The SAT Prep Black Book(153)

One of the most important is that choice (A) is only wrong because the phrase “as well as” appears in a position where the word “and” could have been used, and the College Board doesn’t like that.

It’s also worth pointing out that (E) is the only choice without an “-ing” word, which is one of the ways we might realize it’s correct.

Finally, (E) begins with the word “because.” Again, there’s nothing wrong with starting a sentence that way as long as the words after the comma could stand as a sentence on their own. (In this case, everything from the word “George” could stand as a sentence on its own.)





Page 657, Question 10


On this question, if we’re pretty good with grammar we can tell that (A) is the only grammatically acceptable choice, so it must be right.

But the phrase “which duration” will throw off a lot of people. In this case, though, it’s still possible to arrive at the right answer by following those three patterns I mentioned earlier. Let’s take a look at how things break down:

(A) has 2 words ending in “-ed” or “-ing,” and 6 short words.

(B) has 2 words ending in “-ed” or “-ing,” and 8 short words.

(C) has 2 words ending in “-ed” or “-ing,” and 10 short words.

(D) has 2 words ending in “-ed” or “-ing,” and 7 short words.

(E) has 3 words ending in “-ed” or “-ing,” and 6 short words. (It’s also the shortest choice, but it isn’t grammatically correct because of the word “making.”)

So we can see that (A) is the most ideal option, just by counting up the types of words the College Board likes to avoid and then picking the choice with the fewest of those words.

(This type of analysis will make a lot of English teachers very upset, but I don’t care. Because of the SAT’s poor design, these patterns can get you out of a lot of tough situations if you remember to use them. Of course, you have to read and count carefully to do it correctly.)





Page 677, Question 7


This is yet another question in which the shortest answer choice is grammatically acceptable, and is therefore the correct answer. So (E) is correct.

I’d also like to point out that the original version of the sentence might sound very natural to a lot of test-takers, but it’s no good from an SAT standpoint because it uses the word “it” to refer to the verb phrase “if you represented.” Remember that the College Board only lets us use the word “it” to refer to singular noun phrases.





Page 739, Question 5


Many test-takers accidentally choose (A) on this question, because it seems to make a strong sentence.

But we always have to remember to consider each answer choice and make sure we can find something wrong with the choices we’re not picking! That’s the only way to be sure you’re not making any mistakes.

In this case, (D) is the shortest answer choice and has no grammatical mistakes. That means the College Board will say (D) is the right answer.

(Notice also that (D) includes the passive voice construction “is highly motivated,” but it’s still correct.)





Page 775, Question 5


If we read the answer choices carefully, we’ll see that only choice (C) is grammatically acceptable. (A) doesn’t work for a couple of reasons, but the most obvious is that the word “their” is referring to the singular noun “literature.” (B) doesn’t work because “direct” and “fresh” need to be in their adverb forms in order to modify the word “speaking.” (D) has the same problem as (B). And (E) uses “they,” just like (A) does.

Test-takers often miss this question, and questions like it, because they get caught up in what sounds best to them rather than sticking to the simple and repeatable rules of SAT grammar.





Page 775, Question 11


This is a question that most test-takers would be well advised to skip, because most of them won’t be able to arrive at a single answer choice that seems to follow all the rules and patterns the College Board likes.

The reason they won’t be able to reach a solid conclusion on one answer is that most test-takers don’t know the phrase “at once X and Y,” which is an expression that indicates that something has two attributes that might often be thought of as opposites. (For instance, we might say that the Eiffel Tower is “at once imposing and delicate.”)

If we know that that phrase exists, then we can probably tell that (E) is correct, because (E) starts with “and” and also includes the “because of” structure that’s in the first part of the prompt sentence.