train to Nantes.If you were able to see the differences in these answer choices, you’re already more than halfway there.
Now, notice how the differences in these answers can reveal the question that is lurking in the heart of
each list of answer choices.
i. The difference between the word “of” and “have” means that this question is asking, Is the correct
form “could of” or “could have”?
ii. The difference between having a comma after the word “dark” and not having one there means that
this question is asking, How many commas does this sentence need, and where do they belong?
iii. The difference between “them” and “Sister and Susie and Brother John” means that this question is
asking, Is “them” adequately specific, or do you need to refer to people by name?
iv. The difference between the order of these sentences asks, What order should the sentences be in?Therefore, what we have noticed in these pairs of answer choices is something that may seem fairly
simple but which is essential to success on the SAT.
THE ANSWER CHOICES ASK THE QUESTIONS
At some point, you’ve almost certainly had to do the English-class exercise called “peer editing.” In this
exercise, you are tasked with “editing” the work of one of your fellow students. But this can be really
tough, because what exactly does it mean to “edit” an entire essay or paper when you aren’t given any
directions? It’s especially tough when you start getting into the subtleties between whether things are
wrong or whether they could merely be improved.
Look, for example, at these two sentences:
It was a beautiful day outside birds were singing cheerful songs.It was a beautiful day outside; birds were singing cheerful songs.You’d have to pick the second one in this case because the first has a grammatical error: it’s a run-on
sentence. Or for the non-grammarians out there, you have to break that thing up.
Now, look at these next two sentences:
The weather was just right, so I decided to play soccer.Just right was how I would describe the weather, so a decision of soccer-playing was made by me.In this case, the first sentence is obviously better than the second, but the second technically doesn’t have
any grammatical errors in it. The first may be better, but the second isn’t exactly wrong.
What made each of these pairs of sentences relatively easy to deal with, though, was the fact that you
could compare the sentences to one another. In doing so, you noted the differences between those
sentences, and you picked the better answer accordingly.