Doubts from "Barron's 2400 Club Grand Mixture" - Writing Section

<p>Question 1.
It's difficult to imagine how one can contrive of vivid, picturesque details about an exotic and distant place that he has never once visited. </p>

<p>The answer is Contrive --> Conceive. But is "he" used appropriately in the above sentence? Or should it be he ---> one, or he--->he/she.</p>

<p>Question 2.
Large, lush geraniums in sunny reds and bright corals cascade down from the third-floor balcony, reaching three and four feet toward the earth.</p>

<p>Answer is 'No Error'. But isnt' "toward" incorrect. Toward--->Towards?</p>

<p>Question 3.
Likewise it should not construct an image of perfection: daily routines that are perfectly planned, neatly wrapped, prepackaged, and leisurely waiting its flawless execution.
A. As it is now.
B. And, all the while, leisurely awaiting their flawless execution.
C. And leisurely waiting execution, flawlessly.
D. And leisurely waiting their flawless execution
E. And, with leisure, awaiting its flawless execution.</p>

<p>Answer is 'D'. But shouldn't the correct term be "awaiting" or "waiting for"?</p>

<p>One is third person. Barron’s is getting sexist b/c one could refer to he OR she.
Hmm. So would the College Board make questions that discriminate on certain gender?</p>

<p>Toward and towards are both acceptable. They mean the same thing.</p>

<p>I don’t know about Question 3… Sorry.</p>

<p>Question. 4
According to their recollections, the seaside resort offered leisurely summer days to take in natural beauty, to eat fresh food, and to escape the responsibilities of everyday life.</p>

<p>The answer ‘Their’ —> Lacks an antecedent. Do you think this is a valid error? I mean, it’s a sentence. It could be picked up right from a paragraph. Unless it doesn’t have an ambiguous pronoun, which it doesn’t, I don’t think that ‘lacking an antecedent’ is a warranted error. Or is it?</p>

<p>

So is “he” incorrect? Would you mark it as wrong in the real exam? :/</p>

<p>He is correctly referring back to one. But I think this question is subject to a lawsuit if it appears in the real exam b/c only including he will spur up some female dissenters like LuciferLied. So a more politically correct answer would be he/she. Anyhow, he is grammatically correct and I would mark it as correct.</p>

<p>All right thanks. I added question number 4 too. Please have a look! Thanks!</p>

<p>Is Question 4 the only sentence? Is it a part of paragraph correction?</p>

<p>If Question 4 is not part of the paragraph correction, but one of those spot-the-error questions, their refers to nothing as you’ve said; although we could infer that their could refer to vacationers, we have to make an assumption. </p>

<p>Therefore the error in the sentence that you’ve gave me is their.</p>

<p>In the SAT, we have to take things literally and analytically as Adam Robinson put it in his book Rocket Review.</p>

<p>By your thesis, in “They are hard-working.” ‘they’ is incorrect? Are you totally sure about this?</p>

<p>

If that sentence stands alone, and if you focus within the context of the SAT, then yes. “They” are ambiguous. It doesn’t refer to a clear antecedent. You can assume that “they” are students. “They” may be employees, though. “They” may be athletes, too.</p>