Another Grammar Pre-Test

 

Part I: Directions: Please examine sentences A-D.  Then circle the letter of the correct answers in items 1-5.  (Part I is worth 5 points.)

Sentence A:  The contributions of Richard Feynman to the twentieth century understanding of mathematical physics were enormous.

 

  1. The subject of Sentence A is

(a) contributions                            (b) Richard Feynman

 

© twentieth century                       (d) mathematical physics

 

  1. The verb or verb phrase in Sentence A is

(a) contributions                            (b) understanding

© were                                          (d) were enormous

Sentence B: As a member of the commission on the explosion of the space shuttle, Challenger, Feynman became well known to the American television audience.

  1. Which statement about Sentence B is correct?

(a)   The subject is member, the verb or verb phrase is explosion, and the subject complement is American television audience.

(b)  The subject is Feynman, the verb or verb phrase is became, and the subject complement is well known.

(c)   The subject is the space shuttle Challenger, the verb or verb phrase is explosion, and the subject complement is Feynman.

(d)  The subject is explosion, the verb or verb phrase is became well known, and there is no subject complement.

Sentence C: With a glass of ice water and a piece of rubber, Feynman showed America the reasons for the failure of the O-ring on the shuttle’s booster rocket.

  1. In Sentence C, the word America is

(a) the subject                          (b) the verb or verb phrase

(c ) an indirect object               (d) a direct object

Sentence D: Feynman’s work on the presidential commission made America aware of mismanagement and poor communication at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. Which statement about Sentence D is correct?

(a)   The subject is Feynman’s, and the verb or verb phrase is aware.

(b)  The subject is presidential commission, and the verb or verb phrase is made America aware.

(c)   The subject is work, the verb or verb phrase is made, and the direct object is mismanagement and poor communication.

(d)  The subject is work, the verb or verb phrase is made, the direct object is America, and the object complement is aware.

Part 2: Directions: Punctuate the sentences below by place a comma (,) a semicolon (;) a colon (: ) or a 0 in each blank.  The zero will indicate spots where no punctuation mark is desired.  Do not use period and capital letters.

            Munchausen syndrome _________(1) which was discovered by Dr. Richard Asher in l951 _________(2) is one of the rarest ______ (3) most mysterious disorders known to medical science.  Asher ________(4) a British psychiatrist ______(5)named the disorder after Baron Karl F. H. Munchausen _______(6) who was a well known eighteenth –century German storyteller.  People ______(7) who suffer from this condition ______(8) become extraordinary storytellers ______(9) and they spend an enormous portion of their lives in doctors’ offices and hospitals.

            Victims of Munchausen syndrome are absolutely obsessed wit inventing symptoms ______(10) and demanding treatment. The physical condition of these people ______(11) however _______(12) is completely normal ______(13) it is their psychological state that really needs repair.  Dr. Asher identified three principal categories of imagined or self-created complaints ______(14) acute abdominal pain ______(15) headaches and spells of unconsciousness ______(16) and stomach and lung problems.  Although Munchausen patients may sound very similar to hypochondriacs _______(17) they are actually quite different.  Many Munchausen patients have the almost unbelievable ability to create authentic physical symptoms such as ______(18) a high fever ______(19) bleeding from an internal organ, or swelling of the skin.  Medical experts are often completely fooled ______(20) when these patients show up at clinics and hospital emergency rooms.  Generating symptoms before a visit is not their only extraordinary skill ______(21) some people are also able to produce entirely new symptoms to confirm a particular doctor’s diagnosis.

            Because they change doctors often and continually make the rounds of hospital emergency rooms _______(22) victims are often able to escape an accurate diagnosis for many years.  If eventually confronted by a suspicious doctor or nurse ______(23) a Munchausen sufferer often will make an angry scene and disappear without getting the psychological help ______(24) that he or she needs.  Experts say that the most tragic fact about the Munchausen syndrome is simple this ______(25) Many of its victims die young after destroying their own health through the devastating effects of self-created symptoms and unnecessary surgery.