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SAT (Fall 2023)
Course: SAT (Fall 2023) > 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: Nonrestrictive and parenthetical elements — Example
Watch Sal work through a basic nonrestrictive and parenthetical elements question from the SAT Writing and Language Test.
Want to join the conversation?
What if the choice for the dash on either side was present, would you still pick the two commas?(15 votes)
In that case both are correct! The SAT only wants you to recognize that you have to use EITHER commas OR dashes but not both in the same sentence. So as long as you choose the answer where they match, it's correct.
(The test will never give you ,, and -- as potential answer choices because those are both correct)(40 votes)
When is it appropriate to use a dash in a sentence?(8 votes)
To emphasize extraneous information in between a sentence. For example,
The grandmother--97 years old--used a candy cane to walk.
I could remove the 97 years old part of the sentence since it's not significant.(11 votes)
At0:35Sal said that "who always criticizes me for being late " was a clause, but it is actually an appositive phrase that does NOT act as a clause, but it is a phrase that is used as an adjective.(6 votes)
So is a parenthetical element and a nonrestrictive element the same thing?(1 vote)
Yes, parenthetical element and nonrestrictive element are the same thing. You can take that clause of phrase out and it would disrupt the flow or the meaning of the sentence. Restrictive, on the other hand, is required to understand the meaning of the sentence.(1 vote)
At 0.35, he mentioned that there must be a dash on either side. What if there is a sentence with one dash and no comma separating the clause?(1 vote)
that still wouldn't work because whether using dash, parentheses, or common, you must have it on both sides, which only goes for additional information that is unimportant. You can think of this in this way; when you read the sentence you would have to pause at the beginning of "who always criticized me" and pause near the end of "for being late" because is sounds right and therefore you need to put in commas to fix that, on both sides.(1 vote)
Why is the clause "non-restrictive"?(1 vote)- I thought 2 commas and the 2 dashes meant that the sentence was a non-essential clause instead of adding emphasis. Wouldn't adding emphasis be using 1 dash?(1 vote)
- But how did you know he put the dash on the right side and not the wrong side?(0 votes)
- there is no wrong side to put a dash on, because in order to be correct you have to put a dash on both sides and therefore there is no wrong side(2 votes)
0:35Video transcript
- [Instructor] My history professor, who always criticizes me for being late, missed our scheduled review session. So you could tell just in how I read it, I had to put a pause here in
order for it to make sense, in order for who always
criticizes me for being late to describe my history professor. So ideally, I wanna put
a comma at the beginning and the end of this clause that is describing my history professor. I don't wanna keep it the same. I wanna put a comma at the
beginning and at the end. So I like that choice. Now, let's look at these other ones. My history professor, dash, who always criticizes me for being late. You could separate this
clause with a dash, but you would want to separate it with a dash on either side. So if you put a dash here, you would wanna put a
dash right over there, which you could view it as
a stronger parenthetical. My history professor, who always criticizes me for being late, missed our scheduled review session. I always view the dash as like, make sure you're seeing this thing. It's, hey, I'm really gonna make it clear, this is the person who always
criticizes me for being late. So it would've been an option if they had a dash on either end, but they don't, so we're
gonna rule this one out. And for the same reason, they only put a dash at the right side but not at the left side, so I would rule this one out as well.