Subject Verb Agreement

Writing: 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 the entire original sentence to yourself, listening for errors.  Quickly check the underlined portions of the sentence against the Big 8 Grammar Rules.  Identify and mark any error you find, but look at all of the choices before selecting your answer.

AAn abundant supply of milk Bfrom dairy farms nearby Cmake the Bern region of Switzerland Da leading producer of condensed milk and milk chocolate. ENo error

(A)  The word “an” is the correct article to use when the following word begins with a vowel.  There is no error here.

(B) The word “from” is the idiomatically correct preposition to explain the origin of something.  There is no error here.

(C) This is the first verb in the sentence.  Whenever a verb is underlined, check to make sure that it matches the subject.  Remember, the subject of the sentence cannot be part of a prepositional phrase such as “of milk” or “from dairy farms nearby.”  That leaves only one noun: “supply.”  Would you say “an abundant supply make?”  No!  “An abundant supply makes” is correct.  Mark this error and quickly check the remaining answer choices.

(D)  Check the article first.  “A” is correct because the sentence is talking about one specific place as a producer.  The word “leading” is a modifier that tells you that this place doesn’t just produce things, it produces them well and is among the best places to do so.  The modifier “leading” is as close as possible to the word it modifies, “producer,” so there is no error here.

(E) This choice cannot be correct because you already identified an error.

The correct answer is (C).

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

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