Help me with 2 writing questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<li><p>Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is the story of a nameless young Black man who ultimately decides to forge his own identity rather than accept the one assigned to him. No error </p></li>
<li><p>Of ancient origin, the game of checkers was played in Egypt during the time of the pharaohs and is mentioned in the writings of Homer and Plato. No error </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I chose “rather than accept” because I thought it had to be “rather than to accept.” CB says no error and the reason the answer I chose is wrong is b/c: “There is no error at (C). The phrase “rather than” is an idiomatic phrase that serves as a conjunction meaning “and not.” It correctly connects the two phrases “forge his own identity” and “accept the one assigned to him.’” I thought it had to be TO accept because it was TO forge?</p>

<p>I chose “is mentioned” b/c I thought it should be “was mentioned” since Plato and Homer are both dead… But CB says no error again and the reason “is mentioned” is right is b/c: “There is no error at (D). The singular helping verb “is” agrees in number with the singular subject “game,” and the past participle “mentioned” is the appropriate verb form to create the present tense of a passive verb (“is mentioned”).”</p>

<p>Can anyone explain these two to me? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>i chose the exact answers u chose for the exact reason…
i don see why both of those would be no errors…</p>

3

<p>You have both of the explanations written there…</p>

<p>For the second one, it’s not past tense because the writings are still around today. It COULD be past tense, but present also works.</p>

4

<p>For any writings, it is considered to be present as they still exist. Plato and Homer mentionED (past tense), but their writings mention (present). </p>

<p>For the first one, IIRC (90% sure), rather than is never followed by “to” if the main clause is an infinitive with a “to” already.</p>

5

<p>Ok thanks :D</p>

6

<p>Out of several hundreds of questions – I think that was the first time they ever really tested present tense in writing. </p>

<p>Were these hard problems?</p>

7

<p>I think medium</p>

8

<p>They call it Literary Present Tense. Characters never died because you can start over and they live again. Just the same for history the Grand Canyon is beautiful-not was because it still is. That is why I am going to write a book about myself-I can live forever.</p>