All New SAT Writing and Language Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #321 : New Sat
Most African cuisine traditionally uses a variety of local grains, fruits, and vegetables, as well as milk and meat products. Each region of Africa has different styles and traditional meals. In Central Africa, agriculture consists of yellow onions, yam, spinach, millet, bananas, okra, rice, and garlic. Many meat dishes there consist of chicken or goat. East African dishes focused primarily on grains, such as rice, flour for bread, millet, and maize, and have a plethora of stews cooked with meat and vegetables.
have focus
focus
will have focused
NO CHANGE
focus
Whenever the passage is written in the present tense, the verbs used in the passage need to agree with the tense. “Focused” is not the correct answer because it is the simple past tense, and implies that these trends are no longer the case. “Will have focused” is in the future perfect tense, not the present. “Have focus” is an incorrect conjugation and would need to be written as “have focused” to be correct. “Focus” is the only option that is in the present tense and agrees with the subject. We can also use the verb “have” that appears later in the sentence at hand to better identify the correct timeline of events.
Example Question #4 : Tense And Timeline
There are many fish that live thousands of meters below the surface of the sea. These deep-sea creatures have adapted to their environment of little to no light. One creature, the vampire squid, is a small creature that grows to be around 6 inches in length and is the only surviving member of its order, Vampyromorphida. The vampire squid have long fins at the top of its body that serves as its means of propulsion, flying through the water by flapping these fins. The vampire squid’s body is covered with light-producing organs called photophores, allowing the vampire squid to use the chemical process known as bioluminescence to see in the dark depths of the ocean.
have had
had
has
NO CHANGE
has
Whenever the passage is written in the present tense, the verbs used in the passage need to create a timeline of events that is logical. “Has had” is in the present perfect tense, but does not agree with the tense in the rest of the passage or the singular subject. You can identify the subject as singular and not plural due to the possessive pronoun “its” following the underlined portion of the sentence. If the subject were plural, the possessive would be “their” instead. “Had” is in the past tense and would not work. “Have” does not agree with the singular subject of the vampire squid, leaving “has” as the only correct option.
Example Question #1 : Grammar: Pronouns And Verbs
The earliest known algebraic mathematical text was found in Egypt, dated to around 1650 BCE. This text shows that the ancient Egyptians could solve both linear equations and systems of equations. The ancient Greeks was best known for their discoveries in Geometry, including the Pythagorean Theorem.
have been
were
NO CHANGE
is
were
The subject of the sentence is “Greeks,” which is a plural noun. The verb would need to agree with the plural subject, therefore “is,” “was,” and “has been” are incorrect because they are all singular verbs. The passage is also written in the past tense and would need to agree with tense and create a meaning that is logical, so “were” is the only choice that agrees with both the tense and the subject.
Example Question #2 : Grammar: Pronouns And Verbs
Famous psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, is best known for his study of classical conditioning. Pavlov theorized that one learns through a pairing of a stimulus with a conditioned response. The experiment he conducted demonstrated how the presence of dog food would trigger a conditioned response. The dog food acted as the stimulus, while the conditioned response was that the dogs would salivate. In order to condition the response, every time Pavlov would feed the dogs, he would ring a bell. After he repeated this procedure, he would ring the bell without giving the dogs any food, which still triggered the conditioned response of salivation without the stimulus of food, proving his theory correct.
will act
NO CHANGE
acts
act
NO CHANGE
The passage is written in the past tense and “acted” is the only verb that agrees with that tense. The response “will act” does not work because it is in the future tense. The responses “acts” and “act” are both in the present tense and would also be incorrect. The subject, “food,” is singular and “act” does not agree with the singular subject.
Example Question #324 : New Sat
Florida was first discovered by Europeans in 1513 by Juan Ponce de Leon. Its first city, St. Augustine, found shortly after in 1565. St. Augustine is known to be the oldest continuously inhabited European establishment. Prior to the colonization of Florida, many indigenous tribes resided there, such as the Apalachee, Seminoles, Timucua, and Creek.
find
was founded
finds
NO CHANGE
was founded
Whenever the verbs in the passage are in the past tense, any verbs that follow need to keep with the same verb tense to create a meaning that is logical. This passage is written in the past tense, so the verbs need to agree with the past tense. “Founded” is the correct answer because this means “to found,” or establish something, such as a company or in this case: a city. “Find” and “Finds” are both in the present tense and would not agree with the sentence. “Found” is incorrect because, while still in the past tense, it expresses a different, illogical meaning.
Example Question #3 : Tense And Timeline
Since 1988, the mission of molecular gastronomy 1 shifted. Kurti and This originally sought to investigate “kitchen old wives’ tales,” invent new recipes, improve old ones, and make the case to the public that science was a useful part of everyday life. Even if their experiments weren’t intended to be replicated in home kitchens, they were intended to encourage home cooks to experiment. Today, molecular gastronomists seek to explore the social, artistic, and technical aspects of food preparation. Some have argued that this shift in focus, along with the fact that techniques in molecular gastronomy have so far surpassed what any home cook could do, means that molecular gastronomy has lost its ability to impact how the world cooks at home.
has been shifted
NO CHANGE
has shifted
had shifted
has shifted
Whenever you are asked to choose between different verb tenses, especially different forms of the past tense, you should look for signal words elsewhere in the passage that tells you which past tense form to use. In this case, you are given the word "since" at the beginning of the sentence, meaning that this process has been ongoing since 1988. Choices "shifted", "had shifted", and "has been shifted" all indicate that the shift has happened in the past and has ended. Only "has shifted" indicates that the change is still ongoing.
Example Question #1 : Pronouns
Since 1988, the mission of molecular gastronomy has shifted. Kurti and This originally sought to investigate “kitchen old wives’ tales,” invent new recipes, improve old ones, and make the case to the public that science was a useful part of everyday life. Even if 1 their experiments weren’t intended to be replicated in home kitchens, they were intended to encourage home cooks to experiment. Today, molecular gastronomists seek to explore the social, artistic, and technical aspects of food preparation. Some have argued that this shift in focus, along with the fact that techniques in molecular gastronomy have so far surpassed what any home cook could do, means that molecular gastronomy has lost its ability to impact how the world cooks at home.
it’s
NO CHANGE
its
there
NO CHANGE
The first decision you should make with this problem is whether you need to use the possessive. Since the experiments in question were the ones done by This and Kurti, you need a possessive pronoun to indicate this fact, eliminating "there" and "it's". And since the experiments were done by two people, you need a plural pronoun. Eliminate "its" since it is both singular and refers to non-humans. "Their" is correct since it is possessive and refers to an item belonging to multiple people.
Example Question #2 : Pronouns
The traditional view of archaeologists usually involves a college professor who spends much of his or her time digging and researching in ancient foreign libraries or a museum curator who works every day to preserve the artifacts the museum holds. While this view isn’t completely incorrect, it is incomplete, both in terms of the types of jobs available to archaeologists and in terms of the types of work within those jobs. For example, college professors may spend summers at dig sites, but much of their time is also spent writing grants, teaching students, and writing about their research projects. Additionally, although there are still many people who work in archaeology as professors and museum curators, the demand for 1 this job far outstrips the number of positions available, making the positions difficult to acquire.
an individual job
these jobs
each job
NO CHANGE
these jobs
Whenever the SAT gives you a choice between a singular or a plural noun, it is probably testing some form of noun agreement. Just like pronouns have to agree with the nouns they refer to, nouns must also be consistent. The question you should ask yourself, therefore, is what the noun is referring back to. In this case, the word "job" refers to the positions of curators and museum curators. Because multiple people want these jobs (and because there is more than one job), you must have a plural noun here, making "these jobs," the only viable option.
Example Question #1 : Pronouns
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early 1 phase's of it's 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.
phases of its
phases of it's
phase's of its
NO CHANGE
phases of its
This question has two distinct decision points: between "phases" and "phase's" and between "its" and "it's." In both cases, the correct answer hinges on whether the word is meant to be possessive. The word "phase" should be plural rather than possessive (the phase of the construction can't possess anything), so the correct form of the word is "phases." Between "its" and "it's," you need to determine whether the word should be possessive (its) or the contraction "it is" (it's). Since you are looking at the construction of the Sagrada Familia, you need the possessive form "its."
Example Question #1 : Pronouns
John and James were both invited to the regional cross country tournament, but only he participated in the competitive 5k event.
only the former
only he
NO CHANGE
but only the former
but only the former
This example tests us on pronoun ambiguity. In the original construction, it is unclear whether “he” refers back to John or James. Since we do not have a clear antecedent for our pronoun, any answer choice that utilizes “he” can be eliminated. In fact, in many cases, we correct pronoun ambiguity by eliminating the pronoun entirely, as the correct answer, “but only the former” has done. By referring to “the former,” the sentence has made it clear that we’re referring to John. The correct answer also includes the logical coordinating conjunction “but” after the comma to connect the two independent clauses in the sentence. Our final incorrect answer, “only the former” fails to include this conjunction and creates a comma splice.