{"id":132,"date":"2012-02-14t23:44:57","date_gmt":"2012-02-14t23:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=132"},"modified":"2015-04-16t00:47:28","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16t00:47:28","slug":"idioms-on-the-sat-writing-practice-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/idioms-on-the-sat-writing-practice-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"idioms on the sat: writing practice questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

oh those sat idioms<\/a> \u2013 the bane of every sat test taker. yes, it is true.\u00a0 even those who have an ear for the proper idioms often find the rest of the writing section a breeze. while there is no one way to master idioms, a combination of approaches should help.<\/p>\n

one approach is practice questions. the college board book is filled with them. the other publishers also have a fair number of problems for you to test you ability on idioms.<\/p>\n

below are two of my own. the first is your standard five-answer choice, identifying the error question. the second is an identifying the error on steroids.<\/p>\n

practice questions<\/h2>\n

1.\u00a0on her<\/span>\u00a0(a) recent trip to los angeles, shirley had<\/span>\u00a0(b) not accounted for<\/span>\u00a0(c) the inclement\u00a0weather, and instead of arriving early, as she had planned<\/span>, (d) she almost missed the \u00a0movie premiere.\u00a0 no error.<\/span>\u00a0(e)<\/p>\n

2. the recent renovations to<\/span>\u00a0(a) her penthouse did not agree with<\/span>\u00a0(b) maria\u2019s aesthetic\u00a0sensibilities, and<\/span>\u00a0(c) she found herself<\/span>\u00a0(d) wishing she \u00a0had not given<\/span>\u00a0(e) her interior designer\u00a0free\u00a0reign over<\/span>\u00a0(f) her domicile.\u00a0 no error<\/span>\u00a0(g)<\/p>\n

3. the professor derives great comfort in<\/span>\u00a0(a) used\u00a0 bookstores, often spending<\/span>\u00a0(b) hours at a time<\/span>\u00a0(c) hovering\u00a0\u00a0over a dog-eared copy of some tome long forgotten<\/span>. \u00a0(d)\u00a0\u00a0no error<\/span>\u00a0(e)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

answers and explanations<\/h2>\n

1. the idiom should be \u2018taken into account,\u2019 which means to consider. \u2018accounted for\u2019 means to explain. the answer for the first question is (c).<\/p>\n

2. tests renovations to (which is correct) and \u2018agree with\u2019 (also correct), which means to suit in terms of taste.<\/p>\n

this question, however, does have an error. the structure of the sentence needs a conjunction that means, \u2018as a result of\u2019 instead of the word \u2018and.\u2019 so\u2019 does the trick. the answer is (c).<\/p>\n

3. this is a challenge question!<\/p>\n

many students would choose (d), mainly because it sounds weird. however, you should always be on guard against your ear when dealing with difficult questions.<\/p>\n

we know this question is difficult because it is a #28 question. (the identifying the error section covers question 12 \u2013 29 on the writing section, with question #12 being the easiest and #29 being the hardest).<\/p>\n

the more likely culprit in this case is the preposition \u2018in\u2019. typically when you see a line under a preposition \u2013 the preposition may or may not be accompanied by another word \u2013 the question is testing an idiom. whether the idiom is the correct is up to you.<\/p>\n

there is no magical way to game the system…but i would say there is a greater than 50% chance the idiom is incorrect.<\/p>\n

however, i wouldn\u2019t put too much stock in this \u2013 some students adhere so literally to the “no more than five underlined (e) no errors” theory that they will change answers they know are incorrect just so they don\u2019t go over the five quota limit. (again, do not start practicing this \u201cvoodoo sat.\u201d)<\/p>\n

okay, back to the question at hand: \u2018in\u2019 is underlined. is the idiom correct?\u00a0 do you derive great comfort \u2018in\u2019 something or should the \u2018in\u2019 be replaced with another preposition?<\/p>\n

there is no logical reason why one preposition should follow derive and not another. in this case, the preposition \u2018from\u2019 always follows derive, so the answer should be (a), and the correct sentence should read, \u201cthe professor derives great comfort from\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

oh those sat idioms \u2013 the bane of every sat test taker. yes, it is true.\u00a0 even those who have an ear for the proper idioms often find the rest of the writing section a breeze. while there is no one way to master idioms, a combination of approaches should help. one approach is practice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[41,84],"ppma_author":[24882],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nidioms on the sat: writing practice questions - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/idioms-on-the-sat-writing-practice-questions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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lele","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/9f063fdc4c0268d1eac74c41e0906a03","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contenturl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"chris lele"},"description":"chris graduated from ucla with a ba in psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. he's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including us news, gmac, and business because.","sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrislelemagoosh1\/","ttps:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0","https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucz4sgyj6l0cgnvnihy8gy6w"],"knowsabout":["gre","gmat","sat","act","mcat (cars)","lsat"],"jobtitle":"principal curriculum manager","worksfor":"magoosh","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/chris\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24882,"user_id":10,"is_guest":0,"slug":"chris","display_name":"chris lele","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"lele","first_name":"chris","description":"chris lele is the principal curriculum manager (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/vocabulary-builder-workbook-activities-must-know\/dp\/193975481x\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vocabulary wizard<\/a>) at magoosh. chris graduated from ucla with a ba in psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. he's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/education\/best-colleges\/slideshows\/10-test-prep-tips-for-sat-and-act-takers\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> us news<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba.com\/exams-and-exam-prep\/gmat-exam\/why-take-the-gmat-in-2021-when-many-schools-are-test-optional\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> gmac<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbecause.com\/news\/gmat\/3263\/mba-admissions-gre-challenges-gmat\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> business because<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\r\nin his time at magoosh, chris has taught countless students how to tackle the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gre-prep-magoosh\/dp\/1939418917\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> gre<\/a>, gmat, sat, act, mcat (cars), and lsat exams with confidence. some of his students have even gone on to get near-perfect scores. you can find chris on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucz4sgyj6l0cgnvnihy8gy6w\">youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0\"> linkedin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh\">twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrislelemagoosh1\/\">facebook<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}