Questions 1-6 refer to the following passage, which is a draft of an essay:
(1)I recently revisited the city which I was born in, which is a place well known for a castle built on a rock overlooking the surrounding plains, and even better known for a legendary figure who robbed the rich to give to the poor. (2)As I toured the castle and its museum, visited the town center, and roamed around old haunts, I reflected on how the buildings that people of different eras build reflect their central preoccupations.
(3)The castle was originally built in the eleventh century, and remained important for several centuries. (4)Throughout the medieval period castles and fortified houses were built. (5)The powerful landowners surveyed and dominated the surrounding lands, the source of their wealth and prestige.
(6)Once the industrial era began, castles were sidelined. (7)The merchants and factory owners built town halls, churches, factories and imposing office buildings. (7)The town center reflects this era. (8)An imposing town hall, complete with massive pillars and monumental lions, overlooks the town square. (9)The square is surrounded by equally massive blocks of shops, banks and offices, built to reflect the power of trade in the heyday of the British Empire.
(10)Most people who enter the city today never visit the castle or the old market square, they head for the two shopping malls situated at either end of the city center. (11)Here the visitor can shop to their hearts content in an environment of glass and polished chrome. (12)Modern man is no longer a warrior defending his land, or a builder of churches, or a governor of people: he is primarily a consumer. (13)The buildings our generation leaves to posterity will reflect our predominant interest – shopping.
1. The author’s approach to the topic can best be described as
A. rhetorical
B. a reminiscence
C. a specific example to illustrate a general point
D. personal narrative
E. several examples used to contradict a viewpoint
2. The sentence (or sentences) which most clearly expresses the author’s primary purpose is
A. (1)
B. (2)
C. (12)
D. (13)
E. (1) and (13)
3. Which is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence (1), (reproduced below)?
I recently revisited the city which I was born in, which is a place well known for a castle built on a rock overlooking the surrounding plains, and even better known for a legendary figure who robbed the rich to give to the poor.
A. I recently revisited the city which I was born in, which is a place
B. I recently revisited the city in which I was born in, which is
C. I recently revisited the city in which I was born, a city
D. Recently I revisited the place which I was born in, which is a city
E. Recently I revisited the city which I was born in, which is
4. The best way to rewrite the underlined parts of sentences 4 and 5 (reproduced below) in order to combine the sentences is:
Throughout the medieval period castles and fortified houses were built. The powerful landowners surveyed and dominated the surrounding lands, the source of their wealth and prestige.
A. Throughout the medieval period castles and fortified houses were built from which powerful landowners surveyed and dominated
B. Castles and fortified houses were built throughout the medieval period, from which powerful landowners surveyed and dominated
C. Castles and fortified houses were built throughout the medieval period, when powerful landowners surveyed and dominated
D. Throughout the medieval period, powerful landowners built castles and fortified houses from which to survey and dominate
E. Throughout the medieval period, powerful landowners built castles and fortified houses from which they would have surveyed and dominated
5. The change most needed in sentence 10 is
A. change or to nor
B. change “either end” to “both ends”
C. change the comma to a semicolon
D. avoid the repetition of the word “city”
E. change people to persons
6. Sentence 11 has faulty
A. pronoun usage
B. parallelism
C. verb tenses
D. diction
E. verb agreement
____________________________
- The author is mentioning this particular experience in order to make the larger point that what and how we build reflects our primary preoccupations. The answer is (C).
- The second sentence states the author’s thesis clearly (see #1). The answer is (B).
- The preposition “in” should not be at the end of the clause; it needs to be inserted before “which.” That rules out (A), (D), and (E). (B) doesn’t work because “in” appears twice; the second occurrence of “in” is redundant. By elimination, that leaves us with (C). The answer is (C).
- The answer is (D).
- As it is now, this is a comma splice. You cannot separate two independent clauses with a comma; you must use a semicolon. The answer is (C).
- “The visitor” is singular; “their” is plural. “Their” must be changed to “he or she.” This is faulty pronoun usage. The answer is (A).
source: majortests.com