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SAT – Writing and Language

What does the SAT Writing and Language Section test?

The SAT Writing and Language section is designed to test your ability to analyze and revise written English language passages.

The questions are based on four types of passages:

argumentative
informative
narrative
paired passages

The questions on this section assess your skills in three main areas:

Expression of Ideas questions test your ability to recognize effective writing and revise passages to improve their clarity, organization, and coherence. These questions may require you to reorganize sentences or paragraphs, delete or add information, or choose a better word or phrase to improve the passage.
Standard English Conventions questions test your understanding of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. These questions may require you to identify errors in sentences or passages and to select the best way to correct them.
Command of Evidence questions test your ability to use evidence.

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SAT Writing and Language Sample:

Read the passage which is followed by several questions. Some questions will reference an underlined portion in the passage; others will ask you to consider a part of a passage or the passage as a whole. For each question, choose the answer that reflects the best use of grammar, punctuation, and style. Some questions will have NO CHANGE as a possible response. Choose that answer if you think the best choice is to leave the sentence as written.

Passage

Tigers and lions are among (1) nature’s grandest predators. A grizzly bear may be larger than a Siberian tiger, but the tiger is much quicker. A wolf may have a better sense of smell than a jaguar, but a jaguar can handle large prey alone while wolves hunt in packs. Cats have excellent night vision, sharp hearing, and enormous physical strength. They sneak up on their prey; the camouflage patterns in their fur and their graceful, quiet movements make the cats difficult to notice.

There are cats for every job. Each continent except Antarctica has its cat king. Africa is ruled by the lion, Asia by the tiger (although the Himalayas are too high for tigers; there, the snow leopard is king.) In South and Central America, the monarch is certainly the jaguar. North America is the domain of the puma. Australia has no big cats, but it has many small cats that descend from tame cats but have since gone wild. Like their giant relatives, these cats have become keen predators, even if they are much the same as the pet cats that you have met. Some of them, though, were so much larger than most (2) wild house cats that they have been mistaken for larger species like pumas.

(3) The natural order is carefully balanced. There are a few big predators. Under them are more medium sized cats that eat medium sized prey ranging from rabbits to antelopes and deer. (4) Mostly, there are many small cats (including loose pet cats) that eat the far-more-numerous small prey like insects, rodents, lizards, and birds. The secret to their success is the concept of the niche, a special job each cat holds that keeps it from competing with others. A shopping mall with nothing but music stores would see a lot of fighting over customers. Like a shopping mall, a natural environment keeps order, by having a variety of different plants, prey species, and hunters. The field mice that don’t interest the tiger keep the wild cat happy, and the cheetah zooms after a small antelope while leaving the buffalo for the stronger lions.

Writing and Language Sample Questions:

Sample Question #1
A. NO CHANGE
B. natures
C. natures’
D. natures’s

Answer: A – The word is correct as written in the possessive form.

Sample Question #2
A. NO CHANGE
B. submissive
C. domestic
D. cantankerous

Answer: C – The correct word that should be used here is “domestic.” House cats are known to be domestic/no longer wild.

Sample Question #3
Which is the best revision to the sentence in order to clarify the transition?
A. The natural order is carefully balanced by the life cycle.
B. The natural order is carefully balanced by the variation in size and strength in cats.
C. The natural order is carefully balanced by the predators that consume and reduce their prey.
D. The natural order is carefully balanced despite the threat of endangerment and extinction.

Answer: B – The sentence, as is, is an abrupt transition with little context in relation to the rest of the passage. B is the best way to draw in the passage while concisely transitioning into the next idea.

Sample Question #4
A. NO CHANGE
B. However
C. In conclusion
D. Finally

Answer: D – This sentence is the final detail in a series so “Finally” is the best option. D is also a conclusive transition but is best used for sentences that draw a final argument, not that conclude a series.