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ANSWER KEY
FOR
EXERCISE BOOKLET
Cy Strom
Harold Nelson
Quick Access
Reference for Writers
Fourth Canadian Edition
Lynn Quitman Troyka
Douglas Hesse
with the assistance of Cy Strom
Toronto
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education Canada, a division of Pearson Canada Inc., Toronto, Ontario. Pearson
Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. This work is protected by Canadian copyright laws and is provided solely
for the use of instructors in teaching their courses and assessing student learning. Dissemination or sale of
any part of this work (including on the internet) will destroy the integrity of the work and is not permitted.
The copyright holder grants permission to instructors who have adopted Simon & Schuster Quick Access
Reference for Writers, Fourth Canadian Edition, by Lynn Quitman Troyka and Douglas Hesse, to post this
material online only if the use of the website is restricted by access codes to students in the instructor’s
class that is using the textbook and provided the reproduced material bears this copyright notice.
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Answer Key for Exercise Booklet, Quick Access Reference for Writers, 4/C/e 2
Answers to Numbered Exercises
Note: This Answer Key contains the answer to the numbered parts of each exercise in the
Exercise Booklet. Answers to the lettered parts appear in an answer key at the back of the
booklet itself.
41b—Identifying Pronouns
1. Mercury is a silvery-white metallic element; it is poisonous.
2. Although it is a metal, mercury is liquid at room temperatures.
3. Mercury’s melting point is about -39°C; it turns to liquid at that temperature.
4. Mercury is also called quicksilver.
5. While they were working with it in the laboratory, Heather and Samita handled the
mercury very carefully.
6. Because the planet Mercury is so close to the sun, it is very hot.
7. It is named after Mercury, who was the fleet-footed messenger of the Roman gods.
8. Mercury, which goes around the sun in eighty-eight days, has the shortest orbit of all
the planets in the solar system.
9. We can occasionally see Mercury as a morning or an evening star.
10. This is a planet scheduled for a visit by a Japanese-European space probe in 2020.
41j—Subjects and Predicates
Subject Verb
1. Two residents of the dormitory were up on the roof.
2. They had climbed a tree, and they had hoisted themselves onto a gargoyle.
3. Weeks of planning had led to their escapade.
4. Janis and Ravi saw them in the moonlight.
5. Ravi e-mailed his brother about it the next day.
6. The dog chased the cat.
7. My neighbour owns both animals.
8. He normally keeps them apart.
9. Unfortunately, he forgot to shut the door to the house.
10. The dog and the cat ran into the house and knocked over two lamps.
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42a—Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Transitive Intransitive
1. Christopher Marlowe wrote the sixteenth-century English play Doctor Faustus.
2. In Goethe’s Faust, Mephistopheles tempts Faust.
3. Faust sells his soul to the powers of darkness.
4. Charles Gounod’s opera Faust is about the same story.
5. Gounod wrote his opera in 1859.
6. Judge Emily Murphy worked for women’s rights.
7. She was a campaigner for full political rights for women.
8. In 1929, she won the right for women’s membership in the Senate.
9. The “Persons Case” is the name of Murphy’s challenge to the Constitution.
10. She died in Edmonton in 1933.
42b—Regular and Irregular Verbs
1. Concita has worn a toque to school ever since Halloween.
2. She swore to dress warmly this winter.
3. I asked what led her to choose a toque and not a fur hat with earmuffs.
4. In reply, she asked where she could have found a fur hat with the logo of the
Edmonton Oilers on it.
5. Correct.
6. He swore to get the latest Apple product before Jade got one.
7. Ron’s uncle should have known that it’s not just a toy.
8. Ron saw a demonstration of the device’s remarkable processing power.
9. He has even written a paper on the productivity possibilities of media-rich platforms.
10. Writing the paper earned Ron an A and began his campaign to impress his rich uncle.
42b–c—Main and Auxiliary Verbs
Main Auxiliary
1. In a democracy, power is vested in the people.
2. People in a very tiny democracy might rule directly.
3. More commonly, people in a democracy will elect representatives.
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Answer Key for Exercise Booklet, Quick Access Reference for Writers, 4/C/e 4
4. These representatives can rule for the people.
5. Some countries, including Canada, have combined democracy with monarchy.
6. Does monarchy contradict the principle of democracy?
7. Our queen or king is never elected.
8. There is little support here for the abolition of the monarchy, however.
9. This contrasts with the situation in Australia.
10. Since the 1950s, our elected prime minister has chosen a Canadian citizen as the
monarch’s representative.
42b, 42d—Irregular Verbs Including lie and lay
1. I awoke feeling refreshed.
2. Correct.
3. Had you begun to do the experiment?
4. Sarah had already taken two years of chemistry before switching majors.
5. We ran out of sugar, so we could bake only three dozen donuts.
6. The left winger blew by the defence and put a shot right on net.
7. Correct.
8. Have you laid the books on your desk?
9. I am lying down to rest.
10. Given the weather report, we should have worn our snowshoes.
42e—Verb Tenses
1. They will have sung.
2. They will be singing.
3. They will have been singing.
4. They will sing.
5. They sang.
6. We have sat.
7. We are sitting.
8. We have been sitting.
9. We had been sitting.
10. We sat.
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42e–g—Verb Tense, Mood, and Voice
1. The planet Neptune was discovered in 1846.
2. Before Neptune’s discovery, astronomers observed that the planet Uranus sometimes
sped up and sometimes slowed down as it orbited the sun,
3. The astronomers theorized that the gravitational pull of another planet caused this
uneven movement.
4. Astronomers confirmed this theory by sighting Neptune.
5. Correct.
6. Dr. Chang would have moved to a small town if she had found a good teaching
hospital there.
7. She will have helped many people recover by the time she retires.
8. If Dr. Chang were not going to retire next year, I would ask her to be my family
physician.
9. I suggest that Leon find himself a family doctor soon.
10. Unless he stops visiting the emergency ward for minor medical problems, he will
drain resources from the health care system.
43—Singular and Plural Subjects
Singular Plural
1. Economics was dominated by the doctrine of mercantilism for several hundred years
after the decline of feudalism.
2. A nation’s wealth, in this doctrine, was based mainly on the amount of gold and silver
in the nation’s treasury.
3. Accumulating gold and silver bullion, establishing colonies, developing a strong
merchant marine, and encouraging mining and industry were all approaches nations
used to develop favourable balances of trade.
4. All mercantilist countries of the Western world shared a common goal: to achieve a
surplus of exports over imports in order to build the national wealth.
5. This doctrine encouraged European countries to develop colonial holdings in Asia,
Africa, North America, and South America.
6. Hydrogen, the lightest of all the chemical elements, normally has as its atom one
electron in orbit around one proton.
7. A star, as well as a hydrogen bomb, produces a fusion reaction that transforms
hydrogen atoms into helium atoms.
8. This fusion releases huge amounts of energy.
9. On earth, hydrogen is usually found as a gas.
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Answer Key for Exercise Booklet, Quick Access Reference for Writers, 4/C/e 6
10. No other element in the universe is as abundant as hydrogen.
43—Subject–Verb Agreement
1. Chief among his good qualities is his sense of humour.
2. Correct. (The baseball team are is also correct.)
3. One of the issues we covered is racial discrimination.
4. Liver and onions is not one of my favourite foods.
5. Seventy-five dollars was all I had in my savings account.
6. Françoise, as well as her two karate instructors, is very disciplined.
7. Neither Françoise nor her instructors have ever had to visit the campus first aid
centre.
8. Each of the instructors has a black belt.
9. At least 640 megabytes of RAM is needed to perform those functions.
10. Correct.
44a–i—Pronoun–Antecedent Agreement and Pronoun Reference
1. I waited at the bus stop until the bus came.
2. When people take into account the health implications, frequent hand washing makes
sense.
3. Was it the Canadian short story writer Mavis Gallant who wrote a book about the
French student revolt of May 1968?
4. Correct.
5. Every dog and cat in the vet’s waiting room cowered nervously at its owner’s feet.
6. Correct. (Also correct, but awkward sounding, is for its honeymoon.)
7. The applicants filled out their own forms and paid their fees.
8. Anyone who wants to can open his or her presents on Christmas Eve.
9. The audience settled into their seats as the curtain rose.
10. Every member of the audience was happy.
44j–s—Pronoun Case
1. She and he tried the new vegetarian burrito place.
2. Burgers no longer appeal to her and me.
3. She and I were happy to discover a new falafel vendor on campus. .
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4. Our professor expects him and me to win the scholarships.
5. I’m sure that I will be one of the winners. (I’m sure that one of the winners will be I is
correct but awkward.)
6. The instructors themselves are celebrating their students’ success.
7. Whoever gave you that information was wrong.
8. Correct.
9. To whom should I speak about admission to law school?
10. Lawrence showed his paintings to my sister and me.
45—Adjectives
1. Members of the winning team are usually happier than members of the losing team.
2. Unblanched celery is greener than blanched celery.
3. We bought the most expensive meal at the restaurant.
4. Lana’s laptop is fast.
5. Lana’s laptop is faster than Ulla’s laptop.
6. Lana’s laptop is the fastest laptop in the entire class.
7. Lana’s expensive laptop runs beautifully.
8. You look well.
9. You write well.
10. He looked in alarm at the phone’s fading screen.
45—Adverbs
1. Mary’s performance in the basketball game was truly memorable.
2. She ran more rapidly than the other centre.
3. She also jumped higher than the other centre.
4. Mary played memorably.
5. Mary played well.
6. The family room is the most frequently used room in our house.
7. Clearly, the basement is underutilized.
8. Today, the family room was insufferably hot.
9. The thermostat apparently was broken.
10. The service technician is currently working on the thermostat.
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45b–e—Using Adjectives and Adverbs
1. Beth is the happiest runner on the team.
2. Beth ran rapidly.
3. She ran well.
4. Beth took fewer drinks of water during the race than the other athletes.
5. Correct.
6. She won the race because the other runners didn’t have any finishing kick.
7. The trophy she won looks good in her room.
8. Even when she was in grade school, Beth was the swiftest person in her class.
9. She was swifter than her brother.
10. She was the swiftest runner in grade six.
46—Sentence Fragments (Possible answers)
1. A big dark ring of sesame-covered Turkish bread is called simit.
2. Correct.
3. A dozen words for peat exist in the Irish language.
4. The Irish language was revived after Ireland became an independent republic.
5. Politicians in Ireland are expected, in certain circumstances, to speak at least a few
words of Irish.
6. In the late 1970s, Scott Olson designed improvements for in-line skates.
7. In-line skates and skateboards have since then become extremely popular.
8. Joni Mitchell, a self-taught musician, appears on many lists of the most creative
guitar stylists.
9. In the early seventeenth century, Henry Hudson explored Hudson Bay.
10. In computer science, a bit—a blend of b(inary) and (dig)it—is the smallest unit of
information.
47—Comma Splices and Fused Sentences (Possible answers)
1. Some people frown on gambling, but many phrases in English originally were
associated with gambling.
2. We refer to taking responsibility when we say “The buck stops here”; the phrase was
originally used in poker games in the 1800s.
3. When the dealer in the game passed a knife with a handle made of buck horn to
another player, that person became the new dealer.
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Answer Key for Exercise Booklet, Quick Access Reference for Writers, 4/C/e 9
4. Passing the buck had a literal origin: It meant passing the knife (and the deal).
5. White, red, and blue chips are used for betting in poker, with blue chips being the
most valuable; similarly, blue-chip stocks on the stock market are normally the most
stable, secure, and valuable.
6. Bridge can be played for money, but it is such a complex game that some people play
it mostly to show off their skill.
7. Bridge players count their winnings in points. Poker players, however, usually count
theirs in chips or in cash.
8. Although many students are introduced to bridge in university, not all continue to
play it after they graduate.
9. Like poker, bridge is a game that leaves an important place for deceit, but bluffing in
bridge is different from bluffing in poker.
10. A poker player’s unreadable poker face misleads opponents in betting; this tactic
differs from a bridge player’s strategy of fooling opponents into playing the wrong
cards.
48—Problems with Sentence Shifts (Possible answers)
1. Private citizens may legally make an arrest if they have observed a crime or have
reasonable cause to believe a crime has been committed.
2. The more a person studies a foreign language, the better that person should expect to
speak it.
3. Many students expect to find jobs in their major fields eventually, but they probably
anticipate some problems in their job search.
4. The majority of the students in my political science class identified three main goals
for government: to preserve the health-care system, to protect the environment, and to
put an end to corruption.
5. Working out makes an individual physically fit.
6. The first thing I did today was log on to check the hockey scores.
7. The Confederation Bridge was built to join Prince Edward Island to the mainland.
8. Correct.
9. Canada has the most coastline of any country.
10. I think that Wikipedia will one day be the world’s greatest encyclopedia, but I do not
know when that day will come.
49—Misplaced Modifiers
1. My roommate attended his first psychology lecture, which was held in a giant
lecture hall, last week.
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Answer Key for Exercise Booklet, Quick Access Reference for Writers, 4/C/e 10
2. Lewis was eager to learn more about the research done by the lecturer; this
research was the topic of his high-school essay last spring.
3. Correct.
4. Two dozen students, determined to get the best seats, shoved their way ahead of
Lewis, who was standing at the door.
5. How could Lewis have known that he needed to claim his seat so aggressively?
6. My course adviser suggested that, in choosing my first-year courses, I should look
at class size as one criterion.
7. I’m always ready to take good advice, and that explains how I came to walk into a
nearly empty seminar room on the first day of classes.
8. A young lecturer who had earned her doctorate only the year before was talking
with enthusiasm about her specialty.
9. Leaning over the lectern and gesturing with both hands, she was discussing
seventeenth-century Dutch literature.
10. Lewis still intends to complete a degree in psychology, but my course of study for
the next four years is less certain.
50—Conciseness (Possible answers)
1. This government is no longer corrupt.
2. Statistics show that most baby-boomers invest conservatively.
3. A conservative investment will not decrease in value.
4. The author of that play is a keen student of human emotions.
5. Completing the paper early means that you will be able to relax several days before
handing it in.
6. The food service offers five different meal plans.
7. Agatha Christie wrote The Pale Horse, a detective novel.
8. Louis Riel, a Métis, led his people in two rebellions in the Prairies.
9. The conflict between the Métis and their opponents encompassed language, religion,
and way of life.
10. The tutorial leader suggested that Imelda visit the library if she wants to learn to use
online sources effectively.
50—Conciseness (Possible answers)
1. My library carrel is small and cramped, but well lit.
2. I am on a two-month waiting list for an important book that a professor has signed
out.
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Answer Key for Exercise Booklet, Quick Access Reference for Writers, 4/C/e 11
3. I finally found the assigned Canadian history text.
4. I read the first chapter, and I think I’ve decided on the paper that I’m going to write.
5. Rather than writing on the Canadian Pacific Railway, I’ll concentrate on the career of
Louis Riel.
6. Correct.
7. Riel and most of the people he led were Métis from the Prairies.
8. Riel displayed charisma and vision, qualities that the Métis of Manitoba and
Saskatchewan valued in a leader.
9. Elected to Parliament in 1873 and 1874, Riel also led his people in battle against their
opponents.
10. Riel’s execution remains controversial.
51a–b—Coordination (Possible answers)
1. On the Pacific coast, butter clams are popular, but on the Atlantic coast, soft-shell
clams and quahogs are favoured.
2. Littleneck clams are small, and they are the tenderest Atlantic hardshells.
3. Surf clams are Pacific hardshells; they are larger and tougher than littlenecks.
4. Littlenecks are normally steamed, but surf clams are normally minced for chowder or
cut into strips for frying.
5. The Atlantic provides most of the commercial clams caught in Canada; the Pacific
provides fewer and less common varieties.
6. Transatlantic flights used to refuel at Gander, Newfoundland, so many immigrants
caught their first sight of Canada at Gander.
7. Other immigrants first set foot on Halifax’s Pier 21, yet Halifax was not the only
immigrant seaport.
8. Quebec City accepted immigrants by sea; in the nineteenth century, many landed on
nearby Grosse Île.
9. Your ancestors may have come to one of these ports, or they may have arrived at
another.
10. Your family may have flown into Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, for many
new Canadians land there.
51c–d—Subordination (Possible answers)
1. On the Pacific coast, butter clams are popular, whereas on the Atlantic coast, softshell clams and quahogs are favoured.
2. Littleneck clams, which are small, are the tenderest Atlantic hardshells.
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3. Surf clams are Pacific hardshells that are larger and tougher than littlenecks.
4. Littlenecks are normally steamed, whereas surf clams are normally minced for
chowder or cut into strips for frying.
5. The Atlantic provides most of the commercial clams caught in Canada, while the
Pacific provides fewer and less common varieties.
6. Since transatlantic flights used to refuel at Gander, Newfoundland, many immigrants
caught their first sight of Canada at Gander.
7. Although other immigrants first set foot on Halifax’s Pier 21, Halifax was not the
only immigrant seaport.
8. Because Quebec City accepted immigrants by sea, in the nineteenth century, many
landed on nearby Grosse Île.
9. Your ancestors may have come to one of these ports, unless your family arrived after
the age of the great passenger boats.
10. Your family may have flown into Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, since
many new Canadians land there
52a–d—Parallelism (Possible answers)
1. I’ve felt tired, grumpy, and nauseated.
2. My doctor recommends that I lose five kilograms, exercise each day, and sleep at
least seven hours each night.
3. I’ll follow my doctor’s advice because I want to look and feel better.
4. Sloppy living can lead not only to physical ailments but also to a negative attitude.
5. Correct.
6. My warm-up includes stretches, pushups, and walking.
7. My workouts include playing basketball, climbing stairs, and doing jumping jacks.
8. Many people don’t exercise enough because they think they don’t have time and
because they enjoy their soft couches.
9. Those who expect immediate results from exercise are going to be disappointed or
angry.
10. It took years to reach this condition, so I expect it will take months to change the
condition significantly.
52e–h—Sentence Variety (Possible answers)
1. Haemophilia is an inherited disease caused by a deficiency or abnormality of one of
the clotting factors in the blood; haemophiliacs can bleed to death from even small
cuts or bruises.
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2. Out of the clouds plummeted the eagle.
3. The cold wind blew.
4. The wind blew ceaselessly.
5. The wind blew in the morning.
6. The wind blew, cleaning away winter’s debris.
7. Scraps of paper swirling away in the gusts, the wind blew.
8. The weather having been nice for too long, the wind blew.
9. Because the weather had been nice for too long, the wind blew.
10. The wind, which had been calm for several weeks, blew.
54b—Choosing Exact Words (Possible answers)
1. My aunt told me to make myself at home.
2. I buy my groceries at the store.
3. The professor informed us that we’d have a quiz soon.
4. I cleverly guessed the last three questions on the quiz.
5. Professor Krulicki complimented me on my vocabulary.
6. I read Fifth Business.
7. We yawned through two hours of the dullest movie ever: Holiday Slashers III.
8. I want to earn a BA.
9. Paul Moulin called for financial assistance for cites.
10. Stephen Hopper supported spending on families with children and the military.
54d–g—Suitable Language, Figurative Language, Clichés, and Tone (Possible
answers)
1. We are not done.
2. King Mark believed firmly that Tristan and Isolde had become lovers.
3. Correct.
4. If I don’t get a handle on these math problems, I’ll do badly in math class. [Get a
handle on is informal but not unsuitable in some circumstances. It could be revised to
read learn to do or understand.]
5. The candidate lied.
6. He’s happy and smart.
7. A person needs to be tough to succeed.
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8. I agree.
9. He simply hasn’t got the money to invest in my hedge fund.
10. In bombing the town, the coalition forces killed civilians.
55—Using Inclusive Language (Possible answers)
1. Before sending in the forms, taxpayers should check their calculations.
2. John and Jane Doe live in Frostbite Falls, Manitoba.
3. When stopped for a traffic violation, a driver should be polite to the police officer.
4. Polyester is a synthetic material.
5. What country sent the first human into space?
6. Elementary school teachers have their hands full, since they work with so many girls
and boys.
7. People who want to become better cooks should read this magazine.
8. Every night, the downtown office buildings are occupied by an army of cleaning
staff.
9. Ordinary people don’t understand the treaty.
10. People need to have extensive training before they can qualify to become pilots.
56—Spelling
1. Tornadoes occur relatively frequently on the Great Plains in late spring and in the
summer.
2. They are often accompanied by rain, hail, and lightning.
3. Tornadoes themselves affect relatively small areas; they’re normally ten metres to
less than two kilometres wide.
4. Buildings and trees hit by a tornado are often razed to the ground.
5. Correct.
6. As in the movie The Wizard of Oz, in which a tornado picks up Dorothy’s house,
tornadoes have moved whole houses.
7. A tornado is able to break nearly anything in its path, since its winds reach 500 km/h.
8. Buildings that are not tornado-proof seem to collapse like a house of cards.
9. During a few minutes, a thunderstorm that produces a tornado might let loose the
same energy as a large atomic blast.
10. When human structures and tornadoes meet, the tornadoes normally win.
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56a—Spelling Plurals
1. Two moose locked in mortal combat is an image that is hard to forget.
2. The one criterion that interests me is the one that my professors all ignore.
3. Correct. [Syllabuses is also correct.]
4. We ate three bowls of rice.
5. We saw a herd of elk when we were at the zoo.
6. Henry VIII had many wives in his lifetime.
7. Did you rake the leaves?
8. Potatoes come from the great Inca civilization of the Andes.
9. Warren wooed Jade with boxes of clementines.
10. In death, we are all alumni of life, but we never return to the old alma mater for
Homecoming Day.
56b–c—Adding Suffixes and Spelling ie, ei Words
1. Correct.
2. My neighbour bought it.
3. She will likely not ride it in the fields.
4. I find myself liking to read more than I did when I was in high school.
5. I have a strong drive to succeed.
6. Al dropped all his English courses.
7. Has Al tried the department’s essay-writing clinic?
8. Statistically, students who attend the clinic tend to succeed.
9. Preparing the briefing gave us a good deal of grief.
10. That was a weird movie.
56d—Spelling Homonyms and Frequently Confused Words
1. My mother is principal at an elementary school.
2. Whose hat is this?
3. Is it your hat?
4. Was that you peeking through the blinds?
5. Spelling bees are my favourite pastimes.
6. Did you see the lightning?
7. Queen Victoria reigned even longer than Elizabeth I.
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8. Everyone please proceed into the waiting lounge.
9. I would like to buy the chair by next week.
10. Should I dye my hair?
56d—Spelling Homonyms and Frequently Confused Words
1. Every Wednesday evening he is sure to be where he cannot be found.
2. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I may be late this evening.
3. Hunger is still an everyday experience for poor people around the world.
4. I wish to respectfully disagree.
5. I prefer the latter, rather than the former.
6. The fable’s moral is clear.
7. I’m driving up the coast of Vancouver Island to see its most scenic sights.
8. Did you choose wisely?
9. This lever is a handy device.
10. Did your friend engage in illicit activity?
57—Commas
1. The word deadline was first used in the mid-nineteenth century.
2. In a notorious prisoner of war camp, guards could shoot prisoners who crossed a
boundary line several metres inside the outer wall.
3. A deadline originally was a physical line not to be crossed, but now, 150 years later,
it is a line in time not to be crossed.
4. “For truth there is no deadline,” wrote Heywood Broun.
5. The Nation published Broun’s article on December 30, 1939.
6. Writers who can, meet deadlines.
7. Millions of people took Thalidomide during the 1950s and 1960s, didn’t they?
8. Most of these people suffered no ill effects, but at least 10 000 women who took
Thalidomide during their pregnancies gave birth to physically deformed, but
otherwise healthy, babies. (10,000 is also correct)
9. The deformities included missing or stunted limbs such as hands at the elbows, two
fingers instead of five, and flippers rather than legs.
10. Gilla Kaplan, MD, discovered in 1989 how Thalidomide affects the immune system
and realized that the drug might be useful in fighting a number of diseases.
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57—Commas
1. Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet and ate curds and whey.
2. Miss Muffet apparently wanted to sit on the tuffet, but a spider frightened her away.
3. During her subsequent trial for assault, Miss Muffet testified that she returned to the
tuffet with a can of Raid to retaliate against the spider which had sat down beside her.
4. Correct.
5. Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet.
6. The Barenaked Ladies, one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, grew up together in
Scarborough.
7. Does that refer to Scarborough, Ontario, on the east side of Toronto?
8. They are one of the rare bands that can write music that is bouncy and simple but
always interesting.
9. When the City of Toronto barred the Barenaked Ladies from playing a public concert
(their name was said to be offensive), thousands of fans wondered who on earth was
in charge at city hall.
10. Many of their songs, including “If I Had a Million Dollars,” “Jane,” and “It’s All
Been Done,” are perennial favourites.
57—Commas
1. The crowd held their breath intently.
2. The small restless crowd waited for the fireworks display.
3. The display featured many of the same fireworks used every year.
4. A band named Arcade Fire travels with suitcases full of instruments of all kinds.
5. Although the professor talked about the next test, few students listened to him.
6. I listened and breezed through the test.
7. I listened, crammed, and then paid attention to the test instructions.
8. I celebrated because I got an A.
9. Correct.
10. We celebrated with a big order of sushi, rather than the usual pizza.
58—Semicolons
1. The doctor’s secretary told me, “If you have this examination without a referral, your
provincial health plan may require you to pay for it.”
2. Correct.
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3. While waiting for my appointment, I flipped through three issues of Maclean’s;
checked my text messages, e-mail, and phone calls; and composed and revised the
abstract for my physics report.
4. As I worked on the abstract for my report, my symptoms began to disappear, although
I stayed until the doctor was ready to see me.
5. It was a good thing that I stayed, for the doctor diagnosed a condition that could have
become worse if left untreated.
6. Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, Hamlet, Julius Caesar,
King Lear, and Macbeth.
7. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon; however, he spent most of his career in
London.
8. He worked as an actor, playwright, and manager of the Globe Theatre.
9. He spent his retirement back in Stratford, where he died in 1616.
10. The First Folio, the earliest collected edition of his plays, was published in 1623.
59—Colons
1. Canadians evaluate their governments in a number of areas, including promotion of
national unity, support for health care, and assertion of Canada’s presence in the
United Nations.
2. Correct.
3. The Queen of Hearts, in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, has an
easy but gruesome answer whenever anyone bothers her: “Off with her head! Off
with his head!”
4. As you will recall, yesterday’s subject was the fine art of punctuating a sentence.
5. One of hockey’s historic arenas is the former home of the Montreal Canadiens: the
Forum.
6. In Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play The Rivals, Mrs. Malaprop says, “He is the very
pineapple of politeness.”
7. She means pinnacle.
8. A malapropism today is a word misused as Mrs. Malaprop might have used it.
9. When my roommate and I went to see The Rivals, we laughed louder than the other
people in the audience.
10. They must have been puzzled regarding the reason for our hilarity.
58–59—Semicolons and Colons
1. Body language includes gestures and eye contact.
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2. The North American gesture for “okay” involves forming a circle with the forefinger
and thumb; this gesture means “zero” in France.
3. The North American gesture for “okay” has various meanings in other cultures, such
as “zero” in France, “money” in Japan, and a vulgarity in Brazil.
4. Business people in foreign countries need to understand that body language has
various meanings depending on culture; otherwise, they may offend prospective
customers.
5. Although looking someone in the eye means honesty in Canada and the United States,
in most Asian and Latin American countries, it might mean aggression or ill breeding.
6. Asian business people tend to prefer brief or no handshakes, sitting side by side
during negotiations, and long negotiations.
7. In contrast to business people in the Middle East, who usually stand less than one
metre apart when talking, business people in Canada and the United States usually
stand nearly two metres apart.
8. One submission wanted the biology text to begin by quoting Genesis 1:1. [MLA
style recommends a period but recognizes the colon as customary.]
9. Math majors outnumbered other science majors in the calculus class by 2:1.
10. Correct.
60—Apostrophes
1. Ontario’s official flower is the trillium, but what’s Nunavut’s?
2. No one’s going to believe that.
3. How many u’s appear in Iqaluit?
4. Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas include Patience, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Mikado.
5. Gilbert and Sullivan wrote their operettas in the late 1800s.
6. The music is difficult, so only experienced singers can sing the lead roles.
7. Correct. [2’s and 2’s are also used, although not in MLA style.]
8. To my delight and also hers, my silly promise eventually came due on March 22,
2002.
9. We joined the crowd at the doors of our city’s new opera house.
10. As expected, during intermission the line outside the ladies’ room was nearly endless,
while no one had to wait long to get into the men’s room.
61—Quotation Marks
1. In the book Stolen Continents, Ronald Wright says, “In the summer of 1990, the
Iroquois were suddenly reborn in white consciousness when Canadian front pages
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were filled for three months by what came to be known as the Oka Crisis or Mohawk
Revolt.”
2. Wright believes that the Iroquois should never have disappeared from what he calls
“white consciousness.”
3. In “Whom says so?” in The Nation, June 8, 1985, Calvin Trillin writes, “As far as I’m
concerned, ‘whom’ is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a
butler.”
4. Trembling, Dante asked himself, “Did the instructions above that door really begin
with the words ‘Abandon hope’?”
5. “Dante,” said Virgil, “I am here to guide you on your journey.”
6. I like the Latin proverb Ars longa, vita brevis (“life is short, art is long”).
7. Chaucer translated the proverb as “The life so short, that art so long to learn.”
8. Have you read Susan Musgrave’s poem “Arctic Poppies”?
9. Seth thinks that the Bottles will be the second coming of the Beatles, but Jo expects
the group to have only short-term success.
10. “Defamation” is a false and malicious statement, one communicated to others, that
injures a person’s reputation; defamation in writing is “libel.”
62—Periods, Question Marks, and Exclamation Marks
1. Tara is moving into an apartment that may be a noisy one, next to a ramp onto the
Trans-Canada Highway.
2. “Listen, everybody! I mean now!”
3. “I’m melting!” wailed the Wicked Witch of the West. “I’m melting!”
4. The director cried out, “Start shooting already!”
5. The camera crew asked if David Cronenberg had cried out “Start shooting already.”
6. Did the actor who was reaching for his gun hear David Cronenberg cry out “Start
shooting already”?
7. People of Earth, lay down your weapons and prepare to be conquered!
8. We asked the invaders if earth conquest meant the end of professional sport as we
knew it.
9. Of all provinces, only Prince Edward Island resisted the extraterrestrial invaders.
10. Which provinces welcomed them?
63—Other Punctuation Marks
1. They love Italian food—minestrone soup, pasta, and grated hard cheese.
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2. Richard Burton—the writer and explorer, not the actor—lived in the nineteenth
century.
3. The agenda for the Edmonton Arts and Letters Alliance meeting includes (1)
considering whether we should rent a new studio, (2) recruiting new members, and
(3) considering whether we should decorate our premises with new works of art.
4. The Edmonton Arts and Letters Alliance would like to place an order for six (6)
paintings by Lawren Harris.
5. This circuit on the computer is hard-wired (built to do a specific job), so it needs no
program to function properly.
6. Although some fears appear to be hard-wired into some animal brains (falling, for
example), we do not understand the brain well enough to say conclusively that it
functions exactly like a computer.
7. Rebuilding the pier (waves destroyed most of the original) took two months.
8. Only about 1/10 of the original pier was left standing.
9. Correct.
10. Stephen Leacock wrote, “To dig out gold in North Ontario and dig it in, in Tennessee
[the location of Fort Knox], is on the face of it idiocy.”
64—Hyphens
1. A short-tempered referee officiated at our hockey game.
2. One-half of our team’s goals were scored by a reserve defence player.
3. The other team’s ill-fated goalie left the game before the end of the first period.
4. A period in our old-timer hockey league doesn’t last a full twenty minutes.
5. The new overpass allows trucks one metre’s clearance.
6. The Milky Way is 100 000 light-years in diameter.
7. Premier-elect Robichaud spoke to us.
8. Correct.
9. A toaster running for one hour will normally use one kilowatt-hour of electricity.
10. The Sharmas are a happily married couple.
65—Capitals
1. Correct.
2. In addition to the spines on their bodies, horned toads have four forms of defence: (1)
blending into the environment, (2) inflating to appear larger, (3) running away, and
(4) squirting blood.
3. “Horned toads,” the biology professor explained, “are actually lizards, not toads.”
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4. Horned toads are native to the band of land extending from the southern part of
British Columbia to northern Guatemala.
5. Horned toads, like other reptiles, are ectotherms—their body temperature rises and
falls with the temperature of their environment.
6. Isaac Brock was a general in the War of 1812.
7. Brock died at the Battle of Queenston Heights in Upper Canada.
8. Today Brock may be better known for the university that bears his name.
9. Unflattering nicknames given to John A. Macdonald include “Old Tomorrow” and
“Fox Populi.”
10. “Until that road is built to British Columbia and the Pacific,” Macdonald said about
the Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada would remain “a mere geographical
expression.”
66—Italics (Underlining)
1. Margaret Atwood’s early novel Surfacing helped establish her reputation as a writer
of prose fiction.
2. Tom Thomson’s painting The West Wind is reproduced in the article on Thomson in
The Canadian Encyclopedia.
3. Irving Layton wrote a short poem with the title “Misunderstanding.”
4. Correct.
5. Did audiences agree with film critics about Atom Egoyan’s Chloe?
6. An interesting version of Neil Young’s “Helpless” appears on the album Hymns of
the 49th Parallel.
7. Do you like sushi?
8. I nearly wrote that the singer “brought the house down,” but I didn’t—I wanted to
avoid using a cliché.
9. Do you read the Calgary Herald?
10. The Three Tenors tried our patience with endless encores of one number from
Puccini’s opera Turandot.
67—Abbreviations
1. Correct. (Lower case [a.m.] is also correct.)
2. Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar in Rome in 46 BC. [Periods are also
correct: 46 B.C.]
3. A yard equals 36 inches.
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4. Why go for a skiing holiday in the United States when you can drive to Mont
Tremblant?
5. Prime Minister John Turner lost power at the first opportunity.
6. Dr. Richard Rodriguez published Days of Obligation in 1993.
7. Look for live streaming and archived concerts on CBC’s Radio 3 site.
8. St. John’s, Newfoundland, has many distinctive wooden buildings.
9. Archaeologists give the measurements of the artifacts they discover in centimetres.
10. Please send the bill to Oak Street NW, Graniteville, which, as you know, is in
Ontario.
68—Numbers
1. You’ll find Table C on page 36.
2. She wrote her three best novels in a ten-year period.
3. I live at 15 Elm Street.
4. We’ll meet at three o’clock.
5. We’ll meet at three in the afternoon.
6. I’ve written three-quarters of my paper.
7. Martha Wainwright was born in the year 1976.
8. Correct.
9. A centimetre is 1/100 the length of a metre.
10. I listen to the radio station located at 93.3 FM.
69a—Count and Noncount Nouns
Count Noncount
1. Do you live in an apartment?
2. Did you listen to the radio?
3. Chemistry is my major.
4. My major is chemistry.
5. I counted the items.
6. She counted her change.
7. She bought fifteen litres of gasoline.
8. Did you bring your luggage?
9. I am attending classes to learn something.
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10. Do you know if Andra has a new avatar?
69a, 42a–c, 43a—Singulars and Plurals
1. Rice is a staple of many people’s diet.
2. Chinese is a language spoken by two of my friends.
3. Eggs are used in many baked goods.
4. The smog is particularly bad today.
5. My clothing is in my suitcase.
6. Comparative politics is my major.
7. The heat has been unbearable this month.
8. Before the Internet, television was more popular with teenagers.
9. Aluminum is a metal.
10. Correct.
69b—Singulars and Plurals
1. The university has built a new library.
2. One of the books for this course was very expensive.
3. Did you buy another high-tech water bottle?
4. Correct.
5. Our bicycles are parked on the sidewalk.
6. The countryside is worth exploring when you study at Trent.
7. She has curly hair.
8. Did your performance get a lot of applause?
9. We saw the first movie.
10. Students who succeed take pride in their schoolwork.
70—Articles
1. I sat on a cold, metal chair.
2. I took advantage of a one-time-only offer on blue jeans.
3. Correct.
4. Robins are migratory birds.
5. The bookshelf in my office is made of particle board.
6. I accidentally broke the bookshelf, so I bought a new one.
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7. My father planted onions in his garden last week. We will eat the onions in a couple
of months.
8. Before the arrival of the European explorers, the Incas created a great civilization in
South America.
9. Serenity is a good state of mind to achieve.
10. I would like to work for the CBC.
71—Word Order
1. How did you like the concert?
2. Correct.
3. She asked me why I walked out of that concert.
4. Did Sasha take Anastasia to the concert last night?
5. The band’s first song blasted out into the crowded auditorium.
6. After the concert, we stopped at the big new restaurant on Elm Street.
7. I ate an incredibly big cheeseburger. (Or: Incredibly, I ate a big cheeseburger.)
8. I had eaten two sandwiches and a big red apple only four hours earlier.
9. I occasionally eat too much.
10. She says that she never overeats.
71b–c, 45—Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjective Adverb
1. The first ticket agent will be with you shortly.
2. Did she say she’d be with us soon?
3. We want to take a short trip tomorrow.
4. My two friends have never been to Banff.
5. They have heard that it’s extremely beautiful.
6. Sometimes I wonder if I need such an expensive car.
7. I would gladly return the defective microwave if I could do so.
8. Jim Carrey twice appeared in roles well below his talent level.
9. He seldom finds screenwriters who fully use his great talents.
10. I do not have time to read this long book.
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72—Prepositions
1. I’ll have a birthday in a couple of weeks.
2. I’ll have a party in the evening on my birthday.
3. I’ll have the party in my apartment.
4. My apartment is in the brick building on the corner of Oak Drive and King Street.
5. I need to figure out which games we’ll play at the party.
6. Will you help me call up our friends on the West Coast to find out if they will be able
to attend?
7. I’ll speak with half of them, and you can speak with the other half of them.
8. Correct.
9. We should go over the list one last time to make sure we didn’t omit anybody.
10. Should we look into renting a movie for the party?
73—Gerunds and Infinitives
Gerund Infinitive
1. The battery in my smartphone seems to need replacing.
2. I’d seriously think of buying a new smartphone if my carrier had the latest ones in
stock.
3. Don’t you want to try the new operating system first?
4. When I was buying my phone last year, I knew not to rush into a decision.
5. Maybe we can go to the website to look at the specifications of the new models.
6. Lawrence has considered driving to Saskatoon.
7. Please let me buy you another cappuccino. (buy is an unmarked infinitive)
8. I would like to purchase you another expensive coffee.
9. I fail to understand your refusal.
10. I suggest keeping the possibility open for the time being.
73—Gerunds and Infinitives
1. The boy began to cry and to scream.
2. We tried wiping the tears and talking to the child.
3. The boy wanted to go to the theatre where Avatar was playing.
4. The boy’s older sister appeared and arranged to take him that afternoon.
5. Correct.
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Answer Key for Exercise Booklet, Quick Access Reference for Writers, 4/C/e 27
6. Will you please help me to figure out the bus connections to the theatre?
7. Do you recommend taking the 12-A bus to Third Avenue?
8. I recall taking this bus recently.
9. I promise to buy a big bag of popcorn.
10. Should we plan to leave at 3:30? (Also correct is the idiomatic Should we plan on
leaving at 3:30?)
74—Modal Auxiliary Verbs
1. I must (or have to, need to) grill the salmon.
2. I should have (or ought to have) grilled the salmon.
3. I should (or ought to) grilled the salmon.
4. I had better grill the salmon.
5. I may (or might, could) grill the salmon.
6. I may (or might, could, must) have lived in Nova Scotia.
7. I would rather live in Nova Scotia.
8. I would rather have lived in Nova Scotia.
9. I was supposed to live in Nova Scotia.
10. I used to (rarely would) live in Nova Scotia.
Review 1 (Possible answers)
1. A plan exists to combat global warming.
2. Correct.
3. Manitoba’s capital is Winnipeg, and New Brunswick’s capital is Fredericton.
4. We left at dawn, so we could make the trip in one day.
5. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Aline Chrétien enjoyed their collection of Inuit
sculpture.
6. Average voters think their MPs should be responsive to voters’ concerns.
7. Seiji Ozawa, who conducted the Toronto Symphony in the 1960s, was famous for
promoting modern classical music.
8. Pinchas Zukerman conducted not only in the United States, but also in Canada.
9. Because scenic Quebec City still has its centuries-old defensive walls, it was chosen
as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
10. Above the St. Lawrence River rise the stone ramparts and towers that enclose the old
city, with its winding cobblestone streets and historic buildings.
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Review 2
1. She spoke Spanish to her friends.
2. Read the entire novel before you choose a passage to examine in your essay.
3. I’ll pass you the book only if you say “Please.”
4. The technical team input all the data for us; we broadcast it the next day.
5. Every mosquito and deer tick in this part of the province is a potential health hazard
because its bite can spread disease.
6. Discipline and patience, as well as a talent for the big shot, brought Sandra
Schmirler’s rink the curling championship.
7. Her team always played very well.
8. This sandwich is less tasty because it was made without butter.
9. I like this sandwich better than the other sandwiches on the tray because it was made
with butter and mayonnaise.
10. Correct.
Review 3: Multilingual Writers
1. One of the most important innovations of our times is the rise of social networking
sites.
2. These sites let people anywhere share current events, cultural events, and especially
personal information of all kinds.
3. The main problem with these sites is that they put out too much personal information.
4. Correct.
5. It can be hard to keep up with all this information.
6. I enjoy surfing the Internet. Don’t you?
7. You should visit my blog if you want to help me compile a list of useful websites for
our English course.
8. Last night I preferred to work on my physics problem set.
9. Correct.
10. Should we flavour the rice with curry?
Review 4
1. According to a study published in 1980 in Public Health Reports, the survival rate for
people who were recovering from heart attacks and who owned pets was higher than
the survival rate for people without pets.
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2. Correct.
3. The mortality rate for people owning pets was about 1/3 that of the people who did
not own pets.
4. One possible explanation is that the pets helped their owners relax.
5. Computer literacy, in addition to familiarity with various handheld electronic devices,
is typical of students in colleges and universities today.
6. The Internet and the cell phone have changed the way people interact, especially
young people.
7. For example, sending text messages on handheld devices quickly became wildly
popular.
8. January 1, 2001, was on a Monday.
9. Astronomy is a scientific study; astrology, on the other hand, is not.
10. The month of March is named after the planet Mars.
Review 5
1. The Bluenose is the name of the prize-winning ship pictured on the dime.
2. At one time, many European nations celebrated the new year on or soon after March
21.
3. Wilderness camping develops self-reliance.
4. This is the best fitting pair of shoes I have ever worn.
5. This pair costs only one-half of what my other pair cost.
6. I rode down the highway in a big grey Lexus.
7. He drove south on Queen Street.
8. Pro-development city councillors hold the balance of power.
9. The speed limit is twenty-five kilometres per hour.
10. Our class staged a production of White Biting Dog by playwright Judith Thompson.
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