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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: Formal vs. casual language — Example
Watch Sal work through a harder style and tone question from the SAT Writing and Language Test..
Want to join the conversation?
At first when I paused the video to do it my self (like Sal recommends everytime), I thought the second option would be the best choice, because:
1. I thought the tone was not important here, since we do not have much information about who is saying this sentence to whom. It can be a student saying that to a parent or a friend (informal tone) or can be writing this in his/her diary (formal tone).
2. I thought that the word 'emotions' (in the question) and 'sweet' correlate.(15 votes)
I can see why you would think that, but you just need to remember that the reading/writing SAT portion (especially the redesigned version) is all based on context. Rather than discounting the rest of the passage because you don't know a lot about the speaker, you should analyze it for more clues as to the right answer. Ask yourself, "What level of vocabulary is being used, and what type of tone is the speaker using?"
Try to imagine what situation you would envision someone to say that sort of thing - this will lead you to the correct answer choice. Remember - tone can change no matter the author/speaker; it all depends on the way he or she writes or speaks, and the rest of the passage can help you with that.
As for "sweet", I think that it is slang for "good" or "awesome" rather than relating to emotions.(10 votes)
can we also rule out the fourth option because it is too bulky and not to the point(compared with the no change option)?(7 votes)
How do you know when a question like this is asking for tone and not correction of the sentence?(4 votes)- Most likely, in these kinds of questions, there won't be a grammatically incorrect sentence. While the correction of the sentence means that the sentence has (or doesn't have) a grammatical error and you have to correct it.(2 votes)
The title of this video is Concision, Style and Tone but while I was practicing (after watching the videos for Concision, Style and Tone) it seemed to me that the key to finding the correct answer was to identify the tone used in the sentence than to be concise and to the point. So I am asking if Concision is really important here ? And also I was wondering if we can use a dictionary while taking the SAT test ? I am a non-native English and this is quite complicated for me as I don't always understand the meaning of the words and sentences.(2 votes)
The concision is a more fine-tuned sublevel of tone. For example: if there are two options that both carry the correct tone, the most concise one is most likely the one to go with. While tone is more important overall, concision also plays a part in choosing your answer. Also, the info you need for English language learners can be found on CollegeBoard's website, at the following link: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/k12-educators/sat-school-day/contracts
Hope this answer helps and isn't too late to be of use!(1 vote)
Hi, there is a specific type of question on the SAT practice tests I take that I always get wrong (I usually only get 1 wrong on the entire writing section and 90% of the time it is this type of problem). It always goes like "Which choice best maintains the tone of the passage?"
I usually have no difficulty in evaluating whether the passage is formal or informal but picking/evaluating the best answer choice is always the hard part. There's always a middle-of-the-road word that can be used (well, at least in my own opinion) in both formal and informal passages. Then, there's always an extreme option that I always feel like is too extreme (for instance, if I'm given what I perceive as a moderately formal passage, then this answer choice would be a very formal - like advanced vocab-type formal). I usually pick the middle-of-the-road option because I feel like there's nothing wrong with a regular word and I feel like it's wrong that a writer becomes too bombastic with their language usage. 75% of the time I pick incorrectly so I'm not sure how I should go about these type of problems. Fixing this problem would allow me to jump from averaging around 1570 to possibly a 1600 (if i don't make any other stupid mistakes)(1 vote)
That is a hard question to answer, really the only way to get it is to practice until you get a feeling for it.(2 votes)
will some questions be left the way they are?(1 vote)- Yes, there are times when you can just choose NO CHANGE. Just don't trust it too much.(1 vote)
how do you know what to look for?(1 vote)- You're looking for sentence structure that is concise and formal without being redundant (unnecessarily wordy) or substandard(1 vote)
- In the first look I thought it would be the second choice but after your explanation it totally went in a different way(1 vote)
- Based on the context the reader can infer how people would react in the situation, all answers other than B are not realistic to how people would react to this situation.(0 votes)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] My English
instructor teaches Richard Wright's "Black
Boy" as a masterful example of how an author writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. All right, that seems like a
reasonable way to write it, but let's look at the other choices. My English instructor
talks about "Black Boy" like it's the best book
ever, because the author writes to reveal the emotions
of the story's protagonist. Well, the tone here
just seems too informal. It might be how some folks talk, but it isn't how you would
necessarily want to write, especially the rest of the sentence doesn't have that informal tone. You say writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. This right over here, this part over here isn't an informal tone. So it feels weird that the underlined
part would be informal. So I would rule this one out. My English instructor can't get enough of Richard Wright's "Black Boy," because she thinks it's a sweet example of how an author writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. So this one feels even more informal, so this one's even more
informal, more informal. You're saying because she
thinks it's a sweet example. She can't get enough of
Richard Wright's book. So this one I would definitely rule out. That's going an even more extreme. See, my English instructor revels in the exploration of race relations that Richard Wright
employs in "Black Boy," because she luxuriates
in an author who writes to reveal the emotions of
the story's protagonist. So this choice over
here actually just feels too official, too formal. It's going in the
complete other direction, and they're unnecessarily
using fancy words here. Revels in the exploration
of race relations that Richard Wright
employs in "Black Boy," because she luxuriates in an author. So that just seems a
little bit over the top, a little bit too formal. So I would rule this out. The best tone is actually what they have. My English teacher teaches
Richard Wright's "Black Boy" as a masterful example
of how an author writes to reveal the emotions of
the story's protagonist. And I wanna be clear. Any of these choices, the
grammar is not correct. Sorry, the grammar isn't incorrect, but it's more about tone here, that we really just wanna hit the tone, that we're not too informal
like these two choices right over here, like these two choices, and not too formal or kind
of using too complex language or words or more complex than we need to. So I actually like it the
way that it's written.