SAT Writing: Verb Tense

SAT Writing questions often ask you to identify proper tense of a verb.

The tenses of the non-underlined verbs tell you what the tense of the underlined verb should be. For instance, if you notice that all of the other verbs in the sentence are past tense, this is a good indication that the underlined verb should also be past tense.

Incorrect:

King Arthur continued his search for the Holy Grail after he can find knights to join him on his quest.

Problem: The verb ‘can find’ is present tense, while the non-underlined verb ‘continued’ is past tense.

Correct:

King Arthur continued his search for the Holy Grail after he found knights to join him on his quest.

Anytime you see a date, think past tense.

Incorrect:

In 1890, the frontier of the western United States is declared officially closed.

Correct:

In 1890, the frontier of the western United States was declared officially closed.

From SAT Unlocked, which also includes a complete list of the practice questions in The Official SAT Study Guide that test this SAT Writing rule.

SAT Writing: Pronoun Number Agreement

A pronoun must agree in number with the person, place or thing to which it refers.

If the person, place or thing is singular, the pronoun must also be singular.

If the person, place or thing is plural, the pronoun must also be plural.

Incorrect:

Although the country had a long history of peaceful relations with other nations, their leaders nevertheless voted to go to war.

Problem: ‘country’ is singular, while ‘their’ is plural.

Correct:

Although the country had a long history of peaceful relations with other nations, its leaders nevertheless voted to go to war.

Tip:

Any single group of people or things, like ‘country’, ‘agency’, etc., is always singular.

Tip:

For phrases like ‘each of’ or ‘one of’, the pronoun is singular.

From SAT Unlocked, which also includes a complete list of the practice questions in The Official SAT Study Guide that test this SAT Writing rule.

SAT Writing: Introductory Phrases

About three times per test, an SAT Improving Sentences question will test “Introductory Phrases”.

Whenever you see an introductory phrase beginning a sentence, whatever immediately follows the comma must be exactly who or what the introductory phrase describes.

Incorrect:

After throwing for hours, Jake’s dog finally learned to catch a Frisbee.

Problem: The Introductory Phrase here is: “After throwing for hours,”. The problem is that “Jake’s dog” did not throw for hours. “Jake” did.

Correct:

After throwing for hours, Jake finally taught his dog to catch a Frisbee.

Tip:

Watch out for possessives (“Jake’s dog”) that look like the person or thing the introductory phrase describes (“Jake”).

Adapted from SAT Unlocked, which also includes a complete list of the practice questions in The Official SAT Study Guide that test this SAT Writing rule.

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