6.3 B. Write appropriate correction symbols in the right margin and make necessary
corrections in the following passages.
Passage 2
Like most Americans, I was confident that anyone riding in the shuttle would be as
safe as a person hopping into their car and driving to work. The explosion of Challenger
and the deaths of her astronauts jolted you into the realization that space travel is no sure
thing. As we mourn them, it also makes you wonder about the limits of technology.
Like many Americans, especially those of my generation, I have an ambivalent*
attitude toward science. Everyone enjoys the technological advances the computers and
dishwashers and microwaves that have made their lives easier. Everyone applauds the
pictures of distant planets that Voyager transmits 1,000,000s of miles through space into
their living room. Everyone prays for a miraculous scientific defense that will protect us from
destroying it.
But I also have to wonder how far technology can take us. No doubt our lives will
become increasingly comfortable, but can it eliminate hunger and poverty throughout the
world? Struggling with the complexity of re-launching the shuttle, can they hope within the
next several decades to devise an impenetrable space sheild against them? Everyone
should support the government in their search for the knowledge that might make such
gargantuan** tasks possible, but he or she should do so remembering that scientific
knowledge is a tool, and that only people willing to work together can create a sane and
peaceful world.
C. Write a paragraph that begins “Everyone should . . . ” Handle all pronouns with care.
Student Sample
Everyone should be allowed his or her moments of clumsiness or stupidity. If
someone drops his tray, the onlookers should not laugh; instead, each one should
remember the times he or she was in the same situation. The person who has committed
the blunder does not need the derision of those about him to realize his mistake, for the
mere fact of what he has done will be enough to make him embarrassed. All the people
who are laughing at the unfortunate person are making sure that when they have a similar
mishap, they will be laughed at also. So the next time someone trips in the hall, onlookers
should remember when they were in the same spot as the person who tripped and the way
they felt when they were laughed at.
Billy Nuckols
* ambivalent. adj. having both positive and negative feelings (about something). The prefix ambi, from the
Greek and Latin, means “both.” Thus ambidextrous means “agile with both hands” and ambiguous means
“having two possible meanings” (as we have already seen with ambiguous reference). Example: I am
ambivalent about the opening of school. I feel ready to plunge into another exciting school year, but I also love
the freedom of summer.
** gargantuan. adj. enormous. Example: During football camp the 300-lb. guard had a gargantuan appetite.