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SAT
Unit 11: Lesson 3
Writing: Grammar- Writing: Setting Up Ideas — Video Lesson
- Setting up ideas | Quick guide
- Writing: Strong Support — Video lesson
- Strong support | Quick guide
- Writing: Relevant Information — Video lesson
- Relevant information | Quick guide
- Writing: Sequencing sentences — Video lesson
- Sequencing sentences | Quick guide
- Writing: Transition Words — Video lesson
- Transition words and phrases | Quick guide
- Writing: Transition Sentences — Video Lesson
- Transition sentences | Quick guide
- Writing: Introductions — Video lesson
- Writing: Conclusions — Video lesson
- Introductions and conclusions | Quick guide
- Writing: Interpreting Graphs and Data — Video lesson
- Interpreting graphs and data | Quick guide
- Writing: Precision — Video Lesson
- Precise word choice | Quick guide
- Writing: Concision — Video lesson
- Concision | Quick guide
- Writing: Formal and Informal Language — Video Lesson
- Writing: Formal vs. casual language — Example
- Formal vs. casual language | Quick guide
- Writing: Syntax — Example
- Writing: Sentence Fragments — Video Lesson
- Writing: Sentence Boundaries — Example 1
- Writing: Sentence boundaries — Example 2
- Sentence fragments | Quick guide
- Writing: Subordination and coordination — Example
- Writing: Combining Sentences — Video Lesson
- Linking clauses | Quick guide
- Writing: Parallel Structure — Video lesson
- Writing: Parallel structure — Example
- Parallel structure | Quick guide
- Writing: Modifier Placement — Video Lesson
- Writing: Modifier placement — Example
- Modifier placement | Quick guide
- Writing: Verb Tense and Mood — Video Lesson
- Writing: Shift in verb tense and mood — Example
- Verb tense and mood | Quick guide
- Writing: Pronoun Clarity — Video Lesson
- Writing: Pronoun clarity — Example
- Pronoun clarity | Quick guide
- Writing: Pronoun Agreement — Video Lesson
- Writing: Pronoun-antecedent agreement — Example
- Pronoun-antecedent agreement | Quick guide
- Writing: Possessive determiners — Example 1
- Writing: Possessive determiners — Example 2
- Writing: It’s/Its Confusion — Video Lesson
- Confusion with "its" and "their" | Quick guide
- Writing: Subject-Verb Agreement — Video Lesson
- Writing: Subject-verb agreement — Example
- Subject-verb agreement | Quick guide
- Writing: Noun Agreement — Video Lesson
- Writing: Noun agreement — Basic example
- Noun agreement | Quick guide
- Writing: Frequently Confused Words — Video Lesson
- Writing: Frequently confused words — Example
- Frequently confused words | Quick guide
- Writing: Conventional Expressions — Video Lesson
- Writing: Conventional expression — Example
- Conventional expressions | Quick guide
- Writing: Logical Comparison — Video Lesson
- Writing: Logical comparison — Example
- Logical comparison | Quick guide
- Writing: End-of-sentence punctuation — Example 1
- Writing: End-of-sentence punctuation — Example 2
- Writing: Commas — Video Lesson
- Commas | Quick guide
- Writing: Semicolons — Video Lesson
- Semicolons | Quick guide
- Writing: Colons — Video lesson
- Colons | Quick guide
- Writing: Possessive Pronouns — Example
- Writing: Possessive Nouns — Video Lesson
- Making nouns possessive | Quick guide
- Writing: Items in a series — Example
- Writing: Punctuating Lists — Video Lesson
- Lists and punctuation | Quick guide
- Writing: Nonrestrictive and parenthetical elements — Example
- Writing: Nonessential Elements — Video Lesson
- Nonessential elements | Quick guide
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Writing: Logical comparison — Example
Watch David work through an SAT Writing: logical comparison question.
Want to join the conversation?
- please give a tip for difference in gerund and participle......thanks...(4 votes)
- A gerund is basically and -ing verb such as talking, singing, playing, etc.
There are many different types of participles and these are basically synonymous with tenses.(6 votes)
- Atwhy teas, plural, compared to a cup of coffee, singular? 2:36(3 votes)
- Because there is more than one type of Thai-styled-tea.(4 votes)
- I feel like nothing of these choices are correct. Thai-style teas is plural, while all the choices talk about "a cup of coffee" - which is singular. I believe this violates the parallel structure clause.(3 votes)
- The parallel structure clause applies in an "and/or" situation. In this question, the people would rather have Thai-style teas than a cup of coffee. There is no option for the people to have the tea and/or the coffee if they don't want coffee at all.(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Announcer] "Some
prefer Thai-style teas, "with their condensed milk, hint of anise, "and touch of food dye,
to getting a conventional "American-style cup of coffee." So let's take a look at what
this sentence is trying to do in order to determine what
kind of question this is. As with everything, the
first thing we can safely do is get rid of all the
non-essential information. So we have this little descriptive aside bounded by commas, right? "With their condensed milk, hint of anise, "and touch of food dye,"
let's just, for our purposes, safely ignore that. So when we think about the sentence, what we're actually going
to be perceiving is, "Some prefer Thai-style teas
to getting a conventional "American-style cup of coffee." And for me, that helps
make it a little clearer, because that shows me that we're looking at a logical comparison question. We're comparing Thai-style teas to, in this answer choice,
"getting a conventional "American-style cup of coffee." What we have to do in a
logical comparison question is compare like to like, in a phrase, comparing apples to apples. In order to make an effective
and logical comparison for one of these questions,
you have to be comparing two things that are similar enough to make a sensible comparison. If that makes sense. And it will, because
we're gonna go through it. So, right now, option A
is to leave it as it is, no change. And that is incorrect
and I will tell you why. Because we're going to look at the nature of the comparison. We're comparing Thai-style
teas to this whole thing, "getting a conventional
American-style cup of coffee." Why do I think this is wrong? Well, Thai-style teas is
just a little noun phrase, where as "getting a conventional "American-style cup of
coffee" is a gerund phrase. See, this I-N-G verb is a gerund. It's a verb behaving as a noun. And I could see how this
would be a tempting choice, right, like a gerund is, in its way, technically a noun, but
what we're doing here is illogically comparing the
experience of receiving a coffee, right, "getting a conventional "American-style cup of
coffee," to the idea of Thai-style teas themselves, or teas as a category. Right? And that's not the same. That's not comparing apples to apples. That's comparing apples to a bowling ball. It's not the same thing. That could also be a coconut, but let's just say it's a bowling ball. It's not a logical comparison, it's two completely
separate classes of thing. So what we're gonna wanna do, as we go through these answer choices, is eliminate those options
that don't really compare Thai-style teas to an equivalent. Option B, "Some prefer Thai-style teas "to a conventional
American-style cup of coffee." This, to me, seems to make sense. I'm gonna say this is my
front runner right now, because it's not an experience,
it's just another noun, it's an American-style cup of coffee, which contrasts neatly
with Thai-style teas. But let's confirm that hunch by going on to option C and D, so option C, "brewing a conventional
American-style cup of coffee," well, this repeats the same
error as the original choice, "getting a conventional
American-style cup of coffee," right, it's comparing
the experience of brewing to the idea of teas,
or to teas themselves. It's not the same. Option D, "being served a conventional "American-style cup of coffee," is awfully similar to answer
A, "getting a conventional "American-style cup of coffee." And again, it's this
gerund, this I-N-G word, right, and it's just not the same. We're not comparing an
experience to a tea. We're trying to compare one hot beverage to another hot beverage. And ultimately, that's why
I wanna go with option B, because it correctly compares a beverage to another beverage. And that's what you wanna do with a logical comparison question, is you want to compare like to like, apples to apples, not
apples to bowling balls or coconuts. So you're looking for things
within the same category to compare to one another,
so that it makes sense.