Page 70 - SpringBoard_Writing_Workshop_Grade8_Flipbook

has had almost no impact at all (O’Connor D1). This may be surprising, but in fact, it My Notes seems that banning soda is not enough. It’s only a half-step that “removes sodas from
schools but not Snapple, Gatorade, and other sugary drinks” (O’Connor D1). In fact,
many young people avoid drinking sodas like Coke, but regularly drink “sports drinks
and energy drinks that are not covered by the soda-only ban” (Park).
The facts are clear; more needs to be done. All beverages that contain high amounts of sugar should be removed from schools, even if this means losing the money that schools make off of their sale. More schools should be like the ones in the Eula Independent School District in Texas. There, students are told that sodas purchased outside the school are not allowed in their cafeterias (“Eula Schools”).
Also, if school is the only place where young people are discouraged from drinking unhealthy beverages, it seems unlikely that we’ll ever really put a stop to the obesity crisis. The study that showed students shifting to different sugary drinks also warned about other ways that students make up for school-based bans. While students who were not heavy soda users did drink less due to bans, heavy drinkers made up for the bans “with increased consumption outside of school” (Park). This is not to say that soda bans should be abandoned. Instead, we need to do more, expanding the bans to more sugary beverages and looking for ways to discourage children and teens from drinking these drinks in their free time. The country faces a genuine health crisis that is threatening our youth. This is no time for half measures.
Works Cited
“Childhood Overweight and Obesity.” CDC: Overweight and Obesity. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. 7 June 2012. Web. 4 April 2013.
O’Connor, Anahad. “Soda Bans in Schools Have Limited Impact.” New York Times.
7 November 2011. D1. Print.
Park, Madison. “Are School Soda Bans Effective?” The Chart. CNN.com. 8 November
2011. Web. 3 April 2013.
“Eula Schools Student Handbook.” Eula Independent School District. n.d. Web.
4 April 2013.
After Reading
Language and Writer’s Craft: Avoiding Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
We use modifying phrases to add information to sentences. For example:
Before the storm, the sky was quite clear.
The prepositional phrase “before the storm” modifies the noun “the
sky,” providing more information. A good way to show exactly what the prepositional phrase is modifying is to make sure the phrase is as close to that word as possible, especially in a complex sentence. Two mistakes that writers should avoid are misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers.
Misplaced Modifiers
This error occurs when a phrase is incorrectly placed in a sentence so that it appears to modify the wrong word. Usually, this is because the modifying phrase is placed too close to that wrong word or phrase. For example:
The squirrel looked at the girl eating his acorn.
Either this scene presents an unusual snack choice, or the writer needs to revise this sentence. Here are two ways to move the modifying phrase so that it is no longer misplaced:
Eating his acorn, the squirrel looked at the girl. The squirrel, eating his acorn, looked at the girl.
Writing Workshop 6 • Research Writing 3
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.