The SAT Prep Black Book(149)

(C) is correct.

(D) “hard studying” doesn’t work, because if we insert that phrase in the sentence we end up with a statement equating “the depths” with “studying.” Notice, by the way, that more answer choices begin with “to study,” which often suggests—but doesn’t guarantee by itself—that that form is likely to be correct.

(E) again, “hard studying” doesn’t work.





Page 407, Question 3


The original version of the question isn’t a full sentence because of the word “which,” which demotes the following phrase to a dependent clause. To be a full sentence while retaining the word “which,” the question would have to say something like “Several of the fires, which were caused by carelessness, burned out of control.” The correct version is (B), which omits the “which” and provides a verb in the past tense. Note that the correct answer choice features the passive voice, which is okay on the SAT because the College Board has no problem with the passive voice.

(A) creates a sentence fragment.

(B) is correct.

(C) also creates a sentence fragment.

(D) doesn't work because “are” is in the present tense, while “occurred” is in the past tense.

(E) doesn't work because we can’t say “happened from.” Also, the word “being” tends not to appear in correct answers on Improving Sentences questions.





Page 407, Question 4


This question has a short underlined portion, suggesting a grammatical issue. The correct answer is the only one that matches the form of the verb “showed” in the phrase “when she showed.” So (C) is correct, because it has the verb “disproved” in the simple past tense, just like the word “showed.”





Page 407, Question 5


Here, we need a conjunction that indicates that the two ideas being discussed are opposite to one another. “And” won’t work, so (A) and (B) are out. (C) and (D) are out because of “extending.” (E) is correct because it’s the only sentence with a negating conjunction (“however”) and an acceptable form of the verb “extend.”





Page 408, Question 6


(A) works fine.

(B) doesn't work because of the word “that.”

(C) doesn't work because of “culminating.”

(D) doesn't work because of “beginning” and “culminating”—remember that the correct answers to Improving Sentences questions tend to avoid words ending in “-ing” if possible.

(E) has a couple of problems. The biggest one is that the phrase “as a child” makes it sounds as though the actual memoirs themselves are a child, which is impossible.





Page 408, Question 7


For this question, the correct answer is the shortest answer choice, as we will often find. Really, that should be enough analysis for you to be certain you have the right answer: when the shortest answer choice is grammatically acceptable, it’s the correct answer. But let’s look at the other choices anyway:

(A) doesn’t work because the word “it” makes it seem as though the uniform itself is the thing that is “dressed in a uniform.”

(B) doesn't work because the “efficient manner” is the thing “dressed in a uniform,” grammatically speaking.

(C) doesn’t work because the word “that” turns the entire string of words into a sentence fragment.

(D) is grammatically correct and it’s the shortest answer choice, so it works automatically.

(E) is a sentence fragment.





Page 408, Question 8


Here, again, the shortest answer choice is grammatically correct, which means the College Board will say it’s the correct answer.

(A) is the shortest choice and it’s grammatically correct, so it’s right.

(B) has a lot of problems, the biggest of which is that in this version the scientists themselves are the “cure for some kinds of cancer.” Remember that the College Board’s grammar rules state that when a descriptive phrase is stuck to the beginning of a sentence with a comma, then the first noun after the comma is the noun being described by the phrase—in this case, “a cure for some kinds of cancer” is the descriptive phrase and “scientists” is the first noun after the comma.

(C) creates a sentence fragment.

(D) creates a comma splice.

(E) creates a sentence fragment.





Page 408, Question 9


(A) doesn’t work because “and” is a conjunction that indicates two similar ideas, but the ideas of being confusing and melodious aren’t similar.

(B) doesn’t work because of “by having,” two words the College Board tends to avoid placing in the correct answer to an Improving Sentences question.