As with all passages on the SAT, previous knowledge of the subjects is not
assumed, and a close analysis of the passages’ content is not the goal. You will
need to understand the content of the passage in order to answer all of the
questions, but this part of the SAT is primarily focused on your knowledge of the
“rules” of good writing.
Those “rules” are the “Standard English Conventions”: sentence structure,
grammar, word choice, punctuation, and which fork to use for salad. These will
make up 45 percent of the questions. The other 55 percent of the questions on
the Writing and Language Test are about the “Expression of Ideas,” which is a
fancy term for questions that ask you to choose the best ways to revise the
passage to make it more accurate, clear, and persuasive. Many of these
“Expression of Ideas” questions, as you will see, will ask about the evidence and
rhetoric being used in the passage. If any of this makes you feel panicked, take a
deep breath and relax. You don’t have to be an aspiring novelist like Manek to
rock the test.
In this chapter, we break it down by question type. First up is “Standard
English Conventions,” where we will guide you through the 12 Commandments
of Grammar and their attendant questions. We will also review punctuation, from
the simple period to the terribly complex comma. We will then go over many
different kinds of “Expression of Ideas” questions. Finally, we will test you on
all this with a sample Writing passage. By the end, you will have the knowledge
and confidence you need to totally annihilate the Writing and Language Test.
But before we delve into all of that, a general tip: With each passage you
read, imagine you are peer-editing a friend’s essay. Your friend has a lot of great