SAT Skills Insight
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6/1
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Select a score band
Manage phrases and clauses in a sentence
Skills needed to score in this band
SKILL 1: Recognize awkward/unidiomatic connectives
SKILL 2: Understand basic logical comparisons
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1
Recognize awkward/unidiomatic connectives
ExampleThe following sentence tests your ability to recognize grammar and usage errors. The sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. The sentence will not contain more than one error. The error, if there is one, is underlined and lettered. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence is correct, select choice E. In choosing answers, follow the requirements of standard written English.
My Aunt Louise, a humorous person, can turn a miserable experience into an amusing story, in that I like to spend time with her when I feel unhappy. No error
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2
Understand basic logical comparisons
ExampleThe following sentence tests correctness and effectiveness of expression. Part of the sentence or the entire sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Choice A repeats the original phrasing; the other four choices are different. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A; if not, select one of the other choices.
In making your selection, follow the requirements of standard written English; that is, pay attention to grammar, choice of words, sentence construction, and punctuation. Your selection should result in the most effective sentence-clear and precise, without awkwardness or ambiguity.
One reason that an insect can walk on walls while a human cannot is that the mass of its tiny body is far lower than humans.
Skills needed to score in the next band
In your reading, examine compound sentences to look at the relationship between the clauses and the ideas expressed by those clauses. In your own writing, pay attention to how you present the relationships between clauses and ideas.
