Writing help!!

<p>hey i need help with these identifying the error questions.</p>

<p>(Prior to) the election of Henry Cisneros (as mayor) of San Antonio in 1981, no major city in the United States (had had) a mayor (from Mexican descent). </p>

<p>Poets during the Romantic Period felt (more freely) to (express) emotions (in their writing) (than did) poets of the Victorian period. </p>

<p>Please explain to me how you come to your conclusion. thank you</p>

<p>1) “from Mexican descent” is not idiomatic. “Of Mexican descent” is the correct phrasing. </p>

<p>While “had had” may found funny, it is correct - use of the past perfect tense is appropriate here. The past perfect tense is also correctly estabished. </p>

<p>2) No error. “More freely” may sound awkward, but it’s correct. “Freely” is an adverb, and it is correctly modifying the verb “felt.” The word “more” is also being used correctly in this context.</p>

<p>In addition, “Freer” is also appropriate. It is the comparative form of “free.”</p>

<p>yes that is the right answer.</p>

<p>but for for the phrase “had had”</p>

<p>wouldn’t it make sense to read …no major city in the United States has had a mayor…</p>

<p>because no major city is singylar and has had is singular whereas had had is plural?</p>

<p>“Had” is also the past tense of “have.” It is the word that is supposed to be use here to create the past perfect tense in the sentence. </p>

<p>The word “had” can also be singular or plural.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<p>“The animals had moved out before we destroyed their habitat.” (plural)</p>

<p>“I had 5 pencils before I lost them.” (plural) </p>

<p>“I had 1 friend before he moved away.” (singular)</p>

<p>oohhh ok i see now. thanks a lot.</p>

<p>do you know what’s wrong with the second sentence?</p>

<p>for the second one about the poet it say the error is in “more freely”</p>

<p>^What book is this?</p>

<p>it’s not from a book. it’s a previously administered test</p>

<p>“More freely” is an adverb when what you want is the adjective “free.”</p>

<p>so it would be “more free”…thanks that’s what i was thinking</p>

<p>I’d say more free or freer.</p>

<p>But shouldn’t “their writing” be plural, since it means “written works”?</p>

<p>As used “writing” is a noun and it is singular. It doesn’t mean “written works” but rather the craft of “writing”. Consider a similar sentence where the craft is “painting” or “sculpturing”.</p>

<p>For the second question, my reasoning was that you can feel “free” but you can’t feel “freely”. Lol that’s just the way I think, but it apparently works judging from my practice test scores!</p>

<p>So when we say ‘I felt comfortable’ should it also be corrected as ‘I felt comfortably?’</p>

<p>^ NO NO! Duude… </p>

<p>@iceqube, I think u got confused between “feel” the action verb and “feel” the linking verb.</p>

<p>“I felt the a fabric”… ( I touched the fabric to feel it) So you can say I felt the fabric slowly…
slowly here would be an adverb modifying “felt” the action verb…</p>

<p>BUT…</p>

<p>“Feel” can also come as a linking verb as in “I felt happy”… I didn’t do anything! It is not action verb here .“feel” here means that “I WAS happy”… It can be replaced with a verb to be… so it’s a linking verb… And happy is not modifying “Feel”, but it’s an adjective (we call it here predicate adjective) modifying “I”… </p>

<p>Poets during the Romantic Period felt (more freely) to (express) emotions (in their writing) (than did) poets of the Victorian period. </p>

<p>It should be:
Poets during the Romantic Period felt more free… because “Free” modifies the period… It is an adjective… and “Feel” here is just linking both…</p>

<p>Got it? Don’t do that in SAT! It comes a lot! :D</p>