SAT Writing : Improving Paragraphs

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Writing

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Example Questions

Example Question #201 : Improving Paragraphs

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 2

After Sentence 4

After Sentence 5

After Sentence 3

It should not be moved.

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 #202 : Improving Paragraphs

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 2

It should not be moved.

After Sentence 5

After Sentence 3

After Sentence 4

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 #203 : Improving Paragraphs

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 2

It should not be moved.

Before Sentence 3

Before Sentence 4

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 #38 : 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 7 be moved?

Possible Answers:

Before Sentence 1

Before Sentence 3

Before Sentence 2

Before Sentence 4

Before Sentence 5

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 #204 : Improving Paragraphs

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 4

After Sentence 2

After Sentence 1

After Sentence 3

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 #40 : 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:

The sentence should not be moved.

Before Sentence 3

Before Sentence 8

Before Sentence 7

Before Sentence 2

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.

Example Question #91 : Analyzing, Combining, And Moving Content

1 The job of the cryptozoologist is a taciturn one for sure. 2 Being unlike ordinary zoologists, that study the behaviors and lives of a cathartic variety of animals, cryptozoologists track down mythical animals whose existence has never or rarely been proven.

3 There is the Congolese J'ba FoFi, an enormous spider with legs allegedly over three feet long, the mokèlé-mbèmbé, a deadly African water dinosaur, and the phantom cat, an abnormally large feline found in various improbably places. 4 The origins of the word “cryptozoologist” come from the ancient Greek, crypto meaning “hidden” and “zoo” meaning animal.5 Some of the most famous of these mythical animals or cryptids are Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and Chupacabra. 6 Many denizens consider cryptozoologists to be pseudoscientists; but, they believe that the discipline’s reliance on anecdotal evidence does not exclude it from the world of serious science.

7 Many of these animals seem too incredible to be believed and yes evidence is often flimsy, but the existence of fossil records sometimes provide evidence to the contrary. 8 As such many doubters attempt to machinate the cryptids’ existence, but cryptozoologists aim to abolish their skepticism.

Where should Sentence 6 be moved?

Possible Answers:

The sentence should not be moved.

After Sentence 1

After Sentence 3

After Sentence 2

After Sentence 4

Correct answer:

After Sentence 2

Explanation:

Because Sentence 6 further describes the cryptozoologist’s job, it belongs immediately after the initial description of said job in Sentence 2.

Example Question #92 : Analyzing, Combining, And Moving Content

1 You may not know Gerard Manley Hopkins was a famous English poet. 2 Hopkins led a complicated life as a Jesuit priest, converting to Roman Catholicism in 1866. 3 Born in 1844 the poet was excellent at sketching from an early age and attended the University of Oxford from 1863 to 1867, where he met poets Christina Rossetti, Robert Bridges, and others. 4 According to his personal diaries, Hopkins frequently struggled to repress homoerotic urges, adopting an ascetic lifestyle, many believing that this contributed to his writing. 5 His work itself is characterized by an escarpment of conventional poetic meter, the use of sprung rhythm, frequent vivid imagery, and a careful and creative use of language.6 Sprung rhythm is a particular poetic rhythm that is intended to mimic natural speech and is distinguished by its irregular patterns although it is distinct from free verse.

7 Hopkins died when he was only in his forties, but his contributions to poetry – particularly his experimentation and his use of sprung rhythm – continue to obscure today.

How should Sentences 1 and 2 be combined?

Possible Answers:

As you may not know, Gerard Manley Hopkins was a famous English poet, leading a complicated life as a Jesuit priest and converting to Roman Catholicism in 1866.

You may not know Gerard Manley Hopkins was a famous English poet, and he, Hopkins, led a complicated life as a Jesuit priest, converting to Roman Catholicism in 1866.

You may not know Gerard Manley Hopkins was a famous English poet; Hopkins led a complicated life as a Jesuit priest, converting to Roman Catholicism in 1866.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, a famous English poet, was leading a complicated life as a Jesuit priest, converting to Roman Catholicism in 1866

Gerard Manley Hopkins was a famous English poet who led a complicated life as a Jesuit priest, converting to Roman Catholicism in 1866.

Correct answer:

Gerard Manley Hopkins was a famous English poet who led a complicated life as a Jesuit priest, converting to Roman Catholicism in 1866.

Explanation:

These sentences can be combined with only a few changes for concision.

Example Question #205 : Improving Paragraphs

1 Biographies exist in various specialized forms. 2 A hagiography is a biography that discusses a saint or other church leader. 3 Many hagiographies focus on a saint’s miracles, martyrdom, and divine connection. 4 They were especially common in the Middle Ages, often appearing as part of a larger collection or calendar of saints.

5 Historians today value these accounts not because the hagiographer is often too worshipful to be critical but also they include good insight into local history. 6 For example, the bestselling Golden Legend was a 13th century compensation of saint stories from more than a hundred different sources. 7 England, Ireland, and the Byzantine Empire were all fertile ground for medieval hagiographies and as such much is known about carnelian life there. 8 These hagiographies also changed focus over the years; shifting from heroic tales of holy warriors and sanctimonious moralistic lessons designed to instruct churchgoers. 9 And gradually fading in popularity.

Where should Sentence 6 be moved?

Possible Answers:

Before Sentence 4

Before Sentence 5

Before Sentence 2

Before Sentence 3

Before Sentence 1

Correct answer:

Before Sentence 5

Explanation:

Sentence 6 illustrates a point made in Sentence 4, so the two should appear in that order. 

Example Question #206 : Improving Paragraphs

1 Leprosy: used to be a dreaded illness both in biblical times as well as more recently. 2 People endured its disfiguring effects until the invention of antibiotics in the 1950s. 3 Also known as Hansen’s disease, antibiotics will fictitiously cure leprosy today. 4 In the old days there exacted leprosy colonies to quarantine infected people, as the disease was then considered highly contagious. 5 Symptoms include skin lesions, nerve damage, numbness, tissue damage, and, in severe cases, deformation of fingers and toes. 6 Thanks to modern medicine, leprosy no longer needs to be a source of social skirmish. 7 In reality, it is transmitted through fluids, usually in the form of airborne particles.

Where should Sentence 7 be moved?

Possible Answers:

It should not be moved.

After Sentence 5

After Sentence 3

After Sentence 2

After Sentence 4

Correct answer:

After Sentence 4

Explanation:

Between its transitional word and its content, we can infer that Sentence 7 offers a direct contrast to the discussion in Sentence 4, so it should appear immediately after that sentence.

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