Composing Skills Test 1

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Directions:
Questions 46-56 require you to rewrite sentences in your head. Each question tells you exactly
how to begin your new sentence. Your new sentence should have the same meaning and
contain the same information as the original sentence.

Example:
The student senate debated for two hours and finally voted down the resolution.

Rewrite, beginning with

Having debated the issue for two hours, . . .

The next word or words will be

(A) the issue

(B) it

(C) the student senate

(D) a vote

46. Success in the corporation comes to those executives who do not merely
manage machines, but manage people.

Rewrite, beginning with

The executives who succeed in the corporation do not merely manage . . .

The next words will be

(A) machines and also

(B) machines; they manage
(C) machines instead of
 (D) machines, which

47. Most spiders are harmless friends of people and destroy fleas, mosquitoes, and
other insects; black widows and tarantulas are the only exceptions.

Rewrite, beginning with

Except for black widows and tarantulas, . . .

The next word or words will be

(A) spiders
(B) the destruction
(C) fleas
(D) harmless friends

48. One person may try to increase satisfaction with his or her job by seeking more
responsibility; another may compensate for dissatisfaction by devoting more time
to hobbies.

Rewrite, beginning with

Dissatisfaction with a job may lead one person . . .

The next words will be

(A) to seek more responsibility and another to

(B) who searches for more responsibility and another for
(C) on a search for more responsibility or compensation
(D) to seek more responsibility or to compensate

49. The cause was so worthy that there could be no criticism of it.

Rewrite, beginning with

There could be no criticism . . .

The next words will be

(A) since there was

(B) of the worthiness
(C) of such a worthy
(D) for the reason being

50. The environmental movement has been a force in society for over a decade and
has helped to bring about a number of important changes.

Rewrite, beginning with

A force in society for over a decade, . . .

The next words will be

(A) it has been

(B) the environmental movement
(C) a number of important changes
(D) there have been

51. The impact of fiber optics on the people of the twenty-first century may be
comparable to the impact of the dynamo on the people of the nineteenth.

Rewrite, beginning with

Fiber optics may be to the people of the twenty-first century . . .

The next words will be

(A) what the dynamo was

(B) a dramatic impact
(C) like
(D) the dynamo of
52. Pasteur's discovery of a way to identify parasite-infested silkworm eggs saved
the French silk industry.

Rewrite, beginning with

By discovering a method of identifying parasite-infested silkworm eggs, . . .

The next words will be

(A) the French silk industry was saved

(B) the saving of the French
(C) Pasteur's discovery
(D) Pasteur saved

53. Bitter memories of the Great Depression were evoked when Britain's
unemployment figure reached more than one million recently.

Rewrite, beginning with

Britain's unemployment figure reached more than one million . . .

The next words will be

(A) recently, evoking

(B) recently, evoked by
(C) recently, having evoked
(D) recently by evoking

54. The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, shows the heroine falling from great
success to misery and destitution.

Rewrite, beginning with

In Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, . . .

The next words will be

(A) it shows the heroine falling

(B) the heroine's falling is
(C) the heroine falls
(D) the heroine's fall to misery is

55. A clenched fist shows anger, and drooping shoulders indicate despondency; the
first is an example of conscious body language, while the second is unconscious.

Rewrite, beginning with

Body language may be unconscious, . . .

The next words will be

(A) that shows

(B) the first example
(C) as when
(D) and, for example, a

56. Images from the alleys and tenements of the Lower East Side of New York City
in the late nineteenth century were brought to the attention of America by the
photographs of Jacob Riis.

Rewrite, beginning with

Through his photographs, . . .

The next words will be

(A) he brought
(B) the attention
(C) Jacob Riis
 (D) the alleys

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