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SAT Writing section techniques, strategies & approaches: Difference between revisions
SAT Writing section techniques, strategies & approaches (view source)
Revision as of 17:11, 26 February 2023
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**** ex. "Books about sailing are fun" and not "Books about sailing is fun" | **** ex. "Books about sailing are fun" and not "Books about sailing is fun" | ||
***** "about" = a preposition, so "sailing" is not the subject and the verb is therefore matched to the plural "books" | ***** "about" = a preposition, so "sailing" is not the subject and the verb is therefore matched to the plural "books" | ||
=== Restrictive elements quick start guide === | |||
* a "restrictive" element is a sentence part that is not separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma or other punctuation | |||
* restrictive elements include: | |||
** '''subject - verb - object''' (or subject complement) | |||
*** are not separated from one another by punctuation | |||
** '''adjectives and adverbs''' | |||
*** are not separated from the noun or verb they modify by punctuation | |||
** '''possessive nouns''' are not separated from the noun they possess by punctuation | |||
** '''prepositional phrases''' are not separated from the noun or very they modify | |||
** '''relative clauses beginning with "that"''' | |||
*** note that some "restrictive relative clauses" may also begin with the relative pronouns, ''which, who, whose'', etc. | |||
*** but relative clauses starting with "'''that'''" <u>are always restrictive</u> and thus are not separated from the word or sentence part they modify by punctuation | |||
* <u>EXCEPTION</u>: parenthetical elements | |||
** only parenthetical elements with a pair of ''parentheses, commas or dashes'' may separate restrictive elements | |||
** the reason is that parenthetical elements are ungrammatical -- they exist OUTSIDE of the grammatical construction of a sentence | |||
*** thus they can intrude upon a sentence | |||
*** but they ALWAYS have paired punctuation, commas, dashes or parentheses, that isolate them from the rest of the sentence | |||
== BIG IDEAS == | == BIG IDEAS == | ||
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* use the test to answer itself | * use the test to answer itself | ||
* read punctuation "out loud" to yourself" so as not to miss it | * read punctuation "out loud" to yourself" so as not to miss it | ||
=== Writing section is rules-based === | |||
* answers and eliminations follow set grammar, punctuation, and usage conventions | |||
* therefore, identify the rules as you practice & apply them in your elimination strategies | |||
* see [[SAT Writing section grammar rules chart]] for quick start review of Writing section Rules & eliminations | |||
=== Passage titles === | === Passage titles === | ||
* | * read passage titles! | ||
** titles express author intent | ** titles express author intent | ||
** titles are frequently a thesis statements (no other details are provided) | ** titles are frequently a thesis statements (no other details are provided) | ||
** titles generally answer the last question on each passage (not always) | ** titles generally answer the last question on each passage (not always) | ||
*** concluding sentences must align w/ the title | |||
=== Difficulty level === | |||
=== Difficulty level === | |||
* difficulty level is based on the passage and not the questions | * difficulty level is based on the passage and not the questions | ||
** there can be difficult questions on easy passages, but the bulk of "hard" questions will coincide with difficult passages | ** there can be difficult questions on easy passages, but the bulk of "hard" questions will coincide with difficult passages | ||
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* '''the correct answer B) was matches or is "parallel" to the verb "were" from "Children were entertained"''' | * '''the correct answer B) was matches or is "parallel" to the verb "were" from "Children were entertained"''' | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
==== subject-verb agreement ==== | ==== parallel subject-verb agreement ==== | ||
* subjects and verbs match singular vs. plural forms | * subjects and verbs match singular vs. plural forms | ||
** = a form of "parallel" structure (i.e, matching singular or plural subjects and verbs) | ** = a form of "parallel" structure (i.e, matching singular or plural subjects and verbs) | ||