<p>Only by tapping their last reserves of energy were the team members able to salvage what was beginning to look like a lost cause. No Error</p>
<p>There was no error in this sentence, but I thought the first part was wrong. Idiomatically, shouldn’t it be “tapping into?”</p>
<p>I’m not an English professor, so don’t hold me accountable if my take on this question turns out to be incorrect.</p>
<p>The word tapping is a transitive verb, which Merriam-Webster defines as: “to draw out, from, or upon.” thefreedictionary.com defines it as: “To establish an electric connection in (a power line), as to divert current secretly.” </p>
<p>In this scenario, the idiom tapping into shares the same meaning as the word tapping, so I’m assuming that’s why there are no errors in that statement, as the sentence’s use of the word tapping is quite correct by itself.</p>
<p>I am supposed to know that tapping is a transitive verb? Uggh, I thought the writing section of the SATs just required you to know some grammar rules.</p>
<p>Lol u don’t necessarily need to know all of that. I got an 80 on the writing MC and I don’t even know what a transitive verb or an idiom is lol.</p>
<p>If it were “tapping into,” the noun that it is modifying must immediately follow the modifying phrase.</p>
<p>Tapping into their last reserves, the team members…</p>
<p>This is not the case in the question</p>
<p>the subject and verb, in this case, are inverted.</p>
<p>The team members were able to salvage what was beginning to look like a lost cause only by tapping their last reserves of energy.
That might have changed the meaning a lil bit,</p>
<p>Or as RAlec said,</p>
<p>Only by tapping their last reserves of energy, the team members were able to…</p>
<p>Does this make it easier to see the trouble that you had?</p>