<p>The</a> Official SAT Question of the Day</p>
<p>Why is it A?</p>
<p>I got C because "gong" is singular, thus must yield a plural verb.</p>
<p>I got C too. Because then it counts military signal, a rhythmic accompaniment for vocal performance, and a ritual instruments.</p>
<p>Yeah, i want to know too. I got C as well. Their explanations need to be more in depth.</p>
<p>C is wrong because the verb, “includes,” is plural. The subject is not “purposes,” it’s “range,” which is singular. So that eliminates C.</p>
<p>The correct answer must have “as” in it as well, because “used” is often followed with “as.” For example, “They **used **the pencil as a weapon.” So, only A and E are possible answer choices. E is incorrect because putting “they include as” in the sentence would require either a semicolon or the start of a new sentence (and neither is the case). So, the correct answer is A.</p>
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<p>No, you’ve got both points backwards. “includes” is singular, which is wrong because the subject is “purposes,” which is plural.</p>
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<p>It’s subject-verb agreement. 
Singular subjects yield singular verbs; plural subjects yield plural verbs.</p>
<p>If anything besides A, I would’ve chose B, I got A though. You had to agree singularly.</p>
<p>You may also ask yourself why B, C, and D could be eliminated immediately. Hint: only ONE answer is possible.</p>
<p>It can’t be choice C or D because “which” needs an antecedant( which is supposed to be the gong) but “which” is placed right after the word “purposes”, so it looks like its antecedant is “purposes” instead of the gong.</p>
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<p>Oops! Sorry, I’m not sure if I misread the problem or what. <em>blushes</em> </p>
<p>I guess 2 wrongs do make a right sometimes. :)</p>
<p>That one stumped me too.</p>
<p>There are several grammatical things that should be known.</p>
<p>1) The sentence gives 3 examples of what is included in “a wide range of purposes.” To denote purpose one must use the preposition “as,” otherwise the sentence would just list objects–e.g., “One purpose is a military signal”–which makes no sense. A military signal is a thing, not a purpose. One should say, “One purpose is as a military signal.” Strictly speaking, that is grammatically correct.</p>
<p>One uses a gong as a military signal. Thus, a gong has purposes including as a military signal. “As a military signal” is a prepositional phrase whose object “military signal” is also the object of the transitive verb include.</p>
<p>2) We know that “including” modifies “a wide range of purposes” and not “gong” because the sentence wants to list examples of what is included in the range of purposes, not what is included in the gong. Similarly, we know that “sleeping” in the sentence “I saw a man sleeping on the street” describes the man, not “I,” for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>Here are some examples of relevant structures:</p>
<p>a) “I listened to the radio.”
The object of listen is “radio.” “To” is a preposition denoting the means of listening. It connects the verb to the object.</p>
<p>b) “On my extensive vacation, I ate dinner virtually everywhere, including the lounge of a hotel and a beach house.”
“Everywhere” basically means “in every place,” so “in” is implied. You do not say, “. . . including in. . . .”</p>
<p>Thus, the issue here is not one that particularly concerns the difference between “including” and “which includes” or “which include.” It simply has to do with expressing function. To act as a leader is to act in the function of a leader. The answer is “including as,” but it could also be “which include as” (if it were an answer choice).</p>