SAT form, structure, and sense questions: how to answer them
Subject-verb agreement, pronouns, verb tense and form, possessives and plurals, and modifiers.
- Standard English Conventions
- 19 questions · 5 with free answers
- 14 hard
What the question looks like
Each question has its own short text (a passage, a pair of texts, a table or a student's notes) and four options. The usual question is: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
How to answer it
- Find the true subject: cross out prepositional phrases and descriptive clauses.
- Check the time words for tense ('last spring', 'by the time').
- For an opening phrase like 'Having spent...', the very next noun must be the one doing it.
- For pronouns and possessives, find the noun they refer to and check number.
Common traps
- Agreeing with the nearest noun instead of the subject.
- Dangling modifiers.
- Its/it's, their/there/they're, and singular versus plural possessives.
- Verb forms that are not main verbs (-ing, to + verb) leaving a sentence without one.
In the harder second module
Hard questions use inverted sentences ('Among the artifacts was...'), 'neither... nor', 'together with', and collective nouns.
Every rule tested is in the grammar rules reference.
Worked example
Worked example
Each of the students in the robotics club ______ a different part of the robot.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- are building
- build
- builds
- have built
Answer: C: builds
The subject is 'Each', which is singular ('of the students in the robotics club' is a prepositional phrase). A singular subject takes the singular verb 'builds'.
Why the other options are wrong
- A: 'are building' is plural.
- B: 'build' is plural and does not agree with 'Each'.
- D: 'have built' is plural.
Practice questions
Try each one before you open the answer. Every answer explains why the right option is right and why each of the other three is wrong. Answers to the first 4 are open to everyone; the rest need only a free account. Questions use American English, as the SAT does.
Question 1
The bakery's owners decided to expand after ______ sourdough won first prize at the state fair.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- they're
- there
- their
- its
Show the answer and why each option is right or wrong
Answer: C: their
The sourdough belongs to the owners (plural), so the plural possessive 'their' is correct.
Why the other options are wrong
- A: 'they're' means 'they are'.
- B: 'there' refers to a place.
- D: 'its' is singular; the antecedent 'owners' is plural.
Question 2
The collection of letters, journals, and photographs that the historian donated to the university ______ now available to researchers online.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- were
- is
- have been
- are
Show the answer and why each option is right or wrong
Answer: B: is
The subject is 'The collection', which is singular; 'of letters, journals, and photographs' and the 'that' clause only describe it. So 'is'.
Why the other options are wrong
- A: 'were' is plural and also past tense, which clashes with 'now'.
- C: 'have been' is plural.
- D: 'are' agrees with the nearby plural nouns, not the true subject 'collection'.
Question 3
The new species of frog, found only on a single mountain in Peru, ______ its eggs on leaves that hang over streams, so that the tadpoles drop straight into the water when they hatch.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- laying
- lay
- to lay
- lays
Show the answer and why each option is right or wrong
Answer: D: lays
The subject 'The new species of frog' is singular and needs a main verb. 'lays' is the singular present tense of 'lay' (to put down).
Why the other options are wrong
- A: 'laying' is not a main verb, which leaves the sentence without one.
- B: 'lay' is the plural present form and does not agree with the singular subject 'species'.
- C: 'to lay' is an infinitive, which also leaves the sentence without a main verb.
Question 4
The novelist, whose early books ______ largely ignored by critics, is now widely regarded as one of the most important writers of her generation.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- has been
- is
- were
- was
Show the answer and why each option is right or wrong
Answer: C: were
Inside the 'whose' clause, the subject is 'early books' (plural), and the past context calls for 'were'.
Why the other options are wrong
- A: 'has been' is singular.
- B: 'is' is singular and present tense.
- D: 'was' is singular.
Question 5
The museum moved the dinosaur skeletons to a new hall so that visitors could see ______ from every side.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- their
- its
- it
- them
Question 6
Last spring, the city council ______ a plan to plant five thousand trees along its busiest streets.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- is approving
- approves
- approved
- will approve
Question 7
The two ______ findings were published in the same issue of the journal, prompting a lively debate.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- scientist's
- scientists
- scientists's
- scientists'
Question 8
The epic poem, written in an old dialect that few modern readers understand, had never been fully translated into English. Having spent three years translating the poem, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- Okonkwo's version was published to wide praise.
- the version Okonkwo published won wide praise.
- Okonkwo published his version to wide praise.
- wide praise greeted Okonkwo's published version.
Question 9
Neither the coach nor the players ______ expected the rain delay to last more than an hour.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- had
- was
- is
- has
Question 10
The engineers tested the bridge's cables, which ______ been stretched by decades of heavy traffic, before reopening it to trucks.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- having
- has
- had
- was
Question 11
Among the artifacts recovered from the shipwreck ______ a brass navigation instrument still bearing its maker's name.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- have been
- was
- were
- are
Question 12
When the committee announced ______ decision, several members of the audience walked out in protest.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- it's
- their
- they're
- its
Question 13
The research team hoped ______ how bats navigate in complete darkness by recording the echoes of their calls.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- they discover
- to discover
- discovering
- discovered
Question 14
By the time the rescue boat arrived, the stranded hikers ______ on the island for nearly four days.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- had been
- are
- will have been
- have been
Question 15
The kiwi, a flightless bird found only in New Zealand, hunts mainly by smell, probing the soil for worms at night. Unlike most birds, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- at the tip of its beak is where the kiwi has its nostrils.
- the kiwi's nostrils are at the tip of its beak.
- the kiwi has nostrils at the tip of its beak.
- nostrils on a kiwi are at the tip of its beak.
Question 16
The report from the satellite team, together with measurements taken by ships at sea, ______ that the ocean current had slowed by about fifteen percent.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- suggests
- have suggested
- are suggesting
- suggest
Question 17
After months of negotiation, the two companies agreed to share ______ research on battery design.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- there
- its
- it's
- their
Question 18
Coins can tell historians where goods and people traveled long before any written record survives. Found in a farmer's field in 1937, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- the trade route that no historian had suspected was revealed by a hoard of silver coins.
- historians were surprised by the trade route revealed by the silver coins.
- the hoard of silver coins revealed a trade route no historian had suspected.
- a farmer found that the silver coins revealed an unsuspected trade route.
Keep going
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