EPC 550 TECHNICAL WRITING

EDITING AND PROOFREADING TEST

MAY 2012

NAME:

______________________________

STUDENT NUMBER:

______________________________

GROUP:

______________________________

LECTURER:

______________________________

You may use an English-English Dictionary.

SECTION A (30 marks)

Instructions: Every line in the following press release contains an error (related to
punctuation, word form, inaccurate lexical choice and spelling). Underline the error and
write the correct form in the space provided.

Correct Form

The Humane Society of United States plans to release on

1. ______________________

Thursday the results of an undercover investigation in

2. ______________________

Kreider Farms, a major factory farm that produced 4.5

3. ______________________

million eggs each day for supermarket across the United

4. ______________________

States. Ive reviewed fotage and photos taken by the

5. ______________________

investigator, who says he has worked for Kreider

6. ______________________

between January and March of this year. In a interview,

7. ______________________

he portrayed an operation that gave little concern for

8. ______________________

cleanliness or the welfare for hens. Its physically hard to

9. ______________________

breath because of the ammonia rising from manure pits

10. _____________________

below older barns said the investigator, who would not

11. _____________________

allowed his name to be used because that would prevent

12. _____________________

him from taking another undercover job, in agriculture.

13. _____________________

Mouses sometimes ran down egg conveyer belts, barns

14. _____________________

were tick with flies and manure in three barns tested

15. _____________________

positive for salmonella, he said. Actually salmonella isnt

16. _____________________

as rare as you might think turning up in 3 percent of egg

17. _____________________

factory farms tested by the food and drug administration

18. _____________________

last year. In some cases, 11 hens were jamed into a 2

19. _____________________

feet times 2 feet cage. The Humane Society says that

20. _____________________

that is even more cramped than the egg industries own

21. _____________________

voluntary standards which have been widely criticized

22. _____________________

as inadequate. An automatic feeding cart that runs

23. _____________________

between the cages sometimes decapilitates hens as

24. _____________________

theyre eating, the investigator said. Corpse are pulled

25. _____________________

out if theyre easy to see, but some times remain for

26. _____________________

weeks in the cages piling up until they have rotted into

27. ______________________

the wiring, he added. Other hens have their head stuck in

28. _____________________

the wire, and are usually left to die, the investigator said.

29. _____________________

However, things are beginning to change as farmers and

30. _____________________

animal protection activists agreeing on a way forward.

(Source: The New York Times. April 11, 2012)

SECTION B (30 marks)

Rewrite the following sentences to ensure that they are better structured.

1. Since the expo has been held annually from years back, naturally it attracts lots
of participants. There are school trips, parents, and also fresh graduates who had
just received their SPM results.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
(5 marks)
2. Many colleges abroad has fraternity houses for the students to pledge and be
apart of the college community as it encourages students to take pride of their
faculty and enhances the sense of belonging.

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
(5 marks)

3. In November 2011, UiTM has sent a group of 24 students from Academy of

Language Studies (ALS) to the district of Pekan, Pahang, bearing the mission of
community service. Upon reaching that particular remore area of Pahang, the
students were divided into 12 pairs, and being sent to 12 different homes to their
respective adopted families.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
(5 marks)

4. AIESEC Malaysia also helps you to spread your impact directly and indirectly by
conducting a workshop to university students, gain cultural experiences while you
are abroad, and enrich your personal training.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
(5 marks)

5. The Academy of Language Studies started taking students intake in 2006

offering students a course on English for Professional Communication as their
first batch, followed by another programme, Bahasa Melayu for Professional
Communication in 2007.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
(5 marks)
6. The exchange of student programme shows that the course offered by ALS,
UiTM is among the programme that are on demand. This shows that the Bahasa
Melayu programme offered by ALS, UiTM has gained the attention from abroad
education universities.
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________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
(5 marks)

END OF TEST PAPER