攻克句子改错题.docx

攻克句子改错题.docx

《攻克句子改错题.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《攻克句子改错题.docx（36页珍藏版）》请在冰点文库上搜索。

攻克句子改错题

BeatImprovingSentences

TheSATWritingsectiondoesn’tmessaround.ForIdentifyingSentenceErrorsyouhadtoidentifyerrorsinsentences.CaretoguesswhatyouhavetodoforSentenceImprovementquestions?

That’sright:

Youhavetoimprove

sentences.

ImprovingSentencesquestionsconsistofasinglesentencewithoneunderlinedwordorphrase.Yourmissionwiththatunderlinedportionofthesentenceis

twofold.First,youhavetofigureoutifthere’saproblemwiththeunderlined

part.Then,ifthereisaproblem,youhavetodecidewhichanswerchoicefixestheproblem.Sometimes¡ªone-fifthofthetime,infact¡ªnoerrorwillexist.

TheDirections

Youknowthedrill.Learnthedirectionsnowsoyoudon’thavetowastetime

readingthemwhenyoutaketheactualSAT.

Directions:

Thefollowingsentencestestcorrectnessandeffectivenessof

expression.Inchoosinganswers,followtherequirementsofstandard

writtenEnglish;thatis,payattentiontogrammar,choiceofwords,

sentenceconstruction,andpunctuation.

Ineachofthefollowingsentences,partofthesentenceortheentire

sentenceisunderlined.Beneatheachsentenceyouwillfindfivewaysof

phrasingtheunderlinedpart.ChoiceArepeatstheoriginal;theotherfour

aredifferent.

Choosetheanswerthatbestexpressesthemeaningoftheoriginal

sentence.Ifyouthinktheoriginalisbetterthananyofthealternatives,

chooseit;otherwisechooseoneoftheothers.Yourchoiceshouldproduce

themosteffectivesentence¡ªclearandprecise,withoutawkwardnessor

ambiguity.

Noticethatonceagain,theSATwantsyoutofollowtherulesofstandard

writtenEnglishwhenyou¡¯reansweringthesequestions.Therulesofstandard

spokenEnglisharen’tacceptedhere,soalotofEnglishthat’spassablein

speechwillbeconsideredincorrectonImprovingSentencesquestions.

AlsonoticethatbecauseanswerchoiceAisalwaysthesameastheoriginal

sentence,youneverneedtowastetimereadinganswerchoiceA.So,unless

youthinkthesentencecontainsnoerror,skipdirectlytoB.

AnExampletoSample

HereiswhatanImprovingSentencesquestionlookslike:

Jennawasawardedthemedalnotforheracademicsuccessorherskill

onthesoccerfield,butforherbeingaparticipantingymclass.

（A）

butforherbeingaparticipantingymclass

（B）

thereasonbeingforherparticipationingymclass

（C）

thereasonwasherparticipatingingymclass

（D）

butforherbeingparticipation-willingingymclass

（E）

butforherparticipationingymclass

TheGoodNews...andtheGoodNews

Onthissection,asontheothersections,grammarterminologyisnottested.

Neitherisspelling.Masteringthissectiondoesnotrequireyoutomemorizea

hugeamountofmaterialorlearnatonofnewconcepts.You¡¯llseequestionsonthepassivevoice,run-onsentences,andmisplacedmodifiers.You’llprobably

alsoencounterafewquestionsonparallelism,conjunctions,fragments,and

gerunds.Althoughsomeofthematerialinthischapterisnew,you¡¯llnoticethattheSATtestsmanyofthesamegrammarrulesinthissectionthatwealreadycoveredbackintheIdentifyingSentenceErrorschapter.

AnEight-StepStrategy

Alltheself-helpbooksthesedayshaveatwelve-stepprocesstokickthehabit.

ImprovingSentencesarefourstepseasiertohandle.Herearetheeightsteps:

Readthesentenceandtrytoheartheproblem.

Ifyoufindanerror,eliminateA.

Beforeyoulookattheanswerchoices,figureouthowtofixtheerror.

Findthecorrectionthatmostcloselymatchesyours.

Ifnocorrectionmatches,eliminateanswersthatrepeattheerroror

containnewerrors.

Ifyou¡¯restillstumped,reachintoyourbagoftricks（moreonthose

soon）.

Plugyouranswerbackintothesentencetocheckit.

Ifyou¡¯restillstumped¡ªcut,guess,andrun.

Alright,nowit’stimetoputthatexcitingeight-stepprocessintoaction.Below

you¡¯llseeasampleproblemthatwesolvewiththeeight-stepmethod,

explainingeachofthestepsalongtheway:

Jennawasawardedthemedalnotforheracademicsuccessorherskill

onthesoccerfield,butforherbeingaparticipantingymclass.

（A）

butforherbeingaparticipantingymclass

（B）

thereasonbeingforherparticipationingymclass

（C）

thereasonwasherparticipatingingymclass

（D）

butforherbeingparticipation-willingingymclass

（E）

butforherparticipationingymclass

Step1:

Readthesentenceandtrytoheartheproblem.

Aswehavediscussed,relyingonyourearexclusivelyisriskyontheSAT

Writingsection.ThewritersoftheSATknowmoststudentswilllistenforwhatsoundsrighttothem,butoftenwhatsoundsrightisactuallywrong.That’s

becauseusingjustyourearmostoftenmeansyou¡¯reusingspokenEnglishas

yourguide.RememberthatthissectionoftheSATtestsyourknowledgeof

standardwrittenEnglish.

Inthischapter,wereinforceyourunderstandingoftherulesofstandardwrittenEnglish.Knowingtherulesgivesyouastrongfoundationagainstwhichtocheckthesignalsyoureargivesyouthatsomethinginthesentenceiswrong.Inthesamplesentenceabove,youmightimmediatelynoticethecombinedproblemofwordinessandfaultyparallelism¡ªthephrasebutforherbeingaparticipant

shouldberewritteninamorecompactforminwhichallthedifferent

componentsofthesentencealign,orflowtogether,correctly（moreon

parallelismbelow）.

Evenifyoudon’tcomeupwiththespecifictermwordiness,youmighthavethesensethatsomethingabouttheunderlinedpartisvagueandabitconvoluted.

It’sfineifyoucan’tthinkoftheexacttermthatdescribestheproblem.A

generalsensethatsomethingiswrongwillgoalongway.Justdetectingthe

presenceofanerrorallowsyoutocutanswerchoiceA,whichtipstheguessingoddsinyourfavor.Moreonthatinstep2.

Step2:

Ifyoufindanerror,eliminateA.

Ifyou¡¯recertainthatthere’sanerrorsomewhereintheunderlinedpartofthe

sentence,youcaneliminateAsinceAalwaysrepeatstheunderlinedpartwordforword.Again,youwon’tneedtoknowtheexacttermfortheerrorinordertoeliminateA.

ThefineartofAeliminationgivesyouagreatadvantageonImproving

Sentencesquestions.Here’swhy:

CuttingAmeanssomethingmorethanjust

¡°onedown,fourtogo.¡±Eveniftheotherfouranswerslooklikegibberishtoyou,

cuttingAgivesyouthegreenlighttoguess.Asweexplainintheintroductiontothisbook,theSATdoesnotcontainaguessing¡°penalty.¡±Thetestissetuptodiscouragetotallyrandomguessing,buttorewardeducatedguessing.Ifyou

caneliminateevenoneanswerchoice,theansweryouchoosebecomesan

educatedguess¡ªtippingtheoddsinyourfavor.

Step3:

Beforeyoulookattheanswerchoices,figureouthowtofixtheerror.

Onceyou¡¯vefiguredouttheproblemintheunderlinedpartofthesentence,saytoyourself（silently¡ªyoudon’twanttorevealyourgeniustoothertest-takersintheroom）:

¡°ThiswouldbeabettersentenceifitreadsomethinglikeJenna

wasawardedthemedalnotforheracademicsuccessorherskillonthesoccerfield,butforparticipatingingymclass.¡±Thatversionconveystheright

information,butdoesn’ttakeupunnecessaryspace.

Haveyouevernoticedthatifyourepeatanormal,everydaywordlikehouse

overandoveritstartstoseemodd?

That’sexactlywhattheanswerchoicesofImprovingSentencesquestionswilldotoyou.Ifyougorighttotheanswer

choicesandreadthroughthemonebyone,bythetimeyougettoC,the

answerswillallsoundequallyconfusingandwrong.Alwaysapproachthe

answerchoiceswithaplan,whichiswhatyouthinksoundscorrect.Ifyoustartlookingattheanswerchoiceswithnoideaofwhatyou¡¯relookingfor,it’s

possiblealltheanswerswillsoundfunnyandincorrect.

Step4:

Findthecorrectionthatmostcloselymatchesyours.

Let’ssayyourcorrectionreads,Jennawasawardedthemedalnotforher

academicsuccessorherskillonthesoccerfield,butforparticipatingingym

class.Nowlookattheremaininganswerchoicesandseewhichonemostcloselymatchesyourcorrection:

（A）

butforherbeingaparticipantingymclass

（B）

thereasonbeingforherparticipationingymclass

（C）

thereasonwasherparticipatingingymclass

（D）

butforherbeingparticipation-willingingymclass

（E）

butforherparticipationingymclass

Elooksmostliketheansweryoucameupwithbeforelooking.It’snotexactlylikeyourpreparedanswer¡ªitusesherparticipationinsteadoffor

participating¡ªbutit’sveryclose.Rarelywillananswerchoiceexactlymatchtheoneyougeneratedonyourown,whichisfine.Thepurposeofpreparingyour

ownanswerfirstisnottofindanexactmatchintheanswerchoicesbuttohaveanideaofwhatiscorrectbeforeyoustartreadingthechoices.

Ifyoufindananswerthatmatchesyours,awesome.Onwardtothenext

question.Sometimes,though,youmaynotbetotallysurewhetheranyofthe

answerchoicesmatchesyourscloselyenough.Inthatcase,movetostep5.

Step5:

Ifnocorrectionmatches,eliminateanswersthatrepeatthe

errororcontainnewerrors.

You¡¯llusuallyseeafewanswerchoicesthatactuallyrepeatthemistake.Others

mightfixtheoriginalmistake,butintheprocessaddanewerrortothemix.

Supposeyouweren’tcertainthatEmatchedyourpreparedanswerclosely

enough.Inthatcase,youwouldreadthroughtheanswerchoicesandtryto

determineiftheyrepeatedthefirstmistakeorcontainedanewone.Answer

choiceBhasaproblemsimilartothatoftheoriginalsentence.Itsays,the

re