Editing for Articles
Answer Key

Changes are shown in boldface type.

Exercise 9A The Sundial

Seventeen articles (the) are missing from the original paragraph.

1 \S > The s\undial is probably \+the\ most ancient of scientific instruments. 2 This instrument tells time by measuring \+the\ passage of \+the\ sun through \+the\ sky. 3 Ancient men measured time by placing a stick in \+the\ ground and by watching \+the\ movement of its shadow. 4 \+The\ Egyptians and \+the\ Greeks constructed \+the\ first sundials, which divided each day into equal intervals called hours. 5 By A.D. 150, Greek mathematicians used trigonometry to plot hour lines. 6 Sundials were used from \+the\ sixteenth to \+the\ nineteenth centuries as \+the\ primary way of telling time. 7 Because sundial time (or solar time) is not \+the\ same as clock time, \+the\ development of mechanical clock and \+the\ adoption of standard time in nineteenth century caused \+the\ sundial to lose its practical value. 8 Nonetheless, sundials are sometimes still used today.

Notes:

1. generic n
2. superlative
3. phrase, the n1 of n2
4. unique, the only one
5. unique
6. setting, unique
7. parts of a whole, the n1 of n2
8. category including all: Eqyptian people = The Eqyptians, deaf people = the deaf
9. category including all
10. superlative
11. ordinal number
12. ordinal number
13. superlative meaning: primary = most important
14. phrase: the same ... as
15. phrase, the n1 of n2
16. phrase, the n1 of n2
17. generic n

From Improving the Grammar of Written English: The Editing Process, Beverly Benson and Patricia Byrd

[Ex 9A] [Go to class at cvc.blackboard.com] [marsha_chan@wvmccd.cc.ca.us]

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