<p>Does anyone know where I can get explanations for the 2009 PSAT questions (Class of 2011)?</p>
<p>Well, if not, someone explain this writing question to me... this is the difference between a 75 and an 80 on my writing, and also the difference between 213 and 218... 218 is the cutoff for semifinalist in my state (CT)</p>
<ol>
<li>By failing to resolve the city's fiscal crisis is why the mayor lost his bid for reelection.
A. By failing to resolve the city's fiscal crisis is why
B. Because he failed to resolve the city's fiscal crisis,
C. Due to his failure at resolving the city's fiscal crisis,
D. He failed to resolve the city's fiscal crisis is the reason that
E. His failure to resolve the city's fiscal crisis resulted in that</li>
</ol>
<p>I said C. But apparently, the correct answer is B... I thought you weren't supposed to start a sentence with the word "because"? If I was writing an essay and needed to revise this sentence, I would say "Since he failed to resolve the city's fiscal crisis," not "Because". I asked both my parents to answer this question, and they are not English experts, but they're smart people, and they both answered the same way I did.</p>
<p>I hate these writing questions, they're such garbage... it seems like the best answer is always an answer that isn't there... I wish I didn't bomb the critical reading, then I wouldn't even care about this.</p>
<p>Because he failed to resolve the city's fiscal crisis, the mayor lost his bid for reelection... maybe I'm just an idiot, but that sounds kinda awkward to me. Why don't you just switch up the sentence order... start the sentence with the mayor and it would make so much more sense!!! </p>
<p>AGHHHH</p>
<p>I feel your pain man, I think that the writing section is pretty bunk to, but the directions are pick the direct answer. It’s perfectly okay to start a sentence with because, because, it’s a dependent clause attached to an independent clause. Answer C is incorrect because “AT resolving”, it’s a misplaced preposition. If choice C read, “Due to his failure resolving the city’s fiscal crisis” it would have been correct.</p>
<p>Also, for future reference, starting sentences with ‘Because’ can be grammatically correct, if the sentence is a complete sentence otherwise. Teachers in elementary/middle school tell you not to start sentences with ‘Because’ because too often students write sentence fragments if they use it. </p>
<p>ex: He went to the store. Because he wanted to get milk. -Incorrect</p>
<p>Because he wanted to get milk, he went to the store. -Perfectly correct</p>
<p>EDIT: Forgot to mention that I completely agree, the writing curve for Form S is ridiculous. It seems like those who took Form W had a HUGE advantage. It definitely screwed me over, even though I only got 2 questions wrong =/</p>
<p>Yeah, the writing curve sucked big time. I missed two writing questions, and got a 70 on the writing section</p>
<p>OK, I get your point… thanks for the responses guys.</p>
<p>@Jamezzz: I understand your example. And yes, you’re right. But why would anyone say “Because he wanted to get milk, he went to the store.” It would make the most sense, in my opinion, to switch it around and say “He went to the store because he wanted to get milk.” Maybe I’m just more familiar with seeing it the second way, but it seems awkward the first way. … Regardless, I do not like the writing section… there’s multiple ways to fix every sentence but you have be thinking the exact same way that the creators of the test are thinking to get it right… </p>
<p>Ehh, what do I know… I’m just ticked off, it’s a perfectly fair test lol</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s awkward, but it’s the only one that’s grammatically correct, which is sometimes hard to see when the sentence just sounds weird in general.</p>
<p>“because” and “since” are interchangeable in this context. “because” is serving as a subordinating (also known as dependent) conjunction in that it is signaling that the introdcutory clause is dependent. This sentence grammatically follows this form:</p>
<p>[Dependent conjunction] [rest of dependent clause; includes subject and verb], [independent clause; includes subject and verb].</p>
<p>Choice (C) is unidiomatic. One doesn’t have a “failure at” something; he or she has a failure to do something or fails at doing something.</p>