6.3.11

• Take a few minutes to review vocabulary words for the quiz.

• Agenda:– Quiz– PP review for SAT writing– Short practice

SAT Writing Review

Skill 1

Artifacts from Ireland, though (A) less familiar (B) to the public than (C) many other archaeological discoveries, is (D) sophisticated in both design and execution. No error (E)

D

• The verb needs to match the subject. If the subject is plural, the verb should be “are,” not “is”

Subject and Verb Agreement

• Trojans is doomed.• Hector are violent.

It’s easy to see what’s wrong with these sentences: the subjects do not match their verbs.

Trojans are plural but is is singular; Hector is singular, but are is plural. Subjects and verbs must match or “agree.”

• The SAT will test this by sticking a long phrase or clause between the subject and the verb, like so:

• The importation of predator species, which stems from a laudable desire to break with the usual chemical methods of pest control, almost always lead to ecological imbalance.

See the error?

If not, get rid of the intervening clause:

The importation of predator species almost

always lead to ecological imbalance.

• Predator species is not the subject—the importation of predator species is. Importation is singular; lead is the plural form of the verb. The singular form of the verb must match the singular subject.

The correct version is as follows:

• The importation of predator species, [which stems from a laudable desire to break with the usual chemical methods of pest control,] almost always leads to ecological imbalance.

Is the following sentence correct?

Inside the wooden horse is Achilles and

Odysseus.

Tricky!!

The subject is hidden here—it’s not the wooden horse. What if you flipped the sentence around so the subject, which we’re accustomed to seeing at the beginning of a sentence, comes first:

Achilles and Odysseus is inside

the wooden horse.

• The is sticks out more when the sentence is rewritten this way; it should be are. Achilles and Odysseus is a compound subject; compound subjects take plural verbs.

• Only the word and can create a compound subject. As well as, or, and along with do not create compound subjects.

• What, if anything, is wrong with the following sentence?

Neither of those two airhead adventurers are bright.

• The problem is that neither, either, and none take singular, not plural, verbs. The correction is:

• Neither of those two airhead adventurers is bright.

Finally, watch out for nouns that seem plural but are actually singular, such as:

• The series of lectures was very interesting. • The team was ready for the big game.• The couple finds happiness in each other.

Series, team, and couple are singular nouns that refer to groups. Group, actually, is another good example. By definition, a group has more than one member, but a group itself is singular: one group; many groups.

Skill 2

Originally a protest on conventional A B

painting, the Impressionist movement

exerted great influence on the art of its C D

time.

No Error: E

A

The correct sentence reads:

Originally a protest against conventional painting, the Pre-Raphaelite movement exerted great influence on the art of its time.

• The college entrance examinations will test your ability to identify and correct errors in verb tense sequence. This will require both a knowledge of the verb tenses and context-reading skills.

Grammar Topic 2: Verb Tense

• The tense of a verb indicates the time frame of an action's occurrence. Actions that occur now use the simple present tense, actions that already occurred use the simple past tense, and actions that will occur use the simple future tense.

• simple present tense: I study. [This is happening now.]

• simple past tense: I studied. [This happened in the past.]

• simple future tense: I will study. [This will happen in the future.]

• The perfect tense of verbs is used to indicate the relative sequence of events in a sentence. The present perfect tense indicates that an action has been occurring and may be continuing to occur now. The past perfect tense indicates that an action occurred in the past before another action. The future perfect tense indicates that an action will occur in the future before another action.

• present perfect tense: I have studied, so I will pass the test. [I studied in the past and might still be studying now. I will pass in the future.]

• past perfect tense: I had studied, so I passed the test. [First I studied. I completed this action, then I passed the test.]

• future perfect tense: I will have studied, so I will pass the test. [In the future, I will study. I will complete this action and then I will pass in the future.]

By the time we arrived at the concert, the opening band finished its set.

• This sentence contains an error in verb tense sequence. The band finished playing before we arrived, so the verb in the main clause should be in the past perfect tense.

Correct version:

• By the time we arrived at the concert, the opening band had finished its set.

Which is correct?

• The Miller Glacier, which runs down from the Columbia Ice Field, gives us a look back to a time when the world is dominated by ice.

• The Miller Glacier, which runs down from the Columbia Ice Field, gives us a look back to a time when the world was dominated by ice.

• The second is correct because of the correct shift in verb tense. The glacier runs down from the field now, in the present.

What’s wrong?

• I climbed onto the tour bus, but have no idea of what was ahead.

• “had” no idea

What’s wrong?

• I collected my gear before today’s excursion; my friend collects hers later.

• “will collect”

What’s wrong?

• I have read that glaciers were in constant motion.

• “glaciers are”

• True statements need to be in the present tense regardless of other verb tenses in the sentence.

What’s wrong?

I would of walked further, but the signs warning about bears stopped me.

“I would have walked…”

Don’t used a preposition when you need a helping verb

Skill 31. Please rise/raise and face the audience.

Rise (to go up)

2. She has lain/laid on the couch all morning.

Lain (past participle of lie—to rest)

3. The price of fuel has risen/raised steadily.

Risen (past participle of rise-to go up)

4. The stagehands rose/raised the curtain for each act.

Raised—to move something up.

• The types of questions on the SAT that test knowledge of adjectives include items that require the ability to:– identify

adjectives that incorrectly modify verbs or other adjectives and replace them with adverbs

– differentiate between adjectives and other parts of speech in parallelism errors

– identify and correct dangling participles, which are adjective forms of verbs that do not clearly and correctly modify any word in a sentence

– identify and correct errors in the use of comparative, superlative, and absolute adjectives

• An adjective is a word or group of words used to describe a noun.

• The red apple was in a glass bowl.

• The adjectives in this sentence are "red" and "glass." "Red" modifies the noun "apple" and "glass" modifies the noun "bowl."

• A prepositional phrase can act as an adjective.

• The apple was in a bowl on the table.

• The prepositional phrase "on the table" acts as an adjective to describe the noun "bowl."

• A linking verb links a subject with a predicate. When a subject is linked to an adjective, the modifier is called a predicate adjective.

• The apple tastes sweet.• The verb "tastes" links the subject,

"apple," with the predicate adjective, "sweet."

• A comparative adjective is used to compare two people or things. Comparative adjectives generally end in "-er" or are themselves modified by "more" or "less."

• An apple is sweeter than a lemon.• I think that apples are more delicious

than bananas.

• Do not use a comparative adjective when comparing more than two people or things, as in the following sentence:

• After eating an apple, a banana, and a peach, I decided that I liked the peach better.

• "Better" is a comparative adjective incorrectly used in this sentence to compare three things. Use the superlative "best" in this context.

• After eating an apple, a banana, and a peach, I decided that I liked the peach best.

• A superlative adjective is used to compare more than two people or things. Superlative adjectives generally end in "-est" or are themselves modified by "most" or "least."

• Apples, bananas, and peaches are all sweet, but peaches are sweetest.

• Apples, bananas, and peaches are all tasty, but I think peaches are the most delicious.

What’s wrong?

Your mistakes will be less if you proofread your paper.

“fewer”—modifies a plural noun

“less”—modifies a singular noun

What’s wrong?

• Vera felt badly that Joe has such bad luck that day.

• “bad”-adjective

What’s wrong?

• Then, with the track wet, the cars moved more slow.

• “slowly” adverb modifying “moved”

What’s wrong?

• We lost bad in the finals.

• “badly” describes the word “lost.”

• Are your plans going good?

• “well” describes “going”

What’s wrong?

• I wish I could run as good as George.

• “well”

• Our friends needed help bad.

• “badly” modifies “needed”

Skill 4: IdiomsWhat’s wrong with these idioms?1. Although my driving skills were not that

bad, my boyfriend was still a front-seat driver.

• “back-seat driver”2. Since the hungry campers had been

hiking all morning, lunch turned into an eating frenzy.

• “feeding frenzy”

3. Although this problem was just a hole in the bucket, and contributed to the problem greatly.

• “drop in the bucket”

4. I think learning karate has been a piece of pie.• “piece of cake”

5. The break up was quite amicable; however, when Adam started dating someone new, it just added gas to the fire.

• “Fuel to the fire”

1. Although the bully seemed tough, he was all bark and bite.

• “all bark and no bite”

2. I’ll be there in the drop of a hat.

• “at the drop of a hat”

Skill 5 Looking up from the base of the mountain, the trail seemed more treacherous than it really was.

• (A) Looking up• (B) While looking up• (C) By looking up• (D) Viewing• (E) Viewed

E

• Explanation:When a modifying phrase begins a sentence, it must logically modify the sentence's subject; otherwise, it is a dangling modifier.

• In this example, every option except (E) is a dangling modifier.

What’s a double negative?

• Two words combined that are negative which results in a meaning not intended by the author of the sentence.

During the depression many Americans didn’t have no jobs.

Can you fix them?

• I can’t hardly believe it.

• I can hardly believe it.

• I couldn’t never have done it without help.

• I couldn’t have done it without help.

• Without scarcely any money, the family spent very little on unnecessary things.

• With scarcely any money…

Fix…

• Didn’t nobody agree to write the book?

• Didn’t anybody agree to write the book?

Skill 6

Everybody will get their chance if they wait

A B C

patiently and quietly. E: no error

D

C

“Everybody” is singular and goes with the pronoun “his or her.”

Agreement in Number

• Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in number.

Lisa and Paul decided they were hungry.

• But, there’s some tricky pronoun rules you’ll need to know that might trip you up on the SAT…

What’s pronoun agreement?

• A pronoun takes the place of nouns.

They are going to get in to college early.

What do they test for on the SAT’s?

Pronouns need to agree with their

antecedents in number and gender—this is

what they’ll test for…

These are the tricky pronouns…

Singular (his or her) Plural (their)everyone severaleverybody bothsomebody fewsomeone manynobodyno oneoneeitherneithereach

Try these…

Neither Judy nor Phil think that they/ he or she will win “most popular.”

Neither …nor = he or she

Anyone may submit their/his or her article for submission.

Anyone = his or her

Either Christy or Erin thinks that they/she can handle the situation.

Either … or = she

Either Jerry or the twins will bring their/his or her stereo.

twins = their (closest)

Nobody will ever finish his or her/their work on time.

Nobody = his or her

• Many of the team players is/are hungry.

(Many = are)

• Few is/are going to help planting trees.

(Few = are)

What’s wrong?

• Everyone on the Alaskan research trip was a leader in their particular field.

• “their” should be “his or her” because its singular

• Everybody wants their parents to get along.

• “their” should be “his or her”

• Several on board had his or her own special assignments.

• “his or her” should be “their”

• Neither Kate nor Lisa wanted their hair-tie back.

• “their” should be “his or her”

Pronouns

• Subject pronouns are used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence. You can remember subject pronouns easily by filling in the blank subject space for a simple sentence. 

• Example:______ did the job.I, you, he, she, it, we, and they all fit into the blank and are, therefore, subject pronouns.

• Subject pronouns are also used if they rename the subject.

• They follow to be verbs such as is, are, was, were, am, and will be. 

Examples:

• It is he.

• This is she speaking.

• It is we who are responsible for the decision to downsize.

• Object pronouns are used everywhere else (direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition). Object pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them.  

Examples:

Jean talked to him.

Are you talking to me?

What’s wrong?

• Him and Jon love cake.

• Subject-”he”

• The caller was her.

• She—renames the subject

• It is me who wants to be prom queen.

• “I”—renames the subject

What’s wrong?

•   John and me went to the store.• “I” •   The coach threw the ball to Tom and I.• “me” •   Mark and him got sick on the roller coaster.• “he” •   Steve and her were going on a trip. • “she”

What’s wrong?

• Her and Jim ate all the pizza.• She •   Me and Chad watched TV all night.• Chad and I•   The teacher and him walked to the office.• he •   Pat gave the papers to Wally and I.• me

Who (subject) or whom (object)?

• We discussed __ their first choice was.• who• For __ did you buy that tie?• whom• __ will be our Latin teacher?• Who• If you wished to know more, __ would you ask?• whom• We have learned much about __ these people were.• who

Skill 6

From a distance, Betty A

seems rather short to me, but, whenB

I stand next to her, she's clearly C

the tallest. D

DThe writer compares his or her height to that of one other person. If two things or people are being compared, the adjective needs to be in the comparative form, not the superlative.

So, it should be “taller”

My high school's track

team is much better at long A B

distance running than the high C D

school that won the state

championship last year. 

D

The writer clearly intended to compare two track teams; grammatically, the writer is comparing a track team to a high school. Although it’s acceptable to substitute the whole for the part—for example, high school = track team—this substitution should be applied consistently, a rule the writer fails to apply in this case.

What’s wrong?

Tonya likes racing better than Meg.

Should be: “than Meg does.”

It’s an incomplete comparison

What’s wrong?

Festivals in my hometown are odder than your hometown.

Festivals in my hometown are odder than those in your hometown.

What’s wrong?

Many teens think that going to plays is not as much fun as movies.

…as much fun as going to movies

Steve’s pumpkin in larger than any pumpkin at the fair.

Steve’s pumpkin is larger than any OTHER pumpkin at the fair.

He plans to study as hard if not harder than, he did last time.

He plans to study as hard AS, if not harder than, he did last time.

Faulty Parallelism

In questions that ask you to improve sentences, you must pay attention to problems with parallelism.• For example, the following is a typical improving-

sentences-style question:

Because the storm was so severe plus being unexpected, the emergency supplies did not arrive for over ten days. No error.

In verb usage, "and" is sufficient; "plus being" introduces a new verb structure and is not necessary.

• Not Parallel: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle.

• Parallel: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.

– Not Parallel: The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and in a detailed manner.

– Parallel: The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and thoroughly.

• Not Parallel: The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that they should not eat too much, and to do some warm-up exercises before the game.

• Parallel: The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that they should not eat too much, and that they should do some warm-up exercises before the game.

• Not Parallel: The dictionary can be used for these purposes: to find word meanings, pronunciations, correct spellings, and looking up irregular verbs.

• Parallel: The dictionary can be used for these purposes: to find word meanings, pronunciations, correct spellings, and irregular verbs.

Lincoln was more concerned about

A B

losing border state support than for

C

what abolitionists were going to do.

D

C

Lincoln was more concerned about

losing border state support than

ABOUT what abolitionists were going

to do.