IV. Writing mechanics and processes

Revise the following sentences from Hodge's Harbrace College Handbook as necessary to correct faults and/or to improve emphasis and clarity. Put a check mark in front of any sentence that needs no revision.

40. Our personalities are shaped by both heredity and what type of environment we have.

41. Dennis finally left home. Earnestly seeking to become an individual in his own right.

42. Some of them had never seen an automobile, the war had bred familiarity with aircraft.

43. I have two main pet peeves; jokes that are pointless and animals that get on furniture.

44. Doesn't it make sense?

45. Having taken his seat, we began to question the witness.

46. On the Queen Mary from New York to London, Eleanor said she was so bored that she read all three books of Dante's The Divine Comedy!

47. The motor in my car blew up, as a result, I had to use the city bus for a month.

48. The downtown streets are narrow, rough, and dirty.

49. Are Mitch and (they, them) still looking for a job?

50. The orchid needs particular soil microbes those microbes vanished when the virgin prairie was plowed.

51. When the mining machines rumbled away, the ruined mountain was left barren and ugly.

52. Our class enjoyed writing autobiography compositions.

53. An engagement is not a marriage a family quarrel is not a broken home.

54. It was so noisy I couldn't hardly hear myself think.

55. The explosion only killed one person.

56. If I were you, I would apply tomorrow.

57. There are four is and four ss in Mississippi.

58. Americans now speak of Spain as though it were just across the river.

59. Spelling errors involving the substitution of d for t in such words as partner and pretty reflect a tendency in pronunciation.

60. The consumers better listen to these warnings.