Sentence Completions

Sorry for the delay in posting! Knowsys went to the TAGT Leadership Conference in Austin, TX, and had a great time. Unfortunately, we were so busy that I got a little behind! The Knowsys SAT Blog is now returning to its normal schedule.

Link of the Day

Ancient History and Archaeology is a great source for historical references and facts. This page contains a list of links to short articles about daily life in Rome, much of it based on discoveries from the famous burned city of Pompeii.

4/1 Sentence Completions

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted into the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

If you remember only one thing from this blog during the SAT, remember to predict. Always read the sentence for clues about the missing word before you look at the answer choices. Then compare your prediction to the choices to see which ones match and which don't. 

Although it seems to have been a fixture of the square since the city's origin, the produce market actually opened only ------.

The very first word is one of the biggest clues in any sentence. "Although" is a subordinating conjunction that, in sentence completion questions, means "opposite." Think the word "opposite" every time you see "although." The next question is, opposite of what? The remainder of the clause (up to the comma) indicates that the market appears to be very old because it looks like an original fixture of the city square. Think, "Instead of something that's been there a long time, the market opened..." Next is your prediction. "A short time ago" or "lately" would work well. Now look at the answer choices.

A) enthusiastically

B) recently

C) frequently

D) illegally

E) graciously

Choice B, "recently," is a fairly common word that you probably know and is a perfect synonym for "lately" and "a short time ago." The answer is B. 

Words tested in this SC

enthusiastically: in a zealous, excited, motivated manner 

recently: in the near past

frequently: often

illegally: in a manner that is against the law

graciously: with grace and courtesy


On sat.collegeboard.org, 87% of responses were correct.

Need to build your SAT Vocab?  Visit www.myknowsys.com to check out the Knowsys Vocabulary Builder Program.