Grade: 9 Subject: ELA (Writing) Unit: Style & Clarity Lesson: 3 of 6 SAT: ExpressionOfIdeas ACT: English

Guided Practice

Learning Objectives

In this guided practice lesson, you will:

Revise each sentence for clarity and concision. Click to see the improved version.

Question 1: Revise: "In my opinion, I think that the book was very extremely boring."

Revised: "The book was boring."

Issues fixed: Redundancy (opinion/think), double intensifier (very extremely), unnecessary hedging.

Question 2: Revise: "Due to the fact that it was raining, we decided to cancel the game."

Revised: "Because it was raining, we canceled the game."

Issues fixed: Wordy phrase "due to the fact that" replaced with "because"; "decided to cancel" shortened.

Question 3: Revise: "There are many students who believe that homework should be eliminated."

Revised: "Many students believe homework should be eliminated."

Issues fixed: Removed "there are...who" expletive construction for more direct sentence.

Question 4: Revise: "He is a person who has a tendency to procrastinate."

Revised: "He tends to procrastinate." or "He procrastinates."

Issues fixed: Removed "is a person who has a tendency to" wordiness.

Question 5: Revise: "The teacher made an announcement to inform the students about the upcoming test."

Revised: "The teacher announced the upcoming test."

Issues fixed: "Made an announcement to inform" replaced with verb "announced."

Question 6: Revise: "It is important that students should study regularly on a consistent basis."

Revised: "Students should study regularly."

Issues fixed: Removed "It is important that" and "on a consistent basis" (redundant with "regularly").

Question 7: Revise: "The reason why I am late is because my car broke down."

Revised: "I am late because my car broke down."

Issues fixed: Removed "The reason why...is because" redundancy.

Question 8: Revise: "In spite of the fact that she was tired, she continued working."

Revised: "Although tired, she continued working."

Issues fixed: "In spite of the fact that" replaced with "Although."

Question 9: Revise: "At this point in time, the company is not able to hire new employees."

Revised: "Currently, the company cannot hire new employees."

Issues fixed: "At this point in time" shortened; "is not able to" replaced with "cannot."

Question 10: Revise: "Each and every student needs to submit their assignments in a timely manner before the deadline."

Revised: "Every student must submit assignments before the deadline."

Issues fixed: "Each and every" redundancy; "in a timely manner before the deadline" redundancy.