Some Writing Questions from October 2012 SAT

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>May I ask for the explanations for these Writing questions? For some of them, I believe that my answer is “as correct” as the official answer. These questions are from the 2012 October SAT.</p>

<ol>
<li>When packing for a trip, [you should follow the advice offered in many magazine articles]: choose wrinkle-free clothing in black and in neutral colors.
(A) you should follow the advice offered in many magazine articles
(B) you would follow the advice offered from many magazine articles
(C) follow the advice with many magazine articles
(D) the advice in many magazine articles is offered and one should follow it
(E) many magazine articles would offer advice to be followed </li>
</ol>

<p>My Answer: C
Correct Answer: A</p>

<p>Remarks: My answer seems as correct as the official answer. This sentence is a command (in the second person), so it is possible to omit the phrase “you should”, and the subject is implied even the phrase is omitted. So why is (A) a better answer than (C)? </p>

<ol>
<li>Because Earth’s gravity is greater than the Moon’s, the energy expended in traveling from Earth to the Moon is greater than the opposite direction.
(A) the opposite
(B) traveling in the opposite
(C) if one travels in the opposite
(D) that of traveling in the opposite
(E) that expended in traveling in the opposite </li>
</ol>

<p>My Answer: D
Correct Answer: E</p>

<p>Remarks: Yes, I see that there is a small parallelism error in (D) OF traveling vs IN traveling, but I don’t see that as an issue. On the other hand, I see that (E) is quite wordy for repeating “expended in” and redundant for repeating “in”. </p>

<ol>
<li>When the first department stores opened in the late nineteenth century, A[they] were cavernous, no-frills storerooms that B[stock] a hodgepodge of items C[previously available] D[only from] specialty merchants. E[No Error].</li>
</ol>

<p>My Answer: E
Correct Answer: B.</p>

<p>Remarks: I don’t see anything wrong with “stock”. the subject is “Storerooms”, which is plural, so the verb must be plural. I also don’t see anything wrong with the usage of the verb. </p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

2

<p>3.) …[you should] follow the advice the advice <em>of</em> many magazine articles, not the advice <em>with</em> many magazine articles. You’re right–the implied ‘you’ is still the subject–but by following advice <em>with</em> many magazine articles, the sentence is stating that you should follow random advice holding magazine articles in your hand, or else hope the magazine articles spring into life and you can all follow the sourceless advice together.</p>

<p>11.) Assuming the brackets are around “the opposite,” I think the issue in D is in the omission of “expended.” Yes, E is wordier, but without “expended,” the comparison is no longer between two amounts of expended energy–it’s between energy expended and, well, just “energy.” </p>

<p>20.) “Opened” and “were” are both past tense. “Stock” is present tense. So you’ve got different tenses, which is a no-go. N.b. the “late nineteenth century” phrase as well, which should automatically make everything in the past tense–and if it’s not, then that’s a problem.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your explanations for the first and third problems. However, for the second, I believe that the error is actually parallelism (of vs in), which is why my answer is wrong. “Parallelism trumps wordiness”. Yikes with #1. Can’t believe I made a careless mistake like that! That was a level 1, for the record. </p>