SAT WRITING WORKBOOK

PART V

THE HEART OF THE TEST: MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

Writing Correct Sentences

Answers will vary. No doubt some of your sentences will be better than these.

1. Although Elizabeth is stressed out about the SAT, she won’t let it get her down.

2. The teacher agreed to her request for an extension on the assignment.

3. At eighty-six years old, my grandmother walks very slowly.

4. I could choose many other examples to show who I am, not all of them vivid images of memorable moments but rather everyday aspects of my life.

5. I woke up, having slept for the four shortest hours of my life. I force my eyes open and crawl to the shower. Only then my brain begins to function.

6. I can’t believe that I’ll soon leave the protective world of high school and enter the world of college.

7. The large brown garage door creaks open slowly. Out into the morning sunshine emerges a rider on a road bike.

8. What are the rules? What happens if we break them?

9. Phyllis, a biologist in the field of genetic engineering, is involved in the cloning controversy.

10. Use the space below to tell one personal story to provide the admissions committee, either directly or indirectly, an insight into the kind of person you are.

Establishing Noun–Verb Agreement

1. talent … proves

2. heroes … die

3. team … is

4. Correct

5. Correct

6. are … levels

7. proceeds … are

8. team … is

9. neither … was

10. reforms … have

11. fan … expects

12. Politics … has

13. Darwin … is

14. Katie Green … and accompanist … are

15. Nancy … appears

16. sale … has

17. Here are … statutes

18. insistence … is

19. No one … wants

20. are … guards

Choosing the Case of Pronouns

1. me

2. her, him

3. me

4. me

5. him

6. he

7. I

8. me

9. we

10. he

Recognizing Pronoun Shift and Pronoun Agreement

Answers may vary.

1. The English teacher announced that everyone in the class must turn in his term paper no later than Friday.

2. When fired from a job, one collects unemployment.

3. The library put its collection of rare books on display.

4. Each of my sisters owns her own car.

5. Correct

6. In order to stay in shape, you should work out every day.

7. The teacher dictates a sentence in French. Then each student writes it down in English and hands it in.

8. Each horse in the procession followed its rider down to the creek.

9. The school’s chess team has just won its first match.

10. When you visit the park, ask a park ranger if you can’t find a rest room.

Identifying Faulty Pronoun Reference

These are suggested answers. Yours may be different but equally valid.

1. When teenagers loiter outside the theater on Friday night, the police give them a hard time.

2. Before collecting my pencils and pens, I handed in the test questions I had answered.

3. At the root of Barbara and Ken’s problem is that she wanted only a short wedding trip to Florida.

4. With only an hour to get to the airport, his father was in a rush and told him so.

5. During her tenure in office, Dr. Rice traveled more than any other secretary of state.

6. Although he disapproved of the war, Henry drove his ambulance to the front lines.

7. After the campus tour, Mike told Todd, “I’d be happy going to Auburn.”

8. Peggy’s car wasn’t even dented after it hit a truck.

9. Within the last month, Andy’s older brother Pete broke his leg skiing and got a new job. He also married Felicia, which made his parents very happy.

10. Because he had lived in California, Eddie grew fond of John Steinbeck’s novels.

Identifying Faulty English Idiom

1. in battle

2. ascended the stairs

3. comply with

4. either iron or tin

5. preoccupation with

6. either danger or love

7. Correct

8. in pursuit of

9. to identify employees

10. Correct

11. with respect to

12. in search of a way

13. that kind of pain

14. for the bus

15. as expensive as

16. regarded as

17. between teaching and devoting

18. driving to flying

19. far from harm

20. neither well written nor fully researched

Using Adjectives and Adverbs

1. bitter

2. No error

3. smoothly

4. beautifully

5. horrible

6. slowly

7. cynically

8. No error

9. smoothly

10. No error

11. oblivious

12. securely

13. slowly

14. calm

15. easily

16. optimistic

17. badly

18. shy

19. sincerely

20. mischievously

Detecting Wordiness

Answers may vary.

1. She constantly bothers me.

2. He spoke to me about my future.

3. Is it true that the ozone layer is being depleted?

4. I thought that without chemistry I couldn’t go to a good college.

5. As a result of the election, the state will have its first female governor.

6. My father habitually watches the sun set.

7. Harold hasn’t stopped painting since picking up a brush at age ten.

8. Research shows that avid sports fans suffer fewer depressions and are generally healthier than those not interested in sports.

9. He is a chemist.

10. The cough recurred twice.

Completing Comparisons

These are suggested answers. Other answers may also be correct.

1. Jane is more efficient than any other member of the committee.

2. Andy looks more like his father than his brother does.

3. In The Great Gatsby, I disliked Daisy as much as I disliked Tom.

4. Correct

5. Oscar was as tired as, if not more tired than, Pete.

6. To do the research for my term paper, I read books more than I searched the Web.

7. Although she’s younger, Lillian looks as old as, if not older than, Dorothy.

8. They talked more about Chekhov’s stories than about his plays.

9. Allen’s canoe was destroyed in the rapids, just like his partner’s was.

10. After reading Siddhartha, I admire Hesse more than any other author.

11. I am more interested in rap music than Pete is.

12. Experts say that walking is better for you than jogging the same distance.

13. Biology is more popular than any other science.

14. The students respect Ms. Scotch’s teaching style more than Mr. Green’s.

15. His ears were bigger than Dumbo’s.

16. It took us longer to reach Trenton than to reach Camden.

17. Which is cheaper—flying to Washington or taking the train?

18. The lawyer insisted that her job took more hours than a teacher’s job.

19. Carrying iPods is more common among students than carrying cell phones.

20. Cindy has applied to as many colleges as, if not more than, Joanne.

Recognizing Pronoun–Antecedent Agreement

1. … her physical

2. No error

3. … her schedule

4. … their fall colors

5. … their money

6. … its collection

7. … it conducted itself

8. … donate his or her time

9. No error

10. … they can

Identifying Faulty Pronoun Reference

These are suggested answers. Other answers may also be correct.

1. Doing what she loves, Mrs. Parker spends most of her time knitting.

2. At the end, having answered all the questions, I handed the test in.

3. Peggy was sure she had handed in the homework and told Eileen.

4. Bill had only ten minutes left on the parking meter and told his father.

5. During his presidency, Truman sent troops to fight in Korea.

6. Henry, a pilot, regularly flies a helicopter on rescue missions.

7. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald wrote about the American Dream.

8. Because he wanted a high-definition television, she decided to buy him one.

9. The agreement between Joan and Jane fell apart after Joan failed to show up for the meeting.

10. After his interview, Mike thought he would probably like spending the next four years at Dartmouth and told Tom.

Recognizing Shifts in Pronoun Person and Errors in Pronoun Case

1. between her and me

2. Sam and me

3. Gert and him

4. they collect

5. We women

6. Jonathan and him

7. you should expect

8. He and I

9. you really need

10. Their singing

11. than she

12. No error

13. keep themselves

14. as I

15. her nor her sister

Identifying Faulty Verb Tense

1. came

2. brought

3. No error

4. had ridden

5. had reached

6. expected

7. had finished

8. No error

9. gave

10. begins

11. stopped

12. gives

13. Having worked

14. had seen

15. suffered

Identifying Faulty Verb Forms

1. used to arrive

2. arisen

3. Correct

4. blew

5. had begun

6. had burst

7. should have gone

8. had never sung

9. had sprung

10. to attract

Combining Sentences

Because many different answers are possible, these are suggestions only. As you compare your answers to these, be sure that you have included all the information from each group of sentences.

1. At thirteen, she has already won recognition as an expert gymnast.

2. After the hit-and-run accident, broken glass lay on the street.

3. Aunt Ellen had a mess on her hands after she dropped a bag containing a glass bottle of tomato juice that she had bought at the grocery store.

4. The baseball hit Mr. Strickman’s picture window, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

5. Since the storm dumped two feet of snow on the roads, I could not go out. I had nothing to do but watch TV and assemble a jigsaw puzzle. The time passed slowly.

6. The Earth revolves around the sun every 365 days. At the same time, it rotates on its axis every twenty-four hours. The Earth’s revolution around the sun determines the length of a year just as its rotation determines the duration of a day.

7. The 2,000-year-old tragedies of Euripides, an ancient Greek playwright, are still performed today.

8. Music has the unique power to transport people’s minds. While listening, people often dream and think, and afterwards feel refreshed.

9. The skulls of humans consist of twenty-two bones: eight in the cranium, which protects the brain, and fourteen in the face and jaw.

10. The culture of the Hopi Indians, whose name means “peaceful and happy,” exemplifies peace and contentment. Lacking competitiveness, Hopis rarely feel tense. What they value instead are self-discipline, restraint, and the welfare of others. But the highest value is the family, consisting of the entire Hopi tribe.

Arranging Sentences

1. a. 4 b. 3 c. 2 d. 1

2. a. 2 b. 5 c. 1 d. 4 e. 3 f. 6

3. a. 3 b. 1 c. 4 d. 2

4. a. 3 b. 4 c. 2 d. 1

5. a. 3 b. 2 c. 4 d. 1 e. 5

6. a. 4 b. 2 c. 1 d. 3 e. 5

7. a. 4 b. 2 c. 1 d. 3

8. a. 3 b. 4 c. 2 d. 1 e. 5

9. a. 3 b. 4 c. 2 d. 1

10. a. 2 b. 4 c. 1 d. 3

11. a. 1 b. 4 c. 3 d. 2