author believes that rhinoceroses think about the SAT in this way, the right
answer is definitely D: Students compare the SAT to a bed of nails or to a
charging rhinoceros.
I believe that they would if they could.
—Samantha
COMMANDMENT 11: THOU SHALT USE THE CORRECT WORDS, NOT WORDS THAT SORT
OF SOUND SIMILAR TO THE CORRECT WORDS.
Sometimes the College Board will deliberately mess up an expression to try to
fool you. The only way to prepare for this type of question is by becoming
familiar with standard, formal English and being able to hear or see which words
or phrases just sound or look wrong. Okay, so this is not really a grammatical
rule, but it most definitely is something to watch out for.
Example 1:
Since it’s a beautiful day, I’d just assume walk.
The expression is “just as soon,” but it sounds a lot like “just assume.” You
have to really look at the sentence, not just hear it in your head, to answer these
questions.
Correct: Since it’s a beautiful day, I’d just as soon walk.
Example 2:
If it had been raining, I would of stayed inside.
The expression is “would have” but it is often confused with “would of.”*
*This is important!! I am SO tired of seeing “I would of studied/gone to the movies/eaten that rhubarb pie” as I scroll through my Twitterfeed.
—SamanthaCorrect: If it had been raining, I would have stayed inside.
COMMANDMENT 12: THOU SHALT COMPARE LIKE THINGS.
This is another rule that we mess up in speech all the time and that the Serpent
loves to test. When we compare two things, they need to be the same type of
thing.