Sample Questions:
OPEN-ENDED: What are the most appealing elements of Transcendentalist philosophy? Refer to specific examples from Emerson and Thoreau in your responses.
CREATIVE: Write a short creative piece that SUBVERTS GENDER ROLES.
Helpful tips on usage:
1) An AXIOM is a recognized truth, so something that is AXIOMATIC is LIKE a universally accepted principle of some sort.
2) BLAZON is a verb; use it as such. Sometimes, you will see an adjective phrase of EMBLAZONED
ON . This is acceptable.
3) CAVEAT , while a “warning or caution,” is used primarily as a “condition or warning to prevent misunderstanding.” See the following: a.
The referee pointed out one CAVEAT to the directions: everyone must wear pants.
4) SCATHING is more often than not used figuratively. Someone’s criticism could be SCATHING or someone’s speech could be SCATHING. I suppose lime juice in the eye could be SCATHING, but the figurative definition is good, too!
5) TRANSIENT is BOTH an ADJECTIVE AND A NOUN. a.
Adjective – The sale at Home Depot was transient ; all of the discounts were over by midnight. b.
Noun – The transient who sometimes sleeps in our barn is looking for work. (In other words, sometimes transient is a euphemism for “homeless person” L )
6) VAPID is almost always used figuratively to describe a person or piece of media. Think “dull, lacking sharpness or force” as in “boring” or “lifeless, empty of value, annoyingly simple.” a.
“Stop trying to make fetch happen,” said the VAPID leader of the Plastics.
Good Words to know the conjugations for:
Autonomy (n) = Autonomous (adj)
Axiomatic (adj) = Axiom (n)
Scathing (adj) = Scathe (n)
Sepulchral (adj) = Sepulcher (n)
Transient (adj) = Transient (n) OR Transience (n)
GRAMMAR ERRORS:
Still seeing issues with COMMA SPLICES:
This sentence is incorrect, the comma is splicing two sentences together incorrectly.
This sentence has been corrected; the semi-colon has replaced the comma splice!
This sentence is also correct, for the comma has been replaced with a coordinating conjunction.