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SAT
Course: SAT > Unit 5
Lesson 2: Inside the SAT Writing and Language Test- The SAT Writing and Language Test: Overview
- The SAT Writing and Language Test: the passages
- Writing and Language Test: Expression of Ideas
- Writing and Language Test: Standard English Conventions
- Writing and Language Test: The Format
- Mark up the test: Writing and Language Test edition
- SAT Writing and Language Test Tips Share Space
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Writing and Language Test: Standard English Conventions
Details about Standard English Conventions on the Writing and Language Test.
Standard English Conventions
On the SAT Writing & Language Test, you will encounter questions that will ask you to interact with and revise passages in different ways. Standard English Conventions questions ask you to make sentences consistent with standard grammar, usage, and punctuation conventions.
A note on the images in this article: all Writing and Language Test items will be associated with a passage, but the full passages are not included here, only excerpts. Each question pictured is just one example of how items in that category can look.
Some sub-topics within Standard English Conventions:
Sentence Structure — These questions focus on editing text to correct problems in sentence formation and inappropriate shifts in construction within and between sentences.
- Sentence Formation questions will ask you to correct problems with sentences, including issues with modifier placement, parallel structure, sentence boundaries, and subordination and coordination.
- Inappropriate Shifts in Construction questions will ask you to correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense, voice, and mood.
Conventions of Usage — These questions focus on editing text to ensure conformity to the conventions of standard written English usage.
- Pronouns and Agreement questions will ask you to correct errors in pronoun use and agreement.
- Frequently Confused Words questions will ask you to recognize and correct instances in which a word or phrase is confused with another (e.g., accept/except, allusion/illusion).
- Logical Comparison questions will ask you to correct cases in which unlike terms are compared.
- Conventional Expression questions will ask you to correct cases in which a given expression is inconsistent with standard written English.
Conventions of Punctuation — These questions focus on editing text to ensure conformity to the conventions of standard written English punctuation.
- Within-Sentence Punctuation questions will ask you to correct inappropriate uses of colons, semicolons, and dashes.
- Possessive Nouns and Pronouns questions will ask you to correct inappropriate uses of possessive nouns and pronouns as well as differentiate between possessive and plural forms.
- Items in a Series questions will ask you to correct inappropriate uses of punctuation (commas and semicolons) to separate items in a series.
- Nonrestrictive and Parenthetical Elements questions will ask you to correctly use punctuation (commas, parentheses, dashes) to set off nonrestrictive and parenthetical sentence elements as well as recognize and correct cases in which restrictive or essential sentence elements are inappropriately set off with punctuation.
- Unnecessary Punctuation questions will ask you to correct cases in which unnecessary punctuation appears in a sentence.
Ready to practice your editing skills? Go for it! Get started here!
Attributions
This article was adapted from the following sources:
“Test Specifications for the Redesigned SAT” from The College Board.
“SAT Practice Tests” from The College Board.
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- can you teach me how to convert decimal to fractions(0 votes)
- For a terminating decimal, convert the decimal into a fraction with a denominator with a power of 10, then simplify down to lowest terms.
Ex: 0.125 as a fraction
0.125 = 125 / 1000
125 / 1000 = 25 / 200 = 5 / 40 = 1/8
0.125 = 1/8
For a repeating decimal, it's a small bit more complicated. You'll have to attempt to cancel out the repeating bit by manipulating the decimal. I'll explain it in an example:
Ex: 0.45454545... as a fraction
First, let's set this decimal equal to x.
Now, let's multiply by 100, as there are two digits that are repeating and we want them as whole numbers:
100x = 45.4545...
Now comes the smart part. We take the repeating decimal and line it up so that the repeating parts will cancel out if we subtract it from 100x:
100x = 45.454545...
____x = _0.454545...
---------------------------
99x = 45
Now we have a simple equation. Solve it, simplify it, and you have your fraction.
x = 45 / 99 = 5 / 11
0.45454545... = 5/11
Hope this helps!(24 votes)
- I dont understand #19 shouldn't the answer be A its possesive.(2 votes)
- The answer to #19 is (D), because the word in possession, "particles", is plural. Also "it's" is short for "it is". "Its" would be the possessive pronoun of it.(10 votes)
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- can you please please explain me what are lines and angles(3 votes)
- can you teach me what lines and angles are(2 votes)
- For the purposes of the SAT, lines are straight connections between two points. Angles measure the change in direction from one line to another, if they share one of the origin points. A right angle, like the shape of an "L", is made up of two lines which we say are perpendicular because the angle between them is 90 degrees (1/4 of a full circle).(3 votes)
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- Hello,
I am a student at Fontbonne University, pursuing a degree in English as a secondary education teacher. To answer your question, improving your writing takes time, try to focus on organizing your ideas with structure. For example, using the 1.) Topic sentence/claim
2.) Evidence to support your topic or claim sentence
3.) Analysis, explain why your topic or claim and evidence correlate.(2 votes)
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