<p>Not a guru haha, and there may be better ways to explain this, but here’s my take: </p>
<p>“taking a nap before the shift begins” is the subject of the verb phrase “can dramatically increase alertness.” Inserting “by,” though, makes “taking a nap before the shift begins” into the object of a preposition, so it can’t be a subject. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Even more concisely, A is correct because in that phrase “taking” is a gerund, which acts as a noun, and is the subject of the verb “can increase.”</p>
<p>scraps were saved and recycled into such items as patchwork quilts and doll clothes is an independent clause.
so that scraps were saved and recycled into such items as patchwork quilts and doll clothes is a dependent clause.
“and” joins independent clauses, not dependent clauses.</p>
<p>I don’t want to be obnoxious, but I will toot the same horn I always toot: If you want to do well on these questions, it pays to read a lot of good English. This question is one that really should be obvious, without having to explain about dependent and independent clauses. D should seem wrong to you.</p>
<p>Hunt is absolutely right. I knew D was wrong as soon as I saw it. I had to think for several minutes before I understood exactly why. And this is what I do for a living.</p>
<p>The time spent figuring out the minutia of some sentence pattern that you might never see again might be better spent reading a novel.</p>
<p>If you’re taking the SAT next month, the advice to read a lot won’t help much. But I can’t begin to count the times when my explanation on why something was wrong was, essentially, “you just wouldn’t write that in English.”</p>
<p>The sentence has two different thoughts: 1) Fabric was expensive before the Industrial Revolution, 2) due to that situation, scraps were saved and recycled into patchwork, etc.</p>
<p>The second clause is dependent on the first clause. The first clause states a fact (fabric was expensive) and the second clause explains how this fact affected life (scraps were recycled into patchwork). </p>
<p>“and so” is a simile for “and because of this” “due to this” “because of this” </p>
<p>OPTION D
“Fabric was very expensive in the US before the Industrial Revolution and so that scraps were saved and recycled into such items as patchwork quilts and doll clothes.”</p>
<p>In the above sentence, the word “that” does not make sense and is grammatically incorrect. In this sentence what does “that” refer to? It doesn’t refer to anything. </p>
<p>“Most of the hypotheses that Kepler developed to explain physical forces were later rejected as inconsistent to Newtonian theory.” The error in this sentence is “as inconsistent to.” Why?</p>
<p>An amateur in potter (herself), the accountant offered to help the artist with his business accounts, complicated (as they were ) (by) his unusual system of record-keeping. (No Error.)</p>
<p>The answer is E (No error). </p>
<p>I don’t get it. Why isn’t it C?</p>
<p>Had Theresa (rode) a bicycle instead (of driving) to work, the additional travel time (would have) been offset by the time she took (to find) parking.(No error)</p>
<p>The answer is A. rode</p>
<p>I kinda get it because it doesn’t match with the “of driving” and the “to find”, but can someone explain it thoroughly to me? What type of error would this be?</p>
<p>The appeal of spices in medieval Europe arose from a combination of their mysterious and distant origins, their high prices and value as status symbols, and their mystical connotations.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t “their” not have an antecedent because the subject is “appeal”, not “spices”</p>
<p>Despite many animals gather and store seeds and other foodstuffs, humans are unique in deliberately planning and harvesting crops.</p>
<p>I realized that the error is the “despite”, because it is supposed to be “Despite the fact that”, but can someone give me a more generalized rule for this. Also, where could I find this in meltzer’s grammar book? What category of grammatical mistakes would this fall under?</p>
<p>“Despite” is a preposition and must be followed by a noun or noun phrase, not a complete clause. Introducing a clause with “the fact that”" makes the whole thing a noun phrase.</p>
<p>While some scholars claim that the settlement was established around the year 1250, others doubt there to be human activity in the area before 1400. </p>
<p>I know there sounds something funny with “there to be”, but I don’t know what it is. Can someone explain it?</p>
<p>For this construction, “doubt” must be followed by a contact clause using normally tensed subjects and verbs (or a normal clause introduced by “that”). Change “to be” to “was” and it’s fine.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I had a doubt and needed a bit of help :)</p>
<p>Q. When Doris Lessing published The Golden Notebook in 1962, (it) (instantly established) herself (as one) of the (most important) literary voices of her generation.</p>
<p>The answer is A but I can’t quite understand why.</p>
<p>Could someone clear this up for me?</p>
<p>“Herself” is a reflexive pronoun. A tricky think about a reflexive pronoun is that its referent must always be in the same clause. So if you were thinking “herself” could refer to “Doris Lessing,” think again. In most cases, the referent is a noun or pronoun that comes before the reflexive pronoun, so the most likely candidate here is “it.” Whatever goes into the “it” slot has to be consistent with “herself.” Obviously, they don’t match, and the only one you can mark as incorrect is “it.” If you replace “it” with “she,” the sentence makes a lot more sense. If the option were available, you could change “herself” to “her,” and that would also make sense. But that option is not available.</p>
<p>Hi guys, I have a couple of questions. Text in UPPERCASE = I am supposed to choose from. I am not going to post all answer choices as there were some pretty obvious eliminations.</p>
<ol>
<li>A cure for some kinds of cancer, SCIENTISTS BELIEVE, MAY BE found within the next decade.
(a) scientists believe, may be
(e) which, some scientists believe, may be</li>
</ol>
<p>I chose (e) because I thought “A cure for some kinds of cancer” was incorrectly modifying scientists. I am not entirely clear on why the answer is (a). </p>
<ol>
<li><p>A review of the composer’s new symphony called it confusing because of its unusual STRUCTURE, AND ITS MELODIOUS FINAL MOVEMENT MAKES IT ELEGANT.
(b) structure, although elegant by having its melodious final movement
(e) structure but elegant because of its melodious final movement</p></li>
<li><p>The famous battle depicted in the film “Braveheart” took place in northern England, AND MANY PEOPLE ASSUME THAT IT WAS the Scottish Highlands.
© but many people assume it to be
(e) not, as many people assume, in</p></li>
<li><p>(a) FROM about AD 700 to 1600, sculptors CREATED (b) NEARLY © 1,000 colossal rock statues on the REMOTE (d) and tiny Easter Island. NO ERROR (e) </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I chose (a) because I thought it was supposed to be “Between”. The Answer is E. </p>
<ol>
<li>Neither the koala bear OR (a) the red panda BELONGS TO (b) the bear family; the koala is a marsupial, and the red panda IS © thought to be RELATED TO (d) the raccoon. NO ERROR (e)</li>
</ol>
<p>I chose (b) because I thought it was “Neither…belong to the bear family.” But does it have to do something with the nor/or issue? The answer is A.</p>
<ol>
<li>The derelict old house ACROSS FROM (a) the warehouses and the EVEN MORE (b) decrepit one JUST BESIDE © them HAVE BEEN PLACED (d) on the list of historic landmarks. (e) NO ERROR</li>
</ol>
<p>I chose (b), because I thought it sounded awkward. The answer is (e).</p>
<ol>
<li>AS (a0 their brains MATURE NEUROLOGICALLY (b), infants become more capable TO DISTINGUISH © the shapes and textures of the objects AROUND THEM (d). (e) N.E.</li>
</ol>
<p>I chose (d) because I have no idea…But the right answer is ©.</p>
<ol>
<li>The valuable stringed INSTRUMENTS IN (a) this display , ALL MORE THAN (b) 300 years old, were carefully crafted BY ARTISANS FAMOUS © in their day but LONG SINCE (d) forgotten. (e) N.E.</li>
</ol>
<p>I chose (d) because I thought it was “but have been long since”. But it is (e).</p>
<ol>
<li>THERE IS (a) PROBABLY NO (b) story MORE DRAMATIC © THAN BASEBALL’S (d) great hitter and right fielder, Hank Aaron. (e). N.E.</li>
</ol>
<p>I chose E. The answer is D.</p>
<ol>
<li>In context , which of the following is the best way to combine sentences 6 and 7. </li>
</ol>
<p>“In royal palaces there were to be found many comforts that medieval castles did not offer. These had dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters instead.”</p>
<p>I chose B: Lacking many comforts compared to royal palaces, medieval castles instead offered dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters.
The answer is E: With their damp, drafty living quarters, medieval castles offered few of the comforts to be found in royal palaces. </p>
<p>@mylifeisgone195 you’ll get more responses if you post these 1-2 at a time, instead of posting a big wall of problems. Since most people will answer the top ones first before giving up, I’ll answer the last 2.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The original tries to compare “story” to “great hitter and right fielder, Hank Aaron.” Hank Aaron is a person, not a story. He might HAVE a story, but that is not relevant. The sentence would have to compare “story” to something that is a story.</p></li>
<li><p>“Lacking many comforts compared to royal palaces” is the problem. “compared to” can join two noun phrases. Your version tries to connect a participial phrase (“Lacking many comforts”) to a noun phrase (“royal palaces”). It just doesn’t work. (Someone might jump in and call “lacking” a gerund, but it is not being used that way here.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>A military coup, (A)THE COUNTRY’S FIRST, finally removed (B)OUT OF power the political party that ©HAD RULED the country (D)WITH INCREASING heavy-handedness for decades.</p>