Comparisons

Link of the Day

Interested in technology?  On March 10, 1876, the first words were communicated by phone.  Check out this article to find out who said them and find more information about this famous inventor here.  The invention of the telephone would make an excellent historical example for an SAT essay.  Think about how telephones have changed over time and write down themes from the articles that will help you relate this historical event to an essay topic, as well as the details that will make you stand out as a prepared and informed writer.

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 sentence to get a sense of its structure and meaning before focusing in on the underlined portions.  Then valuate each underlined portion using the Big 8 Grammar Rules, being careful to look at all the answer choices before selecting one. 

AThe introduction of elevators in hotels meant that Bpreviously undesirable rooms on the top floors, Caway from the bustle and noise of the street, became sought after and more expensive than Dthe lower floors. ENo error

(A)  The word “of” is idiomatically correct after the word “introduction.”  If you want to use a preposition after the word “introduction,” the most commonly used words are “of” or “to.”  There is no error here.

(B)  The word “previously” is an adverb modifying “undesirable.”  It is placed as close as possible to the word it describes, so there is no error here.

(C)  The words “away from” are idiomatically correct and clearly indicate that the location of the rooms on the top floor.  They are far from or distant from the noisy streets.

(D)  There is nothing wrong with the phrase “the lower floors.”  However, it comes right after the word “than.”  The word “than” sets up a comparison, so you should check to make sure that the two things that are being compared are logical.  You cannot compare “rooms on the top floors” with “the lower floors,” because there may be aspects of the lower floors that are not confined within the rooms.  You must compare “rooms on the top floors” with “rooms on the lower floors.”  Mark this error.

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

The correct answer is (D).

On sat.collegeboard.org, 34% of the responses were correct.

For more help with SAT writing, visit www.myknowsys.com!

Comparisons

Improving Sentences

Part or all of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A. 

Read the original sentence to yourself, listening for errors.  Evaluate the underlined portion of the sentence using the Big 8 Grammar Rules.  Focus on the first problem that you find and check to see which answer choice fixes that problem.

Unlike her sister Heather, who would always put spiders safely outside if she found them in the house, Joanne’s fear kept her from going anywhere near the creatures.

This sentence may sound strange to you the first time that you read it.  If it did not sound strange, ignore the portion of the sentence between the commas and read it again.  The word “unlike” sets up a comparison.  What two things are being compared?  A person (Heather) is being compared to a feeling (Joanne’s fear).  This is not a logical comparison.  A person should be compared with a person.  Look down at your answer choices.

(A) Joanne’s fear kept her from going anywhere near the creatures

(B) Joanne’s fear is what kept her from going anywhere near the creatures

(C) fear is why Joanne had not gone anywhere near them

(D) Joanne was too afraid to go anywhere near the creatures

(E) they scared Joanne too much to go anywhere near them

(A) is illogical.  You know that because it matches the original sentence.   (B) and (C) keep comparing a person with the feeling of fear.  (D) compares a person to a person.  (E) adds the pronoun “they.”  Now Heather is compared to “they,” which presumably refers to the spiders.  That does not make sense.

The correct answer is (D).

On sat.collegeboard.org, 56% of the responses were correct.

For more help with SAT writing, visit www.myknowsys.com!

Comparisons

Improving Sentences

Part or all of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.  

Read the original sentence to yourself, listening for errors.  Then evaluate the underlined portion of the sentence using the Big 8 Grammar Rules.  Focus on the first error that you find to eliminate wrong answer choices.

It is thought that a dog’s sense of smell is generally 10,000 to 100,000 times better than humans.

If this sentence did not make you laugh, read it again.  What are the two things that are being compared in this sentence?  A dog’s sense of smell is being compared to humans.  This sentence is telling you that a dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times better than anything about humans or anything a human could do.  It just does not make sense to compare an ability to multiple people.  The underlined portion of the sentence is “humans,” so change that to “a human’s sense of smell” for a parallel comparison to “a dog’s sense of smell,” and then look down at the answer choices.

(A) humans

(B) humans’ are

(C) humans have

(D) a human’s

(E) a human has

(A) can be eliminated because it matches the original sentence.  (B) can be eliminated because it is plural.  You are not going to compare “a dog’s sense of smell” (singular) with “humans’ are” (plural).  (C) can be eliminated because it is plural, ambiguous, and does not match the possessive form of “a dog’s sense of smell.” (D) this answer is more concise than your prediction, but it matches your prediction.  It uses the same “–‘s” to show that the sense of smell belongs to “a human” (singular) and can easily be compared to “a dog’s sense of smell.”  Think of the last part of your prediction “sense of smell” as implied.  This is an elliptical sentence: something has been left out to avoid repetition, but you can tell what it would be from reading the sentence. (E) can be eliminated because two things that are being compared must have the same form.  If you want to talk about the sense of smell that “a human has,” you would have to compare it to the sense of smell that “a dog has.”  Remember that you cannot change any portion of the sentence that is not underlined.

The correct answer is (D).

On sat.collegeboard.org, 69% of the responses were correct.

For more help with SAT writing, visit www.myknowsys.com!

Comparisons

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 sentence to yourself, listening for errors.  Quickly check the underlined portions against the Big 8 Grammar Rules.  Identify and mark any error, then quickly check the remaining underlined portions.

AA meteorite shows an enormous variation Bin size, from micron-sized dust particles filtering Cslowly through the atmosphere to giants Dweighing many tons. ENo error

This sentence demonstrates just how important it is to read the entire sentence carefully before looking at the underlined portions.  If you only look at the underlined portions, you will not find an error.

(A)  includes a subject and verb, and they agree in number.  (B) includes the correct prepositional idiom for “variation in size” and also includes the “from” that precedes the “to” in the idiom “from x to y.”  (C) includes the modifier for filtering, “slowly,” placed as close to the modified word as possible.  (D) includes a parallel verb ending in “ing” that matches the earlier use of “filtering,” and it also correctly includes the count word “many” to describe tons, which can be counted, rather than the non-count word “much.”   If you have not read the whole sentence carefully, (E) looks like the correct answer choice.

However, if you read the whole sentence, you will notice that there is a comparison involving different sizes of meteorites, from tiny ones to enormous ones.  You have multiple tiny “particles” and multiple “giants,” so you must also have multiple meteorites.  Look back at answer choice (A).  Instead of “A meteorite shows,” you need “Meteorites show.”

The correct answer is (A).

On sat.collegeboard.org, 40% of the responses were correct.

For more help with SAT writing, visit www.myknowsys.com!

Comparisons

Improving Sentences

Part or all of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.  

Read the original sentence to yourself, listening for errors.  Evaluate the underlined portion using the Big 8 Grammar Rules.   When you find an error, focus on what you need to fix that error so that you can quickly eliminate answer choices that do not address the error.

Modern discus throwers use much the same technique of ancient Greece.

This sentence should sound strange to you the first time you read it.  “Modern discus throwers” are being compared to “ancient Greece.”  You cannot compare people to a location!  Cover up the end of the sentence and fill in the blank.  You might predict the words “as the people of ancient Greece once used.”  In order to make the comparison more clear, you used the word “as.”  A quick note on using the words “like” and “as” to compare: “as” is used when the following phrase includes a verb, while “like” is used when the following phrase only has nouns or pronouns.  Parallelism dictates that the last phrase of this particular comparison must include a verb because the first part of the comparison includes the verb “use.”  Look down at your options to see which ones begin with “as.”

(A) of ancient Greece

(B) of ancient Greeks

(C) as ancient Greeks did

(D) as they did in ancient Greece

(E) like ancient Greeks

There are two choices that begin with “as.”  (C) looks very similar to your prediction.  It includes the word “as” and the verb “did.”  (D) introduces a new problem: all pronouns need an antecedent and there is no antecedent for the word “they.”  You should be able to select your answer choice now.

Just for practice, here are the problems with the other choices:  (A) is the same as the original sentence.  (B) is a distraction if you read the sentence too quickly and did not realize that there is a comparison.  The key words “much the same” let you know that this is a comparison.  The sentence “Modern discus throwers use the technique of ancient Greeks” would be correct, but you cannot change part of the sentence that is not underlined.  (E)  lacks parallelism because there is no verb and you know it will be incorrect because it uses the word “like.”

The correct answer is (C).

On sat.collegeboard.org, 45% of the responses were correct.

For more help with writing, visit www.myknowsys.com!

Comparisons

Link of the Day

Oscar Pistorius was so happy when he found out that he had earned a place South Africa's Olympic team that he woke up the next morning with cramps in his cheeks from smiling in his sleep. He will be the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics. He is known as the "Blade Runner" because he runs on specially designed carbon fiber blades. Despite the fact his prosthetic legs rub his stumps until they are raw and bleeding, Pistorius is all smiles. His determination in the face of hardship makes him a great "Excellent Example" for your SAT essay. You can read more about Pistorius and his Olympic hopes here.

7/19 Improving Sentences

Part or all of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think that the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

When you are working on an "Improving Sentences" problem, always carefully read the sentence as it is and look for an error. If possible, always try to predict a way to fix the sentence. Even though your prediction may not match the correct answer (there are often several different ways to fix an error), it will help you to identify the key grammatical principles that are being tested.

Upon winning her third gold medal at the competition, the young athlete learned that her accomplishments had surpassed her coach's, a former track star.

Start by analyzing the sentence and focusing on the underlined portion. Notice that the word "coach's" is possessive. If you think about it, that makes sense because the young athlete's accomplishments had  surpassed her coach's accomplishments. However, the sentence should still sound a little off to you. Look at what comes after the comma (also, notice that the comma is not underlined, that means it has to be there). You are told that the coach is a former track star. The problem is that the noun phrase "a former track star" needs to modify "coach" not "coach's." Instead, it would be better if the sentence were written ". . . her accomplishments had surpassed the accomplishments of her coach, a former tract star." This makes it clear that it was the "coach" who was "a former track star." Now take a look at the answers and look for one that matches or at least resembles your prediction.

(A) her coach's
(B) her coach
(C) those of her coach
(D) those done by her coach
(E) those of her coach's

You already know that (A) doesn't work. (B) just makes the sentence even worse (because now you are comparing the athlete's accomplishments to her coach, not her coach's accomplishments). (C) isn't exactly the same as your prediction, but it does make sense. It compare's the athlete's accomplishments to those of her coach, and the noun phrase that comes immediately after correctly modifies the "coach".  (D) doesn't work because you don't "do" accomplishments. (E) is just like (C) except that "coach" becomes possessive. That's unnecessary and actually introduces the same problem that (A) had (the noun phrase modifies "coach's" instead of "coach").

The correct Answer Choice is (C).

On sat.collegeboard.com 61% of the responses were correct.

For more help with grammar, visit www.myknowsys.com.

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Link of the Day

Although most people think of the Mayans as a single unified empire, they were actually organized in a similar manner to the Greeks. While they were united by a common culture and religion, their government consisted of a number of politically sovereign states. The Mayan calendar (there are actually 2, one religious and one solar) is perhaps their most famous achievement. Based on a year that has little more than 365 days, it is far more accurate than the Gregorian calendar. This enabled the Mayans to predict things like Solar eclipses and the Spring and Autumn equinoxes. You can learn more about the Mayans here.

7/10 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 portion that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.

When you are working on an Identifying Sentence Errors questions, start by reading the question carefully. Focus on anything that stands out or sounds wrong. If you don't spot the error right away, work slowly through each underlined portion. Think about all the grammar rules that you know apply. Once you have identified an error, double check that the rest of the sentence is correct as written.

Today Amore than two million Mayan Indians Blive in northern Yucatán and highland Guatemala in a manner Csimilar to Dthose of their ancestors. ENo error

Parallelism

Link of the Day

Elevators have been in use since the 3rd century B.C. However, it wasn't until the mid 1800's that elevators came into common use. Before then they had been used mainly in industrial settings for moving materials. In 1853 though, Elisha Otis invented a safety brake system that would stop an elevator from falling if the support cables broke. His braking system is still used today. You can read more about the history of elevators here.

6/10 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. 

AThe introduction of elevators in hotels meant that Bpreviously undesirable rooms on the top floors, Caway from the bustle and noise of the street, became sought after and more expensive than Dthe lower floors. ENo error

Always read the sentence first to get a general feel for how it sounds. If something seems strange or wrong, start with the part of the sentence that caught your attention. Check that segment against what you know of standard English grammar. If nothing stands out to you, check all four underlined sections. When you find one that breaks the rules, mark it.

Does anything sound odd? If not, don't worry, just check each answer choice individually. You may notice that the sentence seems fairly long and complicated. That's a good sign that the test makers are trying to hide something and trick you. Remember that often the underlined portion will look alright on it own if you don't take the whole sentence into account.

(A) doesn't really have anything wrong with it. It is worth noting that the subject of our sentence is "The introduction of elevators" though. You can now check for subject verb agreement (in this case there is no subject verb agreement error).

(B) is also error free. "Previously" is an adverb modifying "undesirable" (which is an adjective modifying "rooms"). Both words are being used properly.

(C) may seem strange at first. Note that "away from the bustle of the noise of the street" is in-between two commas because it is a non-restrictive element. Even though it may look a little out of the ordinary, there is no error here either.

(D) seems to be fine as well however, you should notice that it is part of a comparison (because it is preceded by the word "than"). If you look back in the sentence to see what "the lower floors" are being compared to, you will see that the sentence is comparing "undesirable rooms on the top floors . . . " to ". . . the lower floors." Since that comparison doesn't make sense, (D) is the error.

The correct answer choice is (D).

On sat.collegeboard.com 34% of the responses were correct.

For more help with grammar, visit www.myknowsys.com!

Idioms

Link of the Day

The first ten thousand patents ever issued by the United States, from 1790 to 1836, were destroyed in a fire at the patent office on December 15th, 1836. Ironically, the patents were in temporary storage while a new, more fireproof building was erected in which to preserve them, and the temporary location was right next door to a fire station. Find out more here. 

4/2 Improving Sentences

Part or all of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

Always remember to read the sentence and make a prediction first, then look at the answer choices to see which is closest to your prediction. 

The first 10,000 patents, known to be the X-patents, were burned in a fire in 1836.

"Known to be" is a common construction, but check whether it fits this sentence. "Known to be" is often used to describe a function, condition, or role, but not another name. For example, "the product was known to be contaminated." "He was known to be a member of the terrorist cell." On the other hand, "known as" is used to refer to alternate names or aliases. "AKA" stands for "also known as," and is used to list alternate nomenclature used by one person or entity. Take a look at the answer choices.

A) to be

B) to have been

C) as

D) as they were

E) as being

A, B, D, and E all include verbs. C is the only option that simply compares one thing to another, and moreover it matches your prediction. The answer is C. 

On sat.collegeboard.org, 74% of answers were correct. 

Want more help with grammar? Visit myknowsys.com!

Comparison

Improving Sentences

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

Remember to read and make a prediction before looking at the answer choices. Then, matching your prediction to the choices will be faster and easier.

According to the study, personality traits may vary as much from one dog to another as from one person to another.

The underlined word "as" can function as a preposition or as a coordinating conjunction--a conjunction that, like "and," compares items of equal importance. "As" is most often used to create a comparison. Here it compares the personality variations among dogs to those among people, and does not appear to violate any rules of grammar. Now look at the answer choices.

Comparisons

Writing: Improving Sentences

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A. 

This is another Improving Sentences question. Remember that for these, a chunk of the sentence is underlined and it is your job to make that chunk of the sentence perfect. You will read the sentence, predict an answer, and compare that to the given answer choices. When you look at the answer choices in a few minutes, also remember not to read Choice A; it's the same as the original sentence, so you've effectively already read it. 

Archaeological evidence shows that Viking ships were lighter, slimmer, and faster than that in England.

What do you think of this sentence? Hopefully the word "that" sounds wrong to you. Here, "that" refers to the word "ships" in order to compare Viking vessels--probably the infamous longships--to the ships used by the English. It should sound wrong because "that" is always singular, whereas "ships" is plural. "Those" would be better:

Archaeological evidence shows that Viking ships were lighter, slimmer, and faster than those in England.