SAT Writing › Correcting Parallel Structure Errors
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.
Scientists have determined that the risk factors for cardiovascular disease include family history, poor diet, and having an excess of stress.
include family history, poor diet, and excessive stress.
includes family history, poor diet, and excessive stress.
tends to include family history, poor diet, and excessive stress.
include family history, poor diet, and having an excessive amount of stress.
include family history, poor diet, and having an excess of stress.
The answer choice "include family history, poor diet, and excessive stress" is correct because it contains appropriate parallelism—in this case, a list of three noun phrases.
The original text "include family history, poor diet, and having an excess of stress" and the answer choice "include family history, poor diet, and having an excessive amount of stress" contain faulty parallelism—the last item in the list includes the verb "having" whereas the first two items in the list do not employ verbs. These answers are therefore incorrect.
Answer choices "includes family history, poor diet, and excessive stress" and "tends to include family history, poor diet, and excessive stress" are incorrect because they both use singular predicates for the plural subject, "risk factors for cardiovascular disease."
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.
The scholarship allowed Mickey to travel all the way to France and staying in a five-star hotel.
The scholarship allowed Mickey to travel all the way to France and to stay in a five-star hotel.
The scholarship allowed Mickey to travel all the way to France and he could also stay in a five-star hotel.
The scholarship allowed Mickey to travel all the way to France and also staying in a five-star hotel.
The scholarship allowed Mickey traveling all the way to France and staying in a five-star hotel.
The scholarship allowed Mickey to travel all the way to France and staying in a five-star hotel.
This sentence contains an error in parallelism. The verbs "travel" and "stay" must be in the same form. In the sentence as it is presented, "to travel" and "staying" do not match. The correct answer makes both of these terms infinitives: "to travel" and "to stay."
Many drug consumers feel that generic medicine can be as effective as, if not more effective, as some of the brand names.
as effective as, if not more effective than, some of the brand names.
as effective, if not more effective, as some of the brand names.
as effective, if not more effective, than some brand names.
as effective medicine, if not more effective, as some of the brand names.
as effective medicine, if not more effective, than some of the brand names.
The term, if not more effective, is an interrupter; therefore, the sentence should read correctly if those words are removed.
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.
The woman was an active girl who liked playing with toys and to run in parks.
to play with toys and to run in parks.
playing with toys and to run in parks.
to play with toys and running in parks.
to playing with toys and to running in parks.
playing with toys, running in parks.
The pairing of the two phrases indicate that they need to have a parrallel tense for each verb. Only two answer choices, "to play with toys and to run in parks," and "playing with toys, running in parks," are parrallel, and "playing with toys, running in parks," should be separated by a conjunction.
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.
Public education, health care, and the constructing of new roadways are all areas that we desperately need to fund.
Public education, health care, and new roadway construction are all areas
Public education, health care, and new roadway construction is all areas
All areas are public education, health care, and new roadway construction
Public education, health care, and constructing new roadways are all areas
Public education, health care, and the constructing of new roadways are all areas
This sentence's error is one of parallel structure. The first two items in its list, "Public education" and "health care," are nouns, but the third item, "the constructing of new roadways," begins with a gerund. All of the items in a list should be formatted in the same way. There are numerous ways in which we could change the sentence so that each of its items take on the same grammatical form, and several answer choices correctly fix this issue; only "Public education, health care, and constructing new roadways are all areas," which changes the gerund "constructing" to a present progressive verb by omitting the definite article "the," does not do this.
All but one of the answer choices that fix the parallel structure of the list introduce new errors. "Public education, health care, and new roadway construction is all areas" incorrectly uses the singular verb "is" to refer to the plural compound subject, so it is incorrect. "All areas are public education, health care, and new roadway construction" convolutes the sentence's word order and makes it confusing by making it seem as if "all areas"—all of the areas in total, not just the ones "that we desperately need to fund"—are the three listed. Only "Public education, health care, and new roadway construction are all areas" fixes the sentence's error without introducing new mistakes, making it the correct answer and the corrected sentence "Public education, health care, and new roadway construction are all areas that we desperately need to fund."
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.
Artistic ability is an inborn skill, but always needs to be developed to become a truly great artist.
Artistic ability is an inborn skill, but always needs to be developed for someone to become a truly great artist.
Artistic ability is an inborn skill, but always needs to be developed to become a truly great artist.
Artistic ability is an inborn skill but always needs to be developed to become a truly great artist.
Artistic ability is an inborn skill, but always needs to be developed, to become a truly great artist.
Artistic ability is an inborn skill, but always needing to be developed to become a truly great artist.
The last phrase of the sentence is confusing, as it is unclear exactly who is becoming "a truly great artist." The sentence is best served by making it clear who can become the "truly great artist." The answer choice that best fixes the issue is "Artistic ability is an inborn skill, but always needs to be developed for someone to become a truly great artist."
The rejection of classical art was disturbing to neither pundits and laymen.
Which option best improves the underlined section of this sentence?
both pundits and laymen.
neither pundits nor laymen.
either pundits and laymen.
pundits or laymen.
pundits nor laymen.
Logically, the rejection of art would be disturbing to pundits (a noun defined as learned individuals) and laymen. Using this knowledge, students could eliminate any answer choice that would say that this would not be disturbing. Even without this knowledge, based on the rule of concordance, students would know that the only plausible options are "both pundits and laymen" or "neither pundits nor laymen," because "neither" always goes with "nor" and "either" always goes with "or." So, the correct answer is "both pundits and laymen."
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.
My mother has always been amazing at cutting, sewing, and the design of clothing.
cutting, sewing, and designing clothing.
to cut, to sew, and to design clothing.
cutting, sewing, and the designing of clothing.
cutting, sewing, and the design of clothing.
cutting, sewing, and designing clothings.
The verb structure in a sentence involving parallel structure, such as this one, should remain constant. In the original sentence, there are two progressive verbs followed by a noun that would be better written as a verb. Changing "design of clothing" to "designing clothing" results in a more consistent parallel structure that involves three progressive verbs.
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.
Neither antibiotics nor the use of disinfectants helped slow the spread of the disease.
Neither the use of antibiotics nor disinfectants helped slow
Neither antibiotics nor the use of disinfectants helped slow
Neither antibiotics nor the use of disinfectants helping slow
Neither antibiotics nor the use of disinfectants helped to slow
Neither antibiotics or the use of disinfectants helped slow
In any "neither . . . nor" phrase, each item being compared has to be the same kind of item so a proper comparison can be made. The sentence is written with two different elements, the simple noun "antibiotics" and the verbal phrase "the use of disinfectants." The only answer choice that uses an appropriate parallel structure, by redeploying the verbal phrase to cover both items, is "Neither the use of antibiotics nor disinfectants helped slow."
Alexander held his intelligence in high regard, and so he believed that his grades should be higher than the other students in the class.
should be higher than those of
should be higher
should cause his being higher
would necessitate being highest among
would have to be the highest among
The initial sentence contains an illogical comparison. Her grades cannot be higher than the other students. They can only be higher than the grades of the other students. In this sentence, the pronoun those can stand in for grades.