Using the process of elimination 5 ppsx

the paragraph. Choice a does not focus on con￾tradicting the misinformation; also, the phrase,

even so, appears to agree with the misconcep￾tions rather than contradict them. Choice c does

not focus on the argument; instead, it repeats

information given in the previous sentence.

Choice d, rather than supporting the main pur￾pose of the paragraph—which is to dispel myths

about racing greyhounds—actually contradicts

information in Parts 6 and 7.

2. d. The actual subject of the verb to haveis the word

number,rather than the word racers. It is a third￾person singular subject and so must agree with

the third-person singular form of the verb has.

Choice a suggests a correction that is unneces￾sary. Choices b and c suggest changes that actu￾ally cause errors.

3. c. This choice is the best because it retains the

writer’s informal, reassuring tone and because

the information in it furthers the purpose of

this paragraph—i.e., the suitability of grey￾hounds as household pets. Choice a is incorrect

because the information is not in keeping with

the topic of the paragraph; also, the tone set by

the inclusion of a precise statistic is too formal.

Choice b retains the informal tone of the selec￾tion but it provides information already given in

the first paragraph and is not suitable to the

purpose of this paragraph. The tone in choice d

is argumentative, which defeats the author’s

purpose of trying to reassure the reader.

4. b. Although choice b does include a subject and a

verb, it is a dependent clause because it begins

with the adverb when. Choices a, c, and d are all

standard sentences.

5. a. Choice a removes the redundancy of Part 3 by

taking out the word also, which repeats the

meaning of the introductory phrase in addition

to. Choice b is incorrect because the passage

only mentions one patrol, so making the word

plural would not make sense. Choice c suggests

an unnecessary correction in verb tense. Choice

d suggests a change that would imply that the

writer is talking about all fires, rather than

specifically about the arson fires that are the

subject of the passage.

6. c. Choice c gives a fact (the percentage of decrease

in arson because of the efforts of the Patrol in

the past) that supports the statement in the pre￾ceding sentence (Part 2) that the Patrol has been

effective in reducing arson in the past. This

choice also develops the ideas in the paragraph

by giving a direct justification of why an increase

in the Patrol would help the city achieve its aim

of reducing arson. Choice a does add informa￾tion that is on topic, but it fails to connect that

activity with its result. Choice b adds a factual

detail about the size of the increase in the patrol,

but it does not develop the idea in Part 2—why

the patrol has been important in fighting arson.

Choice d is off the topic of the paragraph and

the passage as a whole.

7. d. Part 2 is an incorrectly punctuated compound

sentence, a comma splice. Choice d correctly

joins the two simple sentences into a compound

one by using a semicolon in place of the comma.

Choice a creates an error in subject-verb

agreement. Choice b is incorrect because a dash

cannot join two simple sentences into a com￾pound one. Choice c turns the first phrase of the

sentence, Deciding on the hamburger steak spe￾cial, into a dangling modifier.

8. b. This question assesses the ability to recognize

the correct use of modifiers. The phrase after

tasting each of the dishes on my plateis a dangling

modifier; the sentence does not have a subject

pronoun this phrase could modify. Choice b is

correct because it supplies the missing subject

pronoun I. Choices a, c, and d are incorrect

because they let the modification error stand;

none of them provides a subject pronoun the

phrase could modify.

–THEA PRACTICE EXAM 1–

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