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Grade 12 · unit review

Review: Edit Complex Sentences Without Changing Meaning

Apply control the scope of only, diagnose sentence-boundary editing, resolve number and reference, choose an audience-access edit using supplied texts and original responses.

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Bring the unit skills together

Use these 4 new cases to check your reasoning. Choices are temporary and are not saved to an account, sent to staff or recorded as school grades. Download your current review choices before leaving or reloading.

Unit review questions
1. Original excerpt A: Lea only tested the hinge; the intended contrast is testing rather than repairing it. Use excerpt A only. Which word or phrase is explicitly limited by only?
Need a hint?
  • Placement affects meaning.
  • A smoother sentence may still express the wrong scope.
2. Original excerpt B: The hinge tore, Lea stopped. Two independent clauses are joined only by a comma. Use excerpt B only. Which boundary condition is supplied?
Need a hint?
  • Because the gate closed needs a main clause.
  • More punctuation does not replace a missing clause.
3. Original excerpt C: The cards is ready; plural cards takes are in this standard construction. Use excerpt C only. Which agreement or reference condition is supplied?
Need a hint?
  • A plural subject takes the stated plural verb form.
  • A grammatically matching pronoun can still be unclear.
4. Original excerpt D: Define axle as the rod around which the wheel turns before using the unfamiliar term again. Use excerpt D only. Which edit addresses the stated problem?
Need a hint?
  • Plain wording can remain precise.
  • Dropping may can change uncertainty into certainty.

The download contains your current choices and any checked feedback. Keep the separate transfer-task work in your own document; downloading its instructions does not mark it complete.

Use the skills in a new task

Make a short complete response demonstrating the four skills in this unit. Copyedit this supplied draft: Only Jo read the note at noon. Because the room closed. The students reads it. It may help in this sample, definitely helps everyone. Write a corrected version stating that Jo read no object except the note, repair the fragment and agreement, and preserve the sample/uncertainty limit. Explain every meaning-sensitive edit. Longer writing targets in optional extensions can be completed in a later session.

Work on paper or in your own document. Explain the choices you made.

  • Use the stated intended scope and place only next to that element. Explain which alternatives the sentence excludes.
  • Locate finite verbs and independent clauses. Use punctuation or a connector that preserves their logical relationship.
  • Identify the actual subject and referent, ignoring nearby distracting nouns. Repair the specific mismatch or ambiguity.
  • Match the observed barrier to the targeted edit. Compare the revised statement’s scope and certainty with the original.
Compare with a model response

Corrected: Jo read only the note at noon because the room closed. The students read it. It may help in this sample. Only now modifies note, limiting the read object. Joining the existing because-group to the existing reading action repairs its fragment without inventing Jo's departure. Plural students takes read. Removing definitely helps everyone preserves may and this sample rather than replacing a qualified observation with a universal guarantee. The supplied awkward draft leaves the reason attached to the reading action; this is a grammatical repair, not evidence of a new event.

A different response can also meet the criteria. Compare the evidence and reasoning, rather than copying the wording.