Sentence Structure

Link of the Day

The 2012 Olympic Games have proven to be historic in more than one regard. One landmark is the fact that these Games are the first in which every country has sent both male and female athletes. Most notable is the nation of Saudi Arabia, which was nearly barred from sending male competitors if it did not also send female athletes and finally agreed only two weeks before the start of the Olympics. Because participation in sports (among many other things) is severely restricted for Saudi women, the two athletes who were accepted into the Olympics did not actually have high enough scores to qualify--not that it mattered, as screaming crowds cheered them on. Instead, the International Olympic Committee admitted them under the Olympics' universality clause, which "allows athletes who didn't meet qualifying times to compete when their participation is deemed important for reasons of equality." This clause has been used in the past to promote participation from underrepresented nations. Read more here and here.

8/9 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.

The Knowsys method for identifying sentence errors requires you to read the original sentence to yourself, listening for errors.  Quickly check each underlined portion of the sentence against The Big 8 Grammar Rules.  Identify and mark any error, being sure to check all of the underlined portions of the sentence for errors before moving on to the next question.

AOne of the northernmost countries Bof Europe, CFinland's borders are Russia on the east, Sweden on the west, Dand the tip of Norway on the north. ENo error

Sentence Completions

Link of the Day

Another tale of dedication and accomplishment comes out of the Olympics! Gabby Douglas, a 16-year-old girl from the USA, "made history" in London by winning the women's all-around title--the first African-American to ever do so. She had the highest score on both balance beam and vault, and she was the only American to compete on all four women's events. Dedication to her sport pulled her away from her parents at 14, when she moved from Virginia Beach to Des Moines to work with a world-famous gymnastics coach. Read more here.

8/2 Sentence Completion

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

The Knowsys Strategy for Sentence Completions is to cover the answer choices before you read the sentences.  If you read the entire sentence carefully, then you will be able to predict an answer for the blank and match your prediction to the correct answer choice.  When you use this method, you will not be distracted by wrong, but promising, answers because you can eliminate all the answers that do not match your prediction.  Be sure to look at all the answer choices, even if one matches immediately.

Exotics and indigenous weeds include some of the most ------- species: their visual impact often eclipses that of nearby plants.

After reading this sentence, you know that you must predict a word to describe “species.”  This word must give us more information than that they are “exotics and indigenous weeds.”  Think about the colon right after “species.”  Colons introduce explanations of the terms that precede them, so we should look after the colon for additional information.  After the colon you find that the species are known for “their visual impact.” You need a word to describe “visual impact,” so you might predict “eye-catching,” or “noticeable,” or even “attractive” (in the sense that they attract more attention than other plants).  Take your prediction and match it to the answer choices.

(A) lethal

(B) diffuse

(C) varied

(D) striking

(E) resilient 

Fractions

Link of the Day

Have you ever wanted to try something but thought you wouldn't be any good at it? Don't let that stop you! Some mind-blowing stories of unstoppable dedication have been coming out of the Olympics, especially the tale of Im Dong-Hyun, a South Korean man with 20% vision or less in each eye. This makes him legally 'blind,' but it has not stopped him from setting two world records in archery! Read more here and here. What kinds of essay prompts might you answer with the story of Im Dong-Hyun?

7/29 Fractions

Read the following SAT test question and then select the correct answer.

For every math problem, always be sure to follow the Knowsys Method. This will keep you from falling for traps and trick questions! First, read the question carefully.  You have to understand the information that you are given before you can begin working the problem.  The second step is to identify the bottom line, the question that you must answer.  In this case, you are asked to identify the total number of students who study art.  Next, assess your options to find the most efficient way to solve the problem, attack the problem, and loop back to make sure you answered the correct question.

Every student who studies art in a certain school receives exactly one of the grades A, B, C, or D. If of the students receive A’s, receive B’s, receive C’s, and 10 students receive D’s, how many students inthe school study art?

In this problem, you have fractions for the students who receive A’s, B’s, and C’s, but you have an actual number of students who receive D’s. To find the total number of students, you will need to find out what fraction of the whole is represented by the 10 students who receive D’s. Find out what fraction of the whole is represented by the students who receive A’s, B’s and C’s first. To add these fractions together, you need to find the least common denominator. You don't need to worry much about the 2 since it is a factor of 4. Instead, focus on the 5; the least common denominator will be the product of 4 and 5.

then becomes

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.