Adjectivals

Revise the following sentences to eliminate the broad reference which.

• The Buffalo Sabres lost to the Florida Panthers last night, which places their chance at the playoffs in jeopardy.
• The first snowstorm of the season in Denver was both early and severe, which was not what the weather service had predicted.

Determine whether the modifiers in the following sentences are participial phrases (make bold) or relative clauses (italicize). Then, punctuate accordingly based on whether they are restrictive (defining) or non-restrictive (commenting).

• Many coal miners who work in West Virginia refused to approve two sections of the contract offered by management. They maintain that the sections covering wages and safety represent no improvement over their present contract which expires on Friday.
• The senator and her husband who was sitting next to her on the speaker’s platform both looked calm as they waited for the mayor to finish the introductions. Then the mayor turning to look directly at the senator shocked both the audience and the listeners on the platform.

Combine the groups of sentences into single sentences by embedding some of the ideas as modifiers (both adverbial an adjectival). You may have to make some other changes in the wording.

1. The computer has revolutionized the storage and retrieval of fingerprints. Fingerprints have been used for criminal identification since 1891. A police officer in Argentina introduced the method.
2. The highest incidence of colon cancer in the United States occurs in the Northeast. The Northeast also has the highest levels of acid rain. Cancer researchers suspect that there is a causal link between the two.
3. Influenza, or flu, is a viral infection. It begins as an upper respiratory infection and then spreads to other parts of the body. Flu causes aches and pains in the joints.