SAT Writing : Increasing the Effectiveness of a Full Sentence

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Writing

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Example Questions

Example Question #121 : Improving And Correcting 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.

How should Sentence 2 be rewritten?

Possible Answers:

Its originating in the field of anthropology, later becoming popular in sociology and other disciplines.

Originating in the field of anthropology; later becoming popular in sociology and other disciplines.

Originating in the field of anthropology, it later became popular in sociology and other disciplines.

Originating in the field of anthropology, later becoming popular in sociology and other disciplines. (no change)

Originating in the field of anthropology, with it later becoming popular in sociology and other disciplines.

Correct answer:

Originating in the field of anthropology, it later became popular in sociology and other disciplines.

Explanation:

Since the only verbs in the original sentence are gerunds, we need to change one to an active tense and add a subject to avoid a run-on.

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