<p>I am improving! But still, i have questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Because the hospital emergency room was clearly (understaffed) and the entrance bay(overran) by arriving ambulances, the patients in the waiting room knew they (would not see) the doctors (for a long time).</p></li>
<li><p>The magnet high school (differs from) other high schools (such as) Joe High and Staples High, (in that) its students are so (widely) spread out geographically.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I thought that such as couldn't be used and should be replaced with "like"? When do you use such as and when do you use like?</p>
<p>overran and such as are the errors.</p>
<p>
They mean the same thing, and hence are interchangeable, in this context.</p>
<p>And in the first question “overran” should be “overrun” since “overrun” is the past participle that corresponds to the clause “the entrance bay [was] overrun by arriving ambulances” (whose complete version is truncated but implied: <a href=“http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000331.htm[/url]”>http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000331.htm</a>). In other words, past participles act as adjectives in this case, so in the same way you can say “the sky is blue,” where “blue” is an adjective, you can say “the entrance bay was overrun …” where “overrun” is effectively an adjective. An example of another past participle is given: “I was given a gift” (not “I was gave a gift”).</p>
<p>Another construction where past participles are employed is the construction of “I have [past participle]”: “I have swum” (not “I have swam”); “I have eaten” (not “I have ate”); “I have done my homework” (not “I have did my homework”); “I have run 5 miles today” (not “I have ran 5 miles today”); “I have overrun [exceeded] the budget” (not “I have overran the budget”).</p>
<p>So the second question has no error?</p>
<p>Yea, it should be no error. But it isn’t a College Board question (I sense) so the “official” answer might not be that (I don’t know).</p>
<p>crazybandit, good eye, it is not a CB. but nevertheless you are correct, no error.</p>
<p>another question:</p>
<ol>
<li>After carefully reviewing the two student essays, Professor Magil and Professor Thompson found that the only difference between (them were the size of the fonts).</li>
</ol>
<p>Correct answer is E. the essays was the size of their fonts… i was debating choosing d though, "the essays was that of the size of the their fonts. Why is D incorrect?</p>
<p>I don’t believe that D is actually incorrect, but it IS rather wordy; E is, essentially, a more succinct form of D.</p>
<p>ahhh okay. alright that makes sense… anyone care to verify jefgreens answer?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I see a redundancy with (D), “the essays was that of the size of their fonts.” “That” seems to refer to “difference,” making the sentence read, “the difference between the essays was the difference of the size of their fonts.” That might be considered a grammatical error, but either way E is far less wordy, and CB will occasionally test for wordiness.</p>