SAT Writing : Analyzing, Combining, and Moving Content

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Writing

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Example Questions

Example Question #81 : Separating, Combining, Or Moving Sentences

1 While maybe he wasn’t as well known as Bluebeard or Captain Kidd, Bill Johnston was still known as a feared pirate and river smuggler in his day.2 That day being the War of 1812. 3 You see, he came from a British Loyalist family and settled in Upper Canada before beginning a career as a Lake Ontario schooner captain, he carried legal cargo as well as smuggled tea and rum into Canada. 4 When the War of 1812 began he spied on the British for several years. 5 In 1838, his most famous escapade occurred: in the capture and burning of the enemy ship Sir Robert Peel. 6 Because Johnston was arrested many times during his life (including for this crime against the Sir Robert Peel), he always either escaped jail or was not convicted because of juries sympathetic view of his activities. 7 Many people do not know that another name for pirate is “corsair.” 8 Nevertheless, Johnston played many roles in his lifetime – everything from fugitive and corsair, criminal and hero.

Where should Sentence 5 be moved?

Possible Answers:

After Sentence 3

After Sentence 7

After Sentence 6

After Sentence 2

After Sentence 1

Correct answer:

After Sentence 6

Explanation:

Sentence 5 occurs chronologically after Sentence 6, so there is no logical reason for it to precede that sentence.

Example Question #82 : Separating, Combining, Or Moving Sentences

1 Many people have an imminent dislike of crows, few know much at all about the bird. 2 “Crow” actually refers to a genus not a species that includes jackdaws, ravens, rooks and other birds. 3 Their dark color, striated cries, and appearance in horror movies all make it seem very omnivorous. 4 The truth about this genus is that the birds in it are incredibly intelligent – often nearly so as some apes. 5 Appearing on all continents except South America and Antarctica. 6 These perspicacious birds were once thought to predict the future, including weather and war plans. 7 Today, they are used for scientific research, hunting, or even being kept as pets.

Where should Sentence 3 be moved?

Possible Answers:

before Sentence 2

before Sentence 4 (no change)

before Sentence 5 

before Sentence 1

before Sentence 6

Correct answer:

before Sentence 2

Explanation:

Sentence 3 discusses reasons for people’s dislike of crows, so it makes the most sense to move it after Sentence 1, which introduces the idea that people dislike crows.

Example Question #403 : Sat Writing

1 One of America’s most inflammatory early disasters, the Johnstown Flood. 2 It was occurring in 1889 after the collapse of the South Fork Dam in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. 3 Heavy rainfall invigorated a reservoir upriver, causing the dam to burst and more than 20 million tons of water pouring down the Conemaugh River. 4 The Johnstown Flood has been immortalized in poems, novels, songs, and films. 5 The committal flood killed more than 2,000 people and it required the attention of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton, and various lawsuits. 6 Compounding the disaster was the Stone Bridge, causing a fire that killed at least 80 people when burning debris caught fire. 7 Later people would fault the rich business tycoons who had weakened the reservoir for their own leisure, building cottages and a spillway along the dam to create the swarthy South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.8 Nearly $4 million would be donated to relief funds, for Pennsylvanians the true horror never preceded.

Where should Sentence 4 be moved in the passage?

Possible Answers:

it should not be moved

After Sentence 5

After Sentence 7

After Sentence 8

After Sentence 6

Correct answer:

After Sentence 8

Explanation:

Since Sentence 4 concerns the immortalization of the Johnstown Flood (which occurred chronologically after all the other events in the passage), it makes sense to move it to the very end of the text.

Example Question #404 : Sat Writing

1 Have you ever heard of the Arts and Crafts movement? 2 The Arts and Crafts movement was an artistic revival of traditional craftsmanship that occurred in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the British Isles, Europe, and North America. 3 Scholars contempt that the movement was predicted on the assumption that medieval and folk art was superior to contemporary arts and decorations. 4 As such the movement deemed to correct the debasement of the decorative arts and promote beauty and fine craftsmanship.5 It was also a reaction to the increased industrialization of the Victorian age. 6 Some key figures in the movement’s inception were writer, John Ruskin, artist, William Morris, and, architect and designer, A. W. N. Pugin. 7 The movement extended to visual art, interior decorating, architecture, landscaping, and textile design, a widespread influence until it was eventually upstaged by Modernism.

Where should Sentence 5 be moved in the passage?

Possible Answers:

Before Sentence 4

Before Sentence 2

Before Sentence 3

Before Sentence 1

It should not be moved.

Correct answer:

Before Sentence 4

Explanation:

Sentence 5 discusses a second contention that scholars make about Arts and Crafts; it also contains a pronoun (“It”) that refers directly to a noun (“the movement”) in Sentence 3. Therefore, it makes the most sense to move Sentence 5 before Sentence 4, which is itself a discussion of the implications of Sentences 3 and 4.

Example Question #83 : Separating, Combining, Or Moving Sentences

1 The job is similar to a music editor, who creates and merges songs, background music, and other sound effects to create a particular atmosphere. 2 While most Americans today are cognizant of film jobs such as director, producer, actor, and even screenwriter. 3 Few know much about the role of film editor. 4 This job involves mostly post-production work, with the editor choosing that parts of the raw footage to move, combine, or separate. 5 Without the film editor, there would only be a bewitching jumble of disordered chaotic images. 6 Sometimes more than ten times as much film is shot than is used in the final cut of the movie. 7 Film editors, also have the ability to impose experimental approaches, discontinuity, or emotional manipulation as he sees fit. 8 Film editing truly is a critical and undervalued art. 

Where should Sentence 1 be moved?

Possible Answers:

After Sentence 4

It should not be moved.

After Sentence 2

After Sentence 5

After Sentence 3

Correct answer:

After Sentence 4

Explanation:

Since the sentence is discussing a job that is similar to that of the film editor, it should be moved immediately after the sentence that discusses the requirements of the film editor’s position.

Example Question #84 : Separating, Combining, Or Moving Sentences

1 They will look hideous, but in some part of the world gooseneck barnacles are trendy delicacies. 2 They are harvested mainly in northern Spain and Portugal, where they are known as, percebes, and in California. 3 Barnacles can be cooked in a variety of ways including in boiling water and hot ash. 4 It is remarkable for its rubbery texture, ugly black color, and claw like shape. 5 Barnacles are also difficult to collect, living on cliff sides and rocks in tumid coastal zones. 6 They are commonly served with lemon, garlic aioli, parsley, and melted butter. 7 They are sometimes even eaten raw! 8 In medieval times people actually believed that gooseneck barnacles gave birth to a species of black goose, henceforth the name.

Where should Sentence 1 be moved in the passage?

Possible Answers:

After Sentence 5

After Sentence 3

After Sentence 4

It should not be moved.

After Sentence 2

Correct answer:

It should not be moved.

Explanation:

Sentence 1 is an excellent introduction to the passage’s main topic: gooseneck barnacles. It should not be moved anywhere else in the passage, since no other sentence provides as neat an opening.

Example Question #85 : Separating, Combining, Or Moving Sentences

1 They will look hideous, but in some part of the world gooseneck barnacles are trendy delicacies. 2 They are harvested mainly in northern Spain and Portugal, where they are known as, percebes, and in California. 3 Barnacles can be cooked in a variety of ways including in boiling water and hot ash. 4 It is remarkable for its rubbery texture, ugly black color, and claw like shape. 5 Barnacles are also difficult to collect, living on cliff sides and rocks in tumid coastal zones. 6 They are commonly served with lemon, garlic aioli, parsley, and melted butter. 7 They are sometimes even eaten raw! 8 In medieval times people actually believed that gooseneck barnacles gave birth to a species of black goose, henceforth the name.

Where should Sentence 6 be moved?

Possible Answers:

Before Sentence 4

Before Sentence 3

Before Sentence 2

It should not be moved.

Before Sentence 5

Correct answer:

Before Sentence 4

Explanation:

This is a nuanced edit, but the passage will make most sense if the two sentences discussing gooseneck barnacles’ culinary options appear next to each other rather than separated.

Example Question #408 : Sat Writing

1 Ethnography: sounds erogenous but is simply a study of a culture or group of people.2 Originating in the field of anthropology, later becoming popular in sociology and other disciplines. 3 Ethnographies typically include: descriptions of geography, religion, economy, social behaviors, rituals and histories. 4 Most early ethnographies were written by ex-patriot European explorers traveling outside their home continent; though by some standards the Greek historian Herodotus was producing protoplasmic ethnographies hundreds of years before the Age of Exploration. 5 Ethnographies can take forms ranging from the confessional, the feminist, the critical, and the realist but most are qualitative and descriptive rather than quantitative and statistical. 6 Some attempt to provide fairly objective observations of a group or society, others have the anterior motive of empowering marginalized or repressed cultures.7 This group or culture may include anything from a fraternity to a particular Uruguayan village. 8 Today ethnographers often immerse themselves fully in the lives of their subjects, be they powerful politicians and impoverished blue-collar workers.

Where should Sentence 7 be moved?

Possible Answers:

Before Sentence 2

Before Sentence 5

Before Sentence 3

Before Sentence 4

Before Sentence 1

Correct answer:

Before Sentence 2

Explanation:

Since Sentence 7 elaborates upon the type of group of culture that could be featured in an ethnography, it makes most sense for it to immediately follow Sentence 1, the only sentence in which groups and cultures is explicitly mentioned.

Example Question #86 : Separating, Combining, Or Moving Sentences

1 Dream interpretation has a long and storied past. 2 Did you know that the ancient Egyptians were interpreting dreams thousands of years ago? 3 In ancient Greece, prophecies were often based off dreams; and in English literature including Shakespeare dreams have long held a significant role.

4 Common dream symbols include new rooms, which indicate new discoveries about the self, hair, which is purportedly related to sexuality, and forests, which alternately signal loss or variegated opportunities. 5 Books with titles ranging from The Lofty Principles of Dream Interpretation and Dream Alchemy offer advice, and opinions.6 More recently, psychologists have contributed their own analysis to the collaboration of interpretative literature. 7 What did you think your dreams mean?

Where should Sentence 6 be moved?

Possible Answers:

After Sentence 3

After Sentence 1

After Sentence 2

After Sentence 4

It should not be moved

Correct answer:

After Sentence 3

Explanation:

Since Sentence 6 is the most contemporary sentence in the discussion of the history of dream interpretation, it should appear at the end of said discussion.

Example Question #81 : Separating, Combining, Or Moving Sentences

1 Ethnography: sounds erogenous but is simply a study of a culture or group of people.2 Originating in the field of anthropology, later becoming popular in sociology and other disciplines. 3 Ethnographies typically include: descriptions of geography, religion, economy, social behaviors, rituals and histories. 4 Most early ethnographies were written by ex-patriot European explorers traveling outside their home continent; though by some standards the Greek historian Herodotus was producing protoplasmic ethnographies hundreds of years before the Age of Exploration. 5 Ethnographies can take forms ranging from the confessional, the feminist, the critical, and the realist but most are qualitative and descriptive rather than quantitative and statistical. 6 Some attempt to provide fairly objective observations of a group or society, others have the anterior motive of empowering marginalized or repressed cultures.7 This group or culture may include anything from a fraternity to a particular Uruguayan village. 8 Today ethnographers often immerse themselves fully in the lives of their subjects, be they powerful politicians and impoverished blue-collar workers.

Where should Sentence 4 be moved?

Possible Answers:

Before Sentence 2

Before Sentence 8

The sentence should not be moved.

Before Sentence 7

Before Sentence 3

Correct answer:

Before Sentence 8

Explanation:

This is a subtle but important move. Since Sentence 4 discusses the history of ethnographies, it interrupts the discussion in Sentences 3 and 5 about the forms and styles of ethnographies. It would make more sense to move Sentence 4 immediately before Sentence 8, which also discusses the history of ethnographies.

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