WRITING 313

PART 3 PRACTICE: COMMON GRAMMAR ERRORS

For questions 1-3, rewrite the sentences by joining fragments or splitting run-ons.

1. The dentist was a true perfectionist. Cleaning each tooth with equal care.

2. Derek went to the baseball game, my dad watched my ballet recital.

3. Sometimes we celebrate birthdays in the office, how many paper plates are left?

For questions 4-7, choose the correct form for the verb in each sentence.

4. Either of the costumes is/are appropriate.

5. The mammals, including the zebras and the elephant, requires/require more food.

6. The director or the actors is/are planning the cast party.

7. The first of the finishers wins/win a special prize.

For questions 8-11, choose the correct form for the pronoun in each sentence.

8. Even though I will likely win this debate, which involves writing, reading, and

acting skills, I am still anxious about it/them.

9. Each of the designers has his or her/their own logo.

10. At summer camp, one/you will choose your own meals.

11. The plane, which was the size of two football fields and had its/their wing

remodeled, just took off.

For questions 12-16, choose the correct form of the verb in each sentence.

12. Just after Julie had finished the test, she plans/planned/will plan her vacation.

13. If she trains/trained her dog, she would have a cleaner house.

14. When the bridge closed last week, our commute was/had been/will be disrupted.

15. Because we had already eaten breakfast, Charlie was/is being/will be forced to eat

alone.

16. I would have come sooner if I knew/had known.

WRITING 314

ANSWER KEY: COMMON GRAMMAR ERRORS

Here are some possible solutions, although other options may be correct:

1. The dentist was a true perfectionist, cleaning each tooth with equal care.

2. Derek went to the baseball game. My dad watched my ballet recital.

(or) Derek went to the baseball game, while my dad watched my ballet recital.

3. Sometimes we celebrate birthdays in the office. How many paper plates are left?

4. Either of the costumes is appropriate.

5. The mammals, including the zebras and the elephant, require more food.

6. The director or the actors are planning the cast party.

7. The first of the finishers wins a special prize.

8. Even though I will likely win this debate, which involves writing, reading, and

acting skills, I am still anxious about it.

9. Each of the designers has his or her own logo.

10. At summer camp, you will choose your own meals.

11. The plane, which was the size of two football fields and had its wing remodeled,

just took off.

12. Just after Julie had finished the test, she planned her vacation.

13. If she trained her dog, she would have a cleaner house.

14. When the bridge closed last week, our commute was disrupted.

15. Because we had already eaten breakfast, Charlie was forced to eat alone.

16. I would have come sooner if I had known.

WRITING 315

HARDER GRAMMAR ERRORS PART 4

The errors discussed in this part may be a little more difficult for you to spot. In fact, some

of them may not sound wrong when you read through them in your head! Nevertheless, our

tips will help you detect and correct these errors when you see them on the SAT.

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

Some sentences in the Writing and Language Test passages will be missing parallel

structure. Parallel structure is a way of constructing a sentence so that different parts of

the sentence all have the same grammatical structure. Parallel structure makes long

sentences easy to read and gives them a natural flow. On SAT questions, you will sometimes

be asked to change a part of a sentence to fix a broken parallel structure. Let’s take a look

at some examples.

EXAMPLE

This sentence has three elements listed in a series: “listening to music,” “reading,” and

“talking with friends.” Each of these elements is an “-ing” form of a verb: “listening,”

“reading,” and “talking.” Because they are all in the same form, this sentence has parallel

structure. Here is the same sentence with its parallel structure broken:

Now the three elements in the list are in different forms. “Listening” and “reading” are in

“-ing” forms, but “to talk” is not. To answer parallel structure questions, you will need to

identify the odd man out and find the multiple choice option that puts all the elements in the

same form. Let’s look at another example:

After a long day, I like listening to music, reading, and talking with friends.

After a long day, I like listening to music, reading, and to talk with friends.

WRITING 316

EXAMPLE

This example is a little less obvious than the last one we looked at. What elements are being

listed here? If you’re not sure, try looking for key words like “and” or “or” that suggest that

things are being put together or compared. Here, we find that our options for how to deal

with Ron are being contrasted: we can “fight” or “giving him the silent treatment.” You

may already see the problem: “fight” is a present-tense verb, while “giving” is an “-ing”

form. To fix this sentence, let’s bring them in line with each other.

This is better! Now both elements being compared are present-tense verbs. Let’s try out one

more example:

Where’s the parallelism here? This sentence probably doesn’t sound obviously wrong at

first. Let’s look more closely at this sentence’s structure. The sentence is made up of two

independent clauses joined by a semicolon. The first clause is “discipline is necessary.” This

has the structure “[noun] is [adjective].” The second clause is “being motivated is also a

requirement.” This has the structure “[-ing form] is [noun].” We need to put these clauses

in the same form.

Whether you fight with Ron or giving him the silent treatment, you’re going to

have to resolve the argument eventually.

Whether you fight with Ron or give him the silent treatment, you’re going to

have to resolve the argument eventually.

Discipline is necessary for anyone who wants to train for a marathon; being

motivated is also a requirement.

Discipline is necessary for anyone who wants to train for a marathon; motivation

is also required.

WRITING 317

That’s more like it. Now both clauses are in the form “[noun] is [adjective].” There are other

ways you could fix this parallelism, but this one is probably the best and most concise.

MISPLACED MODIFIERS

The SAT will also ask you to move or revise misplaced modifiers. Misplaced modifiers

are phrases or clauses that are separated from the words they are meant to describe, creating

ambiguities or mistaken meanings. Let’s take a look at an example:

EXAMPLE

What this sentence means to say is that Alanna was the one biking to work, but the

misplaced modifier “While biking to work this morning” creates the impression that the

“odd thought” was actually biking. We know this can’t be true, so it must be a misplaced

modifier!

We have a couple of options for how to fix misplaced modifiers. The general rule is that we

need to reorder the sentence so that the modifier is as close as possible to the word it’s meant

to modify.

In either case, we’ve put the modifier as close as possible to “Alanna,” the noun it modifies.

You’ll notice that for these types of questions, you’ll often need to change more than just a

word or two. Often, entire clauses or the sentence as a whole will need to be reorganized or

rewritten.

Usually, these modifying phrases will contain verbs in their “-ing” or “-ed” forms. Here’s

an example of a misplaced modifier sentence with an “-ed” form verb:

While biking to work this morning, an odd thought struck Alanna.

While biking to work this morning, Alanna was struck by an odd thought.

An odd thought struck Alanna while she was biking to work this morning.

WRITING 318

This sentence makes it sound like Sam’s mouth was seasoned with many spices, which is

not too likely. The modifier is meant to refer to the hot curry, so we’ll need to rearrange the

sentence to reflect that.

You have multiple options when fixing a misplaced modifier, depending on how much you

want to change the sentence. Some multiple-choice options on the SAT will make relatively

minor changes, whereas others will overhaul the sentence. Make sure that the answer you

choose doesn’t introduce any new mistakes.

LOGICAL COMPARISON ERRORS

Errors in logical comparison can be some of the trickiest mistakes to spot on the SAT.

Logical comparison errors occur when two unlike elements of a sentence are compared.

EXAMPLE

Though it seems like this sentence is just comparing two artists, it actually compares two

unlike things: “Picasso’s paintings” (the artworks) and “Dali” (the person). While the

artwork might indeed be stranger than the person, we need to compare paintings to paintings.

Seasoned with many spices, Sam’s mouth burned when he ate a bite of the curry.

Sam’s mouth burned when he ate a bite of the curry, which was seasoned with

many spices.

Seasoned with many spices, the curry burned Sam’s mouth when he ate a bite

of it.

Picasso’s paintings are even stranger than Dali.

Picasso’s paintings are even stranger than Dali’s paintings.

WRITING 319

We can also write this more concisely:

EXAMPLE

Let’s take a look at another example:

This sentence also compares two unlike things: “France’s poets” (the people) and “writing”

(the activity). This mistake can also be corrected with a minor change.

The pronoun “those” indicates that we are comparing France’s poets to poets elsewhere.

This makes the comparison logical.

CONFUSED WORDS AND IDIOMS

It is well known that English is a difficult language to master. In fact, many English words

are confused even by native speakers. Sometimes this is because two words that sound or

are spelled the same have different meanings. Other times, two similar sounding words are

simply misused.

Picasso’s paintings are even stranger than Dali’s.

France’s poets challenged artistic conventions, unlike writing anywhere else.

France’s poets challenged artistic conventions, unlike those writing anywhere

else.

WRITING 320

The table below shows commonly misused words:

Definition Correct Usage

Accept vs.

Except

Accept – to receive or take as payment

Except – with the exclusion of

We accept credit cards for

purchases except those under

five dollars.

Affect vs.

Effect

Affect (verb) – to influence or change;

the object is the thing that is changed.

Affect (noun) – emotion or feeling

Effect (noun) – a result

Effect (verb) – to cause a change; the

object is the change.

The rain did not affect our crop

yield. This was not the expected

effect.

Bill sought to effect changes in

environmental policy.

Laura claimed indifference, but

displayed an excited affect.

Allude vs.

Elude

Allude – reference something

indirectly.

Elude – to escape.

In The Aeneid, Vergil alludes to

events in Roman history. In it,

Aeneas eludes the Cyclops.

Complement

vs.

Compliment

Complement – to complete, make

perfect

Compliment – to give praise

The red sash complements the

rest of my outfit. I got many

compliments on it today.

Counsel vs.

Council

Counsel (verb) – to advise

Counsel (noun) – advice

Council – an assembly or meeting

The council meets every day.

Their job is to counsel the king

on matters of the State.

Elicit vs.

Illicit

Elicit – to bring out

Illicit – not allowed by law

We elicited a confession quickly.

He was very open about his illicit

behavior.

Emigrate vs.

Immigrate

Emigrate – to leave and move to

another place

Immigrate – to come to a country to

live there

Programs are available for skilled

workers to emigrate from Asia.

Many have thus immigrated to

the U.S.

Eminent vs.

Imminent

Eminent – standing out, prominent

Imminent – about to take place

Dark, eminent clouds filled the

sky. A storm was imminent.

Gracious vs.

Gratuitous

Gracious – pleasantly kind, courteous

Gratuitous – without reason or

payment

Molly was a gracious host at the

party, even when a guest began

yelling gratuitous insults.

Infirmary vs.

Infirmity

Infirmary – a place for care of the sick

Infirmity – disability or weakness

The infirmities she was suffering

from only increased as she aged

in the infirmary.

Lose vs.

Loose

Lose – become unable to find, misplace

Loose – free, not bound together

I will lose my keys if they are

tied on with a loose knot.

Precede vs.

Proceed

Precede – to come before

Proceed – to move forward

A loud noise preceded the

fireworks. The officers told us to

proceed with caution.

WRITING 321

Principle vs.

Principal

Principle – a rule or fact

Principal (noun) – chief official

Principal (adjective) – most important

Always use the principle: “Ask

before taking.” This is the

principal way we keep track of

items.

Reluctant vs.

Reticent

Reluctant – feeling hesitation

Reticent – reserved, silent

A reticent person, Jonah was

reluctant to speak in public.

Respectful

vs.

Respective

Respectful – showing respect or

admiration for

Respective – relating separately

The guests were respectful of

the rules she had set. They stayed

at their respective tables.

Than vs.

Then

Than – a conjunction used to compare

Then – next or soon after

I told her I liked peas more than

candy. Then she really thought I

was lying!

Too vs. To

Too – in addition, also, or excessively

To – a preposition used to show

direction toward a point

Please drive to the market this

afternoon. Make sure you bring

the coupons, too: you don’t want

to spend too much.

Weather vs.

Whether

Weather – temperature and conditions

Whether – which of the two

I can’t decide whether to go to

the park or the gym. I suppose it

depends on the weather.

There are also some words that are commonly confused but have specific grammatical rules

that you can try to remember:

Rule Correct Usage

Among vs.

Between

Use between only for relationships

of two. Use among for

relationships of more than two.

It was hard to choose between the

red and pink scarves. Among the four

gloves, the white ones were best.

Less vs.

Fewer

Use fewer for people or things you

can count. Use less for things that

can’t be counted or don’t have a

plural.

Fewer people are opening their own

businesses these days. Unfortunately,

this means less money is being spent

locally.

Its vs. It’s Its is the possessive form of “it.”

It’s means “it is.”

It’s hard to tell when the baby will

start crying. Its arched brows make it

always appear upset!

Their vs.

They’re

Their is the possessive form of

“they.” They’re means “they are.”

The team practiced all year, and their

hard work paid off. They’re going to

the championship.

Whose vs.

Who’s

Whose is the possessive form of

“who.” Who’s means “who is.”

Who’s going to the store with me?

Judy is. Now whose car should we

take?

WRITING 322

Your vs.

You’re

Your is the possessive form of

“you.” You’re means “you are.”

You’re too talented to give up acting.

Plus, your voice is incredible!

Who vs.

Whom vs.

Which

Who and whom both refer to

people; who is used as subject

pronoun, and whom is used as an

object pronoun. Which refers to

things or groups.

Who brought the salad? To whom

should I return the bowl? The bowl,

which has a beautiful pattern on the

inside, looks like it might be

expensive.

Another challenging aspect of mastering English grammar is the use of idioms. Idioms are

groups of words that have a meaning other than their literal meaning depending on their

usage. For example, “put up with” and “do a favor” are idioms.

Idioms, or common expressions, are especially tough to approach because often they don’t

fit with the rules of our usual grammar. Some idioms involve using different prepositions

with the same verb. For example, you would:

Agree on a plan

Agree with a person

Agree to a proposal

Incorrect idioms can appear on the SAT Writing and Language Test. In order to correct

them, you should get comfortable with the correct usage of some common idioms with

prepositions:

Some Common Idioms

Able to Conscious of Escape from Opposed to

Believe in Consists of Excuse for Preoccupied with

Blamed for Depends on Hope for Protect from

Capable of Differ from Identical to Recover from

Compared to Discriminate against Method of Relevant to

Comply with Equivalent to Object to Succeed in

WRITING 323

PART 4 PRACTICE: HARDER GRAMMAR ERRORS

For questions 1-5, choose the portion of the sentence that contains an error, and re-write the

sentence to correct the error.

1. Whether he was running the bases or swam in the pool, Mark was always the fastest

athlete on the team.

2. Margie’s cookies are better than Ted.

3. At Advanced Learning, we look for students who are bright, dedicated, and have

motivation.

4. One requirement of the job is being a team player. Another is resilience.

5. She found France’s food healthier than Portugal.

For questions 6-8, rewrite the sentence to correct misplaced modifiers.

6. Having searched through every aisle, the milk could not be found.

7. Running through the woods, the rock tripped Liza.

8. After attending one session, all future sessions were cancelled.

For questions 9-15, choose the correct form for the word in each sentence.

9. In the game show, contestants choose between/among three doors.

10. There were too many balloons for such a small party. Their presence seemed

gracious/gratuitous.

11. When I called the company, the message said their/they’re representatives were

all on hold.

12. The bright red door was one of the principle/principal reasons we selected this

house.

13. Pasta differs with/from rice in both its consistency and taste.

14. Luckily we were not affected/effected by the power outages caused by the storm.

15. The pirate promised them great suffering if they did not comply to/with his

demands.

WRITING 324

ANSWER KEY: HARDER GRAMMAR ERRORS

1. Whether he was running the bases or swam swimming in the pool, Mark was

always the fastest athlete on the team. (Parallel Structure)

2. Margie’s cookies are better than Ted Ted’s cookies. (Logical Comparison)

3. At Advanced Learning, we look for students who are bright, dedicated, and have

motivation motivated. (Parallel Structure)

4. One requirement of the job is being a team player. Another is resilience being

resilient. (Parallel Structure)

5. She found France’s food healthier than Portugal Portugal’s food. (Logical

Comparison)

Questions 6-8 have many possible solutions. Here are some possibilities:

6. Having searched through every aisle, I/he/she could not find the milk.

7. Running through the woods, Liza tripped on a rock.

8. After attending one session, I/he/she cancelled all future sessions.

Here are the correct forms for words in problems 9-15:

9. In the game show, contestants choose among three doors.

10. There were too many balloons for such a small party. Their presence seemed

gratuitous.

11. When I called the company, the message said their representatives were all on hold.

12. The bright red door was one of the principal reasons we selected this house.

13. Pasta differs from rice in both its consistency and taste.

14. Luckily we were not affected by the power outages caused by the storm.

15. The pirate promised them great suffering if they did not comply with his demands.