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SAT Prep Help Sentence Error Identification Sample Questions Answer Explanations
1. The correct answer is choice (D), as the word his is incorrectly used in this sentence. In this question, grammar can provide clues with regard to the correct answer. This is because the word his is a singular possessive pronoun, but the sentence is talking about a group of people. The subject of the sentence and the possessive pronoun that is used do not match in number. As a result, the word his should be replaced with the plural possessive pronoun their or a phrase that identifies the specific homeland that is being described. In lieu of that, another sentence construction may be used such as use of the expressions "the captain's" or "the crew's," if the crew and the captain are not from the same place. All of the other options for this sentence contain no errors and are therefore incorrect in answering this question.
2. The correct answer is (A), as the word me is incorrectly used in this sentence. This is because the pronoun me can only be used as a direct object or an indirect object. In this sentence, it is being used as the subject. As a result, the object pronoun me should be replaced with the subject pronoun I. (C) may also appear to be grammatically incorrect, as it refers to another use of the word me later in the sentence. However, the word me is used correctly in this instance because it is being used as an indirect object to describe whom it "was easy for." (C) is therefore an incorrect answer for this question because the phrase is correct as it stands and does not cause an error when placed into the sentence. The other options are also incorrect for this question because they do not contain an error when placed into the sentence.
3. The correct answer is (B), as the word I is incorrectly used in this sentence. This usage of the word I is a very common mistake and, as the result of frequent misuse, appears to be endemic in the lexicon of American English. But no matter how often the expression may be misused, it is grammatically incorrect. The pronoun I can only be used in this way as the subject of a sentence. In this instance, it is being used as an indirect object describing whom the captain was waiting for. As a result, the subject pronoun I is being used incorrectly and it should be replaced with the object pronoun me . The other options are all incorrect for this question because they cause no errors when used in the example sentence.
4. The correct answer is (C), as the word cant means something much different than what the context of the sentence expresses. The word cant means "to speak using jargon, routine and somewhat repetitive expression, or a secret language." The context of the sentence, however, indicates that the individual cannot "believe" something. From the context, the sentence suggests that the word cant refers to the contraction of the word cannot. Therefore, the word should be written as can't. The problem with this particular error is that the contraction lacks an apostrophe, which changes the entire meaning and makes no sense in this sentence. The other options that are available for this question have nothing to do with the error in the sentence.
5. The correct answer is (E), as there is no error in this particular sentence. The first part of the sentence, "As the ship left the dock" is a dependent adverbial clause that is used to describe when the action is taking place; the comma separates the dependent clause from the independent clause. This part of the sentence is written correctly, so (A) and (B) are incorrect answers for this question. The second part of the sentence, "I stood and stared", is the beginning of an independent clause that states the action "stood and stared" that the subject of the sentence, "I," refers back to, and the phrase "at the shore intently" describes what the individual was staring at. This part of the sentence is written correctly, so (C) and (D) are also incorrect answers for this question. As a result, there are no errors in the sentence and the correct option to choose is choice (E).
6. The correct answer is (A), as this sentence uses the wrong form of the word its. This is because the context of the sentence indicates that the writer or speaker is attempting to state that "it is a fine ship" rather than show possession. This means that the sentence should contain the contraction of it and is instead of the possessive word its, which is used to show that it owns something. This may seem relatively confusing because most words are followed by an "'s" in order to show possession, but apostrophes are also used to indicate that letter(s) have been removed from the words in a contraction. As a result, the contraction of it is and the appropriate possessive form of the word it would both be it's. However, in order to avoid the confusion that might arise from having a word that can be both a possessive pronoun and a contraction, the word it's is always used to indicate it is, and the word its is always used to indicate possession.