<p>For Improving Paragraphs in Meltzer's practice book, I found.</p>
<p>"<full suits="" of="" plate="" armor="" were="" not="" developed=""> until the Middle Ages were almost over"</full></p>
<p>Improved to</p>
<p>"<full suits="" of="" plate="" armor,="" however,="" did="" not="" develop=""> until the Middle Ages were almost over."</full></p>
<p>This killed me. How can a product develop? I thought armor would "be developed"
Does this sound right? </p>
<p>"Spaceships did not develop until the 20th century."</p>
<p>I would expect something like </p>
<p>"Engineers did not develop spaceships until the 20th century."
or
"Spaceships were not developed until the 20th century. "</p>
<p>Are they all correct?
Thanks guys. I hate Improving Paragraphs.</p>
<p>That’s a poor question. It’s trying to test the “style” principle that passive voice is less preferable than active voice, but doing so in a way that isn’t representative of the SAT in reality.</p>
<p>That said, the principle is tested and is worth knowing.</p>
<p>Actually, in context, there should have been “however” thrown in there somewhere, and that was why the sentence needed improving. So choices aside, I would have said </p>
<p>"<however, full="" suits="" of="" plate="" armor="" were="" not="" developed=""> until the Middle Ages were almost over"</however,></p>
<p>But that wasn’t in the choices so I picked,</p>
<p>"<in spite="" of="" this,="" full="" suits="" place="" armor="" had="" not="" been="" developed=""> until the Middle Ages were almost over."</in></p>
<p>I’m not sure if that was wrong because I should not have used past perfect. But the reasoning seems to be that saying </p>
<p>“Full suits of armor, however, did not develop”
is shorter than
“In spite of this… blah blah blah”</p>
<p>Even so, COME ON. Armor did not develop? What the heck?</p>
<p>Blacksmiths are the ones developing stuff, not armor!</p>