Chapter 2

English/Writing

The SAT provides four writing passages, each with 11 questions that give you the opportunity to correct for grammar, rewrite a phrase for style and clarity, or add or move a sentence for logic and flow. These questions are designed to see whether you can write clearly and effectively.

The Problems You'll Work On

When working through the questions in this chapter, be prepared to

• Correct punctuation, including commas, semicolons, and dashes.
• Rewrite sentences for logic and flow.
• Get the gist of phrases and choose the right transition words (such as but, however, and therefore).
• Add or move sentences for style and clarity.
• Create effective working titles for passages.

What to Watch Out For

The answer choices can be deceiving. Watch out for trap answer choices that

• Appear grammatically correct but don't support the logic or flow of the passage
• Seem to clarify but actually have a lot of unnecessary wording
• Work well by themselves but aren't consistent with a phrase earlier or later in the passage

Passage 1

Questions 121-131 are based on the following information.

The following passage is an excerpt from The New American High School by Theodore Sizer (Wiley-Blackwell).

We have long believed that every American teenager [121] deserved an education that will equip [122] them for a lifetime of constructive activity. We responded over a century ago by creating a locally controlled system of secondary schools. The word system, itself, is instructive; it was not imposed by federal or state authorities; instead, it largely evolved in its details if not its structure. In community after community, citizens at the grassroots-the parents of the school-age [123] children organized their schools along lines that they felt were universally endorsed and thus could be considered the "best."

[124] Things were not always as they seemed; a high school was started here but not there; one high school offered a rich program of offerings, another only the bare bones. The schools took root most quickly in the Northeast and Midwest in the latter part of the nineteenth century, as these areas of the [125] country, especially in urban areas, [126] had excess tax-raised money that could be used to erect a building and gather a principal and staff. [127] Southern states were still recovering from the dislocations and costs of the Civil War, and their populations included many African American citizens for whom schooling had to be provided from scratch. [128] The notion of a mass, universally inclusive national education system took decades to establish. This is still in motion, as witnessed by a surge in Latino populations from Mexico and elsewhere. These populations carry with them a mix of languages, customs, and expectations. There is energy in this, but the constantly differing demands challenge us-and should.

Over a century ago, our elected officials, with the citizens' blessing, decided to design the high schools on the basis of [129] student's ages. ("If you are sixteen, [130] you are most likely to be in eleventh grade.") A late-nineteenth-century nation dominated by farmers arranged for school to take place only during the nine months when teenagers were not needed in the fields. These predecessors organized the work of students and teachers into subjects, each occupying a block or two of designated time, each to be covered as prescribed by [131] common plans. By the 1920s, high school had come to be a kind of secular religion, and criticizing its basic design was therefore, in some quarters, a form of blasphemy.

121. (A) NO CHANGE

(B) deserves

(C) had deserved

(D) had been deserving

122. (A) NO CHANGE

(B) him or her

(C) one

(D) it

123. (A) NO CHANGE

(B) children,

(C) children;

(D) children-

124. Which of the following choices summarizes the patchy framework discussed in the rest of the sentence?

(A) NO CHANGE

(B) The process was at first hit or miss;

(C) Things got to a rough start;

(D) The process was slow to get going;

125. (A) NO CHANGE

(B) country;

(C) country-

(D) country

126. (A) NO CHANGE

(B) have

(C) did have

(D) having

127. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following phrase:

In the early twentieth century,

Should the writer make this addition?

(A) Yes, because it builds the timeline of the formation of the modern high school.

(B) Yes, because it sets the context of the Southern states recovering from the Civil War.

(C) No, because the time when this occurred is a separate topic and not central to the narrative.

(D) No, because it implies that things may have turned out differently had this initiative been at a different time.

128. Which choice most effectively combines the underlined sentences?

(A) A surge in Latino populations from Mexico and elsewhere carried with them a mix of languages, customs, and expectations; it was these which was attracted to the notion of a mass, universally inclusive education system which took decades to establish and is still in motion.

(B) What took decades to establish and is still in motion is the notion of a mass, universally inclusive education system that would accommodate a surge in Latino populations from Mexico and elsewhere which carried with them a mix of languages, customs, and expectations.

(C) The notion of a mass, universally inclusive national education system took decades to establish and is still in motion, as witnessed by a surge in Latino populations from Mexico and elsewhere, carrying with them a mix of languages, customs, and expectations.

(D) The notion of a mass, universally inclusive national education system took decades to establish and is still in motion and is witnessed by a surge in Latino populations from Mexico and elsewhere which carried with them a mix of languages, customs, and expectations.

129. (A) NO CHANGE

(B) students

(C) students'

(D) students's

130. (A) NO CHANGE

(B) he is

(C) they are

(D) it is

131. (A) NO CHANGE

(B) common planning

(C) commonly planned

(D) a common plan

Passage 2

Questions 132-142 are based on the following information.

The following passage is an excerpt from The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology, edited by George Ritzer (Wiley-Blackwell).

The future of science and technology can be summed up in one [132] word; more. We will have more scientific knowledge in the coming years, [133] not least due to the fact that the formal institution of science is now geared up to producing huge amounts of data, conference papers, and [134] writing journal articles. And [135] there will be more technology as technocapitalism seeks to invigorate existing [136] markets- and to construct new ones -markets through creating new technological products, and governments continue to seek technological solutions to societal problems. For sociology of science and technology the challenge is [137] to understand why current trends are continuing and to provide frameworks for understanding what science and technology mean in society. This is a big challenge, touching upon issues ranging from the relationship between [138] individuals and their personal technologies to the very nature of humanity itself (Fuller 2007a: ch. 6). [139] In addition, the range of theories available and the history of social analyses of science and technology should reassure us that this challenge can be surmounted, at least to some degree and in the confines of academic discourse.

The even greater challenge is to analyze and, perhaps, confront the wider context of scientism and technological determinism [140] that challenges us today. Sociologists of knowledge have long realized that escaping from the clutches of dominant thought in society [141] can be done. This explains, at least in part, the continuing tension between the natural sciences and those who apply formal scientific methods, knowledge, and theory to the production of technologies, and [142] those applying social theoretical frameworks to make sense of science and technology. This is a...