ERWC Racial Profiling

Exercise 2: Identifying passive verbs Directions: Underline the subjects and double underline the passive verbs in the guided composition. Put parentheses ( ) around the “by” phrases that indicate the agent.

1. According to Bob Herbert, ethnic profiling is practiced by law-enforcement personnel throughout the country.

2. From 1992 to 1995, 42,000 mostly Black or Hispanic people were arrested for loitering.

3. In 1999 the loitering law was declared unconstitutional.

4. In many parts of the country in the 1990’s, black and Hispanic motorists were also pulled over simply because of their race.

5. In New York, 45,000 people were stopped and frisked, but only 10,000 were arrested.

6. The director of the ACLU claimed, “Virtually everybody who was arrested is innocent, and virtually everybody is not white.”

7. Loitering laws can help to curb gang activity, but these laws may also be used to harass innocent people.

8. Most Americans have no idea how much racial profiling is carried out by the police.

9. Bob Herbert believes that citizens, as a result, are often humiliated by the police.

10. A strong stand must be taken against the use of racial profiling.

Exercise 3: Changing active verbs to passive verbs Directions: Rewrite the following sentences on a separate piece of paper changing active to passive voice and indicate how the focus of the sentence changes. If you include the agent in your rewrite, put the “by” phrase in parentheses ( ).

1. In many parts of the country, law enforcement personnel pulled over black and Hispanic motorists simply because of their race.

Example: In many parts of the country, black and Hispanic motorists were pulled over simply because of their race.

Active sentence focus: law enforcement personnel Passive sentence focus: black and Hispanic motorists

2. In New York, the police stopped and frisked 45,000 people, but they only arrested 10,000. 3. The police only stopped people who were not innocent. 4. The extent of race-based profiling is unknown by most Americans. 5 People were told to move on and were arrested if they failed to move. 6. But the police are supposed to protect citizens, not humiliate them.

Exercise 4: Identifying modals and their meanings Based on a student essay on Racial Profiling

Directions: Read the following paragraphs from a student essay about racial profiling. Double underline the complete verb phrases in the passage; circle the modals and phrasal modals.

Because of their position of authority, police may use their authority to shame members of minority groups. Statistics show that a police officer is more likely to pull over a black man for speeding than a white man. When someone is judged by skin color or accent, it can be shameful and humiliating. It’s not fair; it’s not equal; it’s not just. Police officers should protect and serve everyone, not just white people.

If people are judged daily by skin color and nationality, unity will cease to exist.

How can people unite if they cannot look past the surface? Racial profiling may be the greatest cause of division among Americans. “United we stand, but divided we fall.” If

America cannot look past its differences, this problem could become worse. If that happens, America, the land of the great, will fall.

Directions: Fill in the chart below with the verb phrases that have modals or phrasal modals. Indicate the meaning of the modal or phrase modal in the second column.

Verb Phrase with Modal/Phrasal Modal Meaning 1. may use ability 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.