writing question

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1

<p>(Along) the curve of islands known as the Florida Keys (lies) a reef of living coral, (the only one) of (a kind) in the continental United States. (No Error)</p>

<p>**lets assume the parentheses are underlined
the answer is D (a kind) why is that wrong?</p>

2

<p>I think it should be “its kind” rather than “a kind”.</p>

3

<p>Shouldnt it be “one of THE kind” ?</p>

4

<p>It should be “only one of its kind”</p>

5

<p>“the only one of a kind” is redundant. Either it’s one of a kind or it’s not; “only” is just rehashing the obvious.</p>

6

<p>no i don’t think it’s because of redundancy. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/768431-redundancy-bb-writing-question.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/768431-redundancy-bb-writing-question.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I think rather it’s unidiomatic. It should be one of its kind.</p>

7

<p>Along the curve of islands known as the Florida Keys lies a reef of living coral, one of a kind in the continental United States. </p>

<p>The modified sentence makes sense to me</p>

8

<p>but then according to your logic either C or D could be wrong.</p>

9

<p>“one of a kind” would not make the sentence unidiomatic or redundant</p>

<p>“one of a kind” means “the only one of a particular type”
“one of its kind” means “one of its type,” or “one of this particular type”
“only one of its kind” means “only one of its type,” or “only one of this particular type”</p>

<p>its just defining and being more specific</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>I didn’t even notice that the OP said D was actually the answer. I went through all this thinking she said C was incorrect ><</p>

11

<p>it should obviously be “its kind” in the place of “a kind”</p>

12

<p>Apparently this has been discussed before:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/374069-one-kind-grammar.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/374069-one-kind-grammar.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[What</a> is wrong with the grammar in this sentence? - Yahoo! Answers India](<a href=“Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos”>Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos)</p>

<p>But here’s my take:</p>

<p>“one of a kind” is often used as an adjective: i.e., he’s one of a kind … or … one-of-a-kind coral reef …</p>

<p>On the other hand, “one of its kind” is “one of its type” …</p>

<p>The word “only” in front of “one of a kind” makes it awkward (or redundant as some people pointed out), but “only one of its kind” is used all over the places (search for “one of its kind”):</p>

<p>[A</a> Review of the Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Study](<a href=“http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10316&page=5]A”>1 Introduction | A Review of the Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Study | The National Academies Press)</p>

<p>[The</a> Coral Reef in Eilat, Israel](<a href=“Go Israel”>Go Israel)</p>

<p>However, this question will probably never appear on the test again–so don’t worry about it :)</p>

13

<p>“Along the curve of islands known as the Florida Keys lies a reef of living coral, the only one of its kind in the continental United States.”</p>

<p>You guys are overthinking it.</p>