My writing questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Some writing-question questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>Jorge wanted, [for the most part,] to travel around the world [after graduation], but sometimes he [thought about] [taking a job] at his mother's company instead.</li>
</ol>

<p>I chose B initially, because the phrasing sounds weird. I'd normally expect to hear a "his" or "the" in front of "graduation." Why is E the correct answer, and why is B not wrong?</p>

<ol>
<li>In [those cities] [in which] public transportation is adequate, fewer traffic problems occur and pedestrians [are rarely] [involved in] accidents.</li>
</ol>

<p>I chose A, because I've never heard that phrasing, either. I've only heard sentences with structures like, "In cities..." or "In the cities..."; usually just the former. Could you explain why "those" is appropriate? (The answer is E, btw.)</p>

<ol>
<li>The company maintains computer systems for small [business, plus it will manage] their payroll accounts.
A) same
B) businesses, in addition it will manage
C) businesses and manages
D) business, and, additionally, they also manage
E) businesses, it manages</li>
</ol>

<p>I chose C, because it's the most concise and the only one besides D that sounds logical and grammatical. However, the book purports that the answer is D. Why is this? D sounds very awkward compared to C. How is C incorrect?</p>

<ol>
<li>Twice as many bird species inhabit Ecuador [as in] North America.
A. as in
B. as inhabit
C. instead of in
D. when compared to
E. than</li>
</ol>

<p>This one tripped me up at first, because I didn't know about parallelism. I'd go with B now, and the book says that's correct, but it still sounds really awkward. On a test, the awkwardness would throw me off. Could someone reaffirm/confirm the answer/explain it? </p>

<p>Another few questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>Acquaintances of Alexei have commented that he is at once annoying because of his unpredictability [but his imagination is still a delight].
A. same
B. although he is delightfully imaginative
C. and he is delightful in his imagination too
D. while being imaginative and they are delighted
E. and delightful because of his imagination</li>
</ol>

<p>I chose B, but the book says E. Why? I would expect it to be B, because B uses "although," which makes sense (contrasting annoying with delightful). ... Now that I think about it, does B contain a parallelism error? E looks like the only one that doesn't contain such an error. Is this why E is correct? Shouldn't B still have some merit because of the contrasting "although?" E's "and" doesn't make much sense to me.</p>

<p>Also, is university a collective noun? How do you distinguish between collective and singular nouns like that? </p>

<hr>

<p>Just taken from silverturtle's thread. More to come.</p>

2

<p>23) Don’t rely on your ear. The sentence is correct. The only thing you should rely on are rules. </p>

<p>19) Don’t rely on your ear. </p>

<p>6) What book did you get the question from? D is incorrect.</p>

<p>11) B - because you don’t want to compare bird species inhabiting Ecuador to North America, but bird species inhabiting Ecuador to birds that inhabit N. America. B is the only sentence that correctly compares the two.</p>

<p>14) B does have faulty parallelism. It is incorrect. </p>

<p>University is a collective noun. </p>

<p>That university is a good school.</p>

<p>Collective nouns refer to groups of individuals or things as a whole.</p>

<p>The band was late, so it was denied entry to the venue. Not the band “were” late - were there multiple bands? </p>

<p>The audience was rude. Not the audience “were” rude - were there multiple audiences? </p>

<p>Singular nouns simply refer to an individual:</p>

<p>The saxophone player was horrible.</p>

3

<p>Great! Thanks! I’m using the recent blue book and the 2005 edition, btw.</p>

<ol>
<li>[Contrasting with] [most other] fifteenth-century rulers, Portuguese kings [could count on] the support of the aristocracy [in any] overseas ventures.</li>
</ol>

<p>The book says the answer is A. I can’t find what’s wrong with it; with is the correct preposition of contrast… Should it be in a different tense? If so, why?</p>

<ol>
<li>Trees are able to collect large amounts of water from fog – [in some areas as much as thirty inches annually].</li>
</ol>

<p>A. same
B. in some areas having thirty inches per year
C. in some places collecting about thirty inches per year annually
D. collecting the equal of thirty inches annually in some places
E. which in some areas amounts to thirty inches collected annually</p>

<p>The book says the answer is A. I’m honestly not sure how to correctly use phrases with dashes in sentences. I thought it sounded a bit clumsy, and E was the only one that looked like it made sense and sounded good, so I chose it. I may just be relying on my ear again. How can I determine when the phrase after or between a – or two --s is correctly used?</p>

4

<p>Also, is the subjunctive mood heavily tested on the SAT?</p>

5

<p>The subjunctive mood is occasionally tested on the SAT. </p>

<p>Just remember to use were when the statement is contrary to fact :)!</p>

<p>If I were you, I wouldn’t eat that much.
If I were you, I would study more.
*If the writers of the Constitution were alive today … *
If I were alive 20000000000 years ago …</p>

6

<p>For 29 the corrected sentence is:</p>

<p>In contrast to most other fifteenth-century rulers, Portuguese kings could count on the support of the aristocracy in any overseas ventures.</p>

<p>To more clearly see what’s wrong with the original “contrasting with”, recast the sentence like this:</p>

<p>Portuguese kings could count on the support of the aristocracy in any overseas ventures, contrasting with to most other fifteen-century rulers.</p>

<p>Is it clear who does the “contrasting” or to whom/what the contrasting applies? It’s ambiguous.</p>

<ol>
<li>Trees are able to collect large amounts of water from fog – [in some areas as much as thirty inches annually].</li>
</ol>

<p>Ignore the “–” or replace it with a comma". Now see which of the options you can eliminate. B is out because the subject to which “having” applies is ambiguous. C, D and E are unlikely to be right if only because they repeat the word collecting or a variant. That leaves A.</p>

<p>Try these:</p>

<p>John is able to lift heavy loads, often as much as two hundred pounds.
Jack is nimble, capable of as many as five consecutive somersaults.</p>

<p>Are they right as is?</p>

7

<p>29 doesn’t originally seem ambiguous. The “contrast” and “aristocracy” are separated enough in the first sentence that it doesn’t seem possible to confuse what’s being contrasted.</p>

<p>For 9, I still don’t really understand. Your first practice sentence looks right, but it seems like it’d be better if a “which are” were to be placed after the comma. For the second, I’d like to see an “and thus” after the comma.</p>

<p>More questions – but this time from PR!</p>

<p>John is a musician who [has] perfect pitch [and] [a person who can] play by ear [nearly] every song he hears.</p>

<p>I chose C, and I suppose it’s because the “a person who” is unnecessary and makes the sentence confusing (does he have a person who can play by ear, or is he a person who can play by ear?)</p>

<p>She [ought to have] defended [her] principles [rather] [than giving] in to the majority.</p>

<p>I chose D, but I’m not sure what it’d be corrected as (or would the preposition be “to?”). “Than give?”</p>

<p>Mrs. Olivera rarely [complemented] her students’ [they] [would have to] [accomplish] a near miracle in order to receive any recognition.</p>

<p>The book says A, but I don’t see why it’s wrong. I chose C. I think it should be corrected as/to “would have had to.”</p>

<p>To read that book [in] three days, Edwin would have [to sacrifice] many of the enjoyable details [of] plot [and] character development.</p>

<p>Didn’t really know what to choose here. I thought B, because I was unsure about the tense of everything going on (I thought maybe it was the past perfect -> “would have had to”). The answer is E.</p>

<p>A dilemma is [when] a person [is faced] with two or more choices, [each] of [which] leads to undesirable consequences.</p>

<p>The answer is A. I chose E. I guess this is because a dilemma isn’t a point in time. I knew it sounded funny, and I thought it should have been something like “a situation in which.”</p>

<p>Maps [of] the city are [available at] the front desk [but] they [can be picked up] any time during the day.</p>

<p>I chose E, but the answer is C. I see why: it’s illogical to have “but;” it should be “and.” The second clause adds to the other; it doesn’t contrast with it.</p>

<p>Jonathan found it [quite] challenging to [illicit] responses from the students in [his] 7:30 AM class; [they] were half asleep from studying too much.</p>

<p>I chose E, but the answer is B. I guess I just got confused between illicit and solicit, but I’m not sure. I always thought soliciting was asking for money. :/</p>

<p>The doctor warned all of his patients [to be] [especially careful] [because] the upcoming season’s flu promised to be highly [communicative].</p>

<p>The answer is D, but I chose E. Not sure why. I guess communicative is the wrong word. I thought this, and I thought “contagious” might have been better, but how are you supposed to know communicative doesn’t work, too? By definition? I wasn’t really thinking about that.</p>

8

<p>More:</p>

<p>[While visiting] the Statue of Liberty, Mr. Johnson’s hat was blown into the harbor waters and [quickly] [sank below] the turbulent waves.</p>

<p>I chose E, but the book says A. Why? Is it a misplaced modifier? Ambiguous? Should it be “when” instead of “while?”</p>

<p>The [amount] of people who go to the library [these days] is far less now that [so much] [research] is accessible on the Internet.</p>

<p>I chose D, but the book says A. I thought research was the wrong word and should have been replaced with (by?) “information.” I see why A is wrong, though.</p>

<p>The causes of the American Civil War [were] [not just] social, [but] also [economical and technological].</p>

<p>I chose E, but the book says B. Why? I really don’t get this. Should it be “not only?” Why is “not just” incorrect?</p>

9

<p>I got all these right, but I’m a bit diffident about them:</p>

<p>[Because] the elderly dog’s physical condition [rapidly] [descended], the veterinarian decided at [long last] to undertake the risky operation.</p>

<p>Although [Katrina and I] realize that the risk of injury [while] bungee jumping is [small from] an objective standpoint, the prospect of making a leap still sounds fairly frightening to both her and [me]. (While vs. when???)</p>

<p>[For all their size], elephants, [plant-eating animals] [indigenous to] Asia [but also] Africa, are remarkably passive.</p>

<p>The accomplished author has found that he [can express] his ideas more [clearly] through his use [of metaphor] and [in] his use of simile.</p>

10

<p>1) Yes, “a person who” is redundant.
2) No comment
3) Diction error. Complement is different from compliment.
4) There is no need for the past perfect tense. As a rule of thumb, use the past perfect when there are two past tense verbs in a sentence.</p>

<p>Because he had not practiced, he performed horribly on stage.</p>

<p>5) Your logic is sound.
6) Your logic is sound. In addition, there are two independent clauses, so a semicolon is needed.
7) Illicit and elicit are the two words your PR book is testing you on. Look them up :).
8) No comment</p>

<p>–</p>

<p>1) I think that A doesn’t make any sense because “Mr. Johnson’s hat” couldn’t have been visiting the Statue of Liberty.
2) Change to number
3) Yes, the correct phrasing of B would be “not only.” Notice the “but also” that follows. The correct structure is always “… not only … but also …”</p>

<p>–</p>

<p>1) Is it B? I think the past perfect tense should be used here.
2) No comment
3) D?
4) D?</p>

11

<p>For the question</p>

<p>Jorge wanted, [for the most part,] to travel around the world [after graduation], but sometimes he [thought about] [taking a job] at his mother’s company instead.</p>

<p>why is it “thought about” instead of “thinks about”
The main part that confused me was did he graduate yet? and how do you know?</p>

<p>Because he would still be in school and just changed his plan for the future. For example:</p>

<p>(Still in high school)
I wanted to travel around the world after graduation, but sometimes i think about taking a job at my mother’s company instead. (I’m pretty sure this is grammatically correct)</p>