Pronouns

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As you look for current events to include as excellent examples on your SAT essay, you will probably come across quite a few controversial subjects.  There are people in situations around the world who need passionate supporters.  However, don’t let your passion for a subject allow you to become sidetracked during the SAT.  Your SAT essay will be read by two people.  Use other forums to make your opinion about current events known.  On the SAT, the current events that you use must support a broader opinion on the prompt, rather than interject a new argument.  Read this article about the plight of refugees from violence in Syria.  Think about the human themes in this story and how it could easily relate to prompts concerned with point of view, change, motivators, adversity, responsibility, knowledge, information, and feelings.  Choose 5 current events that you will be able to relate to a wide variety of themes, and become an expert on those 5 events.  Even if you only use 1 of the events on the SAT, you will be prepared for any question, and you will be a more informed individual.

10/14 Identifying Sentence Errors

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E. 

Read through the original sentence, listening for errors.  Then quickly check the underlined portions against the Big 8 Grammar Rules.  Identify and mark any error you find.  There will only be one error, but be sure to check each part of the sentence to make sure that you are not simply revising a portion that is technically correct.

AAlthough it is not a fast runner, Bwolves can maintain a loping run for many miles, Crunningthroughout the night Dif necessary. ENo error

(A)  When the word “although” is used at the beginning of the sentence, it signals that a dependent clause is coming.  This means that there should be a comma after the first portion of the sentence.  This comma is present, so there is no error.

(B)  Right after an introductory phrase or a clause that only uses a pronoun, you should find the subject of the sentence.  “Wolves” is the subject of the sentence, but it does not match the pronoun used in the first portion of the sentence.  The word “it” is singular, while the word “wolves” is plural.  Mark this error by changing the word “wolves” to “a wolf,” and quickly check the remaining answer choices.

(C)  When you see “-ing” on the end of a verb, check to make sure that it makes sense in context.  In this case, it does make sense to use “running” rather than another form because it emphasizes the continuous action of the wolf throughout the night.

(D)  Think of the words “if necessary” as modifying the phrase “running throughout the night.”  You could leave them out, but they give us extra information by letting us know that wolves don’t normally run all night.  Remember, you are not looking for things that you could change; you are looking for specific errors.

(E) This cannot be the correct answer because you have already indentified an error.

The correct answer is (B).

On sat.collegeboard.org, 57% of the responses were correct.

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