<p>the question of the day today: Most ships move(a) through the Suez Canal with(b) their own power(c), but large ships must(d) be assisted by a tugboat. No error(e)</p>
<p>first thought: wow! everything looks correct!</p>
<p>answer was (b) however. the idiom is "under their own power." yet I've never heard this idiom in my 17 years of living. living in America. speaking English. in fact, I hear the phrase "he did it with his own power" all the time. so when I read the question, my idiom senses tingled correct.</p>
<p>it's because of questions like this that I can't have nice things and/or ace this test. they're such low blows. they just flies over my head. it just gets on my nerves.</p>
<p>^LOOK AT ALL THOSE CORRECTLY USED IDIOMS</p>
<p>Sorry. </p>
<p>Don’t know where you’ve lived for 17 years but it is “under,” not “with.”</p>
<p>also, lots of phrases that we think are commonly used/properly used idioms in normal conversations are in fact incorrect (SAT-wise).</p>
<p>not that idioms appear on the exam that often really tho…</p>
<p>Haha I just made the same mistake minutes ago. “With their own power” sounds completely right to me; in fact, I think I would’ve picked “under their own power” as incorrect just cause that sounds awkward to me.</p>
<p>sdfadsfd I was here thinking it was choice B because I thought it was a pronoun error. -_-</p>
<p>And lol @ GolfFather’s post, I think we all understand now what the real answer is, we’re not trying to argue it.</p>
<p>Because saying “with your own power” instead of “under your own power” totally shows your not ready for college.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, but mispelling you’re does. ;)</p>
<p>GolfFather, you are my hero. forever.</p>
<p>and I suppose I just am surrounded with incorrect usages of english. sigh.</p>
<p>@GolfFather - *misspelling lol</p>
<p>Ooh, I like the title of this thread.
I don’t like the SAT because it essentially measures your worth as a student by a number. I’m not a 580 in math, a 700 in reading, a 730 in writing. I’m a 17-year-old girl who loves Ernest Hemingway and Kurt Vonnegut and J. D. Salinger and just any good book, really. A girl who stays after class and discusses Kennedy’s presidency and Alexander Hamilton’s weirdo tragic life with her history teacher. A girl who plays flute and piano and tries out for all the school plays even though she’s shy as hell. A girl who just wants to go to a good college, dammit.
But instead I am just a number. A number that is not necessarily the result of my innate intelligence, whatever that may entail. It is a number that is instead derived from how many study materials I purchased from the College Board’s website, how well I paid attention during my math teacher’s SAT practice questions at the beginning of each math class (I didn’t), how well I can write a generic three-point thesis on an uninspired topic in twenty-five minutes on a nervous and sleepless Saturday morning, how well I can survive during a three hour plus test that only allows me five minute breaks for snacks and water and bathroom and deep breaths that don’t really solve anything- when it’s all said and done, I’ll still be a number. And I’ll still be a number that’s lower than somebody else’s number.
I would also like to point out that SAT once stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test, and was eventually changed to the SAT that we all know and love, the one whose title stands for nothing. That’s right. SAT doesn’t mean anything.
That’s at least what I keep telling myself. </p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Okay, bitter rant over. BUT I’M JUST SAYING.</p>