Writing Questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Improving Paragraph</p>

<p>(1) Employers must be aware of their employees and the variety of situations that arise in the workplace. (2) Employers should become familiar with the demands a worker faces. But he or she too should assume responsibility.</p>

<p>Question: Which of the following, if inserted before sentence 1, would make a good introduction to the essay?
A) To avoid problems in the workplace, one must first recognise the variety of workplaces that exist.
B) Many employees do not feel free to communicate with their employees, which can cause difficulties.
C) Some of the employers have tried to respect their employees.
D) Communication between an employee and employees is necessary for maintaining good working conditions.
E) In the future, relations between employers and employees will be different from what they are now.</p>

<p>My choices were A and D. I took A because of “the variety of workplaces that exist”. Was it wrong ironically because A will not add value to the paragraph but instead repeats the same point made in sentence 1?</p>

<p>Error Identification
(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.</p>

<p>I took C (the only one). The answer turned out to be D (a kind). What should be the correction?</p>

2

<p>Q1: The paragraph deals with communication between employers/workers, not the variety of workplaces (vs. variety of situations in any workplace). Choice A is wrong because it’s essentially off topic since it addresses “variety of workplaces” instead of “variety of situations in any workplace”</p>

<p>Q2: Instead of “a kind” it should be “its kind” (possesive instead of contraction “it’s”)</p>

3

<p>Thanks!!</p>

<p>I have the following Writing questions.</p>

<ol>
<li> The heat was already (overwhelming and lasted a week, which duration made it seem) sheer torture.
C) overwhelming and lasted the duration of a week to make it to seem
D) overwhelming, and its lasting a week made it seem</li>
</ol>

<p>My mind was between C and D. The correct answer is D- Was it because of the duration had to be described in the gerund form instead of the past tense form?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>(Nearly all) of the editors of the magazine (agree) that of the two articles (to be published), Fujimura’s is the (more exciting).
I don’t understand why there is no error. Should we not have “the more exciting one” instead?</p></li>
<li><p>No sooner had Andrea del Sarto traveled to France to work for the French king (but his wife persuaded him to return to Italy.
A) But his wife persuaded him to return
B) But his wife had him persuaded into returning
C) Than he was persuaded by his wife that he will return
D) But he was persuaded by his wife into returning
E) Than his wife persuaded him to return</p></li>
</ol>

<p>This question confuses me because I had considered “no sooner had… was he …” structure to be most appropriate. I got the correct answer (E) but it was down to elimination due to its relatively terse structure. Can someone enlighten me?</p>

<ol>
<li> Chaplin will not be remembered for espousing radical causes (any more than they will remember Wayne) for endorsing conservative political candidates.
B) as will Wayne not be remembered
C) any more than Wayne will be remembered
E) no more than Wayne will be remembered</li>
</ol>

<p>The other options are out of the picture because “they” clearly is an error. But from the three options above, how to decide ? It appears to be a question of the following structures:

  • “X will not …as will [Y] not be remembered”
  • “X will not …any more than [Y] will be remembered”
  • “X will not … no more than [Y] will be remembered” </p>

<p>After perusing the three options, I am still unsure of how each can function in such a sentence.</p>

<ol>
<li> Persuading even the more 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 beautiful).</li>
</ol>

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

<p>The other options state “the effect” as the one performing the action. But how to decide between B and E. The first part of the sentence leaves me confused as to who/what is performing the action? The novel or the writer?</p>

<p>Improving Paragraph</p>

<p>(1) This summer I felt as if I were listening in on the Middle Ages with a hidden microphone. (2) No, there were no microphones in those days. (3) But there were letters, and sometimes these letters speak to me like voices from very long ago.</p>

<p>(4) A book I found contained selected letters from the generations of a family. (5) The Pastons, who lived in a remote part of England over 500 years ago. </p>

<p>(6) Getting anywhere in the Middle Ages was really hard, with deep rivers and few bridges and sudden snowstorms coming on in the empty lands between settlements. (7) An earl rebelled in London, so that a messenger rode for days to tell the distant head of the Paston family of a feared civil war.</p>

<p>(8) Through the letters a modern reader can sense their anxieties about rebellious sons and daughters, belligerent neighbours, outbreaks of plague, and shortages of certain foods and textiles. (9) Unbelievably, there is a 1470 love letter. (10) The man who wrote it ends “I beg you, let no one see this letter. (11) As soon as you have read it, burn it for I would not want anyone to see it.”(12) I was sitting on the front porch with bare feet on the hottest afternoon in July and I read that with a shiver. (13) I had been part of a centuries-old secret.</p>

<p>Q. All of the following strategies are used by the writer of the passage EXCEPT
A) background explanation
B) imaginative description
C) rhetorical questions
D) personal narration
E) direct quotation</p>

<p>I understand that rhetorics refer to the art of speaking and writing but is D used because the passage is in 1st person?</p>

4

<p>Q1. D is correct because of the gerund form. Also, you can tell C is wrong because the “to make it to seem” doesn’t follow chronologically</p>

<p>Q2. You don’t need “the more exciting one” because “Fujimara’s” refers back to the article</p>

<p>Q3. The “no sooner…but” structure does not follow logically so A,B,D are wrong.
Choice C doesn’t work because it switches the subject from “his wife” to “he”. Essentially, the first part of the sentence sets up the setting/condition under which the event happens–the event is his wife persuading him to return.</p>

<p>Q4. Choice B is wrong becuse the “will Wayne not” part is switched and therefore the sentence doesn’t maintain parallelism (a big no-no on the SAT). I think the correct answer is C but correct me if I’m wrong. C is correct because the “any more” part is valid comparison between the two points that conveys the idea that neither Chaplin nor Wayne will be remembered for doing X and Y.
The reason E is wrong is because the limiting “no more” implies that Wayne is remembered to a certain extent for endorsing conservative political candidates and therefore the first part means that Chaplin will not exceed that extent.
But I’m not 100% about this question.</p>

<p>Q5. I think it’s the book that is performing the action since the author does not persuade reader, rather it is the content in the book. Again I’m not 100% sure</p>

<p>Improving paragraph
Personal narration: “I was sitting on the front porch with bare feet…”</p>

<p>Rhetorical questions (Choice C) is the only technique that was not used.</p>

5

<p>I had the same question a while back on #5 and was given this explanation by the one and only, Silverturtle.</p>

<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>

6

<p>Thanks dfa4ever and Samwhich</p>

<p>Q4. I finally understand the difference, as you explained, lies in how each conveys the relationship between X and Y. The former gives the idea that none is given a greater significance, i.e. remembered for a particular act. The latter gives the idea of attributing Y something while limiting X to the same “extent”. There is a slight difference in the meaning, though both sound correct. </p>

<p>Q5. The correct answer is B. I suppose it did not matter whether Richard Conniff or Spineless Wonders is “performing the action”. E, as SamWhich highlighted, is not in the proper form.</p>

7

<p>@Samwich: Thanks, that “has effect” part was bugging me.</p>

<p>@zackidane: welcome =)</p>