UPrep 1 Writing Skills Practice Test 1 (30 min) Name: _________________ _______ / 21 = ________%
Rev. July 15, 2014
NOTE : All sentences in this quiz tell a story about Brian’s experience last year.
Part A: Joining Sentences (1 mark per sentence) /6
For each of the following questions:

Join the two sentences into one using the connectors in parentheses ( ).

Write one sentence for each connector, for a total of 6 sentences.

Make sure the new sentence is a full sentence.


Make sure the new sentence has a similar meaning to the original sentences.
Note: It is okay to change the order of the clauses.
1. Brian didn’t really know how to fly a plane. As a result, he struggled to land the plane when the pilot died.
(so)
(since)
2. Brian w asn’t afraid to be alone in the woods; the reason was that he had camped a lot as a small boy.
(because)
(thus)
3. Brian wasn’t an agreeable teenager; despite this, he still put the hatchet on his belt.
(although)
(but)
Part B: Correcting Sentence Errors (1 mark per sentence) /4
Each question contains a sentence error: Comma Splice, Run-On, Sentence Fragment (C-S, R-O, or S-F).

Revise each sentence to make a correct sentence.
 You don’t need to re-write the sentence.

Note: You may not just use a period (.) to correct the sentences.
1. The pilot had had a heart attack Brian knew he was in trouble.
2. Since that day in the parking lot, Brian had kept the Secret to himself, there was nobody that he could tell.
3. Leaving his house in New York with his mother on the way to visit his dad.
4. The plane crashed, and Brian realized he was in the lake, he had to get himself to shore.

Part C. Finding and Correcting Sentence Errors (2 marks per error) /8
The following paragraph contains four (4) sentence errors (C-S, R-O, or S-F).

Correct all four errors to make the sentences grammatically correct.

There are often several acceptable ways to correct the problems.

NOTE: You may not just correct these by adding only a period (.)
Brian was finally on his way to see his dad he boarded the small Cessna, but nothing could have prepared him for what was about to happen. One minute, the pilot was teaching him how to fly the plane, the next minute, he was sitting beside a dead pilot! Brian needed to land the plane or prepare for a crash. When the plane crashed; Brian found himself in water. He knew that he had to swim to the top before his lungs ran out of air. Brian, feeling exhausted, pulled himself onto dry land. He was tired, and his legs hurt. All of his dreams about spending time with his father had just come to a sudden stop. Now, all of his thoughts about staying alive and getting rescued.
Part D: Production (1 mark per sentence) /3
This term, we learned a variety of ways to combine clauses, such as
 sentence transition words
 coordinating conjunctions

 subordinating conjunctions punctuation (semi-colons, commas).
Write a personal email to a friend about the topic below. Your email must include three (3) different ways of combining clauses to make a sentence. In the email, underline three sentences for your teacher to mark.
Topic: Tell your friend about a fun activity you had this term.

UPrep 1 Practice Writing Skills Test (25 min)
Part A: Joining Sentences (1 mark per sentence)
ANSWER KEY _______ / 21
/6
Deduct 1 mark:
 for illogical sentences
 if correction makes a C-S, R-O, or S-F
 if unnecessary words are retained(e.g., "the reason was" or "in spite of")
 if incorrect sentence results (e.g., "Because the reason was that he had a plan to save Peak from jail, J flew back to NY.")
Deduct ½ mark:
 for problems with commas
 for incorrect capitalization
 if didn't follow instructions and wrote two sentences instead of 1
Deduct ¼ mark: (according to handout given to students at beginning of term)
 subject/verb agreement
 simple verb tenses (simple past, simple present)
 irregular verbs
Deduct 0 marks:
 if there are problems with punctuation spacing  just indicate to student
 if pronoun comes first and proper noun comes second. (e.g., Because he had a plan to save Peak from jail,
Josh flew back from NY.)  just indicate to student
 if unnecessary words are retained, but a correct sentence results (e.g., "Peak was only 14 years old, yet in spite of this, he was a very experienced climber.")
1. Brian didn’t really know how to fly a plane. As a result, he struggled to land the plane when the pilot died.
(so) Brian didn’t really know how to fly a plane, so he struggled…
(since) Since Brian didn’t really know how to fly a plane, he struggled …
Brian struggled to land the plane when the pilot died since he didn’t …
 2. Brian wasn’t afraid to be alone in the woods; the reason was that he had camped a lot as a small boy. 0 mark if unnecessary words are retained (e.g., "the reason was" or "in spite of") if incorrect sentence results
(e.g., ". . . woods because the reason was that he had camped. . . .")
(because) Because Brian had camped a lot as a small boy, he wasn’t …
Brian wasn’t afraid to be alone in the woods because he had …
NOTE: "the reason was that" means the same as "because", so you don't need both.
No deduction if
“he” comes first and
“Brian” comes 2nd.
Ex. He put the
(thus) Brian had been a boy scout as a small boy; thus, he wasn’t…
4. Brian wasn’t an agreeable teenager; despite this, he still put the hatchet on his belt. hatchet in his belt, although Brian wasn’t…
(although) Although Brian wasn’t an agreeable teenager, he still put…
Brian still put the hatchet on his belt (,) although he wasn’t an agreeable teenager.
(but) Brian wasn’t an agreeable teenager, but he still put…
Brian still put the hatchet on his belt, but he wasn’t an agreeable teenager.

Part B: Correcting Sentence Errors (1 mark per sentence)
Deduct ½ mark:
 if didn't follow instructions and used a period to correct sentences
 for capitalization error or comma errors
Deduct ¼ mark:
 subject/verb agreement
 simple verb tenses (simple past, simple present)
 irregular verbs
Deduct 0 marks:

If there are problems with punctuation spacing  just indicate to student
Note: There may be other acceptable corrections (but they must make sense).
1. The pilot had had a heart attack , and/so Brian knew he was in trouble.
;
; thus,
/4 before
2. Since that day in the parking lot, Brian had kept the Secret to himself, there was nobody that he could tell. himself; there himself, for himself because there (comma removed)
, and (0.5) (doesn’t show the logical connection)
; therefore, OR , so (0.5) (not really logical)
3. Leaving his house in New York with his mother on the way to visit his dad.
He left his…
(or something like  ) … visit his dad was difficult.
4. The plane crashed, and Brian realized he was in the lake, he had to get himself to shore. the lake; he had to the lake, so/but/and he had to
Part C. Finding and Correcting Sentence Errors (2 marks per error) /8
Give 1 mark each:
 for locating the error
 for fixing it.
Notes:
 If more than 4 are “corrected,” mark only first four corrections.

There may be other acceptable corrections.
Deduct 1 mark:
 if person didn’t follow directions and corrected the error with a period.
Deduct ½ mark:

 for problems with commas for incorrect capitalization
Deduct ¼ mark:
 subject/verb agreement
 simple verb tenses (simple past, simple present)
 irregular verbs
Deduct 0 marks:
 if there are problems with punctuation spacing  just indicate to student
Brian was finally on his way to see his dad , and / ; /when /so he boarded the small Cessna, but nothing could have prepared him for what was about to happen. One minute, the pilot was teaching him how to fly the plane, and/but/yet/;/; however, the next minute he was sitting beside a dead pilot! Brian needed to land the plane or prepare for a crash. When the plane crashed , (replace semi-colon a comma) Brian found himself in water. He knew that he had to swim to the top before his lungs ran out of air. Brian, feeling exhausted, pulled himself onto dry land. He was tired, and his legs hurt. All of his dreams about spending time with his father had just come to a sudden stop. Now, all of his thoughts were/are about staying alive and getting rescued.

Part D: Production (1 mark per sentence) /3
Topic: Tell your friend about a fun activity you had this term.
Check that three different ways of combining clauses is demonstrated, for example:
Compound sentence with conjunction (check punctuation) Compound sentence with semi-colon
Complex sentence with dep. clause last Complex sentence with dependent clause first w/comma
Deduct 1 mark:
 for each sentence that is not on topic
 for illogical sentences
 if sentence contains a C-S, R-O, or S-F
Deduct ½ mark:
 for problems with commas
 for incorrect capitalization
 for the second time the same sentence combining method is used
Deduct ¼ mark for errors in:
 subject/verb agreement
 simple verb tenses (simple past, simple present)
 irregular verbs
More than 3 (or more) clauses:

If a sentence has more than 3 clauses and one of them has an error, student can still get 1 mark if the other two are used correctly.