All SAT Writing Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #452 : Improving And Correcting Sentences
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.
In Sentence 4, what word should replace “exacted?”
existed
extant
extracted
exacted (no change)
exhume
existed
While “exacted” is the right part of speech, a leper colony can’t actually “exact” or demand something, since it’s an inanimate object. The colony can “exist” for a certain purpose, though.
Example Question #453 : Improving And Correcting Sentences
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.
In Sentence 6, what word should replace “skirmish?”
bonhomie
stigma
amicability
extirpation
skirmish
stigma
“Social skirmish” isn’t a known term, but “social stigma,” or extreme group disapproval or something or someone, is. Stigma also makes much more sense in the context of the passage and the sentence.
Example Question #133 : Increasing The Contextual Relevance Of A Single Word
1 What is to be done about the problem of shoplifting. 2 Small security devices hidden in the tags of expensive clothing, clearly posted signs vocalizing the penalties for shoplifting, and “spider tags” or wired alarm clips all measures that store owners can take. 3 However many can be removed turgidly with magnets, scissors, or other means.
4 Other solutions including using attentive employees, clear and wide aisles, security guards, and security cameras. 5 With self-checkouts, an additional degree of honesty comes into play. 6 Though, it might be more fruition to examine the motives for shoplifting, as more lugubrious social policies could prevent people from needing to shoplift in the first place.
In Sentence 2, what word should replace “vocalizing?”
vaporizing
elegizing
vocalizing (no change)
lionizing
elucidating
elucidating
“Elucidating,” or explaining, is the only word that makes sense in the context. A sign cannot “vocalize” (utter sounds (since a "sigh" is itself a verbal utterance, it cannot make another verbal utterance)), “vaporize” (turn liquid into vapor), “elegize” (write mournfully about), or “lionize” (give public acclaim to) shoplifting policies.
Example Question #454 : Improving And Correcting Sentences
1 What is to be done about the problem of shoplifting. 2 Small security devices hidden in the tags of expensive clothing, clearly posted signs vocalizing the penalties for shoplifting, and “spider tags” or wired alarm clips all measures that store owners can take. 3 However many can be removed turgidly with magnets, scissors, or other means.
4 Other solutions including using attentive employees, clear and wide aisles, security guards, and security cameras. 5 With self-checkouts, an additional degree of honesty comes into play. 6 Though, it might be more fruition to examine the motives for shoplifting, as more lugubrious social policies could prevent people from needing to shoplift in the first place.
In Sentence 6, what word should replace “fruition”?
fruitful
fruitfully
fruitily
fruition (no change)
fruit
fruitful
The correct part of speech for this sentence is an adjective: “fruitful.” “Fruition,” a noun, does not fit the grammatical structure. Since "fruitful" is the only adjective, the other options are nouns or adverbs, we know it must be correct. No contextual knowledge is needed for this question, it is purely grammatical.
Example Question #455 : Improving And Correcting Sentences
1 Acoustics is a field of science that refers to the study of mechanical waves but it is best known for its relation to audible sound. 2 Acoustics has been a branch of human impunity since ancient Greece, Pythagoras investigated musical harmonies.3 Concert halls, headphones, car speakers: all are things that employ acoustical studies to electrocute listeners’ experiences. 4 Sound is not important to just humans; it allows birds, elephants, elk, and other animals to attract mates and defend their territories.
5 It benefits to understand sound waves and their behaviors, when engineers have this knowledge everyone from Roman amphitheaters to modern day punk rockers can enjoy a better listening experience.
In Sentence 2, what word should replace “impunity?”
inquiry
infelicity
infidelity
impound
impunity (no change)
inquiry
“Impunity,” which means exemption from punishment, does not make sense in the context of the sentence. On the other hand, “human inquiry,” or human endeavors to understand a subject, is a phrase that both sounds good and makes logical and contextual sense. Remember that the main subject of this passage is acoustics, and in particular the study of how humans perceive sound.
Example Question #456 : Improving And Correcting Sentences
1 Acoustics is a field of science that refers to the study of mechanical waves but it is best known for its relation to audible sound. 2 Acoustics has been a branch of human impunity since ancient Greece, Pythagoras investigated musical harmonies.3 Concert halls, headphones, car speakers: all are things that employ acoustical studies to electrocute listeners’ experiences. 4 Sound is not important to just humans; it allows birds, elephants, elk, and other animals to attract mates and defend their territories.
5 It benefits to understand sound waves and their behaviors, when engineers have this knowledge everyone from Roman amphitheaters to modern day punk rockers can enjoy a better listening experience.
In Sentence 3, what word should replace “electrocute?”
augur
electrocute (no change)
optimize
electrify
elucidate
optimize
It doesn’t make sense to “electrocute,” or injure by electric shock, a listening experience. It does, however, make sense to “optimize” that experience, or make it as good as possible.
Example Question #457 : Improving And Correcting Sentences
1 Lemon juice with cayenne pepper, cabbage soup, cookies, grapefruit. 2 What do these have in common?3 They are all key ingredients in recent fad diets; since these diets sound promising, few lead to any permanent weight loss.4 Some of the worst can even lead to health problems, such as, vitamin deficiencies or anemia. 5 Instead of being concerned with lasting weight loss, they are promoting radical changes that only last a short time. 6 Cutting out too many calories at once from your diet can lead to dizziness, heart palpitations, and even a slower metabolism.
7 Some thinkers suggest that fad diets are really a way for us to impose order on our chaotic world, hundreds of food choices, conflicting advice from various health experts. 8 So why diet at all?
In Sentence 3, what word could not replace “key?”
imminent
integral
necessary
essential
indispensable
imminent
All of these words except for imminent are a synonym for the adjective “key,” or very important. “Imminent” means happening soon or guaranteed to happen.
Example Question #458 : Improving And Correcting Sentences
1 Thoreau went to them when he wished to live deliberately, Whitman wrote about them in his book Leaves of Grass. 2 They clean the air, and harbor wildlife. 3 There are nearly 200 million, protected acres of them in the United States. 4 Forests are a national treasure.
5 Since the late 1800s, Congress and Presidents have decorated various areas of the country as national forests, grasslands, and preserves. 6 Some well known National Parks include the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and the Great Smoky Mountains. 7 Protecting forests helps safeguard native plant and animal species, it honors landscapes complex histories, and preserving the natural beauty for future generations.
In Sentence 5, what word(s) should replace “decorated?”
decorated
designated
underscored
cast off
excluded
designated
To "designate," or assign something a particular status or quality, is the only word that makes sense in the context. "Decorate" as a verb means to adorn a space or thing for aesthetic value. "Decorated" as an adjective refers to someone who has been heavily lauded or awarded.
Example Question #139 : Increasing The Contextual Relevance Of A Single Word
1 Since its inception in the 19th century, photography has played various and complex roles. 2 Crude pinhole cameras first appeared in antiquity. 3 Silver salts, the colloidon process, and daguerreotypes were all developed during the 1800s as photography took form and it’s technology evolved.
4 By the 1900s, photography was often considered an equal of, or at least analgesic to, painting and other visual art forms. 5 In much the same way that portrait painters used to memorialize their subjects in gilded frames and oil paints, photography now serves to document people’s daily lives, experiences, and possessions, such as what someone has eaten for dinner or seen on a road trip. 6 For example, on social media sites.
7 Photography can capture such minuet, intimate details that some aboriginal peoples famously believed cameras could steal the subject’s soul. 8 Perhaps this is why paparazzi are so victimized by others in their profession: Their intrusiveness may reveal more about the subject than he or she would like. 9 Celebrity photographers including Annie Liebovitz, who often favors a black and white composition, who also works for a famous magazine, attempt to portray the essence of famous people through a single photographic portrait. 10 Photography serves to document war atrocities, famine, or other human rights issues. 11 For example, Nick Ut’s famous picture of Vietnamese children being burned by napalm helped turn American public opinion against the Vietnam War, while Dorothea Lange’s photographs of migrant workers during the Great Depression influenced public policy regarding the treatment of these workers. 12 In the end, photography can be journalistic or artistic, significant or intrusive or ephemeral.
What word should replace “analgesic” in Sentence 4?
anabatic
anomic
analgesic (no change)
analogous
anomalous
analogous
As an adjective, “analgesic” means relieving pain, so it’s clearly not the right word for the sentence. “Analogous” means similar to, so this is a much better fit. (“Anomalous” means unusual or deviating from the norm, “anomic” means socially unstable or uncertain, and “anabatic” means rising or moving up in direction, so none of these choices work.)
Example Question #3311 : Sat Writing
1 Since its inception in the 19th century, photography has played various and complex roles. 2 Crude pinhole cameras first appeared in antiquity. 3 Silver salts, the colloidon process, and daguerreotypes were all developed during the 1800s as photography took form and it’s technology evolved.
4 By the 1900s, photography was often considered an equal of, or at least analgesic to, painting and other visual art forms. 5 In much the same way that portrait painters used to memorialize their subjects in gilded frames and oil paints, photography now serves to document people’s daily lives, experiences, and possessions, such as what someone has eaten for dinner or seen on a road trip. 6 For example, on social media sites.
7 Photography can capture such minuet, intimate details that some aboriginal peoples famously believed cameras could steal the subject’s soul. 8 Perhaps this is why paparazzi are so victimized by others in their profession: Their intrusiveness may reveal more about the subject than he or she would like. 9 Celebrity photographers including Annie Liebovitz, who often favors a black and white composition, who also works for a famous magazine, attempt to portray the essence of famous people through a single photographic portrait. 10 Photography serves to document war atrocities, famine, or other human rights issues. 11 For example, Nick Ut’s famous picture of Vietnamese children being burned by napalm helped turn American public opinion against the Vietnam War, while Dorothea Lange’s photographs of migrant workers during the Great Depression influenced public policy regarding the treatment of these workers. 12 In the end, photography can be journalistic or artistic, significant or intrusive or ephemeral.
Which word should replace “minuet” in Sentence 7?
miniscule
minstrel
minuend
minimized
minable
miniscule
A “minuet” is a 17th-century dance. The author clearly intended to write “minute,” or very small. This isn’t an option, however, so we need to look for a synonym. “Miniscule” also means very tiny, so this is the best fit for the sentence.
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