All of the following paragraphs appeared in New York Times articles; however, the sentences in most of the paragraphs have been moved around or changed in some way. Use your knowledge of proper syntax to answer the questions posed before each paragraph.
What is the best order for the sentences in this paragraph?
(1) Some psychiatrists prescribe it for this condition, often as a last resort when patients fail to respond to drugs. (2) Light therapy is typically recommended for seasonal affective disorder, the “winter blues” brought on by shorter days and limited sun. (3) Antidepressants like Prozac and Paxil are widely used to treat depression, but a much less costly alternative called bright light therapy, in which a patient sits under an artificial light for a set period of time each day, is not.
2. What is the best order for the sentences in this paragraph?
(1) On a dark afternoon, rain falling, they stand in the middle of the pasture with no thought of the shelter they could take. (2) It’s a look I see in the horses’ eyes when they know their grain is coming. (3) I realize that I’m filled, as always, with expectation. (4) They are November horses now, just the way they were June horses not so long ago.
3. We have added something that is not needed in this sentence. What word or phrase is superfluous, or unnecessary?
"In 1966, he said, he was not feeling well when a doctor told him that if he ever saw the diseased lungs of a smoker during an autopsy, he would lose any desire to smoke cigars, cigarettes, or pipes."
4. What is the best way to order the following sentences to make a paragraph?
(1) Each has one camera aimed at the right eye and another at the field of view, and both send video to monitors nearby. (2) When the video feeds are combined, the result is a recording in which red crosshairs mark the target of a child’s gaze. (3) The infants and toddlers resemble cyborgs as they waddle and crawl around the playroom with backpacks carrying wireless transmitters and cameras strapped to their heads.
5. The writer of this paragraph has used a rhetorical writing device to unify the passage. What is it?
"He thought about the single father, Darome, who raised him in dangerous neighborhoods outside Detroit. He thought about his wife, Tashia, and his three children. He thought about his career . . . . He thought of four seasons essentially wasted, the thousands of hours of rehabilitation he endured."