WRITING questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>1) [One can] [hardly] determine [which contributes] [more] to the success of a violonist - innate skill or regular practice</p>

<p>(The book says no error, but isn't it supposed to be "Which contribute more" because contribute is the action done by either of 2 things, skill or practice... )</p>

<p>2) Far [away from] having been a diehard conservative, [Hoover was], some scholars [now contect] the leading progressive [of his day]</p>

<p>(The book says the answer is A, any explanation please ? )</p>

<p>One of the sentence improvement questions had this answer as the correct one :
After our lab instructor gave us the assignment, we worked busily for the remainder of the period
(Isn't it wrong cuz AFTER has to be followed by a past perfect ? Or isn't it a must ?</p>

<p>Another question had this answer:
Although only two inches long, the shrew is a mammal and therefore a relative of elephants and giraffes.
(Isn't it wrong cuz Although has to be followed by a subject + verb ? )</p>

2

<p>

“which of the two” and “either of the two” are singular noun phrases, so you use the singular verb “contributes.” There are two things, but the word “which” refers to ONE of the two things (EITHER of them), so it is singular in this case and therefore takes a singular verb.

“away” means “not here,” and “far away” means something like “in a distant point not here.” It is normally used to indicate places and physical distance, as in Point X is far away from point Y. It is more common to use “far from,” not “far away from,” to indicate unlikeness and difference in character, so we would normally say He is far from a conservative as opposed to He is far away from a conservative.

No, “after” almost always indicates a simple past or simple present tense. Words like “after” and “before” that create simple designations of time indicate a simple tense. For example, we would normally say *After I ate breakfast, I went to school<a href=“simple%20past%20tense”>/i</a>, not After I had eaten breakfast, I went to school, because “I had eaten” is not really an event (it is the STATE of having eaten); since it is not an event, we wouldn’t normally say that we went to school AFTER it. We would say “Event X occurred AFTER event Y,” not “Event X occurred AFTER event Y had occurred.”</p>

<p>Even though the sentence illustrates that one past event occurred before another past event and it wants to emphasize on the designations (sections) in time, the past perfect is not used.

In grammar, sometimes you can omit (leave out) the verb of a clause. In this case, the phrase “it is” (which would be placed immediately after “although” and before “only two inches long”) is left out. This is called an elliptical construction, or ellipsis. Here are examples of ellipsis:
He plays the violin better than she the piano. [He plays the violin better than she plays the piano.]</p>

<p>He has five dollars; she, four. [He has five dollars; she has four dollars.]</p>

<p>While running, he tripped. He tripped while running. [While he was running, he tripped.]
The sentences in brackets include the omitted words.</p>

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<p>Thanks alot</p>

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5)

(Although only) two inches long, the shrew is a mammal and therefore a relative of elephants and giraffes.
A) Although only
B) Whereas only
C) Despite a size
D) While its size is
E) Since it is … why the answer is (A)…I thought that '(although) must come before and after it 2 complete sentences AND why (E) is wrong answer… (PLEASE I NEED AN EXPLAINATION)…

5

E is wrong because “since” means “that is the reason why.” Its size isn’t the reason why it’s a mammal.

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BUT (since) has two meanings : BECAUSE & ALTHOUGH…IS IT RIGHT?!

7

No…Google “since.” I see three meanings listed.

  1. Because Since I cheated on the test, I got in trouble.
  2. Between a time in the past and now Since the accident, I have been afraid of planes.
  3. Ago It had long since burned down.
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And even if it meant “although,” why would you choose that over the first answer–which already has “although” in it?

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You are accustomed to “although” joining clauses. That is one way that conjunctions work. They can also join simple phrases.

You are familiar with this in the case of “and.” It can join clauses: “I love Jane, and Jane loves me.” It also joins smaller elements: “I love peanut butter and jelly.”

“But” works the same way. “I love clams, but I don’t love oysters”; and “Jane is a small but persistent athlete.”

I mention this because “although” has almost the same meaning as “but” in the problem you wrote about.

A simplified version of that sentence might read like this: “The shrew is a mammal but only two inches long.”

Swap “although” for “but” and you get this: “The shrew is a mammal although only two inches long.”

Reverse the order of ideas, and you get this: “Although only two inches long, the shrew is a mammal.” (This version actually shows the difference in the way “but” and “although” work. )

Adding the bit about the elephants doesn’t change the way “although” joins the main ideas. It just makes one of the ideas longer.

@neno16

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Thanks a lot… @WasatchWriter :slight_smile: