<p>The region experienced an extraordinarily dry summer and "is now suffering a severe drought".
a. is now suffering a severe drought
b. now the drought it has is severe
c. it has been followed by a severe drought
d. then it had a drought that is severe
e. next it suffered a severe drought</p>
<p>Answer: A.</p>
<p>Why is E wrong? Is "next" wrong?
These conjunctive adverbs (next, besides, also, etc..) confuse me. So, if you can answer this topic, could you also answer my similar question at:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1553129-writing-q.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1553129-writing-q.html</a></p>
<p>With E, the sentence would read:
The region experienced an extraordinarily dry summer and next it suffered a severe drought.</p>
<p>Two independent clauses can’t be linked by “and”. In addition, “next” is a conjunctive adverb that must be set off by commas. This would’ve been correct:
The region experienced an extraordinarily dry summer, and, next, it suffered a severe drought.</p>
<p>I’ll use another very similar SAT sentence to prove my point:
Some plants use chemical signals that repel insects, and (also,) these signals help to put neighboring plants on alert so they can mount their own defenses.
“Also” should either be removed or put between two commas. (paraphrasing crazybandit’s response to this very question).</p>