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SAT (Fall 2023)

Course: SAT (Fall 2023) > Unit 11

Lesson 3: Writing: Grammar

Writing: Shift in verb tense and mood — Example

Watch Sal work through a basic shift in verb, tense, and mood question from the SAT Writing and Language Test.

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Video transcript

- [Instructor] The server suggests that all guests would try the homemade chocolate fudge cake. Now when I first read this, and I have the word would here, when I see the server suggested all guests would try the homemade chocolate fudge cake, I'm expecting a, well, under what conditions would they try? So I'm expecting to see something would try the homemade chocolate fudge cake if such and such happened. But that's not what they're telling us. What we're really saying is that the server suggests that guests try the homemade chocolate fudge cake. So I definitely don't wanna keep it the way it is. If we said tried than that would be the past tense. The server suggests that all guests tried the homemade chocolate fudge cake. Now that would imply that the server's suggesting that in the past all of the guests had tried the homemade chocolate fudge cake, but that's not the intent of this sentence. He's, the server's suggesting that people try the homemade chocolate fudge cake, so I'm gonna get rid of that one. And I keep saying it, and we see that that's choice three. The server suggests that all guests try the homemade chocolate fudge cake. This is exactly what we want. The server is making a suggestion, it's not a conditional, it's not something in the past. And then we can rule out this last one, will try. This is kinda the server, if we replaced will try, this would be the server predicting something about the future which isn't the intent of this sentence. The server suggests that all guests will try the homemade chocolate fudge cake. So I think this one is off to. So definitely like that choice.