Yorkers or even other West Virginians and the language. We saw in the last problem that when nouns are
changing in the answer choices, we want to make sure those nouns are consistent with other nouns in the
sentence.
In this case, the nouns are being compared. The language of Appalachia is being compared with the
language of New Yorkers and West Virginians. Choices (A) and (D) suggest that the language is being
compared with the people, so those are inconsistent. Then, (B) contains some unnecessary apostrophes,
so only (C) is left.
The SAT calls this concept “faulty comparison,” but we don’t have to know that name. Instead, we can
just remember that nouns have to be consistent with other nouns. When the answer choices show a
change in nouns, look for the sentence’s other nouns. They’ll provide the clue!
Scholars today are not sure whether to call it a purely European dialect or 6 a uniquely
American one.6.
A) NO CHANGE
B) uniquely American.
C) a unique one.
D) American.Here’s How to Crack It
Check what’s changing in the answer choices. There’s a fairly significant change between American and
American one. As in the previous sentence, let’s make sure this is consistent. The part of the sentence
right before the underlined portion refers to a European dialect, so we should make our part of the
sentence consistent: an American dialect, not merely American, as in (B) and (D).
Then, we are down to (A) and (C). The difference here comes between the words unique and uniquely
American. While we do want to be concise when possible, we need to make sure first and foremost that
we are being precise. Choice (A) is more precise than (C) in that it has a clearer relation to the European
dialect with which it is being contrasted. Therefore, (A) is the correct answer in that it is the most
consistent with the rest of the sentence and the most precise of the remaining possible answers.
Consistency- When the verbs are changing in the answer choices, make sure those verbs are consistent
with their subjects and with other verbs.