Crazy hard writing questions. For crazy smart CC-ers. :)

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I had a pretty bad SAT day considering how I utterly failed my grammar section (even though I usually do really well! But I checked the charts and found out this had one of the hardest grammar sections.. so it kind of made me feel better. But bleh. I still feel crummy)</p>

<ol>
<li>Do all verbs in a sentence must match in verb form?</li>
</ol>

<p>Sounds pretty obvious at first, but here is an example where it disagrees with what people generally answer:</p>

<p>"Teddy bears COMFORTED and AMUSED children throughout the twentieth century, and they WILL BE CHERISHED by those born in the future as well".</p>

<p>Whoa. Did I just see a future tense.. in a general past tense sentence. WHAT THE HECK? </p>

<ol>
<li>Parallelism</li>
</ol>

<p>Seems simple enough. VERB, VERB, VERB and yadda. But how about something with a magically added adjective? How could this work?</p>

<p>In researching an individual's life, the biographer must sift through facts, opinions, untruths, and ((different accounts of the same events)).</p>

<p>(A) different accounts of the same events
(B) different people telling different accounts of the same events
(C) events told in different ways by different people
(D) accounts about events that are different
(E) people that tell different accounts of events</p>

<p>Every single answer starts with a noun in this noun parallelism. Which is better? I don't know. Can someone explain why each answer does not satisfy the rules of grammar? Cuz some sound a bit wordy, but heck they mostly sound fine to me!</p>

<ol>
<li>Modification</li>
</ol>

<p>The Ambiguous Pronoun 'it' just bugs me sometimes because apparently it is "ambiguous". I read these grammar books and their errors are blatantly OBVIOUS. But sadly the SAT doesn't test that. This is the kind this company tests:</p>

<p>By using electromagnetic sensors (to record) the frequency of lighting strikes (throughout) the United States, meteorologists have (determined that) (it occurs) at the rate of 2,000 per hour. (No Error)</p>

<p>First of all, many people say that it can refer to many antecedents. Um.. actually I only see one singular antecedent and it's FREQUENCY. Then silverturtle responded that "it cannot logically refer to a "frequency" because a frequency does not occur at a rate; it is the rate.". My question is just, Not only do I have to remember vocal, I also have to remember that frequency does not occur at a rate.. Therefore it cannot be.. BLAH BLAH BLAH. Seriously guys? I need a more practical advice (nothing personal silverturtle, but my brain is SMALL AND PATHETIC. ;p)</p>

<ol>
<li>Plural Verbs</li>
</ol>

<p>It was obvious that all of the candidates had planned (carefully) for this televised debate, (for each) (answer to) the opening question showed evidence of (having been) rehearsed.</p>

<p>HAVING BEEN is plural. BUt the subject is singular. My head is exploding in confusement. WHAT WHAT WHAT???</p>

<p>(To those of us) who (had heard) the principal of the high school talk (about) the budget, the news of the staff cuts (was not) surprising. (No error)</p>

<p>News is plural in this one. This is completely bull crap and arbitrary. Seriously, it can work both plurally and singularly. PLEASE CC-ERS PROVE ME WRONG. I'M SO MAD AT THE SAT FOR THROWING THIS QUESTION ON THE TEST. </p>

<p>last question!!!!
(Because European filmmaking all but shut down during the First World War is the reason why) the film industry in the United States rose to prominence.</p>

<p>A)...
B) Because European filmmaking all but shut down during the First World War,
C) European filmmaking all but shut down during the First World War,
D) With European filmmaking close to shutting down during the First World War, so
E) The fact that European filmmaking nearly shut down during the First World War is why</p>

<p>CB, what the heck? Can someone detaily explain each answer</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>You may change tense when the sentence has a clear signal of time change.</p></li>
<li><p>Modifiers don’t affect parallelism UNLESS the parallel phrases are adj or adv phrases. N and V phrases can have as many or as few modifiers in them as you like and need not be consistent in that way.</p></li>
<li><p>Silverturtle is right and yeah, you have to figure that out to get the question right. Not an easy pron. question.</p></li>
<li><p>“having been” is not plural! “Having been asleep for six hours, Jesse was unaware that his Chihuahua had been made into a smoothie.” NEWS, however, can NEVER be plural on the SAT. NEVER.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>Oh, and that last one: “the reason why” and “because” are redundant, so (A) is wrong. (B) is right because it solves that problem and demonstrates good coordination: Dependent clause + comma + independent clause. (C) is a comma splice. (D) uses “with” wrong (implies coincidence not causation, but the “so” in the second clause shows causation). (E) “the fact is why” is wrong.</p>

4

<p>Thank you so much marvin!!! It helped a lot :)</p>

5

<ol>
<li>“Teddy bears comforted and amused children throughout the 20th century, and they cherished/were cherished by those born in the future as well.”</li>
</ol>

<p>^
That doesn’t sound right, now does it? </p>

<hr>

<ol>
<li>I don’t think it’s a hard question. You don’t really have to “remember” it, so much as you have to “understand” it. </li>
</ol>

<p>What is a frequency? “The rate at which something occurs or is repeated over a particular period of time or in a given sample.” So, it wouldn’t be logical to say that the “frequency of lightning strikes occurs at 2000 lightning strikes per hour!” Rather, one could opt for “they occur at a rate of 2000 per hour” (with “they” being the lightning strikes) or “lightning strikes occur at a frequency of 2000 per hour.”</p>

6

<p>thanks for clarifying some more! :D</p>