<p>The tragic story of Paolo and Francesca was the subject of a poem and a symphony, being popular throughout the nineteenth century. </p>
<p>vs. The tragic story of Paolo and Francesca was popular throughout the nineteenth century, when it was the subject of both a poem and a symphony.</p>
<p>Why is the second one better??</p>
<p>The first one has something called a dangling modifier. This means that it is unclear to what being refers, is it the poem, the symphony or the story.
The second one avoids this mistake, and is therefore better. </p>
<p>By the way, could anybody please answer my question two posts above. I really don’t get it, despite great effort.</p>
<p>The construction “A, if B” is a standard form in written English. In my experience, this construction is typically used in reviews of books or performances. When it is used, A and B typically contrast with each other to some extent, although they should not be strict opposites. So one might write “technically dazzling, if somewhat unemotional,” for example; the first part (A) praises the performance/book/whatever, while the second part (B) might be taken as a slight drawback.</p>
<p>I think choice E would have been fine if “being” had been dropped. There are many circumstances where it is perfectly legitimate to use “being,” but perhaps CB is on a kick that it is overused? I mention it because it is awkward in the SAT sentences in both posts 1060 and 1061.</p>
<p>So if can also have a restricting meaning? Didn’t know that. And it’s true that being is used in every second Writing question on the sat.</p>
<p>“On a Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte, Seurat’s pointillism masterpiece, is one of the best examples in the 19th century of paintings created in this unique style”</p>
<p>“On a Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte, a 19th century pointillism masterpiece, is one of the best examples of paintings created in this unique style”</p>
<p>why is the second one better?</p>
<p>I have two weird SAT paragraph improvement questions from the Collegeboard Online course. Here is the passage:</p>
<p>(1) Not many children leave elementary school and they have not heard of Pocahontas’ heroic rescue of John Smith from her own people, the Powhatans. (2) Generations of Americans have learned the story of a courageous Indian princess who threw herself between the Virginia colonist and the clubs raised to end his life. (3) The captive himself reported the incident. (4) According to that report, Pocahontas held his head in her arms and laid her own upon his to save him from death.</p>
<p>(5) But can Smith’s account be trusted? (6) Probably it cannot, say several historians interested in dispelling myths about Pocahontas. (7) According to these experts, in his eagerness to find patrons for future expeditions, Smith changed the facts in order to enhance his image. (8) Portraying himself as the object of a royal princess’ devotion may have merely been a good public relations ploy. (9) Research into Powhatan culture suggests that what Smith described as an execution might have been merely a ritual display of strength. (10) Smith may have been a character in a drama in which even Pocahontas was playing a role. </p>
<p>(11) As ambassador from the Powhatans to the Jamestown settlers, Pocahontas headed off confrontations between mutually suspicious parties. (12) Later, after her marriage to colonist John Rolfe, Pocahontas traveled to England, where her diplomacy played a large part in gaining support for the Virginia Company.</p>
<p>1) Which of the following phrases is the best to insert at the beginning of sentence 10 to
link it to sentence 9?</p>
<p>(A) Far from being in mortal danger,
(B) If what he says is credible,
(C) What grade school history never told you is this:
(D) They were just performing a ritual, and
(E) But quite to the contrary,</p>
<p>Answer is (A), but I chose (D). The explanations didn’t help that much:</p>
<p>Explanation for Correct Answer A :
Choice (A) is correct. It links sentence 10 to the rest of the paragraph by explaining the harmlessness of the “ritual display” mentioned in the previous sentence (and thus clarifies the contrast between Smith’s account and the probable facts).</p>
<p>Explanation for Incorrect Answer D :
Choice (D) is unsatisfactory because the use of “and” implies that the “ritual” and the “drama” are two different events, whereas the “drama” actually refers to the “ritual display.”</p>
<p>2) Which of the following would be the best to insert before sentence 11 to introduce the third paragraph?</p>
<p>(A) It is crucial to consider the political successes as well as the shortcomings of Pocahontas.
(B) The Pocahontas of legend is the most interesting, but the historical Pocahontas is more believable.
(C) If legend has overemphasized the bravery of Pocahontas, it has underplayed her political talents.
(D) To really know Pocahontas, we must get beyond myth and legend to the real facts about her private life.
(E) Perhaps we will never really know the real Pocahontas.</p>
<p>Answer is (C), but I chose (B). Here are the explanations:</p>
<p>Explanation for Correct Answer C :
Choice (C) is correct. The third paragraph gives two detailed examples of Pocahontas’s political successes in later life.</p>
<p>Explanation for Incorrect Answer B :
Choice (B) is unsatisfactory because focusing on the believability of historical facts is odd and unnecessary.</p>
<p>From what I have understood, legend has never underplayed her political talents, so how can (C) be correct?</p>
<p>Please these explain these questions to me. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Hi I have seen this passage in the blue book, isn’t it?
Please note that I’m not a native speaker of English and may not convey my ideas perfectly.</p>
<p>For the first question, I have 2 reasons not to pick D.
(1) “They”. What does “they” refer to? The preceding sentence does not have a clear, definite antecedent for this pronoun.
(2) I agree with the explanation. If you choose D, you mean: the drama is part of the ritual or they are different things. Yet ritual display is not so different from the drama.</p>
<p>For the second one,
“underplay”=represent as less important as it really is (from Oxford English Dictionary). The legend underplay P’s political talents by emphasizing almost merely on her bravery.</p>
<p>Good luck! Hope my answer helps.</p>
<p>HELP with PSAT grammar questions!</p>
<ol>
<li>As important as the optical telescope is, (it did not allow scientists in observing) what the radio, ultraviolet, x-ray or gamma-ray telescopes do.</li>
</ol>
<p>(A) it did not allow scientists in observing
(B) scientists could not observe
(C) but it did not allow scientists to observe
(D) it does not allow scientists to observe
(E) it does not allow observations by scientists regarding</p>
<p>I choose E. The correct answer is D. Question: If I choose D, the meaning would be: “it does not allow scientists to observe what R,U,X,G do.” Therefore scientists are observing other telescopes’ work! Isn’t it odd?</p>
<ol>
<li>The supervisory committee (has belatedly) (recommended to) (its) superiors that the barracks are (in need badly of) constant serveillance. (No Error)</li>
</ol>
<p>I choose E. Correct answer “in need badly of”. Why?</p>
<p>Thank you very much.</p>
<p>For question 1, D is correct. This is an example of an enthymeme in English. The optical telescope does not allow scientists to observe what the radio, ultraviolet, x-ray, or gamma-ray telescopes do [allow scientists to observe]. The part in brackets is supposed to be understood by the reader. The emphasis is not on observing what the other telescopes “do,” even though you might logically infer that, if you are not a native English speaker. There is also a difference between American and British English in this same general context. For example, suppose that both responders are not certain about whether they did/did not water the plants:<br>
Q: Did you water the plants on Wednesday last week?
American A: I might have.
British A: I might have done.
Enthymemic constructions generally involve auxiliary verbs such as “do” or “have.”</p>
<p>One way to identify such constructions: Often the first part of a multi-word verb will be repeated, and the remainder will be dropped. Here the pair is “does not allow” and “do [allow].”</p>
<p>For question 2, the standard English word order is “badly in need of.”</p>
<p>Thank you a million for your detailed explanation! Enthymeme seems not that tricky now!</p>
<p>[Returning to Dayville after ten years, the small town seemed much livelier to Margo] than it had been when she was growing up there.</p>
<p>A. (As above)
B. Having returned to Dayville after ten years, it seemed a much livelier town to Margo
C.
D.
E. When Margo returned to Dayville after ten years, the small town seemed much livelier to her</p>
<p>The answer is E. The sentence sounds wrong to me for E. Shouldn’t “had been” be changed to “had”?</p>
<p>The labor union [is negotiating] a contract that [will satisfy] the demands of the workers and [be acceptable] to all levels of management. [No error E]</p>
<p>(The answer is E.)
I chose B because I thought and still somewhat think that it should read “would satisfy”. Theoretically, to my thinking, it could also be “could satisfy”. Since they’re negotiating the contract, I assumed that that meant that a contract had already been proposed. This would then mean that contract is the direct object. If the contract is good, then if it is passed, it “would satisfy” or if it is uncertain whether the contract will work, it “could satisfy”. If the contract will definitely work, it “will satisfy”, however, we can’t know if it will definitely work since it’s being negotiated, and therefore could be denied. If they were saying that the purpose was to make a contract that will satisfy their needs, then it would’ve read “hospital to satisfy”, creating an adverb prepositional phrase that shows “why”. Another one I thought was ambiguous was number 20 also on test 4.</p>
<p>Social scientists [agree that] a system [for exchanging] goods and services [is not only] present but also [of necessity] in all societies. [No error]</p>
<p>I chose no error, howeverthe answer is D. Originally I was going to choose D, because I thought the conjunction there had to connect two nouns, but then I realized that “present” is describing the word “system” as a predicate adjective. Either that, or it’s a predicate nominative and I would hope you could explain that to me. So, basically I thought that “of necessity” was ok since the other word in the conjunction isn’t a noun.</p>
<p>Intense preoccupation [on] technique [appears to be] [the one] trait that great pianists [have in] common. [No error] </p>
<p>The answer is A, but I chose no error. I really have no idea what could be wrong, so I assume we have to conclude that it’s unidiomatic? Maybe “of” instead? As in the occupation “of” Wall Street? I think preoccupation of technique sounds wrong, but I’m no expert. </p>
<p>Thanks for all your help. I know I wrote a lot for the second one.</p>
<p>To cover the last two questions:</p>
<p>The word “present” is an adjective. Parallelism should be maintained when constructions are joined by “not only . . . but also.” So you want the adjective “necessary” rather than the prepositional phrase “of necessity.”</p>
<p>The idiomatic form is “preoccupation with.” It’s interesting that “preoccupation” and “occupation” take different prepositions.</p>
<p>I have another couple questions, I won’t ramble this time. They are from the 2008 College board practice test, numbers 29 and 13 respectively. I nearly got my first 800… One correct answer away… BLEH!</p>
<h1>29: Winston Churchill, (unlike) many English prime ministers (before him), had deep insight (into) the (workings of) the human mind. (No error)</h1>
<p>I chose C but there is no error. I guess this isn’t so much a question but if anyone has a comment on it my reasoning was this:
I thought that INsight and INto were somewhat redundant and therefore “into” could be revised to be more fluent if it was “regarding”</p>
<h1>13: The opposing opinions expressed (were that the school should be torn down and, on the other hand, to keep it) as a historical landmark.</h1>
<p>[A] were that the school should be torn down and, on the other hand, to keep it
** was that the school should be torn down or kept
[C] were that the school should be torn down and that it should be kept
[D] were about them tearing the school down and them keeping the school
[E] were if they should tear the school down and</p>
<p>The answer to this one is C, but I chose D. I was fighting between these two because I don’t specifically know what grammatical rules apply to this question. So if anyone can explain the strict logic behind the answer, I would really appreciate it for this one especially.</p>
<p>Only since the publication of her first novel (Olivia has been considering) herself a genuine writer. </p>
<p>A) Leave as it is
B) Olivia considered
C) has Olivia considered
D) was Olivia considering
E) could Olivia be able to </p>
<p>The Answer is C but WHY???</p>
<p>The sentence sounds wrong first of all and I know that we have to use the perfect present tense but isnt it already in the present perfect tense?</p>
<p>Also, Is this in SilverTurtle’s guide? If so can someone tell me the page where I can find the rule!!!</p>
<p>Does anyone know where I can find the answers to practice questions with their explanations for the second edition blue book?
The blue book stupidly gives you the answers but there are no explanations to all of the practice questions!!!</p>
<p>Many of the instruments used in early operations of the united states Army Signal (Corps were adaptations of equipment used by the Plains Indians, paricularly that of the Heliograph.)</p>
<p>What is wrong with it and what is grammatical rule that the question is testing?</p>
<p>how is “offers for” unidiomatic? whats the proper idiom then? thanks</p>
<p>@ strategicfiasco:
This is why it’s wrong: “Plain Indians, particularly that of the Heliograph.” Whenever you have a comma with a phrase that extends something or explains something or details something that has been previously stated in the sentence, that phrase must be related to the word that is placed right before the comma. So, in this case, it doesn’t make any sense for the Heliograph to be related to Plain Indians. It should be something like: “Corps, particularly that of the Heliograph, were adaptations of equipment used by the Plains Indians.” I have no idea what Corps is, but I’m guessing it’s a technology or equipment such as that of the Heliograph. It is grammatically correct if you put the phrase before Corps because the phrase correctly adds on to Corps, not Plains Indians.</p>
<p>And for ur previous one, the Olivia Question, it actually sounds right. </p>
<p>C is the answer because of the verb tense. The verbs in all the other choices are wrong given the context of the situation. “Only since” implies that it happened in the past and has been continuing ever since. </p>
<p>Thus we can easily take out Options B and E. Answer choice A is awkward. Usuaully, when you are given a choice that has a long verb phrase, it’s awkward. “Has been going” “used to have been” etc. etc. So now we have C and D left. </p>
<p>Was is the wrong helping verb to use because was is a past verb. It does not imply that this action has been continuing since then. Has is the only choice given.</p>
<p>Q1. Most drivers (know not only that excessive speeding on highways wastes) gasoline, but also that it is dangerous.
A. the answer is the same thing in the brackets, but couldn’t it also be:
(are knowledgeable that excessive speeding on highways not only wastes)???</p>
<p>Q2: 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.
A: D is the answer. I got that answer, but i guessed because it sounded awkward. is there a grammatical mistake there? </p>
<p>Q3: (Nearly all) of the editors of the magazines (agree) that of the two articles (to be published), Fujimara’s is the (more exciting). (No error)
A: E is the answer. But why? I thought it was D because shouldn’t it be “the more exciting one” ??? not just “more exciting” , iunno, that sounds strange to me!!!</p>
<p>thanks a lot if you could help:)))</p>
<p>thanks a lot guys. I have realised that the SAT is more about practice than anything else i.e. getting used to the questions and timing. Grammar rules are important; however, more emphasis on practice is essential really so that’s what I am focusing on now</p>
<p>Cheers</p>