A Very Hard Writing Question (for me) Indeed

Test Preparation
1

<p>Although he played a leading role in planning spacecraft expeditions, Dr. Carl Sagan refused to accept praise for the plans he designed nor otherwise profiting from later advancements in space exploration.</p>

<p>A. designed nor otherwise profiting
B. had designed nor otherwise did he profit
C. has designed nor otherwise to have profited
D. designed or otherwise profited
E. had designed or otherwise to profit</p>

<p>I'll post the correct answer tomorrow, I really want to know why the correct answer is the one it is, until then try and see if you can figure it out without knowing the answer. Thanks,</p>

2

<p>D seems right to me. But I'm usually wrong. Why'd you post this? Now I'm going to dream about this</p>

3

<p>I second D</p>

4

<p>D has good parallelism.</p>

5

<p>D should be correct. The prallelism works very well.</p>

6

<p>I actually think E because it means he refused to profit from whatever advances came from his work. Put a mental comma, and it's clearer (though not grammatically necessary), as in "He refused to accept praise for the plans he had designed*,* or otherwise to profit from later advancements..." Cut out superfluous stuff, and it reads, "He refused...to profit from later advancements."</p>

<p>D is the gut instinct because it's concise, but then "profit" would continue what he did. It would read, "He refused to accept praise for the plans he designed or profited from later advancements..." As in, he didn't want to be commended for profiting from later advancements. Cutting stuff out, it's very strange, "He refused to accept praise for the plans he...profited from later advancements." So I vote E. Was that the answer?</p>

7

<p>I think I know this one. I remember this was CB's Question of the day a while back, and if I remember correctly, I got it wrong at first.</p>

<p>I think the key here is to seperate the sentences and judge them individually:
for example, would you say</p>

<p>A. "Carl Sagan refused PROFITING from later advancement in space exploration"? No, that's obviously not right.</p>

<p>B. Carl Sagan refused PROFIT from later advancement in space exploration"? Sounds OK.</p>

<p>C. Carl Sagan refused TO HAVE PROFITED from later advancement in space exploration"? Obviously wrong tenses.</p>

<p>D. Carl Sagan refused PROFITED from later advancement in space exploration"? No way.</p>

<p>E. Carl Sagan refused TO PROFIT from later advancement in space exploration"? Sounds OK.</p>

<p>So now you're down to 2 that sound OK, B and E. Since "had designed" is the same in both, the problem must lie with how he refused to profit --
E makes more sense because it follows the structure of the sentence; you're saying </p>

<p>CARL SAGAN REFUSED TO ACCEPT PRAISE FOR HIS PLANS
CARL SAGAN REFUSED TO PROFIT</p>

<p>With B on the other hand though, what you're basically saying is</p>

<p>CARL SAGAN REFUSED TO ACCEPT PRAISE FOR HIS PLANS
CARL SAGAN DID NOT PROFIT</p>

<p>And you say this without cleanly transitioning - Carl Sagan goes from doing doing an action, REFUSING, to "not profitting". It's not a good structure.</p>

<p>E on the other hand is clean - he refuses praise, he refuses profit.
I think it's E.</p>

8

<p>I agree with D. Wasn't this in the official guide?</p>

9

<p>Wow, obsessedAndre, you led 'em through the whole process. But that's what I was getting at.</p>

10

<p>I second answer choice E. For the sake of parallelism, you must say that he both refused "to accept" and refused "to profit."</p>

11

<p>I agree with E. What's the answer?!?!</p>

12

<p>its E for sure...the rest dont make sense</p>

13

<p>since so many people rsponded so quickly, i'lll just go ahead and say the answer is indeed E.</p>

<p>my biggest problem accpeting E (over B) is that when i read it in a sentence it just doesnt make sense like B does..</p>

<p>B is Carl Sagan refused to accept praise nor did he profit
E is Carl Sagan refused to accept praise or otherwise to profit from later advancements</p>

<p>the "or otherwise to profit" just does not make sense to me, it does not seem to convey that he refused to profit from later advancements.. sorry i can't explain well, it just sounds too awkward and doesnt convey the meaning it should in my ears..</p>

14

<p>First off, if B was the answer, a comma would be necessary, because "nor otherwise did he" would be a second clause. It would have to be "Carl Sagan refused to accept praise, nor did he profit." </p>

<p>But that in itself doesn't even make sense, beause 'nor' is not the proper conjunction. "he refused" is a positive action, and 'nor' is only used with negated actions. If the sentence was, "Carl Sagan did not accept praise, nor did he proft," or if it was "Carl Sagan refused praise, and he did not profit..." it would be properly formatted. </p>

<p>If you break down the proper answer, it isn't so awkward. Think of it this way:</p>

<p>Carl Sagan refused [to accept praise...he had invented] or [to profit from later...]. You see, it flows into from Sagan refusing to accept praise to him refusing to profit. The other verbs "profit" could be paired with just don't make sense.</p>

15

<p>ooops! E it is....I didn't even read answer question E...I have a habit of just seeing what I think is correct and then zooming on to the next question...</p>

16

<p><em>agrees with the users above on D</em></p>

17

<p>For those of you choosing D, can you explain why? I don't see how the answer is anything but E, and I think somebody already confirmed it is indeed E.</p>

18

<p>it's E
I missed 1 on the real SAT Writing section so I'm hoping this doesn't make me look like a fool...</p>

19

<p>The answer should be E.</p>

<p>I think obsessedAndre's sentence:</p>

<p>"E on the other hand is clean - he refuses praise, he refuses profit."</p>

<p>should basically sum up why the answer is just that.</p>

20

<p>yeah, i dont see how D could've have made sense at all. i would've picked E from the start, and B is the only other one that remotely makes sense. but D?</p>