30. C If the phrase An American Dictionary of the English Language were removed, the meaning
and completeness of the sentence would not change. Even though it is the title of the book,
the rest of the sentence indicates this work was Webster’s best-known and when it was
published, so this phrase is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. Commas should go
before and after unnecessary information such as this, as (C) indicates. The correct answer
is (C).
31. A Notice the question! It asks for a choice that would best emphasize the unique achievement
of Webster’s dictionary. Only (A) notes what he did that was unique. The other choices fail
to indicate how Webster’s dictionary was different from previously published dictionaries.
32. B The sentence sets up a contrast between the way Americans write two specific words and
the way English write them. Only (B) completes that contrast, giving the clearest sense of
how the English spell those words, and is the correct answer.
33. A The entire underlined phrase is serving as the subject of this sentence and cannot be a
complete idea, so eliminate (D). Choice (C) leaves out the phrase what is interesting,
which is what the second half of the sentence explains. Choice (B) creates a plural subject
with the phrase both what is interesting about these two dictionaries and...dictionaries in
general, which is not consistent with the non-underlined, singular verb is. Therefore, the
sentence is correct as written and (A) is the answer.
Goodnight, sleep tight...
34. C Use POE, testing the underlined portion in each place suggested by the answer choices. The
best placement for the underlined portion is after the word form, (C), because the aftermath
of a bed bug bite takes the form of an itchy welt. Placement of the underlined portion in any
other place would not convey this intended meaning.
35. B The sentence begins with a comparison (Like the most annoying vampire...), so the word
after the comma should complete the comparison. Since the author is comparing vampires
to bed bugs, (B) is the only option. The two parts of the comparison should match, which is
why the remaining answers are incorrect. Choices (A) and (D) are comparing vampires to
human blood, and (C) is comparing vampires to a typical meal.
36. A The previous sentence states Interest in bed bugs seems to be nearly as old as written
history itself, so the correct answer will provide support for this statement (that is, bed
bugs have been around for a long time). Use POE. Choices (C) and (D) can be eliminated
because they do not mention the presence of bed bugs throughout history. While (B)
contains a reference to history, it does not support the previous sentence (again, no mention
that bed bugs have been around for a really long time). Choice (A) contains the needed
support and is the correct answer.
37. D Since (D) provides the option to delete, look to see if the variation of the underlined phrase
is even needed, especially since the other three choices all say essentially the same thing.
The phrase isn’t needed because earlier in the second clause the bed bugs are mentioned as
