Week 16: Week 16 — Language and Style: Precise Words and Varied Sentences
Week of Mon, Mar 1 · week closes Sun, Mar 7
This week's items
Exact due times are in Canvas. Each week opens on its Monday and stays open. Practice is never late — but the MCAP window opens April 5, 2027, so keep pace.
Know these cold
- Style is part of the Written Expression score. Scorers look for precise language and varied sentences that fit the purpose and audience of the task.
- Precise words say exactly what you mean. "The sprinter surged across the line" gives the reader a clearer picture than "The sprinter went across the line."
- Vague words such as thing, stuff, good, bad, and a lot rarely tell the reader anything specific. Replace them with a concrete noun or a sharper adjective.
- Connotation is the feeling a word carries. Determined and stubborn can describe the same behavior, but determined sounds admiring while stubborn sounds critical, so choose the one that matches your meaning.
- Informative and argumentative responses call for a formal style. Leave out slang, clichés such as "the best thing since sliced bread," and filler like "kind of" and "basically."
- Varied sentences keep a reader engaged. Mix short and long sentences, and begin some with a phrase or a clause instead of the subject every time.
- Combining choppy sentences with a phrase or a subordinate clause can show how ideas relate, such as cause, contrast, or time.
- Concise writing removes words that add nothing. Cut repeated ideas ("joined together"), empty openers ("There are many students who"), and wordy phrases ("due to the fact that").
Meerk's quiz — open the Week 16 gate
10 questions, no time limit. One counted try: 85% opens the gate. Miss it and Meerk's Study Path opens: it teaches every miss back to you, then a mastery check — and it cannot finish before 25 minutes of real study. Then your second try opens. Work alone; the point is to know it, not to have seen it.
Stuck?
Raise your hand. Mr. James gets a message right away and can help you remotely. Nothing else is stored — just your last name, grade, and where you're stuck.
My Progress
Dinner Table Question
Ask at home: Think of a word you use for almost everything, like good or stuff. What are three more precise words you could use instead, depending on what you really mean?
En español: Piensa en una palabra que usas para casi todo, como bueno o cosa. ¿Qué tres palabras más precisas podrías usar en su lugar, según lo que realmente quieras decir?