I'll take your hardest SAT questions

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#1

<p>I need to tune up for one last run @ the SAT (for a christiansoldier ha-this-test-can't beat-me kinda feeling) and my local library's blue book is all marked up, so I need the practice just as much as all of you do.</p>

<p>I'm free most weekday afternoons so I'll respond multiple times a day.</p>

<p>Ask away! I give explanations, and provided that my consultation of the blue book won't be necessary, I'll even read through those monoliths of reading passages that all of you hate. Scan, link, w/e. I might get a copy of the blue book if it's absolutely essential to answering your passage-based questions, though it might have to wait since the summer is SAT prep season (what a tragedy) and bums like me are probably lining up to get as many copies of the blue book as are on stock.</p>

#2

<p>Awesome! Okay I'll go first (BTW, the answers are at the bottom of this post):</p>

<p>Writing Questions:</p>

<p>#1 (From BB1, P.T-8)
Laughing because they had missed their stop while reading the map, the 


task for the tourists now was

getting off the bus and back to their destination.

(A) task for the tourists now was (B) tourists' task now was (C) tourists now facing the task of (D) tourists nevertheless now faced the task of (E) tourists now faced the task of

**#2 (From BB1, P.T-8)** When Catherine the Great had a magnificent dinner service of Sevres porcelain made for her, she was scandalized by its great cost, ``` which became ``` the subject of prolonged controversy.

(A) which became (B) so it was to be (C) with a result that it was destined to become (D) therefore becoming (E) consequently it would become

#3 (From BB1, P.T-8)
The villagers found the visitors 


equally as fascinating as their customs were

mystifying.</p>

<p>(A) equally as fascinating as their customs were
(B) equally as fascinating and their customs
(C) as fascinating as their customs
(D) as fascinating as their customs were
(E) as fascinating and their customs were</p>

<p>Answers:</p>

<p>1) A
Why not D?</p>

<p>2) A
Why not A, B or D?</p>

<p>3) D
I didn't get this at all: left it blank. Could you discuss the original sentence before moving on to the answer choices? Even if I plug D in, the sentence sounds VERY wrong...</p>

#3

<p>^ Are you sure that #1 is not E? A just doesn't make sense.</p>

#4

<p>^Agreed. "A" generates a misplaced modifier.</p>

#5

<p>
[quote]
Are you sure that #1 is not E? A just doesn't make sense.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>My mistake. The answer is E.</p>

#6

<p>where did you get these questions from?</p>

#7

<p>


</p>

<p>Official SAT Guide 1st Edition, Test 8, Section 10.</p>

#8

<p><a href="A">quote</a> equally as fascinating as their customs were
(B) equally as fascinating and their customs
(C) as fascinating as their customs
(D) as fascinating as their customs were
(E) as fascinating and their customs were

[/quote]
</p>

<p>(C) is really ... as fascinating and their customs. The choice YOU proposed under C might have worked. </p>

<p>With choice D: The villagers found the visitors as fascinating as their customs were mystifying.</p>

<p>For elimination purposes, using equally is redudant and the choices that do not have "as ... as" are missing the comparative.</p>

#9

<p>
[quote]
The villagers found the visitors **as **fascinating **as **their customs were mystifying.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I still don't get what the sentence means. Do both "as"-es serve as degrees of comparison? Or does the second "as" mean "because" while the first implies degree?</p>

#10

<p>^Both are used as degrees of comparison.</p>

#11

<p>English</a> Grammar - Comparative and Superlative Adjectives</p>

<p>Use **as + adjective + as **to say that two things are equal in some way.</p>

<p>He's as tall as me.
Jim's car is as fast as mine.</p>

#12

<p>I hate to stress on this but did the the villagers actually find the visitors as fascinating as their** mystifying customs*? It's just that a sentence that draws a comparison like *...as fascinating as their customs were mystifying** comes off to me as a bit awkwardly phrased. </p>

<p>Also, could someone please explain #1 and #2?</p>

<p>
[quote]

1) E
Why not D?</p>

<p>2) A
Why not B or D?

[/quote]
</p>

#13

<ol>
<li><p>The answer is E. The modifier must match the subject of the sentence. Who was laughing? The tourists were. This eliminates choices A and B. Choice C is incorrect because it does not create a complete sentence. Choice D is incorrect because "nevertheless" indicates a contrast to the first part of the sentence, which is nonexistent.</p></li>
<li><p>The answer is A. Choices B, C and D create either awkward structure or vague pronoun references. Choice E creates a comma splice. Always remember to choose the best answer, not always simply an answer that is grammatically correct.</p></li>
</ol>

#14

<p>
[quote]
Choice D is incorrect because "nevertheless" indicates a contrast to the first part of the sentence, which is nonexistent.

[/quote]

[quote]
vague pronoun reference

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Thanks! 10char</p>

#15

<p>"The villagers found the visitors as fascinating as their customs were mystifying."</p>

<p>The first "as" is an adverb modifying "fascinating." It means equally, or similarly.
The second "as" is a conjunction. It means "to the same degree that."</p>

<p>If you plug in the definitions ("The villagers found the visitors similarly fascinating to the same degree that their customs were mystifying"), it sounds awkward and redundant. The point is that you need an adverb to modify the first component ("the villagers found the visitors . . . fascinating") and a conjunction to connect it to the second component ("their customs were mystifying"). The conjunction--the second "as"--establishes correlation between how much the villagers found the visitors fascinating and how much they found their customs were mystifying. The "found" is implied in the second component: "The villagers found the visitors as fascinating as [they found] their customs were mystifying." Or maybe it isn't implied, and "their customs were mystifying" is all there is to it. It makes sense in the passive voice as well. I'm not sure.</p>

<p>"He is as cold as ice [is]."</p>

<p>It is the same thing here. He is similarly cold; i.e., he is cold to the same degree that ice is cold. The "is" is implied at the end.</p>

<p>Other similar structures:
"You are as good as you think you are."
"It is as cold today as it was two days ago."
"You have accomplished as much as you could have."
"That is untrue as far as I can tell." (This is idiomatic I think. But it's good to make association with familiar phrases.)</p>

#16

<p>Does this sentence sound correct: The actuality of the sailing by the ancient Egyptians to South America remains uncertain, but Heyerdal's Ra II expedition demonstrated that they could have done so. </p>

<p>^Seems kind of oddly worded but that's the correct answer according to the BB.</p>

<p>Also, what about this one:
" ......-the same Ponce the Leon who later (would seek) the fountain of youth- ......"
^For that one....I said that (would seek) was wrong and that it should be 'sought'.....is my correction actually wrong or do both work?</p>

#17

<p>
[quote]
The actuality of the sailing by the ancient Egyptians to South America remains uncertain, but Heyerdal's Ra II expedition demonstrated that they could have done so.

[/quote]

This is grammatically incorrect. If BB says that this is grammatically correct, then it is a mistake. If I recall correctly, the answer is "That the ancient Egyptians actually sailed remains uncertain. . . ." By calling the alleged event an "actuality" (as in the original wording) you would seem to be sure that it actually occurred. But the fact that it remains uncertain contradicts that. You would use "that" to form the noun clause neutrally. If you use "the fact that," you are calling "that . . ." a fact. If you simply use "that . . ." you are speaking of a event in a neutral way.</p>

<p>Here is a similar structure:
"You said that you would come."
Said is a transitive verb, so it has to have an object (a noun). You say something. "That you would come" is the object, so you can refer to it as a noun. You can say, "that you would come is what you said. You said that you would come." If the person did not come, but had claimed that he or she would, then you can say, "that the person lies is evident." Or, "the fact that the person lies is evident." It would be fair to call it a fact after all.</p>

<p>
[quote]
the same Ponce the Leon who later (would seek) the fountain of youth- ......"
^For that one....I said that (would seek) was wrong and that it should be 'sought'.....is my correction actually wrong or do both work?

[/quote]

Both "would seek" and "sought" work. "Later" basically means "after that" (I'm assuming that a previous event or time was mentioned earlier in the sentence). You can use past tense: After that, I went to the store. You would use "would seek" or say, "After that, I would go to the store," if you had begun a story or something like that.</p>

#18

<p>Yea you see viggyram, your sentence is...</p>

<p>Wait what! crazybandit xiggi and lightsource are robbing me here!</p>

<p>lol I don't really mind because this is around when I'm home and I never said that I was the best at these--only an implied "pretty good" and that "i'll take the q's"</p>

<p>
[quote]
"that the person lies is evident."

[/quote]

"that the person had lied is evident"</p>

<p>haha</p>

#19

<p>
[quote]
"that the person had lied is evident"

[/quote]

That would be more accurate. :)</p>

#20

<p>Thanks, and yea, crazybandit, you are correct. I incorrectly typed the wrong sentence. lol</p>

<p>Also, I find the paragraph corrections a little challenging. What do you writing experts suggest I do to get really good at that aspect. Also, if I am around 1-3 errors in Writing, what can I do to get to zero or 1 consistently?</p>

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