Quiz:
Sentence Relationships II


Directions: For each pair of sentences, identify the relationship between the two sentences.

1.

According to some critics, the doctors who supervise the executions of criminals, particularly lethal injections, are in violation of the Hippocratic Oath, in which physicians' promise to save lives rather than take them.

However, even their critics recognize that doctors help make executions a little more humane. (Source of information: Adam Liptak, "Should Doctors Help With Executions? No Easy Ethical Answer," The New York Times, June 10, 2004, www.nytimes.com/2004/06/10/nationa/10death.html)

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. contrasting two topics
b. comparing two topics

   

c. statement/reversal
d. statement/clarification

2.

Hormones such as testosterone, which is the masculine hormone present in both males and females, may affect a person's level of aggressiveness.

Drugs (such as alcohol) that alter the functioning of the central nervous system can also increase the likelihood that someone will behave aggressively. (Source of information: Douglas A. Bernstein, Psychology, 6th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, p. 696.)

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. addition
b. spatial order

   

c. time order
d. statement/reversal

3.

Hawaii, our geographically isolated 50th state, is composed of eight major islands located 2,397 miles west of San Francisco in the Pacific Ocean.

Two thousand miles to the west of Hawaii lies its closest neighbor, the Marshall Islands.

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. addition
b. spatial order

   

c. time order
d. statement/reversal

4.

At the age of two months, a baby can lift up his or her head and hold it steady while being held upright.

By the time the baby is three months of age, he or she can usually raise both head and chest, hold the head steady while being carried, and roll over. (Source of information: Danuta Bukatko and Marvin W. Daehler, Child Development, 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, p. 161.)

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. addition
b. statement/clarification

   

c. time order
d. contrasting two topics

5.

Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant was a West Point graduate who had fought in the War with Mexico but then accomplished little after leaving the army to seek his fortune.

General William Tecumseh Sherman, who had failed as a banker and a lawyer after his own West Point graduation and service in the Mexican war, was similarly unsuccessful in civilian life. (Source of information: Carol Berkin et al., Making America, 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, p. 450.)

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. addition
b. spatial order

   

c. contrasting two topics
d. comparing two topics

6.

President Ronald Reagan vowed to change America's courts when he ran for election in 1980, and he did indeed have a substantial impact that will extend well into the 21st century.

Reagan appointed four of the Supreme Court's nine judges (more than any other U.S. president), and his appointees' decisions have helped to advance a conservative agenda by transferring more power from the federal government to the states, limiting the reach of civil rights laws, and reducing their own role as agents of social change. (Source of information: Joan Biskupic, "Mark On Judiciary to Endure for Years," USA Today, June 10, 2004, p. 6A.)

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. statement/clarification
b. statement/reversal

   

c. contrasting two topics
d. comparing two topics

7.

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung said that a person who has an extroverted orientation toward life directs his or her energy toward external objects and events, is outgoing, and makes friends easily.

A person who has an introverted orientation, in contrast, is more concerned with inner experiences, enjoys solitude, and forms fewer relationships. (Source of information: Seymour Feshback et al., Personality, 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996, p. 96.)

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. statement/clarification
b. statement/reversal

   

c. contrasting two topics
d. comparing two topics

8.

Abundant places to sit and watch other people are the main ingredients of a successful public space, one to which people are drawn.

A successful public space also includes natural elements such as sunshine, trees, and water.

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. statement/reversal
b. addition

   

c. contrasting two topics
d. comparing two topics

9.

Triple Crown winner Secretariat became one of horse racing's greatest champions in 1973, when he ran the grueling one-and-a-half-mile Belmont race—the toughest of the three triple crown races—in a record-breaking two minutes and 24 seconds and won by an astonishing 31 lengths.

A champion of similar stature was the legendary Seattle Slew, who, like Secretariat, also won all three races four years later.

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. statement/clarification
b. statement/reversal

   

c. comparing two topics
d. contrasting two topics

10.

American philosopher John Dewey believed that effective problem-solving begins with first perceiving a circumstance that needs changing.

The problem-solver should then go on to think of possible solutions, consider the possible consequences of each one, and, finally, act upon the preferred solution. (Source of information: Doug Toft, ed., Master Student Guide to Academic Success, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005, p. 63.)

Sentence Relationship:

   

a. addition
b. time order

   

c. statement/clarification
d. statement/reversal


Last change made to this page: Jan. 8, 2007

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