Revising & Editing

BellringersWeek of 11/28

Review Restrictive ClauseWhat change, if any, should be made to the

following sentence:“For quite a few years after the Civil War, many students, who wanted a good education, found it impossible to get one if they were African American.”

A. Delete the comma after Civil WarB. Delete the commas after students and

education.C. Make no change

Correct Answer: B

“For quite a few years after the Civil War, many students, who wanted a good education, found it impossible to get one if they were African American.”Remember that restrictive clauses contain information that is required for the reader to fully understand the sentence. Restrictive clauses are NOT set off by commas. In this sentence, readers must know that the students “wanted to get a good education” in order to know that “good educations” were unavailable to African Americans. Since this part of the sentence is required, it is restrictive, and you need to delete the commas.

Non-Restrictive Clause

• What change, if any, should be made to the following sentence?Although some progress toward civil rights was made during the nineteenth century, the “separate but equal” policy which was a flawed concept allowed school segregation for many years.

A. Insert comma after policy and conceptB. Delete the comma after centuryC. Make no change

Correct Answer: A

Although some progress toward civil rights was made during the nineteenth century, the “separate but equal” policy, which was a flawed concept, allowed school segregation for many years. Remember that non-restrictive clauses contain information that is not required for the reader to fully understand the sentence. Non-Restrictive clauses must be set off by commas. In this sentence, readers will understand that the writer is referring to the “separate but equal” policy with or without “…which was a flawed concept.” It is a non-restrictive clause, and it should be set off by commas.

Bellringer

• What change, if any, should be made to the following sentence?After that ruling by the Supreme Court, which did away with the “separate but equal” defense for racism, segregated schools were forced to admit African Americans.

A. Insert commas after schools and studentsB. Delete comma after Supreme CourtC. Make no change

Correct Answer:C

After that ruling by the Supreme Court, which did away with the “separate but equal” defense for racism, segregated schools were forced to admit African Americans.This is a non-restrictive clause; therefore, you do not need to make a change. The commas are correctly placed. If you were in doubt, you could have used the process of elimination. You could tell that you were dealing with a relative or non-relative clause. “C” is the only answer choice that offers the correct punctuation for either.

Passive vs. Active Voice

• Review your notes on Passive vs. Active voice.• Decide which statement is active and which is

passive.• “Homer is credited by many scholars with

writing both poems.”• “Many scholars credit Homer with writing

both poems.”

Passive vs. Active

• “Homer is credited by many scholars with writing both poems.” (PASSIVE) (THE BALL WAS THROWN BY THE DOG.)Here, the action is mentioned before the subject making it seem as if it is being done to the “scholars.”

• “Many scholars credit Homer with writing both poems.” (ACTIVE) (THE DOG THREW THE BALL.)Here, the “scholars” are mentioned before the action, making it seem more active.

Infinitives

• Review the definition of infinitives in your notes:

• Which of the following is an infinitive?a. To address (to + verb= infinitive)b. To community (community is not a verb)c. To school (school is not a verb)d. To another (another is not a verb)

Infinitives

a. To address (to + verb= infinitive)b. To community (community is not a verb)c. To school (school is not a verb)d. To another (another is not a verb)