Correcting Other Phrase, Clause, and Sentence Errors - SAT Writing

The underlined portion of the sentence is awkwardly and confusingly worded, especially as concerns verb transitivity. The way the sentence is written makes it seem as if the promoters want to attend more people instead of them wanting more people to attend any given music festival. To make the sentence clear and sensible, the words can be rearranged to make it more understandable. "Want more people to attend" is the best choice among the answers.

In the question sentence, the word, showing, is out of order, and is not in the correct tense.

The option to rewrite this sentence should clarify, but not change, its meaning. The correct answer: "As we grow older, our thoughts and feelings on faith sometimes change during the holidays," allows the ideas to flow more smoothly without altering the content: each fact is still relayed (the time of year; things that are changing, etc.), but the tone is much clearer.

The correct answer choice is concise, fluid and unambiguous.

A complete sentence must include a subject and a main verb. Because the original sentence contains two modifying clauses but no main verb, it is actually a sentence fragment. The incorrect answers all contain modifying clauses but lack a main subject-verb relationship. The correct answer therefore must be, "Historians of the colonial Caribbean often focus on the issue of slavery, as its legacy continues to be a major theme in the region." This sentence contains the subject "Historians" and the main verb "focus," and it is therefore a grammatically complete sentence.

This sentence demonstrates a comma splice, in which a comma connects two complete sentences. Comma splices are incorrect, as the independent clauses should either remain separate and be treated as complete sentences or be linked by a semicolon or a conjunction. "Coffee can be expensive, but also needing it to stay awake" lacks a subject in the second clause. "Coffee can be expensive; to stay awake" illustrates an incorrect use of a semicolon, as the second clause is not a complete sentence. "Coffee can be expensive, however, the reason I need it is to stay awake" repeats the comma splice of the original sentence. "Being expensive, I need coffee to stay awake" is an example of a dangling modifier, where "being expensive" incorrectly modifies "I" instead of "coffee." Therefore, the correct answer must be "Coffee can be expensive; however, I need it to stay awake," which displays the correct use of a semicolon to connect two complete sentences.

Because the underlined portion of the sentence is an introductory phrase it must be followed by a comma. The incorrect answer choices omit the comma, change the meaning of the sentence, don't agree with the sentence, or are excessively wordy. Thus, because the given sentence separates the introductory phrase with a comma and is grammatically correct, no change is necessary.

In this sentence, the verbs "to fish," "to hike," and "to go" must use parallel structures (the verbs must be in the same tense). The option "fishing, hiking, and going to the beach" is the only one in which all three verbs are in parallel structures, making it the correct choice.