SAT Writing : Identifying Ambiguity and Redundancy Errors

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Writing

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Example Questions

Example Question #2891 : Sat Writing

Select the underlined portion of the sentence that needs to be changed to make the sentence correct. Some sentences contain no error at all.

Darren spent most of the day sulking alone in his room, but however he came out once to eat dinner with his parents. No error

Possible Answers:

to eat

spent

No error

most of the day

but however

Correct answer:

but however

Explanation:

Using both "but" and "however" is redundant; there is no need for both of those conjunctions here. Only one is necessary (and, for what it's worth, "but" would sound better in this sentence).

Example Question #2892 : Sat Writing

Select the underlined word or phrase that needs to be changed to make the sentence correct. Some sentences contain no error. 

In addition to providing lunch for the children, the camp counselors also gave them dessert and played educational games with them. No error

Possible Answers:

also 

the children, the

played

No error

them

Correct answer:

also 

Explanation:

The error in this sentence is redundancy, which is basically saying more than you need to. Since the beginning of the sentence already established that the counselors were going to provide something else besides lunch ("in addition"), saying "also" later is redundant. The solution for redundancy is almost always just cutting something out so the revised sentence would read "In addition to providing lunch for the children, the camp counselors gave them dessert and played educational games with them."

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