Identifying Errors questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<ol>
<li><p>The regularly scheduled conference between my tutor and me is set for Friday, but my low grades in chemistry requires me to arrange an earlier meeting. (‘requires’ is wrong, is ‘me’ an object of preposition?)</p></li>
<li><p>According to some demographers, the number of United States citizens aged 65 or older is likely to rise to 87 million by 2050. No error<a href="there%20is%20no%20error,%20but%20if%20‘and%20older’%20was%20used,%20would%20the%20sentence%20be%20wrong?">/U</a> </p></li>
<li><p>One subject of Felipe Alfau’s Second novel, published more than 40 years after it has been written, is the illusory nature of the passage of time. (‘has been’ is wrong. Why? What should be there instead? 'was'?)</p></li>
<li><p>Traffic was heavy, so by the time Brianne finally arrived at the theater, we waited for her for an hour, missing the entire first act of the play. (had waited?)</p></li>
<li><p>Along the curve of islands known as the Florida Keys lies a reef of living coral, the only one of a kind in the continental United States. (its kind?)</p></li>
<li><p>In those cities in which public transportation is adequate, fewer traffic problems occur and pedestrians are rarely involved in accidents. No error<a href="no%20error%20in%20sentence,%20but%20why%20not%20'where'?">/U</a></p></li>
<li><p>The student wonders what Patrick Henry meant when he talked about liberty because most of the members of Houseof Burgesses then having been slaveholders.(what should be there instead of ‘having been’?)</p></li>
<li><p>No one objects to his company, even though he has made insulting remarks about almost every member of the group, when he is a remarkably witty man. (should it be ‘group, because ……..’?)</p></li>
<li><p>The number of awards given this year to chemists accentuate the significant gains being made in the study of the chemistry of living organisms. (should it be ‘accentuates’?)</p></li>
<li><p>In 1508, the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon – the same Ponce De Leon who later would seek the fountain of youth – landed on Puerto Rico accompanied by a small force. (Please Explain why 'would seek' is right and 'sought' is wrong)</p></li>
<li><p>Because the flood has made the bridge inaccessible to automobiles and pedestrians alike, we had rented a small boat to reach the island. (should it be ‘will rent’?) </p></li>
<li><p>John Wideman is regarded to be one of the most talented writers of the late 20th century and is often compared to such literary giants as Ellison and Wright. (I know it is ‘as’, but why? Is it a rule of thumb on the SAT that all ‘to be’ s are wrong? Please explain why ‘to be’ is wrong)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you for taking your time to read through this long post!</p>

2

<ol>
<li>The regularly scheduled conference between my tutor and me is set for Friday, but my low grades in chemistry requires me to arrange an earlier meeting. (‘requires’ is wrong, is ‘me’ an object of preposition?)</li>
</ol>

<p>When you have prepositions like “but” “with”, “between” , “among” etc use “me” instead iof “I” - you get the drift. Obvioulsy grades is plural and so “require” is the needed correction.</p>

3

<p>According to some demographers, the number of United States citizens aged 65 or older is likely to rise to 87 million by 2050. No error ( there is no error, but if ‘and older’ was used, would the sentence be wrong?)</p>

<p>To answer the key word to pay attention to is " the number of ", which is always singular. the number of this or that / the number of this and that will result in a number say 8732 and is singular.</p>

4

<ol>
<li>One subject of Felipe Alfau’s Second novel, published more than 40 years after it has been written, is the illusory nature of the passage of time. (‘has been’ is wrong. Why? What should be there instead? ‘was’?)</li>
</ol>

<p>Look at “published more than 40 years” … now you want to specify another action “written” in the past and want to draw specific time precedence . So you need past perfect. So instead of has been … it should be “had been”</p>

5

<p>Traffic was heavy, so by the time Brianne finally arrived at the theater, we waited for her for an hour, missing the entire first act of the play. (had waited?)</p>

<p>Yes</p>

6

<ol>
<li>Along the curve of islands known as the Florida Keys lies a reef of living coral, the only one of a kind in the continental United States. (its kind?)</li>
</ol>

<p>Yes</p>

7

<ol>
<li>In those cities in which public transportation is adequate, fewer traffic problems occur and pedestrians are rarely involved in accidents. No error (no error in sentence, but why not ‘where’?)</li>
</ol>

<p>This is tricky… But my guess is that you use “in which” if you are talking an enclosed area/volume compared to where refering a location in general.</p>

8

<ol>
<li>The student wonders what Patrick Henry meant when he talked about liberty because most of the members of Houseof Burgesses then having been slaveholders.(what should be there instead of ‘having been’?)</li>
</ol>

<p>Simply “were”??</p>

9

<ol>
<li>The number of awards given this year to chemists accentuate the significant gains being made in the study of the chemistry of living organisms. (should it be ‘accentuates’?)</li>
</ol>

<p>Remember “The number of awards” is singular … So yes</p>

10

<p>In 1508, the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon – the same Ponce De Leon who later would seek the fountain of youth – landed on Puerto Rico accompanied by a small force. (Please Explain why ‘would seek’ is right and ‘sought’ is wrong</p>

<p>The key is to note the word … later . This puts you in past to describe a future event . even thhough both the events were in the past. You would use “would seek” for such situations instead of sought.</p>

11

<ol>
<li>Because the flood has made the bridge inaccessible to automobiles and pedestrians alike, we had rented a small boat to reach the island. (should it be ‘will rent’?) </li>
</ol>

<p>Note the “has made” … the requirement is future … will rent.</p>

12

<p>John Wideman is regarded to be one of the most talented writers of the late 20th century and is often compared to such literary giants as Ellison and Wright. (I know it is ‘as’, but why? Is it a rule of thumb on the SAT that all ‘to be’ s are wrong? Please explain why ‘to be’ is wrong)</p>

<p>This is about idiom … You say “regarded as” … can’t help you further</p>

13

<p>For #11, are you sure it’s “will rent”?
“Has made” implies that it occurred in the past, and so “rented” would work perfectly fine to parallel that tense. No?</p>

14

<ol>
<li>The regularly scheduled conference between my tutor and me is set for Friday, but my low grades in chemistry requires me to arrange an earlier meeting. (‘requires’ is wrong, is ‘me’ an object of preposition?)</li>
</ol>

<p>There’s an easy way to do this. You wouldn’t say “between they.” You would say “between THEM.” From this, you know that after the word between, proper nouns have to be in its objective form. My tutor and me = correct.
Low grades in chemistry - in chemistry is working as a description. Low grades (plural) is the actual subject. Therefore, the verb has to be require, not requires.</p>

<ol>
<li>Traffic was heavy, so by the time Brianne finally arrived at the theater, we waited for her for an hour, missing the entire first act of the play. (had waited?)</li>
</ol>

<p>By the time Brianne finally arrived at the theater, we had been waiting for her… would be correct. I think.</p>

<ol>
<li>No one objects to his company, even though he has made insulting remarks about almost every member of the group, when he is a remarkably witty man. (should it be ‘group, because ………’?)</li>
</ol>

<p>… I thought it should be “when” because if you take out the middle sentence separated by the commas, it’ll be “No one objects to his company when he is a remarkably witty man.” I think “when” should be replaced by “because.”</p>

<ol>
<li>The number of awards given this year to chemists accentuate the significant gains being made in the study of the chemistry of living organisms. (should it be ‘accentuates’?)</li>
</ol>

<p>Yes, because “the number” is the subject.</p>

<ol>
<li>In 1508, the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon – the same Ponce De Leon who later would seek the fountain of youth – landed on Puerto Rico accompanied by a small force. (Please Explain why ‘would seek’ is right and ‘sought’ is wrong)</li>
</ol>

<p>Because in the context, seeking the fountain of youth isn’t an event that already happened.</p>

<ol>
<li>John Wideman is regarded to be one of the most talented writers of the late 20th century and is often compared to such literary giants as Ellison and Wright. (I know it is ‘as’, but why? Is it a rule of thumb on the SAT that all ‘to be’ s are wrong? Please explain why ‘to be’ is wrong)</li>
</ol>

<p>Just idiomatic problem. Regarded to be is a non-existent idiom. Not ALL to be’s are wrong. E.g. She wants to be a dancer. This is a correct sentence, I believe :P</p>