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Common Writing Errors on the SAT

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As we’ve talked about before, the SAT is extremely repetitive. The College Board likes to test students on the same concepts over and over. The Writing section of the SAT is no exception. Here are eleven of the most common writing errors that the SAT throws at students.

Subject-Verb Agreement
This is by the most common error that the SAT likes to test students on. Many students miss this type of error because the SAT makes it deliberately difficult to identify the subject and the verb of a sentence:

The panel of world-renowned scientists were lauded for its work on climate change.

This example contains a fundamental error in subject-verb agreement. The interrupting clause, “of world-renowned scientists,” is designed to confuse and distract you from the relationship between the subject and the verb. To avoid falling for this error, either ignore or strike through the interrupting clause:

The panel were lauded for its work on climate change.

Now the error is much more obvious. The subject, “the panel,” is singular and needs a singular verb:

The panel of world-renowned scientists was lauded for its work on climate change.

Subject-Pronoun Agreement
This is another common grammar error found on the SAT. As with subject-verb agreement, the exam will try to obfuscate the relationship between a pronoun and its antecedent with interrupting words and clauses:

A student who takes the SAT multiple times can choose which scores they send to colleges.

The subject “student” is singular, but the pronoun “they” is plural. While the fix for this error is simple, the SAT tries to make it difficult to spot by placing the subject and its pronoun at opposite ends of the sentence:

A student who takes the SAT multiple times can choose which scores he or she sends to colleges.
OR
Students who take the SAT multiples times can choose which scores they send to colleges.

Parallel Sentence Structure
Yet another grammar concept that appears regularly on the SAT is parallelism. The exam is particularly found on introducing this type of error into lists:

Emily is a fitness fanatic. She enjoys running, lifting weights, and plays soccer.

The first two items in the list of physical activities that Emily enjoys begin with “-ing” words. In order to follow the established parallel structure of the sentence, “plays” needs to be changed to “playing.”

Emily is a fitness fanatic. She enjoys running, lifting weights, and playing soccer.

Subject/Object of the Sentence
The SAT also likes to throw in sentences that confuse the subject and object of the sentence:

Robert and me bought tickets to the concert.
Bethany bought Robert and I tickets to the concert.

These sentences have the subject and object pronouns switched around. In the first sentence, “me,” a first person object pronoun, is part of the subject. The second sentence has the first person subject “I” as part of the object. If you’re having a hard time remembering the difference between the two, try rewriting the sentences with just the pronouns:

Me bought tickets to the concert.
Bethany bought I tickets to the concert.

Notice how intuitively “wrong” the sentences sound without “Robert” to distract you. Now you can easily tell what the correct pronouns should be:

Robert and I bought tickets to the concert.
Bethany bought Robert and me tickets to the concert.

Verb Tense
Simple uses of proper verb tense pop up on the SAT writing section from time to time. See if you can spot the error in the following sentence:

Brittany and Roger decided not to see Into the Woods in theaters, but they do rent the movie as soon as it was available to stream.

Most of this sentence is in the past tense. The odd verb out here is “do,” which is in the present tense:

Brittany and Roger decided not to see Into the Woods in theaters, but they did rent the movie as soon as it was available to stream.

Incorrect Comparisons
Many students miss this particular error because we regularly commit it in everyday speech:

I enjoy musicals more than my brother.

When used informally, it is understood that I am taking about how the degree to which I like musicals relative to how much my brother likes musicals. Grammatically speaking, however, this is incorrect. What the sentence literally means is that I enjoy musicals more than I enjoy my brother. Because the SAT does take such things literally, this needs to be fixed accordingly:

I enjoy musicals more than my brother does.

Comparative/Superlative
Comparatives (between, better, more) are used for comparing two things. When comparing three or more things, use superlatives (among, best, most):

Robert had to choose between studying for the SAT and attending the concert.
Robert had to choose among studying for the SAT, visiting his family, and attending the concert.

Of the two choices available to him, studying for the SAT was a better use of Robert’s time.
Of the three choices available to him, studying for the SAT was the best use of Robert’s time.

Diction Error
Diction basically means word choice. Here are a couple of examples of common diction errors:

When their first choice for a venue was flooded a month before their wedding, the couple had to haste choose another location.

“Haste” should be changed to the adverb “hastily” because it comes immediately before a verb.

When their first choice for a venue was flooded a month before their wedding, the couple had to hastily choose another location.

Here’s a second, less obvious diction error.

The reason for the traffic jam was because President Obama was visiting Georgia Tech’s campus.

Using “because” after “reason” is grammatically redundant. Rather, reason should be paired with “that”:

The reason for the traffic jam was that President Obama was visiting Georgia Tech’s campus.

Number Agreement
A phrase describing a noun must agree in number with that noun. If a noun is singular, any phrases describing that noun must also be singular. If a noun is plural, the phrase(s) must be plural as well:

The cruise was designed for couples without a young child.

This error is easy to miss on the SAT if you are not actively looking for it. “Child” is singular but “couples” is plural:

The cruise was designed for couples without young children.

Pronoun Vagueness
Sometimes the SAT will include sentences where it is unclear as to who or what a pronoun is referring to:

After the officer wrote Jim a ticket, he drove away.

Did the officer or Jim drive away? The sentence is unclear about the antecedent of “he.” To fix this error, you need to make it clear whether it was the officer or Jim who drove away:

After the officer wrote Jim a ticket, the officer drove away.
After the officer wrote Jim a ticket, Jim drove away.

You can also fix this sentence by rewriting it to remove the pronoun altogether:

After writing Jim a ticket, the officer drove away.

Prepositional Idioms
An idiom is a phrase that has evolved a specific meaning through custom and usage. The figurative meaning of an idiom is distinct from its literal meaning. (“More than one way to skin a cat” is a rather gross way of saying that there is more than one way to accomplish a goal.) The SAT only cares about the idiomatic use of prepositions. In English, certain words only take particular prepositions. For example, we say “object to” and “point to,” not “object at” and “point at.” However, the there is no purely grammatical reason why the latter pairings are inc

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