the Los Angeles Times last month.

italics

Identify the unclear pronoun in the following example. 

The last time I wore a cape and onion goggles to class, I was shunned. It was uncool.

It

Rewrite the sentences from the previous question to eliminate the unclear pronoun.

The last time I wore a cape and onion goggles to class, I was shunned. It was uncool.

Identify the unclear pronoun in the following example. 

His invitation to come have a drink was shortly after he played The Flying Balalaika Brothers on the jukebox and sashayed back to the table. This prompted me to accept.

This

Rewrite the sentences from the previous question to eliminate the unclear pronoun.

His invitation to come have a drink was shortly after he played The Flying Balalaika Brothers on the jukebox and sashayed back to the table. This prompted me to accept.

Choose the best transition for the blank in the following passage. Pay attention to context and punctuation.   

They were probably the finest kickball team in Santa Fe; ______________, they’d have lost against the Arizona state champions.

however

Choose the best transition for the blank in the following passage. Pay attention to context and punctuation.   

He delighted in the ironic twists of life; ______________, he was amused when his bike was stolen by the con man he’d just bought it from.

hence

Select the correct use of the apostrophe in the following sentence.

The 1890s was way more steampunk than the decade before it.

1890s (The original is correct.)

Select the correct use of the apostrophe in the following sentence.

Every family has it's slightly weird uncle.

its

Select the correct use of the apostrophe in the following sentence.

If it’s not tattooed on our pig, I don’t think we need to know it.

it's (The original is correct.)

Select the correct use of the apostrophe in the following sentence.

Rick and Morty’s adventures together sometimes involve space and time travel.

Rick and Morty’s (The original is correct.)

Select the correct use of the apostrophe in the following sentence.

Rashida Jones’s character on The Office didn’t last as long as it should have.

Jones's and Jones' could both be correct.

Identify whether the bolded parts of the passage are a quotation or a paraphrase.

In his 1845 autobiography, former slave Frederick Douglass asserts that the institution of slavery was nearly as morally harmful to white owners as it was to black slaves. He describes his early interactions with a new mistress who had never before “had a slave under her control previously to myself” as amicable—even kind (1903).

paraphrase

Identify whether the bolded parts of the passage are a quotation or a paraphrase.

In his 1845 autobiography, former slave Frederick Douglass asserts that the institution of slavery was nearly as morally harmful to white owners as it was to black slaves. He describes his early interactions with a new mistress who had never before “had a slave under her control previously to myself” as amicable—even kind (1903).

quotation

Give one reason a writer would choose to use a quotation in a research paper.

when the language from the original text is especially vivid or expressive, when the exact wording is needed for technical accuracy, when it’s important to know exactly what the source says, when the authority of the source is important, when the source’s language is the point of your discussion.

Give one reason a writer would choose to use a paraphrase in a research paper.

Of the following thesis statements, which one would be the best for a 4-5-page essay? 

While Starbucks may be one of the most popular choices in America, Italians may see the chain as a threat to their own culture and reject it outright.

Give one reason for choosing the thesis statement you chose in the previous question.