<p>From May 06 SAT
29. (The last question in the section/ level 5 question)</p>
<p>At the reception were the chattering guests, the tree-tiered cake, and the lively music that have become characteristic of many wedding celebrations.</p>
<p>It’s (E) no error. I though it was (D) characteristic of because there is more than one factor we are considering (guests, cake, music). I thought it should be characteristics.</p>
<p>Would be D if it said “the characteristic,” since those would be adjectives we’re using to describe the celebrations. However, here we’re using a set of qualities that are characteristic TO the celebrations. So, E. Don’t miss the article.</p>
<p>1) If you wish to truly understand Jefferson’s notion of “the pursuit of happiness,” the letters Jefferson wrote to his son should be read.
(A)the letters Jefferson wrote to his son should be read
(B)Jefferson’s letters to his son should be read
(C)you should read the letters Jefferson wrote to his son
(D)you should read his letters to his son
(E)a person should read his letters to his son</p>
<p>I understand why (C) is the correct answer, but why can’t (D) be correct? Isn’t it pretty obvious who “his” is referring to? The book I’m using says that it’s a pronoun reference error.</p>
<p>2) Allan asked Sadie to go to the prom with him, this surprised Sadie because she thought Allan would ask Marnie.
(A) him, this surprised Sadie
(B) him, therefore Sadie was surprised
(C) him, surprising Sadie
(D) him, which surprises Sadie
(E) him, that was surprising to Sadie</p>
<p>The correct answer is (C), I chose (A). Can someone explain why A is incorrect?</p>
<p>I think D doesn’t work because “his” had no antecedent. You can’t throw in a possessive pronoun without saying the noun first. While most people could see that “his” = “Jefferson’s”, there was no actual noun preceding it in the sentence to make it clear (and the SAT is all about clarity). It just said “Jefferson’s”, which is an adjective/possessive, not a noun.</p>
<p>For 2), A isn’t right because it’s a run-on sentence. It helps to read the questions out loud, for me at least.</p>
<p>1.) D is incorrect because it makes it sounds like you should read the letters to his son, not reading the letters Jefferson wrote to his son.</p>
<p>2.) Those are two separate sentences with choice A. C is the only one that has a logical continuation in the same sentence. If you wanted it to be A, it would have to be with a semi-colon like this: “Allan asked Sadie to go to the prom with him; this surprised Sadie because she thought Allan would ask Marnie.”</p>
<ol>
<li>Intense preoccupation (on) technique (appears to be) (the one) trait that great pianists (have in) common. No error</li>
</ol>
<p>I understand there is an idiomatic error here (on -> with) but isn’t “trait that great pianists have” also wrong. Isn’t “have” be "has because “trait” is singular?</p>
<p>31.In context, which of the following is the best way to revise and combine sentences 2 and 3 (reproduced below)?</p>
<p>Employers should become familiar with the demands a worker faces. But he or she too should also assume responsibility.</p>
<p>(B) Employers ought to become familiar with the demands their workers face, but workers, too, must assume responsibility for their jobs.
(D) Those employees whose employers are familiar with their demands need to take responsibility for their jobs.</p>
<p>The answer is B. But when I took the test I was debating with B and D. The reason I picked D is because I didn’t know what “but workers to” was modifying…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I think you’re just over-thinking. “Pianists” is plural, so it is followed by a plural verb.</p></li>
<li><p>“but workers, too” doesn’t modify anything. “but” is a conjunction, and “too” is an adverb modifying “assume responsibility.”</p></li>
</ol>
<p>(D) does not include what the employers ought to do, so it is automatically wrong. Also, notice that “their” refers to employer because employer is the closest preceding noun. However, the original sentence indicates that the demands are from the workers.</p>
<ol>
<li>Although she wrote 2000 years ago, the Roman poet Sulpicia is still being [read: her poems are] available in English translation in a number of anthologies.</li>
</ol>
<p>A. read: her poems are
B. read, her poems are
C. read; her poems being
D. read: her poems are being
E. read, yet her poems are</p>
<p>I answered this question correctly, but I don’t understand when why using a colon is appropriate in this sentence. I was taught that lists follow colons…?</p>
<ol>
<li>Researchers have found that large fish [are most likely to contain high levels of mercury than small fish].
A) [same as original]
B) are more likely to contain high levels of mercury compared to small fish
C) are more likely than small fish to contain high levels of mercury
D) compared with small fish most likely contain high levels of mercury
E) more likely contain higher levels of mercury than in small fish</li>
</ol>
<p>I picked E because of “higher”. But the correct answer is C</p>
<p>For the first question,
A colon may be used for listing or for clarifying/expanding on what is stated in the main clause that comes before the colon</p>
<p>For the second question,</p>
<p>What is being compared is not the levels of mercury. Instead, the sentence is comparing which type of fish is more likely to contain high levels of mercury.</p>
<p>Also, the words “in small fish” make up a prepositional phrase but “large fish” is not part of a prepositional phrase. Therefore, the grammatical structures are different. You need parallel structure, if possible, when comparing two types of things.</p>
<p>As used in the quoted sentence, "it’ does not have an antecedent. The antecedent must be a noun or pronoun within the same sentence for SAT purposes.</p>
<p>Dorkyelmo I encourage you to spend a bit of time with question 25 to better understand the underlying grammatical structure of the sentence. You’re missing some very basic principles of sentence structure. Until you understand from first principles why you’re getting questions like this wrong you’re likely to get slight variations wrong as well.</p>
<p>The sentence (corrected to use the preposition with) is:</p>
<p>Intense preoccupation with technique appears to be the one trait that great pianists have in common.</p>
<p>In the sentence “that” is a relative pronoun. It introduces that subordinate clause “great pianists have in common”. Grammatically the subordinate clause stands on its own, and must follow basic grammar rules. It has “pianist” as subject and “have” as verb. The basic rule is that with the clause you must have subject-verb agreement.</p>
<p>Try at a high level to parse sentences – at least to identify the relative pronouns, the conjunctions, the “clauses” and the prepositional phrases. You can do this mentally. You’ll make far fewer usage errors this way. Ultimately you’ll need to do this to get the 700+ score that you’re striving for.</p>
<p>Thanks, will silverturtle’s guide help me with understanding the basic grammatical structure of the sentence? I really don’t want to do more grammar problems because it doesn’t seem to be helping…</p>