more writing questions.

Test Preparation
1

<p>These were taken from the PSAT this year. </p>

<p>THe parts in parenthesis are wrong.</p>

<li><p>Concerned that the government was collecting more than it was spending, the Jackson administration sponsored a bill authorizing (loans of) the surplus to the states.</p></li>
<li><p>In 1972, while serving as a congressional representative from NY, Chisholm became the first African American woman (to endeavor) the presidential nomination.</p></li>
<li><p>Its strategic location and its importance to so many religions are two of the reasons that the Middle East (has and will) continue to be a volatile part of the world.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>could someone explain to me why they are wrong, rather than saying “it just sounds wrong”</p>

2

<p>bump bump bump</p>

3

<ol>
<li><p>Endeavor means to try to do something. Chisholm was the first African American women to endeavor to gain the presidential nomination, but she did not endeavor the nomination</p></li>
<li><p>I think that it should read has been and will continue to be.... The region has been a volatile region and it will continue to be volatile.</p></li>
</ol>

4

<ol>
<li><p>In my opinion, this question is the most difficult. However, the portion within the parentheses must be a verb rather than a noun. (As it is used, the word “loans” is a noun.) The corrected sentence would read something like “Concerned that the government was collecting more than it was spending, the Jackson administration sponsored a bill authorizing the loaning of the surplus to the states.”</p></li>
<li><p>Endeavor (when used as a verb) is a synonym for “attempt,” so substitute the more familiar word “attempt” whenever you encounter “endeavor.” This makes the mistake much more obvious. You cannot “attempt the presidential nomination,” you have to attempt to get it. The corrected sentence should read something like “In 1972, while serving as a congressional representative from NY, Chisholm became the first African American woman to endeavor to obtain the presidential nomination.”</p></li>
<li><p>The error in this sentence is that it is simply missing the word “been” after the word “has.” The way it was written would say that the Middle East both has a volatile part of the world and will continue to be a volatile part of the world. The corrected version should say “Its strategic location and its importance to so many religions are two of the reasons that the Middle East has been and will continue to be a volatile part of the world.”</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Please let me know if you have any more questions or if anything is unclear.</p>

5

<p>are the psat explanations still up on the cb website?</p>

6

<p>I never got to see the questions I got wrong, so I would be thrilled if the answers/explanations could be viewed somewhere. Where would they be located if they were available?</p>

7

<p>I completely forgot that the PSAT answers/explanations were online.</p>

<p>Wednesday</a> Test Explanations
Saturday</a> Test Explanations</p>

<h1>1 has no error. The explanations for #2 and 3 are correct.</h1>

8

<p>Grr! We were supposed to get our test books back? My counselor said the booklets were not to leave her office! Gypped again, I guess. :(
Thanks for posting the links, though. Maybe I will be able to figure out what the questions were from the explanations.</p>