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SAT Writing and Language: Combining Sentences Questions

Marcy J.

This week, we’re going to focus on a specific type of SAT Writing and Language question: the combining sentences question. These questions present you with two closely-related sentences. You are then prompted to choose the answer choice that “most effectively combines the two sentences at the underlined portion.” While there is no substitute for a solid understanding of how you can and cannot join clauses on these questions, there are some steps that you can use to quickly narrow down the number of choices.

1. Unique is better
The more things two answer choices have in common, the less likely either of those choices is to be correct. Consider the following sample question:

Usually, Georgia’s climate becomes extremely dry during the fall and winter. This follows several months of humid weather.

Which choice most effectively combines the two sentences at the underlined portion?
A) winter, following
B) summer, and this dry climate follows
C) summer, and such dry climate follows
D) summer, and this follows

Looking at the word choice, we can see that “B” and “C” are nearly identical. They are also the longest, which brings us to our next rule.

2. Shorter is better
Now that we are suspicious of “B” and “D,” it’s time to apply our next rule. All things being equal, a shorter answer choice is better than a longer one:

A) winter, following (two words)
B) summer, and this dry climate follows (six words)
C) summer, and such dry climate follows (six words)
D) summer, and this follows (four words)

“B” and “C” fail this check as well, so we can safely eliminate both of them. As “D” is the longer of the two remaining, we should view it skeptically also.

3. Simpler is better
By “simple” we mean fewer independent clauses. Let’s see what kind of sentence “D” would produce:

Usually, Georgia’s climate becomes extremely dry during the fall and winter, and this follows several months of humid weather.

Choice “D” gives us two independent clauses. Let’s see if we can do better with choice “A”:

Usually, Georgia’s climate becomes extremely dry during the fall and winter, following following several months of humid weather.

“A” produces a grammatically correct sentence with one independent clause followed by one dependent clause. It is also slightly shorter (18 vs. 19 words) than the sentence that “D” would give us. Because we have followed the steps and double-checked the grammar, we can be certain that “A” is the correct answer.

 

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