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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Punctuation
As the research progresses, they must present their findings in both written and oral reports to stakeholders in the project. Depending on the site and what they find, CRM archaeologists may also work with architects and 1 planners. This work is to revise building sites to protect sensitive areas. So while everyday archaeologists may not be involved in saving the world from existential threats, they do play an important role in society, helping us preserve and consider the past even as we plan for the future. As cities and communities continue to expand, the work they do will only grow in importance.
Which of the following most effectively combines the sentences at the underlined portion?
planners to
planners; they work to
planners, and they work to
planners, which is to
planners to
Whenever the SAT Writing and Language section asks you to combine two sentences, remember that you are looking for an answer that it both concise and grammatically correct. While several of the answer choices aren't good writing, none is explicitly incorrect. Thus, you should look for the shortest answer that maintains the meaning of the initial sentences. "Planners; they work to " and "planners, and they work to" combine the sentences by either replacing the period with a semicolon or a comma and the word "and." This does not improve the concision of the sentence and can be eliminated. Similarly,"planners, which is to" adds in extra words to connect the two sentences, leaving a less concise and more confusing sentences than you started with. "Planners to" is correct, combining the sentences in such a way as to decrease the wordiness of the sentence and maintain meaning.
Example Question #4 : Punctuation
Ecosystems are made of a complex system of energy and nutrient transfers from one organism to another. Some of these transfers are in the form of 1 predation: one organism eating another – while others are in the form of ecosystem engineering, an organism changing the environment around them. One major form of ecosystem engineering is niche creation. Niche creation is the process of an organism changing their environment to create a competitive advantage. In order for an organism to be considered as creating a niche, three things must be true: the organism must significantly modify their environment, those changes must affect other organisms’ survival, and those changes must lead to an evolutionary response in another organism.
predation – one
predation; one
predation, one
predation – one
Whenever you are asked to differentiated between different ways to offset a piece of extra information within a sentence (also known as an appositive), remember that many different forms of punctuation are acceptable. The main requirement is that you use a pair of matching pieces of punctuation rather than mixing different kinds of punctuation. Because the other half of this appositive is bounded by a dash, it also needs to start with a dash, meaning that answer "predation – one" is the only possible answer. "Predation: one" can be eliminated because what follows the colon is too complex to be an acceptable construction, "predation, one" mixes a dash with a comma, which isn't acceptable, and "predation; one" uses a semicolon, which isn't acceptable since what follows is not a complete sentence.
Example Question #5 : Punctuation
For thousands of years, cooking was considered more of a practice than a science. Much of what chefs and food scientists alike knew about cooking came from conventional wisdom rather than carefully designed research. For individuals who considered cooking to be an art rather than a science, this seemed to be for the best; however, for physicist Nicholas Kurti and chemist Herve This, the lack on empirical knowledge around what we eat was not just an affront to science. It was a challenge. In 1988 the pair coined the term “molecular 1 gastronomy,” which they defined as the investigation of the physical and chemical transformation that ingredients undergo during the course of cooking. They argued that if chefs understood these processes, they could produce dishes improved by the findings.
gastronomy;”
gastronomy,”
NO CHANGE
gastronomy;” which
NO CHANGE
You are presented with two choices within question: between a comma and semicolon and between including and not including the word which. Remember that in order to use a semicolon you need to have a complete sentence on either side of the semicolon. Neither choice using the semicolon has a complete sentence following the semicolon, meaning that both "gastronomy;”" and "gastronomy;” which" can be eliminated. Between choices how it's written in the passage and "gastronomy,”", you need to decide whether to include or not include the word "which". Since without the word "which" the phrase following the comma doesn't clearly relate to anything before the comma, you must use the word which in this case. NO CHANGE is correct.
Example Question #391 : New Sat
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early phases of its construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already well known architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
Gaudi decided to depart from del Villar’s original Gothic design in favor of a more modern design. The new design was ambitious, featuring eighteen tall spires and four different facades on different sides of the basilica. But work on the new building was slow. Decades passed, and the work was still incomplete. In 1 1915, Gaudi - now 63 years old - abandoned all other work in favor of dedicating himself to the completion of the monumental church, but progress on the building was still slow. When pressured to speed up work on the monumental building, Gaudi was said to have replied, “My client is not in a hurry.” By the time Gaudi died in 1926, the basilica was only somewhere between 15 and 20 percent complete.
1915, Gaudi – now 63 years old abandoned
1915, Gaudi, now 63 years old abandoned
NO CHANGE
1915, Gaudi, now 63 years old –
NO CHANGE
Whenever you see commas or dashes used to offset a piece of nonessential information, remember that either piece of punctuation is correct as long as it is consistent. If you use one dash, you need to close with a dash (or end the sentence) and if you use one comma, you need to close the thought with a comma. Each of the wrong answers either uses the comma or dash by itself without correctly closing off the other side of the additional information or incorrectly pairs the comma and dash together. The only answer choice that has the same piece of punctuation on their side of the added information is NO CHANGE, which adds a dash on either side of the additional information.
Example Question #7 : Punctuation
The pair brought scientific thinking and equipment to the kitchen, challenging perceptions about what belonged in the lab and what belonged in a chef ’s kitchen. For example, an early experiment in pie baking involved injecting pies with a syringe full of liquid after baking in order to preserve the crust. Other experiments involved creating 16 meringue, (cooked whipped egg whites with sugar) in a vacuum chamber and a “reverse” baked Alaska (ice cream topped with meringue) with the hot merengue on the inside and the ice cream on the outside. Although the experiments themselves might not have been useful to the home cook, they did give insights into the science of cooking that improved recipes and techniques for cooks everywhere.
meringue (cooked whipped egg whites with sugar)
NO CHANGE
meringue, cooked whipped egg whites with sugar,
meringue – cooked whipped egg whites with sugar –
meringue (cooked whipped egg whites with sugar)
This question has two major decision points: whether to use parentheses or another form of punctuation and whether a comma is necessary after the word meringue. In order to preserve parallelism in the sentence, you need to use the parentheses rather than a pair of commas or dashes since parentheses are used later in the sentence for the same purpose. However, there is no comma necessary after the word meringue. If you eliminate the portion of the sentence in parentheses, it becomes "creating meringue in a vacuum chamber." Since it doesn't make sense to separate the act of making meringue from where it's made (where it's made isn't unnecessary information) the comma isn't necessary.
Example Question #1 : Punctuation
Alexander Graham Bell is commonly credited with the invention of the telephone; but the first documented phrase transmitted by an electromagnetic device can actually be attributed to inventor Johann Philipp Reis in 1860.
telephone the first documented phrase
NO CHANGE
telephone, but the first documented phrase
telephone, the first documented phrase
telephone, but the first documented phrase
In this example, we are tested on the use of punctuation to separate clauses. In the original construction, we have used a semicolon to separate the independent clause “Alexander Graham Bell is commonly credited with the invention of the telephone” from the dependent clause introduced by the conjunction “but.” This construction is incorrect, as we utilize the semicolon to separate two independent clauses (without a conjunction) in much the same way we would a period. The answer choices that remove the conjunction “but” seem to correct this issue, but introduce a new error by creating either a run-on sentence that lacks the appropriate punctuation or transition: “telephone the first documented phrase” or a comma splice where a comma is incorrectly used to break up two independent clauses without the necessary coordinating conjunction: “telephone, the first documented phrase.” Our correct answer: “telephone, but the first documented phrase” appropriately separates two independent clauses with a comma and the coordinating conjunction “but.”
Example Question #2 : Punctuation
Living in the arctic tundra and exhibiting a low surface area to volume ratio in order to conserve heat; the arctic hare serves as an excellent example of adaptation among wild species of mammals.
heat, the arctic hare
heat, arctic hares
NO CHANGE
heat: the arctic hare
heat, the arctic hare
In order to effectively address punctuation-driven errors, like the one we see here, we’ll want to pay close attention to the roles elements of our sentence play. Here, “Living in the arctic tundra and exhibiting a low surface area to volume ratio in order to conserve heat” are modifying phrases, introduced by the participial modifiers “living” and “exhibiting.” Since the portion before the punctuation represents a set of modifying phrases and not a complete clause that could stand on its own, it would not be appropriate to separate this portion of the sentence using a colon or a semicolon. Both of these constructions require the portion before the punctuation to represent an independent clause. So, “heat; the arctic hare” (our original construction) and “heat: the arctic hare” can be eliminated.
From here, our remaining options both utilize the appropriate punctuation, the comma, to set apart our introductory modifiers. However, “heat, arctic hares” inappropriately structures the sentence with a plural subject, “arctic hares,” which does not agree with the singular verb “serves” that immediately follows in the non-underlined portion. Thus, “heat, the arctic hare” is our correct answer.
Keep in mind, examples on the SAT may ask us to combine our knowledge of different error categories in one question, as they have here - so be prepared to seek out and prioritize differences as you encounter them in your writing answer choices!
Example Question #1 : Diction
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early phases of its construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already 1 big architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
well-known
NO CHANGE
splashy
big name
well-known
Whenever the SAT asks you to differentiate between four synonyms or near synonyms on the Writing and Language section, it is either testing formality (whether the word choice matches the tone of the rest of the passage) or meaning (whether you recognize which of several closely related words to use). In this case, it is testing formality. Good writing has a consistent tone and is appropriate to the audience it is being presented to. This essay is about the history of a famous architectural site and has a formal tone. To fit with that, you need to have an equally formal word in this sentence. The only word that fits the tone of the passage is, well-known. The other three answer choices vary from informal ("big name") to vague ("big") and can be eliminated.
Example Question #2 : Diction
The pair brought scientific thinking and equipment to the kitchen, challenging perceptions about what belonged in the lab and 1 whether it belonged in a chef’s kitchen. For example, an early experiment in pie baking involved injecting pies with a syringe full of liquid after baking in order to preserve the crust. Other experiments involved creating meringue (cooked whipped egg whites with sugar) in a vacuum chamber and a “reverse” baked Alaska (ice cream topped with meringue) with the hot merengue on the inside and the ice cream on the outside. Although the experiments themselves might not have been useful to the home cook, they did give insights into the science of cooking that improved recipes and techniques for cooks everywhere.
what belonged in a chef’s kitchen?
NO CHANGE
what belonged in a chef’s kitchen.
whether it belonged in a chef’s kitchen?
what belonged in a chef’s kitchen.
There are two major decision points in this question: whether to use "whether" or "what" and whether to use a period or a question mark. Because this sentence contains a list of two items, those two items must be parallel. And since the first item in the list is "what belonged in the lab," the second item in the list should also start with the word "what" rather than "whether". Eliminate "NO CHANGE" and "whether it belonged in a chef’s kitchen?". Because this is a statement, the sentence should end with a period rather than a question mark even though it contains the word "what". Eliminate "what belonged in a chef’s kitchen?" and choose "what belonged in a chef’s kitchen."
Example Question #3 : Diction
Despite this criticism, the belief in experimentation lives on outside the world of molecular gastronomy. Cooking magazines and websites now often have what are called “test kitchens” – departments dedicated not only to testing new recipes but also to improving techniques and testing uses for kitchen implements themselves. These test kitchens have taken the 1 resolve of experimentation from Kurti and This’s early work and have applied it to everything from the best way to make fried chicken to the ideal temperature at which to bake chocolate chip cookies. While these experiments might not involve lab equipment, they have fulfilled one of Kurti and This’s early dreams: they show the importance of scientific thinking outside of the halls of science.
influence
spirit
NO CHANGE
mood
spirit
When the SAT asks you to choose between similar words with the same meaning in some contexts but different meanings in others, they are testing your ability to choose the appropriate word for the situation. Look to see which answer choice works thematically with the sentence. All will probably be grammatically correct, so focus on meaning. Only "spirit" logically works - the sentence is discussing whether the idea behind molecular gastronomy moves on, an idea captured by the word "spirit." Choice "resolve" can be eliminated because resolve indicates a decision, which doesn't make sense in this context. Similarly, influence and mood can be eliminated because influence indicates that Kurti and This were influenced, not that they influenced others and because mood isn't a logical modifier in the context of the sentence.
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