SAT I Writing

<p>Q1. Crimson fruit crows are large birds (that live in South American forests with bright red feathers.)</p>

<p>Answer : with bright red feathers that live in South American forests.</p>

<p>Doesn't "that live in South American forests" describe the feathers in that sentence??</p>

<p>Q2. Yawning is nearly universal among mammals, but birds, reptiles, and even fish also yawn, (perhaps for some of the same reasons that mammals do)</p>

<p>Answer : correct as it is.</p>

<p>I chose "possibly with similar reasons".</p>

<p>What is the difference?? I thought it was wordy..</p>

<p>Q3. In the past children were content to entertain themselves with kitchen pots and balls of twin (rather than high-priced electronic toys now.)</p>

<p>Answer : "now they want high-priced electronic toys".</p>

<p>Why is is not "rather than high-priced electronic toys now"??</p>

<p>*Q4. Ever since the giant panda of China was first introduced to Europeans in the 1800s, it is a favorite with zoo-goers. *</p>

<p>Answer : No Error</p>

<p>I thought there was problem with "favorite with". I thought it must be favorite of.</p>

<p>Q1: if left as is “with bright red feathers” would apply to forests.</p>

<p>Q2: in your choice “reasons” is ambiguous. Perhaps the reasons can be inferred from the first part of the sentence. But that’s very poor writing.</p>

<p>Q3. Are you sure about the answer? The one you provide is a full sentence. It would be a comma splice if used as you suggest.</p>

<p>Q4 seems wrong to me. The verb tense should be present perfect.</p>

<p>Ever since the giant panda of China was first introduced to Europeans in the 1800s, it has been a favorite with zoo-goers.</p>

<p>Also I’m not too keen on “first introduced”. Better is “introduced” since “first” is implied by “Ever since”.</p>

<p>This is a terrible question. Is it from an actual SAT?</p>

<p>Those are from PSATs… I realized some questions were really bad too…</p>

<p>Q1:
this Q is bad–either option produces a modifier error (forests don’t have feathers; feathers don’t “live” in a forest)</p>

<p>Q2:
idiomatic. things don’t happen “with reasons,” they happen “for reasons”</p>

<p>Q3:
You’re omitting some necessary punctuation in this sentence, and without it, the sentence can’t be properly diagnosed.</p>

<p>Q4:
this sentence is bad. The verb must be “has been a favorite,” and that trumps any preposition/idiom error.</p>

<p>These can’t be from real PSATs. If they are, please let me know which ones and I’ll check mine–I’ve NEVER seen errors like these in any real PSAT.</p>

<p>these r from SAT Sunday or Aisa in 2008 May…</p>