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1001

<ul>
<li>Here is an ID Error question I’ve been having troubles with:</li>
</ul>

<p>(Like many) people, Luanne believes that parents can foster musical ability in small children (out of) (playing) classical music for them while (they are) infants.</p>

<p>The answer is (B). Could anyone point out why it’s (B) and not (D) because I feel that (D) is ambiguous.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Here is an improving paragraphs question I’ve been having trouble with:</p>

<p>(1) I started keeping a journal when I was fourteen and I have been writing in it almost every day since that time. (2) I am convinvced that keeping a journal has had an important effect on my development as a person. (3) Because I write in it by hand, I write slowly, giving my self time to reflect on my experiences. (4) Sometimes when I write for a long time I get writer’s cramp in my hand. (5) I notice more than I otherwise would about my feelingsand motivations, and when I go back and read all the journals, I start to recognize patterns in my experience.
(6) Often my instincts about people and situations are right. (7) But one thinhg I have observed in reading old journal entries is that I sometimes distrust my instincts about people and situations. (8) I have become friends with two people who were fun to be around, but some part of me sensed that they were not trustworthy. (9) But then I would tell myself not to be suspicious of people, So I set my doubts aside. (10) Later, in both cases, I find out those friends are self-centered and unreliable. (11) My first impressions had been right, but I had discounted them. (12) Another time I almost turned down a summer job that one of my classmates thought sounded boring even though to me, it seemed interesting. (13) Fortunately, I changed my mind and took the job, and it turned out to be a great experience.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>In context, which of the following sentences is best to insert between sentence 12 and sentence 13?</p>

<p>(A) The job paid better than the other jobs for which I had applied that summer.
(B) My classmate and I disagreed about other subjects besides that job.
(C) A friend’s advice about such things should be based on solid information, not vague impressions.
(D) Sometimes first impressions turn out to be accurate.
(E) At first I was inclined to give her evaluation more weight than my own.</p>

<p>The answer is (E). Could someone tell me what’s the difference between answers (A), (C), and (E) because I can’t figure out the difference between them. Thanks!</p>

1002

<p>Idioms here. B is incorrect because it should be “by”, not “out of”</p>

<p>A has nothing to do with the next sentence. C isn’t necessarily incorrect but E must be correct because sentence 13 says that the narrator changed her mind. To fit this, the sentence before should indicate that she once had a different opinion. Sentence E conveys that.</p>

1003

<p>Thanks eljamas! Just one more thing: Why isn’t (D) in the ID Error question above wrong? Doesn’t it seem that the ‘they’ in ‘they are infants’ can both refer to the parents and the infants?</p>

<p>I understood the other question well though, so thanks again!</p>

1004

<p>Ambiguity is an error ONLY when there can be a logical confusion (the syntax is correct when there’s ambiguity, usually.) Here, it is obvious the parents will play for the infants; you can’t expect the infants to play for themselves, or, if they was really ambiguous, for the parents.</p>

1005

<p>Also, one of the best advises I read about improving passages was in Grammatix (I haven’t scored anything less than a 780 in practice tests since I read that thing.)</p>

<p>Beware of any option that adds information to the paragraph. The test-makers hate paragraphs with more than one point, and adding a line which introduces new information for information’s sake - adding nothing to the central meaning of the passage, is almost always a wrong option.</p>

<p>A) Does she mention wages as a concern anywhere else? No. Ignore.
B) Going from Job -> other disagreements -> conclusion about job disagreement. Too random. Not good. Discard.
C) Specific personal anecdote (in even a whiny way) -> didactic generalizations. Just about acceptable. We can keep this and move on.
D) Way too general again. And, the transition between the sentences is BAD. This happened, sometimes this happens, fortunately, I did that. Na-a.
E) Perfect transition. This happened -> my initial impression -> the conclusion.</p>

<p>Weighing E against C, we see that since E is in keeping with the specific personal manner, and not going off on general tangents, E is a better (and less banal) choice.</p>

<p>Hope it helps.</p>

1006

<p>Thank you so very much canhazphysics!!! Regarding the ambiguous question, I now notice why it has been tricking me all along, because when I normally find two nouns with one pronoun that can be referred to both, I panic and render it as ambiguous! Thank you so much for this tip! And thank you too for your other tip. I will carefully eliminate off-topic answers in questions as these.</p>

1007

<p>Anyone please explain this?</p>

<p>Among the Inuit peoples of Arctic Canada, poetry contests are held to settle conflicts [that might otherwise be disruptive to families and communities]</p>

<p>It’s correct up there, why?</p>

1008

<p>Among the Inuit peoples of Arctic Canada, poetry contests are held to settle conflicts [that might otherwise be disruptive to families and communities]</p>

<p>The conflicts might be disruptive to families and communities. So, the Inuit use poetry contests to settle these disputes.</p>

<p>“that might otherwise…” is a modifier, elaborating upon the conflicts. Whenever you’re reading a complex sentence, you can safely remove the modifier, and check for grammatical errors in the main clause and the modifier separately, to make things easier.</p>

<p>Where - Among the Inuit peoples of Arctic Canada
What - Poetry contests are held
For what - to settle conflicts
What kind of conflicts - conflicts that might otherwise [i.e. if they’re not settled] be disruptive to families and communities.</p>

1009

<p>Gotcha! Thanks!</p>

1010

<p>According to the results of a recent experiment, (success in dieting may depend) on eating smaller portions served on smaller dishes.</p>

<p>(A) success in dieting may depend
(B) success in dieting, which may depend
(C) success in dieting might be depending
(D) when dieting successfully, it may depend
(E) to diet successfully depending</p>

<p>The answer is (A). I did it correctly, but I want to know the difference between (A) and (C), coz they seem identical to me. Thanks!</p>

1011

<p>C is too wordy and awkward. Also, it can be taken to mean that the success of the diets in that particular experiment could depend on such and such, not the generic success of dieting; and since the experiments are inducing results, using the simple present tense provides a more universal tone.</p>

<p>Also, you might mistake it as enforcing a parallelism, given dieting and depending, but realize that dieting is a noun here, so there’s no need to go ing-ing.</p>

1012

<p>

</p>

<p>You are absolutely correct in saying that may and might are quite similar. They are modal verbs. May and might can both be used to express possibility. (They are different in some ways as well). The difference between choice A and C is that A uses modal simple (may depend) while C uses modal continuous (might be depending). The implication of the sentence is slightly different in these two verb forms.</p>

<p>You might want to check out this website:
[Advanced</a> English lessons](<a href=“http://www.englishpage.com/]Advanced”>http://www.englishpage.com/)
It has great information on many grammar rules!</p>

1013

<p>Thanks canhazphysics & JefferyJung! Just to be clear: (C) is correct, but slightly changes the original meaning. Correct? I read this VERY useful tip once that if I have two modifications that are both grammatically correct and I can’t get the difference between them in meaning, then I should just stick with the original because mostly the other choice changes the originally intended meaning. This strategy is actually what made me do this one correctly :)</p>

1014

<p>No, C isn’t really correct. It’s both stylistically bad and it changes the meaning.</p>

<p>You can also remember that going for the shortest choice is usually the best, after you’re done with eliminating the wrong options. Brevity trumps everything but grammar.</p>

1015

<p>Thanks canhazphysics!</p>

1016

<p>1) (There is speculation that the name “Wendy” was) the invention of J.M. Barrie, who created a character by that name for his famous play Peter Pan.</p>

<p>(A) There is speculation that the name “Wendy” was
(B) There is speculation saying the name “Wendy” was
(C) They speculate saying that the name “Wendy” was
(D) The name “Wendy,” speculated to have been
(E) The name “Wendy” is by some speculation</p>

<p>The answer is (A). I chose it (E) because of the “is” and because there is a “was” in (A). Shouldn’t it be in (A) “is the invention” since that it is something attributed to him and not just a forgotten action.</p>

<p>For example: “This is my invention.” or “This was my invention”. The first one seems better to me…</p>

<p>2) (That) I (have little interest) in art is not the fault of my parents, (taking) me to art exhibits and galleries from the time (I was) ten years old.</p>

<p>The answer is (C). Shouldn’t a gerund like “taking” modify parents? I know that for example in the sentence “I liked the car, which was a Challenger”, the “which” refers to the car, and the same thing goes for “I admire the man, who is smart”, the “who” refers to the “man”, the word just behind the comma. Isn’t it the same case with the gerund “taking”? Does a gerund refer to the Subject (I) or the word preceding the comma (parents) or both?</p>

<p>P.S: I feel that the answer key is wrong on this one. It should be an ambiguous error only when it’s quite obvious, but here it’s pretty clear “taking” refers to the parents.</p>

<p>3) The Roman poet Virgil is (highly esteemed) today for his epic poem, The Aeneid, (yet) on his deathbed he himself (sought) to prevent its publication on the grounds (of not being) sufficiently polished.</p>

<p>Again, the answer is (D). And again, the error is ambiguity because it should be “on the grounds that it was not sufficiently polished”. I don’t know when something’s ambiguous and when it’s not. For example: “Sara’s mother didn’t go to the party, but she wasn’t sad either.” Here, we can’t tell whether Sara or her mother was the one to be sad. But here in number 2 and 3, it’s perfectly clear and there’s no ambiguity. Help me please… I’m going crazy!</p>

1017

<p>Sorry, I meant 3 hard questions :P</p>

1018

<p>Anybody? :(</p>

1019

<p>To tale these in the opposite order:
(D) is correct for the third one. As written, it seems to mean that Virgil himself was not sufficiently polished. It would be ok to write “on the grounds of its not being sufficiently polished,” as well as the form given by CB.
(C) is correct for the second one. The sentence saying “is not the fault of my parents, taking me to art exhibits and galleries” comes very close to suggesting that the speaker might (plausibly) not have liked art because his parents dragged him around to exhibits and galleries when he was younger, but that is not the real explanation for his disinterest. The sentence is not quite written correctly for that meaning either, admittedly. But this really needs “parents, who took” to be right.
(A) seems ok to me for the first one. I don’t think that is/was is the issue. The “correct” version does seem awkward. On other other hand, I don’t think that “by” is the correct idiomatic preposition to use with “speculation.” I’d prefer “according to.”</p>

1020

<p>In the October writing section, in the identifying sentence errors, there were about two questions with the word “would” underlined.</p>

<p>Was this the error in these sentences, or was this correct in the context of the question.</p>

<p>Also, when can you write “would” and when it is more appropriate to use “may” or “will”…or does “would” and “may” mean the same thing?</p>