Trial

SAT Writing: Identifying Sentence Errors

Identifying Sentence Errors

Read the sentence and select the portion of the sentence that contains an error.  If there is no error, select E.

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Knowsys Method

Read the sentence carefully, listening for errors. If you do not find the error immediately, then check the underlined portion against the Big 8. 

A. Chances are, the phrase "almost all of the board members" does not strike you as incorrect.  "Almost" is an adverb, and it modifies "all," which in this case is functioning as an adjective.  This is not the error, so eliminate this choice.

B. Whenever you see a verb underlined, check to make sure that it agrees with its subject and with the tense of the sentence.  The verb "agreed" agrees with the subject "board members," and it is in past tense like the rest of the sentence.  This is not an error, so eliminate this choice.

C. Here's another verb, so check to make sure that it agrees with its subject and with the tense of the sentence. The verb "was" agrees with the noun "John Smith," and it is in past tense like the rest of the sentence.  This is not an error, so you can eliminate this choice.

D.  The clause "John Smith was the more qualified" probably sounds strange to you, but it is grammatically correct!  When you are comparing two items, people, etc., the correct word is "more."  When you are comparing three items, people, etc., the correct word is "most."  If you rearrange the sentence, the use of "more" might sound a little more natural.  "Almost all of the board members agreed that John Smith was the more qualified of the two job candidates they had interviewed."  This is not an error, so eliminate this choice.

E.  We did not find an error, so the answer must be E, no error.

The correct answer is E.

This is a hard level problem

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