HELP! Writing Questions

<p>Many ancient Eastern rulers favored drinking vessels made of celadon porcelain [because of supposedly revealing the presence of poison by cracking].
*I put as is because it sounded grammatically correct. Why is it incorrect?
Answer: because it was supposed to reveal the presence of poison</p>

<p>In the 1980's, the median price of a house more than doubled, [generally outstanding the rate of inflation.]
*The answer is as it is, but the below choice made me to guess, in the end I got it correct but I want to know why is the bottom choice wrong?
Another choice: generally this outdistanced the rate of inflation</p>

<p>Among the discoveries made possible by the invention of the telescope [they found] that dark spots existed on the Sun in varying numbers.</p>

<p>*I put "No Error"
Why is they found wrong? If it is because ambiguity of "they," then is it because it is not referring to anything? Should I assume ambiguity when I see words like "they"?</p>

<p>...they still use the hammer more than [any tool].
*Is it supposed to be "any other tool"? If so, why is just "any tool" grammatically wrong?</p>

<p>Houses of stone? Shouldn't it be houses of stones (plural to plural)?</p>

<p>The famous filmmaker had a tendency [of changing] his recollections.
*Why is it wrong?</p>

<p>Norwegian writer Sigrid Undset is like the novelist Sir Walter Scott in her use of historical backgrounds, but unlike [his books], she dwells on the psychological aspects of her characters.
*Why is it wrong?</p>

<p>The television station has received many complaints about the clothing advertisements, which some viewers condemn [to be] tasteless.
*Why is it wrong?</p>

<p>bumppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp</p>

<ol>
<li><p>what is exactly is revealing the presence of poison? you need a referent. in this case, “it” would be the referent.</p></li>
<li><p>your other choice produces a sloppy run-on sentence with no referent to “this”</p></li>
<li><p>ambiguity of they is always wrong. keep asking urself, WHERE IS THE REFERENT? there is no place in the sentence that mentions people.</p></li>
<li><p>it has to be more than any other tool. if u said more than any tool, u are essentially saying “they still use the hammer more than any tool, including the hammer.”</p></li>
<li><p>plural to plural? that doesn’t apply to prepositional phrases… that applies to subject and verb. plural subject = plural verb. houses of stone is completely correct, in the same way “sheets of paper” is correct.</p></li>
<li><p>tendency + infinitive. that is always the case. tendency TO CHANGE.</p></li>
<li><p>the phrase “but unlike ______” is modifying “she” … she is not unlike his books, she is unlike the novelist himself.</p></li>
<li><p>to me, it just sounds wrong. i can’t think of a rule off the top of my head for this one, sorry.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>For #8, it should be “condemn as.” “condemn to be” is unidiomatic.</p>

<p>i took the sat, then are you saying that “generally this outdistanced the rate of inflation” is an independent clause if it makes it a run-on?</p>

<p>bumppppppppppppppppppp</p>

<p>‘this’ is ambiguous, for it has no pronoun antecedent(has to be a gerund or noun). all the other answer choices are wrong because they are all run-on sentences. only A is correct because it is a participle phrase (outdistancing the rate of inflation) that modifies the price.</p>