SAT Writing Questions

<p>Harriet Quimby became the first woman (to have piloted) a plane across the English Channel and did it just nin years after the Wright brothers' first powered flight.</p>

<p>Why is TO HAVE PILOTED wrong?</p>

<p>The heat was already (overwhelming and lasted a week, which duration made it seem) sheer torture.
a. same
b. overwhelming, and because of lasting a week, it made it seem
c. overwhelming and lasted the duration of a week to make it to seem
d. overwhelming, and its lasting a week made it seem
e. overwhelming and, by lasting a week, making it seem</p>

<p>D is the answer. WHY?</p>

<p>Maybe it isn't wrong by definition, but there is a better answer. Harriet Quimby became the first woman 'to pilot' a plane across the English Channel...works better because the initial verb is already in past tense. Writing 'to have piloted' is messy because that means she did it in the past when she did it in the past. Of course, she had to do it in the present when she was the past. The infinitive, indicated by to, should be present tense. Does that make sense?</p>

<p>Other examples:
I tried to have opened the door. (I tried to open the door)
I wanted to have gotten the computer. (I wanted to get the computer)</p>

<p>You see, it's just awkward.</p>

<p>"To have done" is the infinitive form of the present perfect tense. To quote from this</a> website, "we use the present perfect to describe something which has been (recently) completed and still has a bearing on present and/or future circumstances." The infinitive form of the present perfect is commonly used a the subject in a sentence, such as in "To have seen the Taj Mahal in the early morning sunlight will always be something I shall never forget." The correct answer would be "to pilot"</p>

<p>I don't know how to explain the second one other than to say D is the choice that sounds the least wrong. If you explain what you thought the answer was, then maybe I can help you more.</p>

<h1>2)</h1>

<p>a. The heat was already overwhelming and lasted a week, which duration made it seem sheer torture. Duration is part of the week, so it shouldn't be separated by a comma. And the overwhelming and the week should not be grouped together.
b. overwhelming, and because of lasting a week, it made it seem...
That's just weird.
c. The heat was already overwhelming and lasted the duration of a week to make it to seem sheer torture. This doesn't set the part that was sheer torture from the overwhelming part, so it's saying that it was already overwhelming and that made it sheer torture. That doesn't make sense.
e. The heat was already overwhelming and, by lasting a week, making it seem sheer torture. Making is in the wrong conjucation, and it doesn't flow.</p>

<p>d. (the right answer) The heat was already overwhelming, and its lasting a week made it seem sheer torture. Concise and expresses the idea that the heat was bad, but the duration made it seem worse. The comma separates the different ideas.</p>

<p>I was choosing between C and D. both sound correct at first glance.</p>

<p>So why exactly is C wrong?</p>

<p>The heat was already overwhelming and lasted the duration of a week to make it to seem sheer torture.</p>

<p>Since there's no separation between the lasting a duration of the week and being overwhelming, the infinitive "to make it seem" applies to both. Since the sentence begins with 'already,' that doesn't fit.</p>

<p>Here: The heat was already overwhelming...to make it seem sheer torture. What? It needs to be in a different clause from the 'making it seem like sheer torture' part.</p>

<p>I missed the big part. "to make it to seem" is another incorrect use of inifinitive. "Make" is one of those verbs that doesn't use "to."</p>

<p>I wish I could make you to go with me. (I wish I could make you go with me).
That dress makes you to look pretty! (That dress makes you look pretty).</p>

<p>"Since there's no separation between the lasting a duration of the week and being overwhelming, the infinitive "to make it seem" applies to both. Since the sentence begins with 'already,' that doesn't fit."</p>

<p>omg. Thank you TKM! i get it.</p>

<p>Also, "lasted the duration of a week" is clearly redundant. A week is already a measurement of duration of time. Thus you don't need to say it lasted "the duration of a week," but should rather simply use "lasted a week" instead. This is yet another reason why C is incorrect.</p>