SAT Writing : SAT Writing

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Writing

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Example Questions

Example Question #334 : Improving Paragraphs

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.

What is the best title for the passage?

Possible Answers:

"Sneaky Shoplifters"

"Shoplifting Solutions"

"Don’t Shoplift!"

"Shoplifting Tricks and Techniques"

"Crime and Punishment: Sentencing Shoplifters"

Correct answer:

"Shoplifting Solutions"

Explanation:

Because the passage is primarily concerned with proposing ways to solve the problem of shoplifting, we want a title that focuses on solutions. While the passage does discuss "shoplifters" as well as their "tricks and techniques," the primary focus of the passage is on finding ways to prevent shoplifting, not accomplishing theft. A simple command statement does not capture the main meaning of the passage as accurately as the option describing "solutions."

Example Question #121 : Inserting Or Deleting Content

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.

What introductory word or phrase should be added to Sentence 6?

Possible Answers:

Since,

Moreover,

Because,

Overall,

Wherefore,

Correct answer:

Overall,

Explanation:

Because Sentence 6 is a conclusion, it makes sense to use a transitional word that indicates summary.

Example Question #122 : Inserting Or Deleting Content

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.

Which sentence requires an added hyphen?

Possible Answers:

Sentence 5

Sentence 6

No sentence requires an added hyphen.

Sentence 2

Sentence 3

Correct answer:

Sentence 5

Explanation:

In Sentence 5, the compound adjective “modern day” should be hyphenated, since it appears directly in front of a noun.

Example Question #123 : Inserting Or Deleting Content

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.

What is the best title for this passage?

Possible Answers:

"Magnificent Forests"

"Malevolent Forests"

"Munificent Forests"

"Monetary Forests"

"Morbid Forests"

Correct answer:

"Magnificent Forests"

Explanation:

“Magnificent,” or beautiful and impressive, is the best adjective to convey the author’s tone and message in this passage. (“Malevolent” means hateful, “munificent” means generous, “monetary” means related to money, and “morbid” means abnormally interested in death.)

Example Question #544 : 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.

What would be the best title for this passage?

Possible Answers:

Photography’s Range and Evolution

Paparazzi and the Development of the Photograph

Camera Technology: Pros and Cons

Digitalization and Documentaries: Photography’s Role

Photography’s History Through the Ages

Correct answer:

Photography’s Range and Evolution

Explanation:

Although the passage does discuss the history of photography, camera technology, paparazzi, and documentary aspects of the form, none of these are so central to the passage that they should stand alone as a title. A good hint at the sentence's overall focus is that the first sentence's introduction of the historical period in which the camera was invented is only done in the context of photography's "various and complex roles."  The text is most concerned with discussing photography’s extensive range and history. 

Example Question #124 : Inserting Or Deleting Content

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.

Where should the following sentence be inserted in the passage? “Most recently, digital photography and editing software has allowed professionals to transcend many early limitations of the form.”

Possible Answers:

After Sentence 6

After Sentence 7

After Sentence 4

After Sentence 5

After Sentence 3

Correct answer:

After Sentence 3

Explanation:

Because this sentence discusses recent developments in photography, you may be misled to believe that it belongs at the end of the passage. However, because the sentence is concerned with camera technology, it belongs at the end of the first paragraph, which is all devoted to tracing the technical development of photography over the centuries.

Example Question #125 : Inserting Or Deleting Content

The Moluccas is a chain, or archetype, of islands belonging to Indonesia. Historically, these islands were known as the Spice Islands for their abundance of nutmeg, cloves, mace, and pepper, this profundity of spices eventually drew colonial attention. Spices such as cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and pepper were particularly popular during the medieval times. In the 1600s, the Spice Wars arose as a result of competing Portuguese and Dutch interest’s in the Spice Islands. The bloody conflict ended in the deaths of many native Moluccans as well as European traders, wherefore both Portugal and the Netherlands gained and lost territories ranging from Africa and South America. For this day, strife occasionally breaks out on the islands although it is now motivated by religious and not colonial disagreements. It is located just west of New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean, and its more than 1,000 islands are home to more than 2 million people today.

Which of these sentences requires the addition of a semi-colon?

Possible Answers:

In the 1600s, the Spice Wars arose as a result of competing Portuguese and Dutch interest’s in the Spice Islands.

The Moluccas is a chain, or archetype, of islands belonging to Indonesia.

Spices such as cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and pepper were particularly popular during the medieval times.

The bloody conflict ended in the deaths of many native Moluccans as well as European traders, wherefore both Portugal and the Netherlands gained and lost territories ranging from Africa and South America.

Historically, these islands were known as the Spice Islands for their abundance of nutmeg, cloves, mace, and pepper, this profundity of spices eventually drew colonial attention.

Correct answer:

Historically, these islands were known as the Spice Islands for their abundance of nutmeg, cloves, mace, and pepper, this profundity of spices eventually drew colonial attention.

Explanation:

The second sentence of the paragraph, "Historically, these islands were known as the Spice Islands for their abundance of nutmeg, cloves, mace, and pepper, this profundity of spices eventually drew colonial attention," uses a comma to separate two independent clauses. Adding a semicolon will fix this error. Another option would be to replace the semi-colon with a comma and an appropriate coordinating conjunction. The other sentences, while including some grammatical errors, would neither benefit from nor even permit the addition of a semi-colon.

Example Question #126 : Inserting Or Deleting Content

The Moluccas is a chain, or archetype, of islands belonging to Indonesia. Historically, these islands were known as the Spice Islands for their abundance of nutmeg, cloves, mace, and pepper, this profundity of spices eventually drew colonial attention. Spices such as cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and pepper were particularly popular during the medieval times. In the 1600s, the Spice Wars arose as a result of competing Portuguese and Dutch interest’s in the Spice Islands. The bloody conflict ended in the deaths of many native Moluccans as well as European traders, wherefore both Portugal and the Netherlands gained and lost territories ranging from Africa and South America. For this day, strife occasionally breaks out on the islands although it is now motivated by religious and not colonial disagreements. It is located just west of New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean, and its more than 1,000 islands are home to more than 2 million people today.

Which of the following pieces of information would be most relevant to add to the passage?

Possible Answers:

The origin of the name of the Moluccas

The names of the builders of the Dutch and Portuguese warships

The taxonomy of popular Moluccan spices such as pepper and cloves

The ship’s log from the first recorded European sightings of the Moluccas

A list of the territorial gains made by the Dutch in the Spice Wars

Correct answer:

The origin of the name of the Moluccas

Explanation:

Since the passage is mainly devoted to describing the Moluccas’ historical background and geographical location, all of the choices except “the origin of the name of the Moluccas” are too specific and would represent digressions from the main topic.

Example Question #114 : New Sat

There once was a shepherd boy whom sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. He was hot and exhausted fanning himself, rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down. On top of that, he had never been so bored before. To amuse himself, he decided to play a joke. He put his hands around his mouth and yelled in a loud voice, "Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is chasing the sheep!”

They came running. They asked the boy, “What’s going on? Did you yell ‘A wolf is chasing the sheep?’”

The boy laughed. “It was just a joke, everyone.”

The people fumed, but they all returned to their homes.

The next day, the boy bored again decided to amuse himself again. He bellowed, “Wolf! Wolf!” Again, the townspeople came running. Once they arrived and witnessed the laughing boy, they realized they’d been tricked a second time. Nonetheless, they returned home and irritated resolved to never fall for the trick again for third time.

The next day, the boy was watching his sheep. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wolf appeared from behind the bushes. With its teeth bared, the boy cowered as the wolf approached the sheep. Terrified, he called, “Help! A wolf! A wolf is here!” The people ignored his cries. “That mischievous boy,” they all said to one another. “He must think he can fool us again.” But not one of them came running.

No one was there to witness as the wolf ate every last sheep on the hillside, as the boy helplessly cowered behind a bush. As the boy hid, he shook his head. “I shall never fib again,” he resolved to himself.

The author is thinking of inserting the following sentence: "Wolves were a common threat to the people in the village, in fact a 'wolf curfew' had even been imposed the previous winter." Where should this sentence be inserted?

Possible Answers:

After "the boy laughed" at the beginning of the the third paragraph

At the very beginning of the passage

After "they came running" at the beginning of the second paragraph

At the very end of the passage

The sentence is completely irrelevant and cannot sensibly be added to the passage

Correct answer:

After "they came running" at the beginning of the second paragraph

Explanation:

This sentence helps to explain why the boy's actions were regarded poorly, and why the townspeople would reacted to his "cries" the way they did. Placing this sentence after the first major reaction of the townspeople to the cries of wolf ("they came running"). Knowing that a wolf curfew had been imposed the previous winter certainly helps to contextualize the townspeople's reaction. None of the other places specified make contextual or logical sense.

Example Question #1 : Identifying Punctuation Errors: Other Punctuation

Select the underlined word or phrase that needs to be changed to make the sentence correct. Some sentences contain no error at all.

Knitting may appear complex, but even its most complicated patterns can be created from a combination of just two stitches; knit stitches and purl stitches. No error

Possible Answers:

just two stitches;

appear

can be created

complex, but even

No error

Correct answer:

just two stitches;

Explanation:

This sentence's error lies in the incorrect way in which it uses a semicolon to introduce a list. "Knit stitches and purl stitches" are the "two stitches" that the sentence introduces earlier, so a colon is the most appropriate punctuation mark to use in this instance. The corrected sentence reads, "Knitting may appear complex, but even its most complicated patterns can be created from a combination of just two stitches: knit stitches and purl stitches."

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