Recently downloaded some blank tests from the Official SAT study guide blue book just to refresh and get my mind in the mood for tests.
I was doing a writing section, and out of 35 questions I got 5 wrong. I want to aim for about 2-3 wrong in the 35 question part. But I always seem to miss 5-7.
Anyways, here were some questions I had.
The reason first novels are so often their writers’ best work (is that it draws upon) all the experiences of childhood.
A) is that is draws upon
B) is that these first efforts draw upon
C) is because of these first efforts drawing from
D) is because of them drawing upon
E) is their drawing from
I went with choice D because it sounded correct to me. The actual answer choice is B, can someone give me an explanation as to why it’s B?
Lions and tigers (may be) identical in size, (but) the tiger is (the fiercer) animal and the lion (the strongest). No error
A B C D E
I just guessed and went for answer choice A. Answer key said that it was D. Is there a certain grammar rule to that? Please explain.
First of all, “sounded correct” is a very poor approach. The test is designed to make things that are wrong “sound correct.”
But it can’t be (D) because “drawing” is a gerund, and gerunds require genitive (possessive) pronouns (“their drawing upon”).
Yes–when you compare two things, you must use “-er” adjectives (comparatives) rather than “-est” adjectives (superlatives). “-est” words are for comparisons of more than two things.
You should probably bone up on the rules; it seems like your current method is “play it by ear” or “guess,” and both of these questions are very easy when you know the rules.
@marvin100
Thanks for the explanations!
I’ve learned most of the rules for the Error Identification (the 18 question middle part). There’s a couple of them like this one that I haven’t completely got accustomed to.
As for the improving sentences, I just can’t seem to find a prime directive in finding the errors. Dangling modifiers and parallelism sticks out to me of course, but the really subtle mistakes are really hard to find in the sentence which leads me to playing it by ear. I hate it.
What would you recommend for improving the “improving sentences” part?
A little hint for #1: the reason… Because
It’s redundant. Most of the time when you see the reason…because/why. It’s wrong. Agree with @marvin100. Silverturtle’s guide is awesome.
