Two tricky Writing and Reading questions.

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1

<p>College Board Blue Book, practice test 5: section 6.</p>

<ol>
<li>The new system, which uses remote cameras in the catching of speeding motorists, may undermine the police department's authority.</li>
</ol>

<p>The correct answer was B (in the catching of). I do concede that it's wordy. But it is grammatically correct, isn't it?</p>

<p>College Board Blue Book, practice test 5: section 7.</p>

<ol>
<li>Because the congresswoman has been so openhanded with many of her constituents, it is difficult to reconcile this -------- with her private --------.</li>
</ol>

<p>(A) selfishness .. inattention
(B) insolence .. virtue
(C) magnanimity .. pettiness
(D) opportunism .. ambition
(E) solicitousness .. generosity</p>

<p>Personally, I have no idea what this sentence even means. If someone could elaborate please.</p>

<p>Thank you :-)</p>

2

<p>wordiness is a grammatical mistake!!
seco,d: i think C(opposite meanings)</p>

3

<p>Your logic may be acceptable only if it were a sentence rephrasing question. However, according to conventional tactics, you shouldn’t be looking for wordiness in a ‘spot the error’ writing question.</p>

<p>And for the reading question, yes, that’s what I went for too, the sentence signals antonyms indeed. However, I do not understand what it means, and that’s what’s more important when doing a practice exam.</p>

4

<p>“in the catching of” is not grammatically correct.
And the answer to the next question is C. Openhanded means generous, as does Magnanimity. Petty means the opposite.</p>

5

<p>It should be (The new system, which uses remote cameras to catch speeding motorists, may undermine the police department’s authority.)</p>

6

<p>I believe the first one is incorrect because “in the catching of” does not convey the original meaning of the sentence.</p>

7

<p>The ways the two words are used is:
openhanded = extremely liberal and generous of spirit
pettiness = narrowness of mind or ideas or views</p>

<p>Because the congresswoman has been so openhanded with many of her constituents, it is difficult to reconcile this magnanimity with her private pettiness.</p>

<p>The way I read this sentence is the way I read some of today’s politicians. In public when they make public speeches to the people who voted for them (“their constituents”) they appear open to new ideas and they listen with apparent care and understanding. Then when return to their private work and home life their true self comes through. In the case of the congresswoman that private self is a spiteful self, one closed to new ideas, and uncaring.</p>

8

<p>Thank you for your contributions.</p>