10 hard WRITING questions for EXPERTS !

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>1) Bradely (insists how) the music (used in) the television commercial (cannot possible) be Gershwin's (composition), Rhapsody in Blue.</p>

<p>2) The professor suggested that her students (purchase) Fareed Zakaria's new book if they (have) not read his articles (when) they (appeared in) Newsweek</p>

<p>3) The chairman, after (conferring) with his (closest) aides, signaled (his) acceptance (on) the bill</p>

<p>4) The play contains four acts, (and each one of them commences with an identical setting at the beginning)</p>

<p>a) having an identical setting at the beginning of each
b) each of which commences with an identical setting</p>

<p>I got confused choosing one of these 2 answers, any explanation ?</p>

<p>5) Environmentalists will find it difficult to discover (which is most to blame for the disaster--the) company workers who dumped the chemicals or the mayor who allowed the dumping</p>

<p>a) who is to blame for this disaster, the
b) who is more to blame for the disaster--the</p>

<p>btw, what is the -- used for, is it like a ; ?</p>

<p>6) (Consumed in massive quantities for decades, Americans have only recently begun to limit their intake of sugar)</p>

<p>a) Americans, consuming massive quantities of it for decades, have only recently begun to limit their intake of sugar
b) Americans have only recently begun to limit their intake of sugar after having consumed it in massive quantities for decades</p>

<p>7) Shakespeare's lesser known plays, poems and sonnets must be analyzed.
Is the expression (lesser known) grammatically correct ?</p>

<p>8) Rather than view her glass as either half full or half empty, Renee chose to see it as (overflowing from) possibilities
why's the error in (overflowing from) ?</p>

<p>9) Janet sent Howard to Richard's camp (for the summer), (never dreaming) that three weeks (would go by) before (hearing from) Howard.
why's D wrong ?</p>

<p>10) After (many years) of dedicated raining, some martial artists are so skilled (in reacting at) any stimulus that they (can quickly) retaliate of attacked</p>

<p>sorry for all these questions, any effort is appreciated, thank you.</p>

2

<p>10) After (many years) of dedicated raining, some martial artists are so skilled (in reacting at) any stimulus that they (can quickly) retaliate of attacked
ans-D in reacting to instead of reacting at</p>

<p>9)[Let</a> me google that for you](<a href=“LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You”>LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You).</p>

<p>8) Not sure but i think it should be : Rather than view her glass as either half full or half empty, Renee chose to see it as (overflowing its) possibilities</p>

<p>7)Yes bcos it can be used as an adjective(like his lesser known poems etc…(hope u get it)</p>

<p>6)a) Americans, consuming massive quantities of it for decades, have only recently begun to limit their intake of sugar(wrong— what is the it refering to ?</p>

<p>b) Americans have only recently begun to limit their intake of sugar after having consumed it in massive quantities for decades( corerectly uses sugar and use it to refer to sugar)</p>

3

<ol>
<li>cannot possibly
2.had not read
3.to the bill</li>
<li>B, 95% of the time you cannot make a sentence better by using a verb with -ing in it
5.B, since the disaster isn’t mentioned yet, you can’t use “this” to improve the sentence, and no the – serves a very similar purpose as : …not ;
6.B, it would not makes sense to use “it” before that noun is established
7.YES
8.overflowing WITH</li>
<li>before she HEARD from Howard</li>
<li>it should be reacting TO</li>
</ol>

4

<p><a href=“Consumed%20in%20massive%20quantities%20for%20decades,%20Americans%20have%20only%20recently%20begun%20to%20limit%20their%20intake%20of%20sugar”>quote=mightygiant6)</a>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>And this, people, epitomizes why dangling modifiers are PERNICIOUS. I didn’t know that America was the home of cannibalism … :D.</p>

5

<p>IceQube: I thought the same thing…</p>

<p>I got all the same answers as the two people above, except for number 5. Can someone explain to me why the hyphen is a better and more grammatically correct answer?</p>

6

<p>for number 4, I thought that the original sentence was correct? What’s wrong with it? It avoids a comma splice by using a comma and a conjunction. So, can anyone explain to me why it is wrong as is?</p>

7

<p>For 1, “cannot possible” is a typo. The correct answer is “insists how”.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>Here’s #5</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>The original sentence used “most” incorrectly to compare two entities. The original sentence was obviously trying to say who deserved more blame. Therefore, answer choice A is incorrect as it distorts the meaning of the original sentence - A implies that one entity was completely to blame. So the hypen doesn’t really have anything to do with this sentence.</p>

<p>As far as hypens go, they can be used to set off phrases with emphasis. The hypen causes the reader to come to a rather abrupt pause. </p>

<p>Out of the three well-qualified candidates - Jon, Tom, and Jill - I am forced to choose only one. </p>

<p>His actions were not only unethical - they were deleterious, inimical, pernicious, and pugnacious.</p>

9

<p>anyone know the answer to my post regarding number 4?</p>

10

<p>^For number 4, is it B?
I didn’t choose to the given first of all because it was relatively awkward to say. “… and each one of them” is just way too long. That first let me know that this might not be the best choice (I still kept it open since it is still grammatically correct mind you)</p>

<p>When I read A, I knew it was definitely not that choice because this option is even more awkward than the given. </p>

<p>B fits best because it’s more concise and to the point. It’s also easier to say and understand. Usually when you use a modifier such as in the case of B, the sentence is much smoother and more easier to follow than using a comma + conjunction.</p>

<p>In certain instances for writing section problems, the error may be so subtle that you sometimes cannot find it. The best way to choose the answer is to find which one is the least awkward to say. Most of the time, the shortest one is the least awkward to say and the most concise but you still have to be wary for trick answers because the writers sometimes add a problem like that.</p>

11

<p>4 is definitely B</p>

12

<p>For 4, Option B is correct. ‘At the beginning’ should be eliminated,as it is redundant. ‘Commences’ means ‘begins’.</p>