Writing questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<ol>
<li>Once American films looked slick and commercial compared to European imports; (now, almost the reverse is true.)
A. now, almost the reverse is true
B. now they are almost the reverse</li>
</ol>

<p>I didn't even get what the sentence was saying</p>

<ol>
<li>For many a brilliant architect, (being free to innovate is more important than) being well paid.
A. being free to innovate is more important than
B. having freedom of innovation is more important than</li>
</ol>

<p>Isn't B also parallel? I don't get this</p>

<ol>
<li><p>(Yearning for) a (truly representative) art form of the Americas, the art world of the 1920's (looked hopefully) to the three popular Mexican mural artists (of the day).
How could the "art world" "look hopefully"? And what's "yearning for"? I picked C.</p></li>
<li><p>When M.R. Harrington, an archaeologist from the Museum, (began to excavate) the ruins he named the Pueblo Grande de Nevada, he unearthed artifacts indicating a 500-year occupation by indigenous people.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>i went with my instinct and said that it should be "began excavating" Where could i find the list to memorize for gerunds or infinitives followed by certain verbs, so that i don't get these questions wrong again?</p>

<ol>
<li>Freedom of action and expression (are) at the foundation...</li>
</ol>

<p>isn't the subject being described two things, Freedom of action and Freedom of expression?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Until just recently many students would take lengthy trips during spring (break rather than temporary jobs like now).
A. break rather than temporary jobs like now
B. break instead of temporary jobs like now
C. break; now they take temporary jobs</p></li>
<li><p>In 1969 air pollution from automobile exhaust, particularly (like that in the Los Angeles environs, became of an increasingly more urgent) concern to environmentalists.
A. of the sort found in the Los Angeles area, became an increasingly urgent
E. the kind similar to the Los Angeles area, became an increasingly more urgent</p></li>
</ol>

<p>why is it E? I don't see the faulty comparison if there is.</p>

<p>Sorry it's too much. Thanks</p>

2

<p>1. Once American films looked slick and commercial compared to European imports; (now, almost the reverse is true.)
A. now, almost the reverse is true
B. now they are almost the reverse</p>

<p>The answer is (A). It is an idiomatic expression. You could eliminate (B). How could “they” both be “the reverse”? The whole situation is reversed, that is, European imports now “almost” look “slick and commercial” compared to American films.</p>

<p>2. For many a brilliant architect, (being free to innovate is more important than) being well paid.
A. being free to innovate is more important than
B. having freedom of innovation is more important than</p>

<p>The answer is (A): “being free…” is perfectly parallel to “being well paid.” For (B) to work, the original sentence would have to read: “having freedom of innovation…,” which sounds terrible in any case. </p>

<p>3. (Yearning for) a (truly representative) art form of the Americas, the art world of the 1920’s (looked hopefully) to the three popular Mexican mural artists (of the day).
How could the “art world” “look hopefully”? And what’s “yearning for”? I picked C.</p>

<p>I don’t see an error. The “art world” is referring to a group of people, and a group of people can certainly look hopefully.</p>

<p>*4. When M.R. Harrington, an archaeologist from the Museum, (began to excavate) the ruins he named the Pueblo Grande de Nevada, he unearthed artifacts indicating a 500-year occupation by indigenous people.</p>

<p>i went with my instinct and said that it should be “began excavating” Where could i find the list to memorize for gerunds or infinitives followed by certain verbs, so that i don’t get these questions wrong again?*</p>

<p>This falls under idiom. In my research, I have not found a complete list of common idiom errors, and a complete list would probably span thousands of pages so I’m not sure one would be worth it. I can shamelessly plug my book (below)–I have as good a list as I’ve seen–but most other good SAT tutorials have lists of common idiomatic errors.</p>

<p>*5. Freedom of action and expression (are) at the foundation…</p>

<p>isn’t the subject being described two things, Freedom of action and Freedom of expression?
*
Common error. Remove all prepositional phrases to find the “true subject.” In this case, “of…” can be removed, and you have “Freedom… is…” Google “prepositions” if you don’t know what I’m talking about.</p>

<p>*6. Until just recently many students would take lengthy trips during spring (break rather than temporary jobs like now).
A. break rather than temporary jobs like now
B. break instead of temporary jobs like now
C. break; now they take temporary jobs
<a href=“A”>/I</a> and (B) both have improper comparisons (“spring break” is incorrectly compared to “temporary jobs”). </p>

<p>*7. In 1969 air pollution from automobile exhaust, particularly (like that in the Los Angeles environs, became of an increasingly more urgent) concern to environmentalists.
A. of the sort found in the Los Angeles area, became an increasingly urgent
E. the kind similar to the Los Angeles area, became an increasingly more urgent</p>

<p>why is it E? I don’t see the faulty comparison if there is.*</p>

<p>I don’t think the answer is (E). The word “that,” which refers to pollution, is being compared to “the Los Angeles area.” Never compare apples to oranges. (E) would have to say: “similar to that of the Los Angeles area…”</p>

<p>Hope this helped.</p>

<p>-Erik Klass is the author of The Ultimate SAT Tutorial</p>

3

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<p>This is the best resource for that that I have found: [Gerunds</a> and Infinitives: Their Noun Roles](<a href=“http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm]Gerunds”>http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm).</p>

4

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<p>Depending on the intended meaning, this could be singular or plural. If one meant that “freedom of action and freedom of expression are at the foundation…,” then the verb must be singular because intervening prepositional phrases do not affect the singularity or plurality of a subject.</p>

5

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<p>Yes, the answer is definitely not (E).</p>

6

<p>Persuading even the queasiest of readers to spend hours learning about an extravagant variety of invertebrates, (the effect of Richard Conniff’s Spineless Wonders is to render the repulsive behavior).</p>

<p>The two options I narrowed it down to were</p>

<p>B. Richard Conniff renders the repulsive beautiful in Spineless wonders</p>

<p>E. Spineless Wonders, by Richard Conniff, has effect in rendering the repulsive beautiful.</p>

<p>B is the correct answer. Now I know the whole “dangling modifier” rule, but when I think in my head, who or what is doing the persuading, I still don’t get why the book “Spineless Wonders” can’t do the persuading. Why can’t a book persuade someone?</p>

7

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<p>“has effect in” is not the proper form.</p>

<p>Edit: …except if the sentence intends to use the preposition “in” to introduce a phrase similar semantically to “in that it,” in which case the usage seems very awkward but nonetheless acceptable. Maybe the College Board’s reasoning, then, comes down to the fact that they consider the sentence to have inappropriate personification of the book.</p>