Sentence Error

1. Cottage industry, also (A) known as the putting-out system, was the initial phase of industrialization,(B) although it was soon overshadowed by other systems of production (C) that (D) have become widespread during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. (E) No error2. The flower, after (A) fertilization (B) with the grains of pollen that (D) a bee inadvertently transports, will slowly (E) perish and wither. (E) No error3. Art and culture flourished (A) briefly during the “Prague Spring,” (B) a short period (C) when relaxed censorship and (D) looser Soviet control. (E) No error4. (A) Having died young, Raymond Carver’s career as a short-story writer was cut regrettably (B)short, and (C) we are left with only a fragment of his only (D) attempt at a novel. (E) No error5. The defendant (A) surprised the jury not only with his candor (B) as well as with (C) what seemed to be genuine goodwill (D) behind his smile. (E) No error6. Exotic pet enthusiasts prize male peacocks (A) for their feathers (B) because they are the (C) more colorful of the two (D) sexes; in contrast, female peacocks are mostly for breeding purposes. (E) No error

Explanation for Question 11. Cottage industry, also (A) known as the putting-out system, was the initial phase of industrialization, (B) although it was soon overshadowed by other systems of production (C) that (D) have become widespread during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. (E) No error(A) known: This is in a modifying phrase—an SAT favorite—so you should check that it’s next to the correct noun. “Cottage industry” is what’s known as the putting-out system, so there’s no problem.(B) although: This linking word shows a contrast. Should there be one? Yep. Move on.(C) that: What does “that” refer to? A place or time? Nope—it’s a thing (“systems of production”), so it’s fine.(D) have become widespread: This is a verb, so you should check both the subject and the tense. The “systems” are plural, so “have” is correct in number (not “has”), but the time is wrong! It should say “became widespread.”The error is (D).

Explanation for Question 22. The flower, after (A) fertilization (B) with the grains of pollen that (C) a bee inadvertently transports, will slowly (D) perish and wither. (E) No error(A) fertilization: a noun like this could possible be a word choice problem, but there doesn’t seem to be any incorrect meaning here.(B) with: A preposition! Check the words that the preposition is combining (especially the one that comes before it) and make sure that they sound natural together. Although “fertilization with” might sound a little strange, if you said, “They fertilized the flower with pollen,” that’d be just fine, so it’s probably acceptable here.

(C) a bee inadvertently transports: the most likely problem here is a number issue. “A bee” has to be parallel with anything that it logically relates to. In this case, it’s related to “the flower.” Both are singular, so it’s alright. You should also look at the tense of the verb transports, which is just fine, in this case.(D) perish and wither: This one is a bit hard to see when looking systematically, because it doesn’t have to do with what part of the sentence is underlined. This is about redundancy; “perish” and “wither” mean basically the same thing. You don’t need them both.The error is (D).

Explanation for Question 33. Art and culture flourished (A) briefly during the Prague Spring, (B) a short period (C) when relaxed censorship and (D) looser Soviet control. (E) No error(A) briefly: Notice the “-ly” in the word. Should it be there (should this be an adjective instead)? It’s correct as it is.(B) a short period: check that the number of the noun is right, which it is. There was only one Prague Spring.(C) when: This is a connecting word, so make sure that it makes the right relationship between sentences. Wait a minute… sentences? The second part doesn’t form a complete thought. There should be a subject after “when.” Or it could be changed into a preposition like “of,” which doesn’t connect whole thoughts (a.k.a. clauses) like “when” does.(D)looser: Check if it should be a comparative (-er) or a superlative (-est). There are only two things being compared—Soviet control before and during the Prague Spring—so “-er” is correct.The error is (C).

Explanation for Question 44. (A) Having died young, Raymond Carver’s career as a short-story writer was cut regrettably (B)short, and (C) we are left with only a fragment of his only (D) attempt at a novel. (E) No error(A) Having died young,: Alarm bells should be ringing. Like choice (A) in question number 1, this is a modifying phrase. The SAT loves to put these at the beginning of sentences next to subjects that they can’t modify. Raymond Carver’s career didn’t die young. Carver died young.(B) short,: Check the comma here to see if it’s making a run-on sentence. Since the word “and” comes just after it, there’s no problem.(C) we: Is “we” the right number and case here? Should it be “I” or “us”? No problems there, and it does work alright as a general pronoun, referring to the public rather than any specific people, so move on.(D) attempt at: This is a prime place to think twice about the preposition. Should it be “attempt on”? How about “attempt to”? Nope. Sounds pretty good as it is.

The error is (A).

Explanation for Question 55. The defendant (A) surprised the jury not only with his candor (B) as well as with (C) what seemed to be genuine goodwill (D) behind his smile. (E) No error(A) surprised: Find the subject (defendant), and see that that’s okay. Then check the tense. Doesn’t cause any problems.(B) as well as: Does this link correct forms together? Although “with his candor” and “with what seemed to be…” are parallel, the phrase “not only” that came before should jump out at you. Any time you see “not only” you should find a “but also,” and here, there isn’t one. No good.(C) what: Should this be “who,” “when,” or “where”? Nope? Okay.(D) behind: Match this preposition up with the things it joins. “goodwill behind his smile” sounds fine, because “behind” and “smile” go well together.The error is (B).

Explanation for Question 66. Exotic pet enthusiasts prize male peacocks (A) for their feathers (B) because the males are the (C)more colorful of the two (D) sexes; in contrast, female peacocks are mostly for breeding purposes. (E)No error(A) for: The preposition “for” matches just fine with “prized,” so this is okay.(B) because: This works to connect the two complete thoughts. There’s no problem in the logic, either, since it’s a cause-and-effect relationship.(C) more colorful: Although “the more colorful” might sound weird, and you might want to change it to “most,” that wouldn’t make sense. There are only two things being compared here—males and females—so we need to keep “more” as it is.(D) sexes; in contrast,: The semi-colon has to join up two full thoughts (it acts like a period), which it does, here. “In contrast” is one of many introductory words like “however” which need to be followed by commas, so that’s also fine.There’s no error. The answer is (E).

1. A Because of the Internet, B working at jobs C at home D have become much more common. E No error.

a. Ab. Bc. Cd. De. E

2. “Pull it out A by B its plug, not by the C cord,” said D dad. E No error.


3. Symptoms of this illness A that warrant a doctor visit B includes fever, C vomiting, anddiarrhea, as well as the D loss of appetite. E No error.


4. A Either Lisa or Karen B will always volunteer C their valuable D time to serve on our board. E No error.


5. The conversation with her A mother had a more profound B affect on her C than D she expected. E No error.


6. The A President and the B Speaker of the House found the C Congressional Republicans’ filibusters to be D all together specious. E No error.

a. Ab. B

c. Cd. De. E

7. A Professor Lane, our B Computer Science teacher, was excited when he had the opportunity to meet C Bill Gates, the D president of Microsoft, Inc. E No error.


8. Do you think A they B will C except our plan D without an argument? E No error.


9. “They A had went to the lake B without me C by the time D I got there,” said Jacques. E No error.


10. Work A as quick B as you C can but D as carefully as possible when you take the test. E No error.


Answers - Identifying Sentence Errors

1. D: The error is “have become,” which should be “has become.” The plural form of the auxiliary verb “have” is incorrect because the subject of the independent clause is “working,” which is singular and thus takes a singular verb—i.e. “working has…” The other underlined sections are correct.

2. D: “Dad” is a name or proper noun and should be capitalized. “By” is a correct preposition to use here. “Its” is the correct use of the third-person

singular possessive impersonal pronoun. The punctuation at the end of the quotation is correct.

3. B: “Includes” is incorrect because it is the singular form of the verb, but the subject, “symptoms,” is plural. The verb should be “include.” The subordinating conjunction “that” introducing the dependent clause, and its plural verb “warrant,” (A) are both correct. “…vomiting, and” (C) is punctuated correctly as the last in a series of three or more words. The singular noun “loss” (D) is correct.

4. C: “Their” is incorrect because it is a plural third-person possessive pronoun, but the use of “either (A)…or” indicates a singular form. It should be “her.” “Will always volunteer” (B) is a singular verb phrase and is correct. “Time” (D) is correct regardless of whether it is modified by a singular (“her”) or plural (“their”) possessive pronoun, e.g. “They both volunteered their valuable time.”

5. B: The correct noun for this meaning is spelled “effect.” “Affect” when it is a noun means mood or emotional state, e.g. “The patient presented with a depressed affect.” When it is a verb, the meaning of “affect” is related to the meaning of the noun “effect;” e.g. “The experience had a harmful effect on her, but it did not affect her brother the same way.” “…her mother” (A) is correctly not capitalized as it is a noun, not a name/proper noun (e.g. “Hello, Mother.”) The other underlined parts are correct.

6. D: This is incorrectly spelled as two words. In this sentence, it should be “altogether,” a one-word adverb modifying the adjective “specious” and meaning “entirely” or “completely.” “All together” would be used for a different meaning, e.g. “The family members were all together at the reunion.” The President (A), Speaker of the House (B), and Republicans’ (C) are all correctly capitalized as they are titles. The adjective congressional (C) refers to Congress (a proper name and thus capitalized), but as an adjective it is lower-case unless part of a proper name.

7. E: There is no error in this sentence. Titles and proper names (A) are capitalized. Academic subjects or departments are lower-case (e.g. department of computer science) unless they are adjectives (Computer Science teacher) (B) or proper nouns (English, French, etc.) Bill Gates (C) is a proper noun, i.e. a name, and is always capitalized. “…the president” (D) is correctly lower-case both because it is used after a name, and because it is a used as a description rather than a title here.

8. C: The verb is misspelled here. For the correct meaning, it should be “accept,” i.e. to consent or agree to our plan. “Except” means other than, besides, but, etc. Used as a verb as in this sentence, it would mean to make an exception of our plan, which is incorrect as it contradicts the rest of the sentence (without an argument). “They” (A) and “will” (B) are used correctly as subject pronoun and auxiliary verb. “Without” (D) is correctly used as a preposition.

9. A: The correct form for the past perfect tense of the irregular verb “to go” is “had gone,” not “had went.” “Went” is only used as the past tense, without the auxiliary “had.” The prepositional phrase (B) is correct. The two parts of the dependent clause (C and D) “by the time I got there” are correct.

10. A: The error is “quick,” which is an adjective; here it should be the adverb “quickly” instead, describing manner (how) to modify the verb “Work.” “…as carefully” (D) is an example of the correct usage. The other underlined sections are correct.

Error identification – Extra practice exercises. Decide which part of the sentence is grammatically incorrect. Then look

at the answers below.

1. I enjoyed study geography at school and now I’ve enrolled at the Economics Faculty.

2. I used to be keen of all scientific subjects but now I would prefer to study art.

3. I want meet your sister when she comes to see you – she sounds very nice.

4. My friends tell the English exam is quite difficult but I’m not worried.

5. The tickets, which are extremely good value, can be buy from large supermarkets.

6. The number of people which asked for the discount was low but grew during the summer period.

7. He wanted always to be a doctor and after doing medicine he now works in a hospital.

8. The informations they gave us was not very helpful so I consulted the website instead.

9. There isn’t many time, do you think we should get a taxi to the exhibition centre?

10. He graduated in languages in June and is now thinking of do a second degree in psychology.

11. The policeman showed us an identikit picture of the man who steal the car.

12. How long does it take to get the station on foot from your house

13. I was so angry that I took the watch broken to the jewellers to get my money back.

14. He rang me this morning for tell me that he had passed his driving test.

15. I won’t be able to go on holiday this year unless I will get a part-time job.

16. It was so nice day that they decided to have a picnic in the field.

17. I haven’t never seen anybody who rides a horse so well before.

18. My boyfriend always takes me to see horror films, but I don’t like very much.

19. We went to Guatemala last year so we were tired of the usual beach holiday.

20. I’ve gone to Marbella. I remember it well. A busy town with a nice modern promenade and picturesque

‘piazze’.

ANSWERS WITH EXPLANATIONS

1. I enjoyed studying (‘enjoy’ + ing)

2. keen on (keen + on = essere appassionato di)

3. want to (‘want’+ to + verb)

4. tell me (‘tell’ + person (me/you/him/her etc); nb. ‘say’non è seguito dalla persona)

5. can be bought (to be + past participle = passive)

6. who (relative pronoun ‘who’ = people)

7. always wanted (frequency adverb goes before the main verb)

8. the informations (information = uncountable noun)

9. much time (‘much’ with uncountable nouns, ‘many’ with countable nouns)

10. doing (‘ing’after a preposition)

11. stole (past tense of steal = steal stole stolen)

12. get to (preposition necessary; get to /go to /come to the station, BUT. arrive at/ reach the station)

13. broken watch (adjective before noun)

14. to tell me (to+base form = per/a scopo di)

15. unless I will get (1° conditional = if/unless/when + present)

16. such a (such a + noun; so + adjective)

17. I haven’t never (double negative)

18. l don’t like them (‘like’ + direct object)

19. as (as = siccome; so = quindi)

I’ve been to Madrid (use ‘been’ not ‘gone’ se sei stato e tornato

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Sentence Error