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Here are four sets of exercises: in paragraphing, the control of sentence length, and the use of commas (two sets).
{{User:Tony1/Writing exercise box}}
===Exercise 1: paragraphing===
Here’s a fat, grey paragraph that was the lead in a FAC. It needs to be broken up into, let’s say, four manageable portions. There are a number of ways of dividing it, so we can offer only a suggested solution.
'''Your task''' is to identify three statements in the paragraph that appear to take a fresh direction. Check that each of these statements can function as a “theme”—that is, as a logical, cohesive subsidiary topic within the lead. To perform this function, each statement that you identify must be followed by extensions or enhancements of the idea that it introduces.
<div style="padding:10px; background-color:#E6E6FA">'''The Sun''' is the star at the centre of our solar system. The Earth and other matter (including other planets, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and dust) orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for more than 99% of the solar system’s mass. Energy from the Sun—in the form of sunlight, supports almost all life on Earth via photosynthesis, and, via heating from insolation—drives the Earth’s climate and weather. About 74% of the Sun’s mass is hydrogen, 25% is helium, and the rest is made up of trace quantities of heavier elements. The Sun is about 4.6 billion years old and is about halfway through its main-sequence evolution, during which nuclear fusion reactions in its core fuse hydrogen into helium. Each second, more than four million tonnes of matter are converted into energy within the Sun’s core, producing neutrinos and solar radiation. In about five billion years, the Sun will evolve into a red giant and then a white dwarf, creating a planetary nebula in the process. The Sun is a magnetically active star; it supports a strong, changing magnetic field that varies from year to year and reverses direction about every 11 years. The Sun’s magnetic field gives rise to many effects that are collectively called solar activity, including sunspots on the surface of the Sun, solar flares, and variations in the solar wind that carry material through the solar system. The effects of solar activity on Earth include auroras at moderate to high latitudes, and the disruption of radio communications and electric power. Solar activity is thought to have played a large role in the formation and evolution of the solar system, and strongly affects the structure of Earth’s outer atmosphere. Although it is the nearest star to Earth and has been intensively studied by scientists, many questions about the Sun remain unanswered; these include why its outer atmosphere has a temperature of over a million degrees K when its visible surface (the photosphere) has a temperature of just 6000 K. Current topics of scientific enquiry include the Sun’s regular cycle of sunspot activity, the physics and origin of solar flares and prominences, the magnetic interaction between the chromosphere and the corona, and the origin of the solar wind.</div>
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Perhaps you’d like a hint as to what the “theme” of each of the four new, shorter paragraphs might be?
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Including the start, the four themes of the lead might be:
*introduction;
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION A<br/>Gregorian chant is the best-known repertory of plainchant, a form of monophonic, <br/>unaccompanied sacred song, which was developed in the Catholic Church, mainly in <br/>the Frankish lands during the
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<b>HINT<br/></b>
*A good ___location for a break is about half-way through (see the <font color=crimson>red text</font> below).
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*To make it clear, you’ll probably need to restate one of these items at the start of your new sentence.
<br/><b><font color=midnightblue>Gregorian chant is the best-known repertory of plainchant, a form of monophonic, <br/>unaccompanied sacred so</font><font color=crimson>ng, which</font>
<font color=midnightblue> was developed in the Catholic Church, mainly in <br/>the Frankish lands during the
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<font color=darkgreen>SOLUTION</font></div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
the Frankish lands during the
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION B<br/>However, ardent debate ensued between political factions known as the Federalists <br/>and anti-Federalists over the balance between strengthening the nation’s <br/>government and weakening the rights of the people who just 10 years earlier had <br/> rebelled against the perceived tyranny of George III of England, particularly his <br/>unwillingness to change the taxation regime.</font>
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<b>HINT<br/></b>
*Here, again, you’ll need to tweak the grammar and repeat an item in the new sentence, <br/>preferably not straight after the previous occurrence.
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<font color=darkgreen>SOLUTION</font></div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
*We inserted "same" ("the same people") to retain the writer's emphasis.
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION C<br/>As such, the comic strip holds a unique place in British football folklore, demonstrated <br/>most clearly by the phrase “real Roy of the Rovers stuff”, which is typically used <br/>by football writers and commentators to describe displays of great skill or results <br/>that go against the odds, as a reference to the dramatic storylines that became <br/>the trademark of the comic strip.</font>
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<b>HINT<br/></b>
*This is long enough to split in several ways; our solution is just one.
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<font color=darkgreen>SOLUTION</font></div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
*Like "the same people" in the previous exercise, the key back-reference here <br/>("the phrase") is in the middle of the second sentence. This sometimes works well.
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION D<br/>Originally developed for racing cars to prevent the foaming of the engine oil <br/>by the crankshaft, which created a serious drop in oil pressure, the system <br/>circulated 12 litres of oil between the storage tank—mounted inside the <br/>right-front fender—and the engine, as opposed to the usual four or five litres <br/>that circulated in V8s with a standard oil pan and pump.</font>
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<b>HINT<br/></b>
*Bring the subject of this long sentence back to the start; and
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<font color=darkgreen>SOLUTION</font></div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
*You might consider avoiding the repetition of the subject ("the system") by using a semicolon <br/>at the same boundary, instead of a full-stop. The magic of a semicolon is that you can use <br/>"it" to refer right back to the start of the statement.
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[[Image:Hemingway's writing desk in Key West.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The writing desk of Ernest
<!--After leaving school at the age of 14, Welensky found employment with [[Rhodesia Railways]] as a fireman, while putting his physical strength to work as a boxer, becoming the professional heavyweight boxing champion of Rhodesia at 19 and holding the position until he was 21.-->
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION A</font><br/><font color=midnightblue>The Earth's atmosphere has no definite boundary, slowly becoming thinner until <br/>it fades into outer space. Three-quarters of the atmosphere's mass, however, is <br/>contained within the first 11 kilometres of the planet's surface.</font>
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<b><font color=black>HINT</font><br/></b>
*How does the second sentence grow out of the first—by:
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<font color=darkgreen>SOLUTION</font> </div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
*The second sentence just adds more information, so "however", with its commas, <br/>should be removed.</div>
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION B</font><br/><font color=midnightblue>He is the elder brother of Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher and they are <br/>well-known as squabbling siblings.</font>
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<b><font color=black>HINT</font><br/></b>
*How close are the two ideas in this sentence?
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<font color=darkgreen>SOLUTION</font> </div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
*In most contexts, announcing that they're brothers and telling us that they squabble will be too different to belong in the one sentence, particularly a short one. Inserting a comma before "and" would be better than nothing, but a semicolon instead of "and" provides a more distinct boundary between the ideas.
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION C</font><br/><font color=midnightblue>The accusations were largely directed towards senior civil servants, particularly in the <br/>Home Office, but also included officers of the diplomatic corps.</font>
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<b><font color=black>HINT</font><br/></b>
*What's the relationship between the last clause ("but also included ...") and the previous statement?
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<font color=green>SOLUTION</font> </div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
*The relationship is additive, not contrastive.
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION D<br/>The ranges of ''L. raniformis'' and ''L. castanea'' overlap with that of the Green and <br/>Golden Bell Frog, and the general body shape and coloration of the three species are similar.</font>
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<b><font color=black>HINT</font></b><br/>
*Are the two ideas close enough to be glued together like this?
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<font color=darkgreen>SOLUTION</font></div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
*Again, the two clauses are too different to be linked with a comma + ''and''.
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<font color=midnightblue>QUESTION E<br/>He formed several bands while at high school: the first, <br/>The Shadow Blasters, was short-lived, but the second, The <br/>Golden Chords, lasted longer.</font></div>
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<b><font color=black>HINT</font><br/></b>
*How are the two clauses related?
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<font color=darkgreen>SOLUTION</font></div><div class="NavContent" style="text-align:left
*Since the second clause in no way contradicts the first, comma + "and", or a semicolon will do the trick.
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The Bricker Amendment is the name applied to a series of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution considered by the United States Senate in the 1950s which would have placed restrictions on the scope and ratification of treaties and executive agreements entered into by the United States. American politics has always contained an isolationist element which was a particularly potent force in the 1930s and early 1940s, but went dormant with the American entry into World War II. After the conclusion of hostilities and the start of the Cold War with the Soviet Union actively attempting to spread Communism abroad, fears of the loss of American sovereignty to the newly created United Nations and its affiliated international organizations were spread by Frank E. Holman of the American Bar Association (ABA) and others who cited precedents of state and federal courts, notably Missouri v. Holland. They claimed these decisions showed how treaties could override the Constitution and be used by foreigners to threaten American liberties.
<!-- The pharmacological properties of the compounds prepared initially were disappointing, and Sternbach abandoned the project. (Comma or no comma?-->
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[[Category:User essays on style
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