Why the comma in this QOTD?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Tuesday, May 26</p>

<p>Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.</p>

<p>Rita Dove, African American writer and teacher, as poet laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995.</p>

<p>A. Rita Dove, African American writer and teacher, as
B. Rita Dove was an African American writer and teacher as
C. African American writer and teacher Rita Dove was
D. African American writer and teacher, Rita Dove was
E. An African American writer and teacher, it was Rita Dove</p>

<p>I narrowed it down to C and D. Please explain why C is correct.</p>

2

<p>Can’t really explain but don’t you need something in front of African American writer and teacher, like “an”, or something? I would have eliminated D from just reading it. It’s like an adjective with no connecting noun.</p>

3

<p>Haha I picked D at first too but then I looked at it more carefully and here’s the reason why C is correct:</p>

<p>Although “African American writer and teacher” is a dependent clause that is modifying Rita Dove, you can’t just directly say “African American writer and teacher”. You need to have something like “As an African American…”. Thus, this makes the BEST answer C.</p>

<p>Don’t you just hate it when the SAT takes full advantage of that dang “pick the BEST answer” thing?</p>

4

<p>Actually I don’t believe “As an African American…” would be correct either because that implies that she then does something, which she doesn’t. She just was something. So you would need “An African American…” for D to be correct.</p>

5

<p>For D to have been correct, the sentence would have had to read ‘‘African American writer and teacher, Rita Dove, was…’’</p>

<p>Notice the comma after Rita Dove. By putting the first comma after teacher, the subject of the sentence becomes ‘‘African American writer and teacher’’, and ‘‘Rita Dove’’ is just there as a clause separate from the whole sentence (note: not proper terminology). Thus, the sentence before and after needs to surround that ‘‘extra clause.’’</p>

<p>Hope that’s not too unclear.</p>

6

<p>Ok I get it. For D to be correct you would need
An african american writer and teacher, Rita Dove was</p>