<p>I can't distinguish these two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><opposite to="">(A) most people I know, Annie, a good photographer <herself>(B), actually <enjoys seeing="">(C) the photographs that her friends take <on their="">(D) vacations. <no error="">(E)</no></on></enjoys></herself></opposite></p></li>
<li><p><contrary to="" what="">(A) many people believe, heat lightening <is not="" lightening=""> (B)caused by heat; it is ordinary lightening that occurs <at too="" great="" a="" distance="">(C) for its accompanying thunder <to be="" audible="">(D). <no error="">(E)</no></to></at></is></contrary></p></li>
</ol>
<p>it's surprising that the correct answer for Q1 is A while Q2 is E
OMG, can anybody solve my problem? I'm taking the Oct 9th SAT and there isn't much time left.</p>
<p>1 is A because opposite to refers to location. It should be unlike. And I see no error in 2. Where are you trying to place one?</p>
<p>i just couldn’t feel the difference between “opposite to” and “contrary to” .
now it seems clear.
thx!</p>
<p>The first question is really hard, but Owen is right.</p>
<p>The second one has nothing wrong with it. Although “at too great a distance” sounds “weird,” its is grammatically correct.</p>
<p>Number one just doesn’t make sense: opposite to most people I know is simply not a construction anyone would use. You might say, in opposition to most good photographers I know, Annie actually enjoys seeing… but it’s still a badly-written sentence. (It is the fact that she likes seeing photographs that is not usual, not Annie herself; plus, it is unnecessarily wordy). A better way to put it would be, “unlike most good photographers, annie likes to look at her friends’ vacation photos.”</p>
<p>Number two is correct because “what many people believe” is set against a parallel clause, “heat lightning is not lightning.” “Opposite to what many people believe” would still be incorrect in this case, however, because, as above, it’s just not the correct use of the word “opposite.”</p>
<p>For #1, you can say: “contrary to”, “in opposition to”, “unlike” but not “opposite to”(only for locations). Hope this helps!</p>