504 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT
Mapping:What Are “Error ID” Questions?
The next questions on the SAT Writing are the “error
ID” questions, which give you a sentence with four
underlined parts and ask you whether any of the
underlined parts contains a mistake. If one of them
does, simply choose the underlined portion that con-
tains the mistake. If the sentence is okay, choose (E).
Any sentence error must be fixable by replac-
ingonlythe underlined portion. Every other
part must remain unchanged, and no parts can
bemoved. If you think that a word or phrase
should be moved to another part of the sen-
tence, you’re wrong.The team diligentlypracticed and prepareda clever
AB
game plan, but theynever got the opportunity to use
C
the most ingenious playsin the game. No error
DE
You might prefer to say that the team practiced
diligentlyrather than that the teamdiligently prac-
ticed,but, choosing (A) would be incorrect because
this “correction” would involve moving a word to a
nonunderlined part of the sentence rather than just
replacing it. Remember, every other part of the sen-
tence must remain unchanged. In fact, either phrasing
is fine: The adverb can come before or after the verb.
There is a grammatical mistake here, though—do you
see it? The definite pronoun theyis plural, but its
antecedent is team, which is singular. So choice (C) is
the correct response, and should be replaced by it.
Analyzebut Don’t Overanalyze: Listen for
the Clunker
Attack each “error ID” question by first reading
the whole sentence normally and listening for the
“clunker.” Don’t overanalyze each underlined
part just yet—just trust your ear for now. If
your ear is well trained, then when something
sounds bad, it probably is. As the questions get
tougher, your ear may get less reliable, but it
should get you through a lot of the easier ques-
tions. For the tougher ones, you’ll really need to
know the rules in Chapter 15.CheckThat It’s a Real MistakeIf something sounds bad, make sure that the
error is completely underlined. (If it’s not, then
it’s not really an error.) Next, think about how
the error could be fixed. If you just want to
replace a word or phrase with something that
means the same thing—such as replacing put
withplaced—it’s not really an error, just a mat-
ter of preference. If you know the grammar
rules in Chapter 15, do your best to identify the
violation. If you can identify it, you’ll be sure
you’re right.Had the speeches beenany longer, the assembly
A
would have needed to beextended intothe next
BC
class period. No error
DE
The first phrase, Had the speeches been,may sound
strange to your ear. You may prefer to say If the
speeches had been.... But both phrases are fine; the
original doesn’t violate any rule of grammar. Simi-
larly, instead of would have needed to be, you might
prefer to saywould have had to be. But this, again, is
just a matter of preference. The original does not vio-
late any grammatical rule. Every grammatical rule
that you need to know for the SAT is discussed in detail
in Chapter 15. For this question, the correct response
is (E), no error.AlternativeMode of Attack: The Process of
Elimination
What if your ear doesn’t catch a mistake? The sen-
tence could be correct, or perhaps it contains a subtle
error. In these cases, most students feel more confi-
dent working by process of elimination. Cross out any
underlined parts that are clearly okay. If you can get
it down to just two choices, it’s better to guess than to
leave it blank.AlternativeMode of Attack: The Systematic
Approach
If you’re not sure whether a sentence has an error,
you might want to take a systematic approach. Until
you get very good at it, this strategy is a bit more time
consuming and requires that you really know theLesson 3:
Attacking “Error ID” Questions