<p>(it is) now generally agreed (that) the rings of the planet Saturn (are composed of) (several) billion small ice particles. No error.</p>
<p>No error was apparently the correct answer, but i chose B (that) because i thought it was idiomatic to say "agreed upon." i rearranged the sentence like so: "that the rings of the planet Saturn are composed of several billion small ice particles is now generally agreed." When the sentence is in this form, it definitely sounds like it needs "upon" at the end, so how come the original sentence doesn't?</p>
<p>i actually have 2 more:</p>
<p>1) One of the (most visible) symbols of (increased) European unity (is) the Chunnel, a 31-mile tunnel beneath the English Channel that took 6 years (to complete).
once again the answer is no error, but i thought that “increased” (past) doesn’t agree with “is” (present), so i thought “increasing European unity” was the correct form. Thoughts?</p>
<p>2) One of the (good things about) using corn oil as automobile fuel (is) (that) it makes car exhaust (smell) appealingly like french fries.
I put no error, which was the correct answer, but i feel that this collegeboard made a mistake on this sentence. they should have wrote “appealing” instead of “appealingly” because the car exhaust isn’t doing the actual smelling, right? i mean, you never say “you look/smell nicely,” always “you look/smell nice”</p>
<p>You don’t rearrange the sentences EVER, in these error identifications… you are just opening more opportunities to wrong answers… Look what you said above saying “agreed upon” instead and plug it into the sentence:
“It is now generally agreed upon the rings of the plant Saturn…” - that sentence just sounds wrong…</p>
<p>I would DEFINITELY recommend The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar by Erica Meltzer if you haven’t already purchased it… it covers everything you are having trouble with and I myself have been using this book for several weeks with increased knowledge in common mistakes,etc.</p>
<p>yeah actually i went through the whole book. there was a missunderstanding: what i meant the sentence should say was “it is now generally agreed upon THAT…” as in you don’t replace that, but you add upon before it. :/</p>
<p>@stuffedicing I can help here! Looks like you’re already covered on the first question but for the next two: </p>
<p>1) “Increased” actually isn’t a verb here; it’s an adjective describing “European unity”. The past participle of a verb can be used as an adjective without altering the tense of the sentence.</p>
<p>2) “Appealingly” is an adverb. Adverbs modify verbs, yes, but also adjectives or other adverbs. Here, the grammar is a little confusing, but the key here is that what’s appealing is the fact that it is LIKE french fries, so the adverb phrase here is “appealingly like”. </p>
<p>I think the biggest problem that you seem to have (and that I struggle with too) is overthinking the writing section. Most of the questions are really just simple subject-verb agreement, parallel structure, and using verb phrases correctly.</p>
<p>@lanflan thanks so much! i actually didn’t know that verbs used as adjectives doen’t alter tense. This really helps</p>
<p>@stuffedicing you’re welcome! oh, and if you’re looking for a grammar resource I personally recommend SparkNotes-after reading through it I now only miss about 1 question per test, which I’m still working on</p>