<p>This is from ACT Test 71C (June 2013):</p>
<p>"...She wrote down four stanzas of the poem in her notebook, however, she was not pleased with this attempt and <strong><em>set it aside</em></strong>."</p>
<p>A. NO CHANGE
B. sat them beside
C. set it sideways
D. sat is aside</p>
<p>I chose D. but apparently the correct answer is A. An explanation for why would be immensely appreciated. </p>
<p>B is wrong, because “them” refers to a plural. There’s only one notebook.</p>
<p>I can’t give you a grammatical reason why C is wrong, but I have never heard anyone set their notebook “sideways”. In this case, A is just a better answer.</p>
<p>In D, there is no subject.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I assume D should read “sat it aside,” in which case “it” is an object (not a subject).</p>
<p>You’re just looking at the difference between sit and sat. With a few exceptions, “sit” is an intransitive verb that refers to the act of resting in a chair-like manner. “set” is a transitive verb that refers to putting an object to rest. You can sit by the window, but you set a notebook aside. So D is just the wrong verb choice.</p>
<p>Note that the past tense of “set” is also set."</p>
<p>A simpler, but equivalent sentence might make it more obvious:</p>
<p>She took her attempt and [set it aside].</p>
<p>‘It’ refers to ‘her attempt’.</p>
<p>Thanks guys, makes sense now</p>