SAT Writing : Identifying Sentence Errors
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Example Question #303 : Identifying Punctuation Errors
Select the underlined word or words that needs to be changed to make the sentence correct. Some sentences may contain no error at all.
“Above all you must remember to conjugate the verbs correctly on tomorrow’s test,” the French teacher said. No error
No error
test,”
tomorrow’s
Above all
the verbs
Above all
Here, “Above all” is an introductory phrase and a dependent clause, so it must be followed by a comma. The direct speech is correctly punctuated in the original sentence.
Example Question #301 : Identifying Punctuation Errors
Select the underlined word or phrase that needs to be changed to make the sentence correct. Some sentences contain no error at all.
The student body cheered loudly and celebrated wildly, when summer vacation arrived once again. No error
student body
No error
wildly, when
arrived once
loudly and
wildly, when
The comma used between "wildly" and "when" is extraneous and creates a grammatical error in this sentence. No comma is needed to separate the subordinate clause "when summer vacation arrived once again" from the independent clause "The student body cheered loudly and celebrated wildly." Note that if the order of these clauses were reversed and the sentence began with the subordinate clause, a comma would be needed after "again": "When summer vacation arrived once again, the student body cheered loudly and celebrated wildly"; however, since the subordinate clause follows the independent clause in the sentence as it is given, no comma is needed.
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