Recognizing Sentences That Contain No Errors - SAT Writing

Card 0 of 417

Question

The identity of the killer remained a mystery for the next fifty years.

Answer

The "identity of the killer" was unknown a while, so the use of the preposition "for" is correct, as it indicates the length of time was fully taken by the mystery of the killer's identity. The sentence is correct as written.

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Question

No one will come to our defense but ourselves in our time of need.

Answer

The use of "ourselves" is actually correct in the sentence, as it refers to the previous use of "our" in the phrase "our defense;" therefore, the correct answer is to keep the word as "ourselves."

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Question

As they walked into the wind, the girls all pulled their jackets tighter.

Answer

The sentence is structurally and grammatically correct just as it is. Every other answer choice actually makes the sentence grammatically incorrect.

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Question

David brings it to himself first, then goes to John's to hand it over.

Answer

As it is written, the sentence is completely correct grammatically and structurally. Further, every other answer choice makes the sentence grammatically incorrect, confusing, or both. The correct answer choice is to leave the sentence as it is written.

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Question

Select the best answer from the choices given.

The reason the soccer match was cancelled was not so much the incoming storm but the lack of competitors.

Answer

The original sentence is the most concise and effective.

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Question

The pets in the classrom were beloved by all the students in the grade.

Answer

The sentence is perfectly correct as it is written in the question, and needs no changes to improve it. Additionally, all the other answer choices make the sentence grammatically incorrect or confusing. The correct answer is to leave the sentence unchanged.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Although I had not wanted to attend the jazz concert, I was soon covered in goose bumps as I listened to the beautiful music.

Answer

The sentence is best in its original form.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

When you do research on the Internet, it is imperative that you evaluate each site; you must consider the date of the information, the reliability of the author, and the accuracy of the facts.

Answer

No change. This is the most concise, most correct answer.

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Question

Bethany simply could not believe it when she was asked to join the city council; she had been waiting for an opportunity like this for years.

Answer

The sentence is best in its original form. This is a question testing your ability to make the right word choice. "Council" means committee.

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Question

More recently, the trend reversed itself to come back to the original position.

Answer

The underlined portion is correct as is. While the sentence is somewhat awkwardly worded, the underlined portion is gramatically correct, and there is little that other answer choices do to improve the sentence.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Zany performers can make audiences laugh without having to be as clever as serious performers.

Answer

Although slightly awkward, the underlined portion is grammatically correct. The comparison needs to have both uses of the word "as," and to describe distinctly the quality being compared and what is being compared.

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Question

Forcing the issue, the students brought up the teacher's overly long assignments.

Answer

The underlined section of the sentence is a dependent clause, meaning it defines the rest of the sentence, but is not able to stand alone. The phrase "Forcing the issue" is correct in its usage.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Children frequently want toys they have seen advertised on their favorite television shows.

Answer

The underlined portion of the sentence, while slightly awkwardly worded, is perfectly correct grammatically. All of the other answer choices have either an incorrect verb tense or a construction that muddles the meaning of the sentence.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.

The law prevented both active wiretapping and snooping.

Answer

The key word in the sentence is "both." This indicates that the underlined portion holds two items, "active wiretapping" and "snooping." Thus, the use of "and" appropriately separates the two items, and no punctuation is necessary.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Rivers were once the key transportation method in civilization, but the paving of roads created concrete rivers across land masses.

Answer

The underlined portion of the sentence features a gerund, a present verb form that can be used as a noun. Thus, the phrase "the paving of roads" can appropriately be a subject in the phrase, and the sentence is correct as written.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.

You and I will be the ones to go into the room first.

Answer

The appropriate use of the pronouns "you" and "I" together as the subject of the sentence is in the sentence as it is written. The correct answer is to leave it as "You and I."

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Question

Hungry and tired, the group stopped under the tree by the river bank for the night.

Answer

The underlined phrase, although slightly awkward and over worded, is actually perfectly grammatically correct. As none of the "corrected" answer choices are grammatically correct, the unchanged form of the underlined portion is the correct answer.

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Question

The massive effort to clean up the mess from the storm was a months long process.

Answer

While the underlined section of the sentence is rather wordy, and not perfectly stated, it is absolutely grammatically correct. More importantly, none of the other answer choices are grammatically correct. The best choice is to leave it as written.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Moving into the future, the party's leaders decided to abandon their unsuccessful strategy.

Answer

The underlined section does contain a number of punctuation marks and interesting wording, but it is entirely correct. No changes need to be made to the sentence.

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Question

Trying to understand her students' issues, the teacher found ways to ask about their problems indirectly.

Answer

The sentence is absolutely correct as written, and needs no improvement. The various corrections all make the sentence incorrect, as "asks" does not work in an infinitive, "student's" refers to one student and contradicts "their" as mentioned later, "indirectly" is an adverb and not an adjective, and writing "try" makes the sentence unclear and a fragment.

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