Extra Practice 

The following questions provide an opportunity to practice the concepts and strategic thinking covered in this chapter. While many of the questions pertain to Effective Language Use, some touch on other concepts tested on the Writing & Language Test to ensure that your practice is test-like, with a variety of question types per passage.

    1. Questions 1-11 are based on the following passage.

    2. Long History, Short Poem: The Haiku

      Of the many forms poetry can take, triolet, ballad, ode, and epigram, to name a few, none is quite as briefly beautiful as the Japanese haiku. With a complex history and a challenging structure, the haiku is as popular as it is difficult to master. Composed of only three lines and 17 or fewer syllables, haiku have been written by some of the world’s most prominent poets.

      [1] Pre-Buddhist and early Shinto ceremonies included narrative poems called “uta,” or songs. [2] These songs were written about common activities like planting and prayer. [3] The most popular “uta” were “waka,” or songs featuring 31 syllables broken into five different lines. [4] Later, the “waka” format was distilled into the 5-7-5-7-7 syllables-per-line format that is still used and recognized today. [5] During the same time period, writers played word games. [6] The syllabic 5-7-5-7-7 structure would remain throughout the work, adhering to the guidelines used in ceremonies and royal court proceedings. [7] They would compose lines of poetry, alternating turns, until long strings of text called “renga” were created. [8] It was not until the 15th and 16th centuries that writers of “renga” broke with tradition and shortened the form, writing “hokku,” meaning “first verse.” [9] This name changed into “haiku” over time.

      Previously, hokku master Matsunaga Teitoku began teaching renga in an attempt to ignite a classical renaissance. He founded a writing school where he taught Matsuo Basho, who is now known as one of Japan’s most famous writers. Basho traveled throughout Japan writing about nature and his travels.

      It is through Basho’s many poems that haiku came to be known as being pretty tied up with nature and the seasons. Basho influenced many students of verse over the course of his lifetime and was declared the saint of the haiku in the Shinto religion.

      It was not until 1827 that hokku was renamed haiku by Masaoka Shiki. Shiki was a poet, and he most famously shrank the structure of the haiku to its current format of 5-7-5. His work helped Western writers like e. e. cummings and Ezra Pound, but haiku did not become the easily recognizable, popular type of poetry that it is today until writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac popularized it.

      These writers were taken by the brevity of the form, but it provided them a new, challenging form of expression while enabling them to share full ideas in such a short form. Both Japanese and American poets continue to use the haiku structure to create snapshots of beauty and calm.

      1. NO CHANGE
      2. Of the many forms poetry can take—triolet, ballad, ode, and epigram, to name a few—none is quite as briefly beautiful as the Japanese haiku.
      3. Of the many forms poetry can take, triolet, ballad, ode and epigram to name a few—none is quite as briefly beautiful as the Japanese haiku.
      4. Of the many forms poetry can take: triolet, ballad, ode, and epigram to name a few, none is quite as briefly beautiful as the Japanese haiku.
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. controversial
      3. brief
      4. difficult

    5. Which choice, if added here, would provide the most appropriate introduction to the topic of the paragraph?

      1. Although the format remained unknown to Americans until the 1950s, haiku dates back as early as the seventh century.
      2. The art of haiku includes specific rules about how lines are to be structured, but these rules are difficult to pin down.
      3. Despite its difficult reputation and the years it takes to master, haiku is highly entertaining.
      4. Haiku is a Japanese poetic art form and many poets enjoy the challenge of writing a poem within its rules.
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. Nobody is quite sure when it became known as “haiku.”
      3. These days, we know this word as “haiku.”
      4. DELETE the underlined portion.

    7. To make this paragraph most logical, sentence 7 should be placed

      1. where it is now.
      2. after sentence 1.
      3. after sentence 5.
      4. after sentence 8.
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. However,
      3. In the next century,
      4. As a result,
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. haiku transformed into a mode of artistic expression that was irreversibly intertwined with the themes of
      3. haiku became popular because it was seen as having something to do with
      4. haiku developed its common association with

    10. Which choice, if added here, would provide the most relevant detail?

      1. However, haiku can be used to communicate many other ideas as well, from love to humor.
      2. His words emphasized contentment and solitary contemplation, ideals linked to Japanese religions.
      3. Basho’s poetic influence continues to be felt even now in the work of several modern poets.
      4. For example, a Basho haiku might focus on a frog or on the coming of spring.
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. Shiki was a poet who also shrank the structure of the haiku to the current 5-7-5 format.
      3. Shiki was the poet who shrank the structure of the haiku to its current 5-7-5 format.
      4. Shiki was the poet who was also known for shrinking the structure of the haiku to its current format of 5-7-5.
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. inspired
      3. aided
      4. started
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. the brevity of the form, it
      3. the brevity of the form, and it
      4. the brevity of the form, as it

    1. Questions 12-22 are based on the following passage and supplementary material.

    2. Tesla Lights Up the World

      [1] Nikola Tesla, born in 1856, was an Austrian electrical engineer who worked for a telegraph company in Budapest before immigrating to the United States to join Thomas Edison’s company in New York. [2] The two engineers did not work well together, and Tesla moved on to work with George Westinghouse, another engineer and inventor, at the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company in 1885. [3] During his time there, Tesla invented the alternating current system, what we know in our homes as AC power. [4] Several years later, Tesla made the first successful wireless energy transfer. [5] Reportedly, Tesla slept little and often occupied himself with games, such as chess and billiards.

      [1] The Westinghouse Electric Company was quick to put Tesla’s invention to work. [2] They implemented the use of alternating current during the World Colombian Exposition in 1897, with fantastic results. [3] It was more efficient than Edison’s earlier energy transfer system, the direct current (DC) system, as well as more effective. [4] Edison knew that the DC system was difficult to transmit over long distances. [5] He didn’t, however, believe that Tesla’s AC system was a credible threat to the dominance he and his company held over the electrical market of the time because of his invention of the light bulb. [6] But it is Tesla’s system that moves power from a main grid across long distances.

      [1] Tesla went on to develop the technology that is now used in X-rays, as well as radio and remote controls. [2] Some of his inventions even worked together, expanding his influence on the world and history. [3] Tesla paired his AC system with his understanding of physics to invent an electric motor. [4] Developing the AC system was only the beginning for Tesla, though. [5] To do so, he used his knowledge of magnetism to create a closed system in which a motor could turn without disruption or the use of manpower. [6] The motor generated a stable current that had been lacking in earlier attempts to transition industry to AC power. [7] With Tesla’s motor, though, AC power systems could be broadly used in manufacturing and beyond.

      [1] Tesla’s inventions are not only a part of our daily lives, they continue to be expanded upon to create new advances in science and technology. [2] Tesla’s approach to energy transmission, as well as his invention of the radio, including antenna and other recognizable aspects, has allowed leaps and bounds to be made in wireless communications, such as radio broadcasting. [3] Edison may have invented the lightbulb, but Tesla was an inventor bent on bringing electricity to the people, seeking no fame or fortune. [4] The reach of his technology goes even as far as the mobile phone. [5] Although long gone, Tesla remains a pathfinder on the edge of miraculous invention.

      1. NO CHANGE
      2. Tesla, while there, invented the AC power system we know in our homes, more formally called the alternating current system.
      3. Tesla invented the alternating current system during his time there, also known in our homes as AC power.
      4. When he worked there, the alternating current system, or what we know in our homes as AC power, was invented by him.

    4. Which sentence should be removed in order to improve the focus of this paragraph?

      1. Sentence 1
      2. Sentence 2
      3. Sentence 4
      4. Sentence 5
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. encouraged
      3. invoked
      4. developed

    6. Which choice completes the sentence with accurate data based on the timeline at the end of the passage?

      1. NO CHANGE
      2. 1882,
      3. 1890,
      4. 1893,

    7. Which choice most effectively conveys the central idea of the paragraph?

      1. NO CHANGE
      2. However, bulbs alone do not light our homes; it is Tesla’s system that moves power from one grid across long distances to the fixtures we use every day.
      3. Later, Tesla developed a system that allows us to use light bulbs every day.
      4. We now use Edison’s bulbs every day; we can thank Tesla for inventing the system that moves power from one grid across distances to those fixtures.

    8. Which sentence provides the best transition from the previous paragraph if placed before sentence 1?

      1. Sentence 2
      2. Sentence 4
      3. Sentence 6
      4. Sentence 7

    9. Based on the timeline, “In 1883,” would be most appropriately added to the beginning of which of the following sentences?

      1. Paragraph 1, sentence 2
      2. Paragraph 2, sentence 1
      3. Paragraph 3, sentence 3
      4. Paragraph 4, sentence 3

    10. Which of the following provides the most concise revision without altering the writer’s intended meaning?

      1. to necessitate
      2. to be developed into
      3. to inspire scientists to make
      4. to lead to

    11. Which supporting detail is least essential to sentence 2?

      1. That Tesla invented the radio
      2. That Tesla’s invention of the radio included the “antenna and other recognizable aspects”
      3. That Tesla’s invention of the radio allowed further innovation in wireless communications
      4. That radio broadcasting is a kind of wireless communication
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. but Tesla, seeking no fame or fortune, was an inventor bent on bringing electricity to the people.
      3. but seeking no fame or fortune, Tesla was an inventor bent on bringing electricity to the people.
      4. but Tesla was an inventor bent on seeking no fame or fortune, bringing electricity to the people.
      1. NO CHANGE
      2. an explorer
      3. a champion
      4. a pioneer