Midterm Exam Comm 14

Our Lord’s Grace Montessori School and Colleges Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City PUBLICATION AND EDITING (COMM 14) MIDTERM EXAMINATION February 12, 2004 9:30-12:30

Name: _________________________________________________________________

I. Euphemisms and Verbs A. Euphemisms (10 pts) 1. List the real meanings of these euphemisms: a. b. c. d. e.

Impoverished Sanitary Landfill Distorts the Truth Eccentric Detention Facility

___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________

2. List five euphemisms for each of these words: a. b. c. d. e.

Toilet Drunk Lie Steal Mistake

___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________

B. Verbs 3. List five stronger more colorful and more descriptive verbs that could be used in each of the ff. sentences. (20 pts) a. b. c. d. e.

The newspaper will be made weekly. _________________________________________ The committee has had several meetings. _____________________________________ A study is being done. _____________________________________________________ Students made the lowest scores in mathematics. _______________________________ The center has the following services: testing, counseling and job placement. __________________________

2 4. Improve the verbs in the following sentences. a. b. c. d. e.

The fire did P1.5 million worth of damage. ______________________________________ The research has been done by Filipino scientists. _______________________________ The oil paintings were done by Malang. ________________________________________ A 67-year-old woman had P100,000 swindled from her by two men. __________________ He encourages premedical students to do volunteer work for social agencies. _____________________________________

II. Improving sentences. Rewrite the following sentences, correcting all the errors and problems they contain. Some sentences contain more than one error or problem. (20 pts) 1. Simplifying. a. The license fees are renewed on an annual basis. ________________________________________________________________________ b. He said it is the responsibility of public television to make its programs of benefit to the viewing public. ____________________________________________________________ 2. Avoiding slang and cliches. a. The club president said he plans to call it quits. ________________________________________________________________________ b. Charges leveled by police indicated that he was dealing in drugs. ________________________________________________________________________ 3. Avoiding faculty wording. a. Smaller grocery stores usually know their customers. ________________________________________________________________________ b. Minutes after the man left the bar, he collided with another car. ________________________________________________________________________ 4. Defining and explaining a. Suzanne Mathis suffered a broken femur. ________________________________________________________________________ b. Rape is a first-degree felony if the victim is unconscious. ________________________________________________________________________ 5. Avoiding the Negative a. The restaurant was not far away. ________________________________________________________________________ b. There was no injury to the driver of the bus. ________________________________________________________________________

3 III. News Writing. Write a complete news story on the Police Response Time (see attached paper). As you write the story, present both sides of each controversy as fully and as fairly as possible. Write also a headline for the story. Place your answers at the back of this page. (10 pts)

IV. Leads. Critically evaluate the following leads. (20 pts) A. News. Explain why it is a good or bad lead. If it is a bad lead, change the lead. 1. Six automobiles were broken into Friday at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Malate, Manila, and property valued at more than P250,000 was stolen. ____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Two persons remain hospitalized after a collision on South Superhighway at 2:30 a.m. Thursday. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 3. The results of a P500,000 study about policies the city might adopt to lower its utility bills were revealed today. __________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. Ramon Magsaysay High School is the only school in the city that has a school-community liaison counselor. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 5. A school bus carrying 46 students to an elementary school in the city was involved in a collision on Roxas Boulevard at 8:10 a.m. today. B. Feature. Decide which topics are most interesting and which leads are most effective. If lead is bad, change the lead. 1. Pancho is a short, dark-skinned, curly-haired 20-year-old with flashing black eyes, a bouncing step and a Spanish accent. ____________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. “It must be the most peculiar house in the city,” said Katie Villacruz. ________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 3. In the past few months a new service has become available in this area. That service is cable television. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. The student governments at universities in the region are having problems. __________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 5. Bert turned to Anne and said coolly, “I’m terribly sorry, dear.” Anne was calm and resigned herself to fate, as is often the case when death appears inevitable. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ V. Writing Lead. You can write your leads at the back of this page. (10 pts) 1. Refer to “Local Historian.” (see attached paper) Write a “who” lead. 2. Refer to “Drug-Alcohol Policy” (see attached paper) Write a “why” lead.

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