Writing Questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I have a couple questions about grammar in general.</p>

<ol>
<li>Mammals, a class of vertebrates that were present 1 million years ago, evolved after the fall of the dinosaurs.</li>
</ol>

<p>I’m not sure whether “were” should be “was” since it could modify “class” if “of vertebrates” is bracketed off.</p>

<ol>
<li>I like to eat and sleep.</li>
</ol>

<p>Would it be more acceptable for it to be “to eat and to drink” to have parallelism.</p>

2

<p>You are correct on the first question; you should use “was” to modify “a class.” The verb “evolved” that comes after the phrase modifies “Mammals.”</p>

<p>Technically, it would make more sense to have “to eat and to sleep,” but our laziness has made it “to eat and sleep” perfectly acceptable. The second “to” is implied. As long as there are no blatant errors like this:</p>

<p>I like cooking, to eat, and sleep is good for me.</p>