cueprepSAT grammar rules and Reading and Writing practice
Real SAT-style questions, and the rule behind every answer.
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Many deep-sea fish produce their own light through chemical reactions in specialized organs. This light helps them attract prey in the darkness. it can lure mates and confuse predators that patrol the ocean depths.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
SAT grammar rules, one line each
Boundaries
- Supplements
- Extra information you could delete and still have a working sentence. Fence it with two commas, two dashes or two parentheses. Never mix the marks.
- Joining two sentences
- A period, a semicolon and a comma plus and/but all do the same job, so if three answers are interchangeable they are all wrong. The answer is the one that does something different, which is usually a comma attaching a part that cannot stand alone.
- Sentence vs. fragment
- A sentence needs a subject and a conjugated verb, and cannot open with a word that makes it dependent. An -ing word alone is not a verb.
- Comma splices
- A comma cannot join two complete sentences. Check comma followed by it, this, he, she or they first.
- Colons
- A colon introduces a list or an explanation. A complete sentence has to come before it. What follows does not.
- Commas between clauses
- A dependent clause joins the main clause with one comma. Lead with the dependent half and you need it. Put it second and usually you do not.
- Semicolons
- A semicolon joins two complete sentences. Both halves must stand alone, so a period would work just as well.
- Dashes
- One dash introduces an explanation the way a colon does. Two dashes fence a supplement the way two commas do. A dash never pairs with a comma.
- Commas that do not belong
- No comma before a preposition, between a verb and its object, or between two things joined by and. If deleting the comma changes nothing, delete it.
- Commas in a list
- Three or more items take commas between them. The mark before the list is a colon only if a complete sentence comes first.
Form, Structure, and Sense
- Pronoun agreement
- A pronoun matches the noun it replaces in number, and that noun has to be in the sentence. A singular noun cannot become they.
- Verb tense and form
- Keep the tense consistent with the verbs around it unless the sentence gives a reason to change. Check the surrounding sentences, not just this one.
- Parallel structure
- Every item in a list or a pair must take the same grammatical form: noun, noun, noun, or verb, verb, verb. Never a mix.
- Subject鈥搗erb agreement
- Find the subject by crossing out everything between it and the verb. Singular verbs end in -s; plural verbs do not.
- Plural vs. possessive
- More than one takes no apostrophe. Belonging to one takes 's; belonging to many takes s'. Its is possessive and it's is it is.
- Comparisons and word pairs
- Compare like to like: one writer's style to another writer's style, not to the writer. Word pairs are fixed: either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also.
- Pronoun form
- Its, their, and your are possessive; it's, they're, and you're are contractions. There is a place.
- Modifier placement
- An opening descriptive phrase describes the noun right after the comma. If that noun did not do the action, the sentence is wrong however it sounds.
- Relative pronouns
- Who is for people, which is for things, where is for places. A comma before which makes the clause deletable; that never takes one.
Transitions
- Transitions
- Cross the transition out and name the relationship yourself before reading the answers: continue, contradict or cause. Then cut every answer from the other two categories.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's on the SAT Reading and Writing section?
54 questions in two 32-minute modules of 27. Each question has its own short passage. College Board splits them into four areas: Craft and Structure (about 28%), Information and Ideas (26%), Standard English Conventions (26%) and Expression of Ideas (20%).
What grammar is on the SAT?
Two College Board skills: Boundaries, which is punctuation that joins or separates clauses, and Form, Structure, and Sense, which covers agreement, tense, pronouns and modifiers. Transitions are tested separately, under Expression of Ideas.
Is there an essay on the SAT?
Not on the weekend SAT. College Board dropped the essay in 2021; a few states still add one when they give the SAT in school.
How do I practice SAT Reading and Writing?
One question type at a time, with the rule shown after every answer. CuePrep covers all 36 grammar rules and reading question types, and the 3-day trial opens practice on every one.
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