Essential PSAT/SAT Writing Q's

Test Preparation
1

<p>I know that there are a lot of questions, but any help would be much appreciated... thanks</p>

<p>1.) is it ever correct to say "Neither...or" or "Either...nor"</p>

<p>2.) Is "opposite to" ever grammatically correct at the start of a sentence</p>

<p>3.) Does the writing MC permit using commas to link near-distinct clauses
eg. "Tilda especially liked to work with flake <i>white, she</i> used it as the base paint in developing the sparkling grey tones she favored in her seascapes."</p>

<p>4.) He was """somewhat""" uncertain about """how to use""" the new machine and """asked for""" """more specific""" instructions to be sent. (or, "No Error")</p>

<p>I correctly bubbled "to gather" as the error, but I no longer remember why. Maybe "to gather" is not the correct answer and just forgot to mark it off when I scored the test (i've since lost the answer key).</p>

<p>5.) I think that I understand the logic behind this question, but i'm not completely sure:<br>
According to 1974 census reports, """"the population of Tokyo was larger than that of any other city in the world except New York.""""
A As it is now
B. the population of Tokyo was larger than the population of any city in the world except for New York's
C. Tokyo had the largest population of any of the world's other cities except New York</p>

<p>correct answer: "A", but I chose "B" when I took it. I now see that "A" probably fits best, but why is B and C necessarily wrong.</p>

<p>I'm not sure if these are real CollegeBoard questions because they were given to me in a plaintext printout. But in the event that they are "real" questions, note that both #4 & 5 have been slightly altered.</p>

2

<p>1) no. NO. never.
2) never seen it in my questions, and i doubt it.
3) no conjunction there - the sentence would have to have a ; or a -, but a comma is not enough. it's a comma splice for sure.
4) to gather? i don't even see that as one of your options.
5) i chose A before i looked at your answers, i think probably because the "population" used twice in B sounds redundant, and the yorks' of "except for new york's" sounds kinda awkward, and C doesn't quite mean the same thing. tokyo wouldn't have a population of other cities, you're <em>comparing</em> populations, so you have to have than or some word like that.</p>

<p>i hope that helps. i'm going to take the psat too, on sat. ARGHHHH nervous</p>