<p>Woody Guthrie wrote and adapted more than a thousand songs, many of them are about the struggles of workers and the poor in the United States.</p>
<p>A. many of them are
B. many of which are
C. many are
D. which are, many of them,
E. and many of them that are</p>
<p>(SCROLL DOWN FOR ANSWER)</p>
<p>Choice (B) is correct. It avoids the comma-splice error of the original by using the pronoun which in place of the pronoun them, thereby turning what was originally an independent clause (many of them are United States) into a relative clause that modifies songs.</p>
<p>I got the answer correct because I knew it sounded wrong, but couldn't figure out why. I was wondering how you "writing" experts out there figure out if the sentences is wrong because of a common splice error. I never learned about comma splices in school for some reason. Anyone mind explaining and giving tips on how to spot them on the SATs?</p>
<p>It avoids the comma-splice error of the original by using the pronoun which in place of the pronoun them, thereby turning what was originally an independent clause (many of them are United States) into a relative clause that modifies songs.</p>
<p>A comma splice is when you combine two separate sentences using a comma, instead of using a semicolon or connecting the two sentences in some other way (making the second sentence a dependent clause, etc).</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<p>I hate the SAT, it's really boring.</p>
<p>This is a comma splice, because on each side of the comma is an independent sentence.</p>
<p>You could fix it in any of the following ways:
I hate the SAT because it's really boring.
I hate the SAT; it's really boring. (this is correct but kind of weird in this case)
I hate the SAT. It's really boring.
The SAT is really boring, which is why I hate it.
etc</p>