Main content
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: Sentence boundaries — Example 2
Watch Sal work through a harder sentence boundaries question from the SAT Writing and Language Test..
Want to join the conversation?
- When should I use a semi colon or even a colon?(18 votes)
- Shouldn't after a comma come the FANBOYS mnemonic?(12 votes)
- I'm pretty sure you only need FANBOYS after a comma if
connecting two independent clauses. In this example the second sentence is not an independent clause. So, you don't need fanboys(5 votes)
- the second sentence was a dependent clause, dont we use semi-colon for that?(4 votes)
- You use a semi colon for combining 2 independent clause which is related to each other. Since the second sentence is a dependent clause, we have to use a comma to make sure it is supported by the independent clause.(14 votes)
- I thought the grammar section taught, the word THAT was the proper word not WHICH. Is that not correct? I am confused. Why did he choose it?(4 votes)
- If the sentence doesn’t need a clause that the word in questioing is connecting, use which.(2 votes)
- where can i find videos on how to use comas and semi-colons etc?(1 vote)
- If you need to search up anything, you can always use the search program on the top left-hand side :)(2 votes)
- In a question like this
" In response to fears of _ fire, the children rushed out".
in the above sentence in the blank is it correct to use the article "a" or should "no article" be used?(1 vote)- It depends. We don't use articles when we talk about uncountable nouns, or them in general. If the children were rushing out in the fear of fire, but not any specific fire, then there shouldn't be an article.
However, from context, the fear of fire in general doesn't cause people to run out of a room, but the fear of a specific fire would. For this reason, in the sentence you provided we'd use "a".
If you were introducing the fire to the story for the first time, you'd use "a", but if you were referring to this specific fire, you'd use the definite article "the" before fire instead.(3 votes)
- how can we put a comma before which? Is that even possible(2 votes)
- For this example, why was a comma used before the word "while"? I thought that you typically do not use a comma before subordinating conjunction that connects a dependent clause to an independent clause.(2 votes)
- When do you use a semicolon(1 vote)
- Taking this from AyoSeven's answer above, as it explains it well.
"Colon can be used to:
1) denote a list
e.g. I went to the store to buy: shiny, juicy oranges; ripe, delicious pears and big, green watermelons.
2) to expand on a previous idea
e.g. My sister doesn't like swimming when it is cold: the weather makes her feel nauseous."(2 votes)
- I think that there was no need of having comma between the words 'tree' and 'which'. Ain't I right?(1 vote)
- The "which" and words following it form what we call a nonrestrictive clause, which is to say that they add meaning that is nonessential to understanding the meat of the sentence (you don't have to know that the tree was developed by Mr. Castro). Because nonrestrictive clauses are nonessential, we seperate them from the rest of the sentence with a comma (or a comma on each side if they're in the middle of the sentence).
For the SAT, all you need to know is clauses with "that" are essential and don't need a comma, and clauses with "which" are nonessential and do need a comma.(2 votes)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] In response to
fears of a chocolate shortage, farmers are looking to
a high-yielding variety of cocoa tree, which was developed by Ecuadorian
agronomist Homero Castro. So this was a bit strange that we end a sentence, and then we start a sentence
with which was developed by Ecuadorian agronomist Homero Castro, because this right by itself, this isn't a sentence. This isn't a sentence by itself. This feels like this which is referring, it's giving us more, more explanation of this high-yielding
variety of cocoa tree, so I definitely don't want to separate it as a separate sentence, so I'm gonna change it, so I'm gonna scratch out no change, so let's look at this choice. So this says farmers are looking
to a high-yielding variety of cocoa tree, comma, which was developed by Ecuadorian
agronomist Homero Castro. So this one feels quite good. I would use a comma and just
go straight to the which. So this one looks right, so let's look at the other choices. Farmers are looking to
a high-yielding variety of cocoa tree, and that tree was developed by Ecuadorian agronomist Homero Castro. Well this is just unnecessarily wordy. We're using the word tree twice, so I don't like that one. And then this last choice is
just like the second choice, but instead of a comma,
we have a semicolon. And the reason why I like a
comma more than a semicolon, I imagine I've used semicolon, the separating two clauses, that can almost stand on themselves, and in fact, sometimes, they
can stand on themselves, but there's a semicolon to kind of show that they are related. While a comma is, for the most part, separating clauses that can't stand, the first one can stand on by themselves. In response to fears of
a chocolate shortage, farmers are looking to
a high-yielding variety of cocoa tree, that can stand by itself, but the second clause has
trouble standing by itself. In fact, it can't stand as a sentence, which was developed by Ecuadorian
agronomist Homero Castro, so I feel good about the
comma right over here, and you know, you don't need
to over complicate things if the simpler tool works.