<p>Anyone know where I can find a list of diction and idiom errors on the writing portion? They're pesky things that are keeping my score down!!</p>
<p>Diction -
Barron's SAT II Writing
Cliffs SAT II Writing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
SparkNotes "The New SAT" : Listing all possible idioms you might see on the SAT would take up the rest of this book and is a pretty low-yield investment strategy, since you wont see more than a couple of questions at most.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>One way to locate idioms quickly is to look at the prepositional phrases since most of the idioms on this test involve wrong prepositions. Example: My friend is insensitive of my problems. Corrected: insensitive to my problems.
If you are a native speaker, you already know the English idioms. Non-native speakers usually struggle since there are no rules governing idioms. You just know them or you don't. So- look at the preposition and it one seems wrong and you can replace it with one that sounds better, you probably have found an idiom error.</p>
<p>Common diction errors:
the reason is because
plus being
in regards to
opposite to
being that (as in: Being that I'm a girl, I like to buy shoes)</p>
<p>hth</p>
<p>
[quote]
One way to locate idioms quickly is to look at the prepositional phrases
[/quote]
- this is a very helpful tip.
Unfortunately, an idiom may assume a non-standard form when used in colloquial speech. It's not easy to determine then whether a form used in a sentence is correct.</p>
<p>This question from March 2005 test was hard for many test takers:
[quote]
The famous filmmaker had a tendency <a href="A">b</a>** of changing <a href="B">b</a>** his recollections, perhaps out of boredom <a href="C">b</a>** at having <a href="D">b</a>** to tell interviewers the same story over and over. No error <a href="E">b</a>**<a href="The%20test%20is%20offered%20as%20a%20free%20practice%20test%20on%20College%20Board%20website.">/quote</a></p>
<p>=========================================
Ironically, some SAT prep books writers make the very same mistakes they teach you to recognize or avoid.
That quote from SparkNotes is a good example:
[quote]
Listing all possible idioms you might see on the SAT would take up the rest of this book and is a pretty low-yield investment strategy, since you wont see more than a couple of questions at most.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>thx...
was the cb free test idiom q's anwser C? bored from? I'm a native speaker, but I just never catch the errors when I read through a problem- I usually pick out another "problem" that actually has nothing wrong with it</p>
<p>I would have said the answer wa B, what is the real answer?</p>
<p>I'm going to take a stab and guess "D", as "at" doesn't seem like the correct preposition.</p>
<p>The second part of the sentence isn't written well at all, so it's hard to tell where the exact error is.</p>
<p>its (D) , ...out of boredom from...</p>
<p>The question about the "famous filmmaker" was rated 5 for difficulty by the SAT people, on a one-to-five scale, where 5 is the most difficult. The official correct answer is B, which is to say that the words "of changing" (in the phrase "a tendency of changing") contain the error. What is the officially right way to say it? When we're trying to follow standard usage, we say "Rodney has a TENDENCY TO TALK without taking a breath," "that kid has a TENDENCY TO SPILL," and "the filmmaker had a TENDENCY TO CHANGE his recollections."</p>
<p>The question is a bit fiendish, because choice D ("at having" in the phrase "perhaps out of boredom AT HAVING to tell ") looks like it could contain an error. But in fact we do use "at" pretty commonly after certain words describing emotional reactions. "I remember his astonishment AT the success of the video." "She got sidetracked by her indignation AT being labeled a Martian." So even though choice D looks suspicious, it's actually good grammar.</p>
<p>yaya, I got it right hahaha. I've been practicing writing, I'm aiming for +750.</p>
<p>hey any1 know why this one is no error? Shouldn't it be Inquisitive readers? </p>
<p>Watkins believes that the decline of the essay in the United States today is largely due to the decreasing number of inquiring readers.</p>