Barron's 23rd edition, Test 1, Section 4, Question 5...Need help.

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I need help in justifying the answer to the following question.</p>

<p>Question:
Having an exceptionally hardy and well-preserved physique, NASA officials chose 77-year-old John Glenn to participate in a study of the effects of space weightlessness on the human body.</p>

<p>My reasoning:
Clearly, the error is in the description of the two nouns. John Glenn should follow the comma after the clause that describes him...presently, "NASA officials" is following the comma which is incorrect.</p>

<p>My answer:
Based on his exceptionally hardy and well-preserved physique, 77-year-old John Glenn was chosen by NASA officials...</p>

<p><em>even though this introduces a passive sentence, it solves the problem and is GRAMATICALLY correct...</em></p>

<p>Book answer:
Because his physique was exceptionally hardy and well-preserved, NASA officials chose 77-year-old John Glenn...</p>

<p><em>this retains the original problem</em></p>

<p>Book reasoning:
Error in modification and word order: The NASA officials do not necessarily have well-preserved physiques; John Glenn did.</p>

<p>Apparently, their justification is correct, but the answer doesn't adhere to it.</p>

<p>Am I right????</p>

2

<p>no lol the book answer is correct</p>

3

<p>Yes, you're right, both your answer and justification. Barrons goofed.</p>

4

<p>Well, I don't think they ever have passive sentences in their answers, but their answer is not grammatically incorrect anyway.</p>

<p>In the original, the subject is not named. The clause is describing the noun following it, which is "NASA officials." Your reasoning for this is correct.</p>

<p>However, this problem does not exist in the correct answer. There IS a subject in the clause they use. "His physique" is named as the subject, with the antecedent for "his" appearing later in the sentence (which is allowable). The clause is no longer modifying anything outside the clause, which was the problem in the original. The description within the clause is modifying the subject named in the clause. The ambiguity is removed, without using a passive phrasing.</p>

5

<p>ahh RKI.. do you think that the Barron's 23rd edition book is harder than the real SAT</p>

6

<p>i'm taking the SAT for the first time in October..
as far as my preparation goes, i find barrons to be the hardest but not that much harder than princeton review..</p>

<p>i hope that comparison helps.</p>