Link of the Day
Sometimes fact can sound like fiction,
and produce an extremely interesting current event for your SAT essay. Scientists have found a way to make a tiny
cylinder invisible, creating a lot of excitement about the possible
applications of such a feat. Think about this accomplishment in terms of
planning, creativity, imitation, and technology. How could you relate this article about a current event to
past SAT essay prompts?
11/13 Identifying Sentence Errors: Pronouns
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 the entire sentence to
yourself, listening for errors. Then
check each underlined portion of the sentence against the Big 8 Grammar
Rules. If you find an error, mark it and
quickly check the remaining underlined words.
Whether the Sumerians were the first people to develop writing is uncertain, but theirs is the oldest known writing system. No error
(A) Always check to make sure that a verb matches
the subject. The subject, Sumerians, is
plural, so “were” is required instead of “was.”
Then check to make sure that the verb is in the correct tense. This sentence is about the past, so “were” is
required instead of “are.”
(B)
It is idiomatically correct to include the preposition “to” before the
word “develop.”
(C)
The word “uncertain” denotes that this statement is not definite,
clearly conveying the meaning of the sentence.
(D)
When you see a pronoun, you must check to make sure that it refers to a
single antecedent and that it agrees with that antecedent. You already established that the sentence is
about certain people, so the pronoun must be plural, and it must show
possession. Think about the “s” on the
end of “theirs” as a shorter way to say “their writing system.” You don’t want to write out “their writing
system” because it will make the last portion of the sentence redundant.
(E)
None of the underlined portions of the sentence has an error, so this is
the only remaining answer choice.
The correct answer is (E).
On sat.collegeboard.org, 45% of the
responses were correct.
For more help with SAT writing,
visit www.myknowsys.com!
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