<p>These are questions from The Ultimate Guide to SAT grammar.
1. Located on the outskirts of Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico, White Oaks had become a boomtown following the discovery of silver and gold in the nearby Jicarilla Mountains in 1879.
The answer key states had become is changed to became. Can someone explain this? I don't understand when we should use "had" or just simple past tense
2. The Ethiopian wolf, the only species of wolf native in Africa, can be identified by its distinctive red coat and black and white tail.
The answer key states native in Africa is changed to native to Africa. When do we use native to and when do we use native of?
Thanks!</p>
<ol>
<li>the past perfect tense “had” is usually used to describe an event that happened before something else. The place became a boomtown AFTER the discovery of gold. Therefore, “had” is not the correct tense.</li>
<li>‘in’ is the idiom problem here. You can use either “native of” and “native to” but it would make the most sense under these circumstances:</li>
</ol>
<p>The animal, a native of Africa… (native of is used as a noun)</p>
<p>BUT</p>
<p>The animal is native to Africa… (native to is used as an adjective)</p>
<p>I don’t think the SAT will test grammar this specifically though. You just have to know that “native in” is the incorrect idiom. </p>
<p>Thanks for the help! But I’m still confused about past perfect. In the blue book, one question reads: “Because the flood has made the bridge inaccessible to automobiles and pedestrians alike, we had rented a small boat to reach the island.” “Had rented” would be incorrect because the flood occurred before they rented the boat?</p>
<p>And another question reads “The Red Cross workers had not expected refugees from the flooded plain to be as desperate and undernourished as those whom they had seen earlier in the week.” Why is there no error? Why isn’t “had not expected” incorrect when it came after the flood?</p>
<p>Yeah, I have the book also and some of the tense problems are really picky. </p>
<p>The people rented the boat AFTER the flood happened. “had” is referring to when the boat was rented. The flood is just a point of reference. </p>
<p>I’m not sure about the second one. This is an iffy question because it’s a comparison sentence. I’ve never seen an SAT grammar question contain two past perfects, so I wouldn’t worry about it. </p>
<p>You need to untangle the events as they occurred. </p>
<p>(1) The flood happened. (2) Early in the week, the Red Cross workers saw a first group of refugees. (3) The Red Cross workers presumably got news that there would be more refugees, and (4) they predicted that the new refugees would be less desperate than the first group of refugees. (5) The new group of refugees arrived, and the Red Cross workers saw their true condition.</p>
<p>4 happens before 5, so it must be written using “had.” For some reason you were reading the sequence as 4,1.</p>